Liars

They Threw Us All In A Trench And Stuck A Monument On Top (Mute)
by Lex Marburger

A few reasons to pick up Liars‘ new album: The title (see above, it would be a pretty cheap way to pick up a little extra cash to just keep writing the title over and over again, if I were being paid by the word).

Song names: “Grown Men Don’t Fall in the River, Just Like That,” “Mr. You’re on Fire Mr.,” “The Garden Was Crowded and Outside,” “Nothing is Ever Lost or Can be Lost My Science Friend,” “We live NE of Compton,” and “Why Midnight Walked but Didn’t Ring Her Bell.”

They’re part of the whole “New NY” (those alive in NYC in the ’80s will get the pun): Post-punk, return of rock’n’roll, pop/metal backlash thing all the hip magazines are talking about, so you know you can reference them for at least a few months and seem cool.

All hype aside, compared to other resurgence bands around (not to mention them by name, cuz even if they’re not as good, they’re still better than most of the crap out there), Liars are more creative, while being just as angry. Distorted vocals, angular guitars, lopsided grooves, people jumping up and down.

Here, lemme break it down: If Gang Of Four and The Clash wrote songs with Sonic Youth, you might get something like They Threw Us All in a Trench and Stuck a Monument on Top. The last track, “This Dust Makes That Mud,” punk-dubs its way into your head, and then hits a looped groove that goes on for half an hour. And you don’t even realize how long it’s been. No one’s been able to do that since… Has anyone been able to do that?
(1410 W. 22nd St. Suite 10A New York, NY 10011)