Drum's Not Dead [VINYL] [Import]

If you've been following the career of the Liars (and who hasn't?), you probably know they started out in New York, but recently moved to Berlin. They also started out playing noisy, angular but funky post-punk on their debut album, "They Threw Us All In a Trench and Stuck a Monument On Top." Album number two, 2004's "They Were Wrong, So We Drowned" boasted a different rhythm section and created a concept album about the German holiday Walpurgisnacht that was radically...different than the debut. Vaguely tribal, very arty and noisy all over, it alienated many of their fans, except for those who listen to things like Wolf Eyes for fun. You know who you are.

The new album, "Drum's Not Dead," is another sharp left turn into uncharted territory. The move to Germany seems to have been on purpose; the spirit of Krautrock bands like Can and Faust is all over this album. On the first listen it seems experimental and willfully "difficult," but repeated listens will focus things a bit. Overall it's a lot quieter than previous efforts--there are moments that recall Sigur Ros and post-"Kid A" Radiohead. Not leaving New York totally behind, other possible reference points could be Black Dice, Animal Collective and of course Sonic Youth, so when I say "quieter," I don't necessarily mean "soft." Many songs feature Japanese Taiko-style drumming and atmospheric washes of guitar. Sometimes things get noisy, but nothing that'll get you evicted. Oh, yeah, and did I mention that it's another concept album? The "story," and I use the term very loosely, revolves around a pair of characters called Mt. Heart Attack and Drum, who represent the yin/yang duality of a person. The former is stress and self-doubt and the latter is creative energy and productivity, or something like that. It's actually pretty vague and the album as a whole doesn't have any kind of operatic flow (i.e. overtures and multi-song suites), instead going for a less linear, avant-garde kind of experience. Of course, with song titles like "Be Quiet Mt. Heart Attack" and "Drum and the Uncomfortable Can," there's obviously something going on.

Something like a DVD that comes with the CD, which has the entire album three different times (!), each one containing videos for all the songs. Whether or not you want to watch all of it is up to you, but you can listen to the album in an optional 5.1 mix, which really made the album come alive for me. Some of the videos make creative use of animation and even claymation, some use live and in-studio footage, and one seems to be an album-length document of a snail, which confirms that whatever else you can say about Berlin, they must have mind-blowing pot there.

All in all, "Drum's Not Dead" is a firm rebuke to the naysayers who declared the band lacked direction. If anything, they seem to have dozens of directions, and ambition to match. If the album's symbology holds any water, I guess that means Drum has beat Mt. Heart Attack. While I still prefer the noise-rock of the second album, this one is weird 'n' wild enough to choke me up like Jimi Hendrix after an all-night drug binge, and that's no lie.

Liars seem to be characterized ultimately by their extreme boldness within their own musical environment. On They Threw Us All In A Trench And Stuck A Monument On Top they showed up as inovators of what one could call a very short lived period of dance punk, which seemed to morph pretty quickly into a much less experimental pop phenomeon with groups like Bloc Party and what have you.

But immediately following the great success of this album they fired their rhythm section (who have since become the group No Things, who sound much more like that first album than either of these second two Liars albums). It was an incredible bold move, and one that made the unfaithful very wary and hateful of their second album, They Were Wrong So We Drowned.

However, with Drum's Not Dead, the Liars sound seems to be congealing (hopefully not too much, i'm quite enjoying their erratic career so far) into something that can stand on its own without the context of their previous two records. Drum's is probably more similar in aesthetic to Drowned than Monument, but it definately stands on its own, and seems to be a step forward in a relatively similar direction.

There is definitely a tribal element to their rhythms on this album, and I can see some similarities to Animal Collective in their use of tons of congos and some Black Dice like drum effects. While many of the tracks have a driving rhythm, overall its too dark to be dancable like their first, but will get your head bobbing nonetheless.

The album flows as one cohesive musical piece, each track bleeding into the next, but not to a point where it all seems like one song. Lastly, the DVD full of 3 entire low budget video versions of the whole album is an amazing bonus. The video's are very fitting to the music, and the live footage in the studio is very fun to watch with the songs. One of my absolute favorite recent albums, pick it up for sure.

In a musical climate increasingly geared toward the mp3/single song format, Drum's Not Dead is an Album with a capitol A. It is a sprawling masterwork that demands total immersion, sincere consideration, and yes, some initial patience. Much like a Rothko painting, this record is about textures and subtleties, revealing a bit more of itself with every listen. Liars are minimalists who, with few tools, have achieved something both spacious and infinitely dimensional. After many listens, Drum's Not Dead eludes familiarity. It is always something new, adventurous and unashamed. Return to it now and then, and it will certainly hook you.