On the one hand it's almost hilarious to call Marnie Stern's music "indie rock," given the quality of her technical gifts as a finger-tapping electric guitarist (bottom line: she's a firebrand). She has a unique style that is precise and knotty and seemingly would be at home in some prog rock band of her own design. Except for one thing: her songwriting adheres to quirky lyrics and is defined by a flip-flop, herky-jerky (somewhat ) homemade ock & roll aesthetic. In Advance of the Broken Arm was written over a couple of years in her apartment on New York's Upper East Side, and was co-produced with the equally hyperactive and truly inventive drummer Zach Hill (Hella), with contributions from John Reed Thompson (who also engineered and mixed the set). Hill remains a pop songwriter -- albeit a fractured one. These songs are noisy, full of shards and sharp edges -- there is a New York /p>
o wave lineage at work here to be sure -- but they contain unmistakable hooks and strategies that set them firmly in the pocket. This music is loud and obnoxious but endearing, and in the sonic wail and skip of "Vibrational Match" one can hear everything from the lineage of David Byrne's irresistible outsider charm from his days with Talking Heads to the sonic ock & roll attack of Chavez, the ock & roll swagger of Sleater-Kinney (Stern's initial inspiration to write songs), and the free-for-all fun of the Boredoms and Melt Banana. Stern's multi-tracked vocals are elfin and authoritative as well as playful. She can conjure a chanted ock & roll anthem with power chords or knotty twist-and-turn lead and sung lines ("Grapefruit"). She can transform a standard six-string riff into an intricate, turn-on-a-dime, sonically warped avant construct without losing her groove ("Every Single Line Means Something") or engender jagged-edged chaos -- with help from Hill's frenetic, over the top drumming ("The Weight of a Rock"). There isn't anything subtle about In Advance of the Broken Arm. It swaggers and twirls, careens and cavorts with disaster at every moment, but always manages to keep its insane energy in focus with infectiously good humor to boot. This album is the prescription for anyone who thinks ock has imploded or has nothing new to offer. This record may flaunt its excesses -- and there are many but they're mostly all welcome (Stern's album is "maximalist" indie rockism, after all) -- without concern or hesitation, but it is perhaps forward enough in its reach and ambition to act as a spark for as-yet-unheard rockers writing in bedrooms everywhere.
This is it, the first song from the new Marnie Stern album, called-- deep breath-- This Is It and I Am It and You Are It and So Is That and He Is It and She Is It and It Is It and That Is That. Long titles aside, the finger-tapping New York guitar shredder hasn't gone all Fiona Apple (not that there's anything wrong with that) since last year's In Advance of the Broken Arm. And "Transformer", b...
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I feel like everyone has either heard this or is going to hear this. Marnie Stern is a rockin noisefest of math proportions. If you like Melt Banana, Deerhoof, noise, or lightning quick guitar stabs then I think you will like this. I've been listening to it all week. It's kind of mystical, kind of I don't know what. Definitely sounds chaotic but it's so controlled. Her guitar works at lig...
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Love you Marnie.Wow! This is probably the best thing we’ve heard on Kill Rock Stars in AGES. With totally spazzed out guitar playing and impassioned vocals, Marnie Stern has grabbed us by the throats and refuses to let us go. (aquarius records)
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"Marnie Stern":http://www.myspace.com/marniestern1 shreds. You don't see that much from a female guitar player. You especially don't see that much on an indie label like, ironically, Kill Rock Stars, but there she is. She uses the tapping technique as arpeggiated ostenato to accompany her singing, as opposed to using it for showy fills or improv solos. I just saw her play a show at Atlas Cl...
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i've been talking about this album for the past week trying to describe her sound to friends. i've only come up with three descriptions i like; brutal, fucking complicated and this final one "like your head is going on this amazing fucked up journey across the oregon trail." that last one was after i smoked some sweet mary jane but that's how you can really appreciate a complex progressive m...
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I love this song. It's got that one-off rhythm and feels like it's about a beat off from collapsing into a dissonant heap. Genius. And I can't seem to blast it loud enough in my headphones or keep from playing it again after I'm done with it. I really think that this album takes a few listens and then I can almost guarantee you're going to have one of these songs stuck in your head. Which d...
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!http://pearlofcivilization.net/images/149.jpg (Marnie Stern)!:http://www.marniestern.com/To sum up all the online hype I keep running into about Marnie Stern: she totally shreds, *plus* she writes great songs. Is there such a thing as art-metal? That's what I would call it when music seems really smart but all anyone can say about it is that it is "so fucking awesome."- "Every Single Line Mean...
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I feel like everyone has either heard this or is going to hear this. Marnie Stern is a rockin noisefest of math proportions. If you like Melt Banana, Deerhoof, noise, or lightning quick guitar stabs then I think you will like this. I've been listening to it all week. It's kind of mystical, kind of I don't know what. Definitely sounds chaotic but it's so controlled. Her guitar works at lig...
More >
!http://pearlofcivilization.net/images/149.jpg (Marnie Stern)!:http://www.marniestern.com/To sum up all the online hype I keep running into about Marnie Stern: she totally shreds, *plus* she writes great songs. Is there such a thing as art-metal? That's what I would call it when music seems really smart but all anyone can say about it is that it is "so fucking awesome."- "Every Single Line Mean...
More >
This is it, the first song from the new Marnie Stern album, called-- deep breath-- This Is It and I Am It and You Are It and So Is That and He Is It and She Is It and It Is It and That Is That. Long titles aside, the finger-tapping New York guitar shredder hasn't gone all Fiona Apple (not that there's anything wrong with that) since last year's In Advance of the Broken Arm. And "Transformer", b...
More >
I love this song. It's got that one-off rhythm and feels like it's about a beat off from collapsing into a dissonant heap. Genius. And I can't seem to blast it loud enough in my headphones or keep from playing it again after I'm done with it. I really think that this album takes a few listens and then I can almost guarantee you're going to have one of these songs stuck in your head. Which d...
More >
Ok, I KNOW I've already written about how I adore Marnie (and really wish I'd seen her at SxSW) but when I came across this description of her music this morning, I had to share. Hit the nail on the head..."Marnie’s got Rage Against The Machine’s slash-and-burn guitar ethics, paired with an updated Lene Lovich hiccuping vocal style. The short strum/slap guitar bridge mid-song is hypnotic. *It
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i've been talking about this album for the past week trying to describe her sound to friends. i've only come up with three descriptions i like; brutal, fucking complicated and this final one "like your head is going on this amazing fucked up journey across the oregon trail." that last one was after i smoked some sweet mary jane but that's how you can really appreciate a complex progressive m...
More >
"Marnie Stern":http://www.myspace.com/marniestern1 shreds. You don't see that much from a female guitar player. You especially don't see that much on an indie label like, ironically, Kill Rock Stars, but there she is. She uses the tapping technique as arpeggiated ostenato to accompany her singing, as opposed to using it for showy fills or improv solos. I just saw her play a show at Atlas Cl...
More >
I joined eMusic a few weeks ago, and it's been going pretty well. The only thing wrong with it is that you don't get 50 free downloads for getting other people to sign up until they actually pay for a month of the service. Other than that, it's great to get DRM-free songs for cheaper than iTMS. Oh, the other problem is that Sub Pop doesn't sell music there. Which really sucks because I'm ob...
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Love you Marnie.Wow! This is probably the best thing we’ve heard on Kill Rock Stars in AGES. With totally spazzed out guitar playing and impassioned vocals, Marnie Stern has grabbed us by the throats and refuses to let us go. (aquarius records)
More >
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 "In Advance of the Broken Arm")
