Album Review: MESS by Liars

Amazon | Liars Website

Album: Mess

Artist: Liars

Genres: Punk Rock, Electronica, Dance Punk

Original Release Date: March 24, 2014

Hailing from Los Angeles, California, Liars is a punk rock and electronica band that consists of three members: Angus Andrew (vocals/guitar), Aaron Hemphill (percussion/guitar/synth), and Julian Gross (drums). The band experienced its genesis at the dawn of our millennium in 2000, and has since then relocated to different places, including New York (where the band became famous) and Berlin. Liars has also developed quite a following in the United Kingdom. 

With each album, Liars has evolved its style between elements of punk rock, electronica, and dance. Mess is the Liar's seventh album. A Mute press release describes Mess as the band's followup to their previous album, WIXIW. Where WIXIW featured the band in an uncertain and ambiguous state, Mess shows the Liars storming out from the glassy sea of introspection with fire in their eyes. 

A sense of unease and sinister vibes pervade this album's throbbing alternative dance beats. Liars' relationship with uncertainty continues in this album, except their response is angrier and more unsettling than in the previous album--an aggressiveness packaged with dance punk, particularly in "Pro Anti Anti" and "Can't Hear Well."  

A common theme within the lyrics in this album is the struggle against fear and vulnerability. The occasional crooked lines of lyrics in the lyrics booklet give off the sense of an overwhelmed mind that questions its own sanity at times.

Snippets of lyrics that reveal their anxious struggle against inner demons in Mess:

"Mask Maker" (Track 1): "I'm long past saving / I'm swallowing degenerates whole / It took both ambition and fear to finally figure it out / Well it looks so appealing in real life it's actually not"

"Vox Tuned D.E.D." (Track 2): "I always wondered how / To rid myself of doubt / Haven't really been forced in a while" 

"I'm No Gold" (Track 3): "I, I'm a waste / And you're gold / I'm not clear why you're here, but you're here / I, I'm a waste, I'm no gold, I'm no gold, I'm no gold, I'm just lead / You were right"

Here's a link to the music video of Liars' single version of "I'm No Gold." Just a warning: the look on the guy's face is the stuff of angry, head-throbbing nightmares. 

I prefer the album version of "I'm No Gold." 

Overall, Mess is a compilation of unsettling alternative dance tracks that explore the emotions associated with anxiety and uncertainty. Liars has been experimenting with their style for a very long time, and this is the latest update to their direction, which emanates aggressive beats and vibes while maintaining its reflective elements in the lyrics. 

Find out more about Mess by Liars on:

Amazon | Liars Website

Album Review: Attack of the Titans by Hyperbubble

Album Title:  Attack of the Titans (Original Soundtrack)

Artist: Hyperbubble

Genres: Synthpop, electropop

Label: Pure Pop for Now People

Original Release Date: July 31, 2014

For those of you who haven't yet had the pleasure of experiencing Hyperbubble's work, Hyperbubble is a duo from San Antonio, Texas whose work consists of both visual and performing arts, including synthpop and electropop music. Synthpop is a music genre in which the synthesizer is the main (dominant) instrument.

The golden duo that forms Hyperbubble is Jeff and Jess DeCuir. Hyperbubble is known not only in the United States, but also around the world, including the United Kingdom, where synthpop arose as a distinct genre of its own during the post-punk movement during the late 1970s to mid-1980s.

Attack of the Titans is Hyperbubble’s sixth album. The cover of the album screams retro. At first glance, the cover could almost pass as a re-release of a record from the 1970s, something my dad might have picked up in a music store as a teen.

The cover claims, “Guaranteed 100% electronic. No strings attached,” which is clever because all the instruments used in this album are electronic, including speech synthesizers and noise machines. Hyperbubble takes the concept of synthpop (using a synthesizer as the dominant instrument) to the next level (using a synthesizer as the only instrument). I wouldn’t know how to dance to Attack of the Titans in a dance club, but I’d listen to find out what someone creative and talented can do with various synthesizers.

Within the tracks of the CD, Hyperbubble proves true to the cover’s retro sci-fi feel: the whirring of spaceships from a 1950s black-and-white science fiction flick, the synthetic beats that would have populated a primitive video game, and the chorus of metallic robot voices.

Visualize: the vision of the future from the folks in the 1950s through 70s. Robots made of humans dressed in aluminum foil.  Huge, cheesy space saucers that make The Thing (1982) quite proud.

Overall, this is a playful album that utilizes retro sound effects as well as the synthpop movement in general. The feel I’m getting from it is fun, nostalgic and futuristic at the same time, possibly because of the album’s nod to older science fiction movies.

My Thoughts on Four Songs in the Album:

“Sky Smasher” features the eerie sequence that screams “Spaaace! Aliens! Robots!”

“Pure Panic” evokes the suspense scenes introducing the entry of a very large, water-dwelling dinosaur. 

“Bring Me the Hose Brigade” is a clever piece because it evokes the sound of a neighborhood band with a drummer with beats so quick in succession to each other that it’s almost inhuman. There is even the sound of a whistle.

My favorite track in this album is “Lazer Breath”, which sounds like an old-school arcade game. It makes me miss playing Pacman on my dad's old computer. 

Find out more about Hyperbubble:

• Hyperbubble's Facebook Page
• Hyperbubble's Website