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The Daily Cardinal Est. 1892
Friday, March 29, 2024
Liars—Mess

Record Routine: Liars teeter on the edge of electronic music on new album

If Nine Inch Nails and Animal Collective got together, had a weird music baby and then decided to raise this newly formed music child in an underground rave for 18 years, that child would sound like something along the lines of Liars’ new album, Mess.

Liars, the Brooklyn-based three-piece electronic band from Los Angeles, began releasing music together in mid 2001. Lead singer and guitarist Angus Andrew and drummer Julian Gross collaborated with Aaron Hemphill, Pat Noecker and Ron Albertson to create a drum-heavy electronic experience. Since then, Noecker and Albertson have left, and Liars has pumped out six albums—touching on the immersive electronic genre—as well as experimenting with industrial and noise rock.

The group’s seventh album, Mess, has Liars finally hitting the stride of adulthood, with a more mature experimental sound. While their previous album, WIXIW, left many fans wanting more of the industrial electronic sound, Mess seems to jerk sharply toward a middle ground between hard, post-punk and more mainstream electronic music.

Mess opens with two songs that are a perfect yin-yang of this album. “Mask Maker” is true to their industrial origins, while “Vox Tuned D.E.D.” rips a page from mainstream electronic artists with its abrasive beats and formulaic drops. However, instead of expounding on this contrasting, yet complimentary sound, Mess simply ventures further down the electronica rabbit hole.

The running theme throughput the album seems to allude to a bad trip through a sub-par night rave. Continuing with the complex sounds of the opening tracks, Liars slows down the album with “I’m No Gold” and “Pro Anti Anti,” each successively slower in percussive beats, but still loud and raucous in expression.

The album’s middle tracks highlight the bands 13-year experience in the electronic industry. “Can’t Hear Well,” is a soft spoken track with a constant pulse throughout the track, and “Darkslide” combines the sounds of falling water with tribal beats similar to SBTRKT.

While WIXIW ended with a transitional track that laid the foundation for Mess, the final two songs—almost 16 minutes of music combined—seem to fall flat where the rest of the album soars throughout the night. While soothing, the final track, “Left Speaker Blown,” draws out the albums conclusion, and lacks resolution or a preview for the next album.

Andrew’s vocals highlight the album, along with the pristine production value, but tracks that overstay their welcome with no resolution has Liars teetering at the edge of the lofty niche they’ve carved out for themselves in the world of experimental electronic music.

Rating: B

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