:: Track Listing

1. Terror Bird
2. Power to the Power Bite 2
3. Revelation Two
4. Revelation Three
5. Jubilee
6.
7. Hieronymus Bosch Is a Dead Man
8. Chop 2
9. Takoma the Dolphin Is AWOL
10. Vampire Beats
11. Surfs Up
12. Bite 1 Bite 3
13. Testify!
14. Terror Bird
15. Revelation Six
16. One Mississippi, Two Mississippi, Three Mississippi
17. Vampire Zoo
18. Body 1 Bite 1
19. Body 2
20. Do This
21. Hard Luck Built New England
22. Megamouth II
23. Revelation Four
24. V Beats
25. Bite 4
26. Chop 1
27. Virgin’s Diet, the Hand of Wolves
28. Jubilation
29. Repetition
30. Repetition
31. Repetition
32. Repetition
33. Repetition

:: Record Review

The Mae Shi

Terrorbird
(5 Rue Christine; 2004)

Rating: 77%
Combined Rating: 75%


What is it with portable music? iTunes and the accompanying iPod have become staples of the music scene in my town (New York) and most other urban environments I’ve visited lately. I don’t have a problem with iTunes or iPods in particular, I guess, but usage of these iDevices seems to lend itself to people making ‘playlists’ where they put the catchy songs they like from an album into a set with other catchy songs from different albums. I mean, I guess there’s nothing wrong with mixtapes (I certainly make plenty); but I can’t help but be happy when a band fucks with people who try to capture their sound in one song.

See, I like the idea of albums. I think it’s important to give a band a good chunk of your time to let them make a point, rather than three minutes, Casey Cassum-style. So, you can be sure that I love the idea of recent albums such as the Unicorn’s concept album about death and the Fiery Furnaces un-iFriendly eight minute-long stories railing against modern culture on Blueberry Boat. Count the Los Angeles-based Mae Shi as another band that makes me happy in such a way.

With Terrorbird, the Mae Shi have created a horror suite of 33 spastic songs that crackle, jerk, split and wind their way into one twitching, ragged body---and it's a beautiful disaster. Greater than the sum of it’s parts, Terrorbird bubbles over with ideas, screaming anger, squeaking joy, bird chanting, snippets of hip post-punk, electronic flourishes and, mostly, speed.

Thematically, the album is about mythical beasts and power and the old testament. Which is to say, don’t go to the lyrics looking for explanation. Like the recent (and incredibly divisive) Liars album or the new Deerhoof, the lyrics are mythology obsessed with little or no attempt to tie them to anything but their own context. I suppose they could be an oblique cultural criticism, but mostly I don’t give a shit. The Mae Shi rock with the no frills punk economics, off-color personality and ADD-style instrumentation, and that makes me happy.

Experimental label 5RC, home to Deerhoof and Xiu Xiu among others, does seem like the perfect place for Terrorbird to make it’s nest. The Mae Shi could be a spazzy cousin to Deerhoof, but where Deerhoof goes louder, the Mae Shi go faster. While recent Deerhoof outings have grown stale quickly to me, the Mae Shi seem to have channeled the energy and speedy cacophony of early Deerhoof, a la The Man, The King and The Girl (1997). Another band I would compare to the Mae Shi to, at least in terms of willingness to experiment, would be Fog. Just imagine if Fog’s criminally underrated Ether Teeth (2003) dabbled in post punk instead of folk-tronica and was sung in a pentacostal screech instead of a yearning warble.

I’m sure Terrorbird will conjure many ready-made references to recent post-punkists Erase Errata and Ex-Models, but the band is less self-conscious and more fun than those two (though this album does contain some of the flammable and damaged skull-duggery of Erase Errata’s debut, Other Animals). The Mae Shi’s use of the much-maligned post-punk sound reminds me more of the way Single Frame was able to grow within the sound last year by adding their own elements. There are also some soulful, almost New Order-esque sincere arty pop songs, such as the wonderful “Jubilation,” hidden in between bird calls and scream theatrics. But those are all small parts, and Terrorbird is a whole, odd and lovely.

“Power to the Power Bite 2” starts with call and response bird-like screeches and is filled out by a speedy, filthy bass line and post-punk guitar angularities. One of the singers (the whole band sings) leads the fray sounding Tim Harrington-esque (Les Savy Fav) and the rest of the singers sound like birds complemented by squawking guitars. If anything, the beginning of the album is the most post-punk influenced section. With “Vampire Beats”, the alarm is sounded and the Mae Shi announce their mission; the album picks up a great deal of steam from this point on.

Electronic pop songs play alongside choruses of the entire band screaming; there is a repeated chant of “Loss is everywhere” that surfaces in several songs; sounds range from hand-clapping, chanting screamed choruses with minimal instrumentation to electronic whirs, clicks and loops to heavy rock riffs with pulsing drums in a matter of seconds and make much less sense when taken out of context. But the beauty of what the Mae Shi have made is how much sense it all makes when taken in in one sitting. I guess if you pressed me, I’d name “Vampire Beats," “Testify!" ”Body 2," “Jubilation” and the “Repetition” suite as stand out tracks that might fit in a party playlist---but, again, I would highly recommend listening to this album as a whole.

Post-punk is a sound that has been absolutely pillaged in recent years and the fact that a band can make a call to arms utilizing those sounds in such a climate is, at the very least, inspiring. Perhaps it’s the fact that the Mae Shi aren’t content to reference Gang of Four and Wire and the more recent stylings of Les Savy Fav. They incorporate those sounds with hardcore references, nods to the Minutemen and Fugazi, the electronica sounds we all love, hints of hip-hop production, a healthy dose of the experimentalism of Silver Apples, Deerhoof and Fog, as well a mighty hefty serving of art-damaged personality.

I started this review out with a mention of the insurgent iCulture because I worry that this album will be over looked do to a lack of songs that will fit on a ‘Best of 2k4’ playlist or mixtape. Battling against the destruction of album, the Mae Shi have made a decidely iTunes unfriendly and suprisingly cohesive (in light of its eclecticism) collection of songs that demands a solid listen and a good 41 minutes of attention. As such, it’s more challenging than the indie-rock that makes its way into heavy rotation on college radio, and in the end, has the potential to be infinitely more rewarding as a whole. Yes, dammit, they’ve made a good and compellingly weird argument for keeping albums around a little bit longer. Screech on, you crazy terrorbird. Sean Ford :: 03 August 2004 |