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MP3 The Librarians - The Pathetic Aesthetic
12 MP3 Songs
ROCK: Hard Rock, POP: British Pop
Details:
Don''t be fooled by the British affectation, the power-pop wha-uh-ohs, and the right-on rock they''re rolling; the Librarians aren''t from the other side of the pond, nor even the other side of the bay. But these East Bay lads bang out lean and mean pop hooks like they used to play back when Elvis Costello was an angry young man. They don''t make ''em like that anymore. It''s just the right mixture of flash and flesh, just rough enough to rock but ridden with time-tested hooks and cocky Anglicisms. It''s a little like biting down on a peppermint with a mouth full of whisky, but that''s not a bad thing. The best tracks -- the faux-curmudgeonly "Peace & Quiet," f''rinstance, or "Rockstar" -- are impishly, irresistibly catchy. When they sing, "Why do you dress like a rock star, when you can''t even play the guitar," it''s with more than a little wink, because they sound like they''re playing at being rock stars just then, and playing the part pretty well.
The Librarians create a compelling, new religion based on sweat, musicianship, energy, and fun. And...if you are even thinking of starting a new band based on some macho, hyperactive mix of aggressive posturing and super songs...don''t bother. The Librarians have figured out the combination to that particular lock and you would be a pale imitation. The key ingredient? Pick the least macho instrument ever performed within the rock canon (the tambourine) and then play it as if YOU INVENTED THE DAMN THING. Dress all in black, cut your hair in a pompadour that earns you an envious black checkmark in Kevin Sorbo''s sweaty, little Badtz-Maru diary, and raise the tambourine in your gloved hand to proclaim, I AM THE CHOSEN ONE, WORSHIP ME.
Sometimes it''s tough to tell if the Librarians are joking. When you see a man in solid black--down to the leather gloves--flailing around the stage with a tambourine, belting out backing vocals while the guitarist is dressed in a bad suit and applying an exaggerated Elvis Costello tremolo to the lyric "ce-ramic lawn orn-a-ments," it takes just a wee bit of adjustment to figure out what''s going on. Particularly if you''re acclimated to stoic bands that take themselves too seriously. This is, after all, only rock''n''roll, and that is exactly what the Librarians play.
The Librarians began inauspiciously enough, with Damon Larson and Ryan Gan screwing around as a two-piece at parties and co-ops around Berkeley in 1999. By 2001 they were a full band, adding Lucas White on bass and Ben Adrian on drums, with Larson on lead vocals/guitar and Gan as part hype man, part backing vocalist, and 100% solid gold Rockstar, strutting all over the stage striking Mick Jagger poses, rubbing his ass, and pointing at the audience provokingly with his tambo stick. "The tambo stick is my scepter of power, so to say. I point at people with it, I shake it, it''s really an extension of... yeah," theorizes Ryan.
In May they released their debut full-length record, The Pathetic Aesthetic, on Bay Area-based Pandacide Records, recorded over the past year at Feedback Loop Industries, Adrian''s home studio that doubles as a bedroom. But you''d be mistaken to think of the high-energy tracks on this album as "bedroom music,"--that is, unless your bedroom were packed with two hundred delirious partygoers. Evocative of trashy freak-beat and early punk layered with contemporary power-pop, The Pathetic Aesthetic is rife with a savvy teenaged innocence that both mocks and celebrates sloppy parties where horny guys try to pick up drunk art school girls. Last time I checked, that''s what rock''n''roll was all about-having fun, trying to get laid, and not caring that you''re a dork.
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