We Are Scientists’ Brain Thrust Mastery
This New York indie-rock outfit won our hearts with the Kaiser Chiefs-esque single Nobody Move Nobody Get Hurt off their acclaimed debut album. One man down, and with a sound that comfortably straddles indie and pop, the duo seem to be mourning the departure of former drummer and friend, Michael Tapper. Describing themselves as rock music of the thoughtful, sometimes epic, often loud, vaguely danceable, implicitly humanist variety, the trio-turn-duo bring a darker, more intense variation of goods to the table on Brain Thrust Mastery. Without the sunshine of their debut, With Love And Squalor, We Are Scientists’ sophomore release is gritty, angry and filled with what critics have claimed is an excessive amount of self-doubt. In their defence, when did riff driven, 80’s-infused pop-rock ever come without a teaspoon or two of self-loathing?
Tagged: indie-rock, New York bands
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I love the glitchy electro-pop of Saratoga band Phantogram, whose album Eyelid Movies is out now on Ghostly. Josh Carter, one half of the duo, says: ‘Daydreams, the spots you see moving around when your eyes are closed tight, and the shapes you see in the world, those are the kinds of things we want to surface in your mind when you hear a Phantogram song.’ And you do, as you spin to its gloriously wistful intonations. [Listen to When I'm Small]
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Also by MONIQUE ROTHSTEIN
We checked in with Sydney-based songwriter Fergus Brown to get the inside story on his wonderfully quirky and catchy pop song, Nerds In Love [below]: ‘It was was a fun song write. Some songs can be tortuous, but this was an imagined, tongue-in-cheek vignette of my life spent together with a certain girl I’d seen around. That’s all it was. At least, until a friend of mine blurted to this girl that I’d written a song about her. And he gave her a copy. We’re friends now. She’s a very talented, and successful, visual artist. She was flattered. Recently, I heard that another person thinks it was written about them. I’m looking forward to that awkward conversation sometime in the future’. Fergus Brown has just been announced as the support for American singer-songwriter, Martha Wainwright on all eleven shows of her Australian tour.
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Matt Ranzetta has created a ‘minimalist crossover poster series, remixing classic movies with Star Wars iconography’. We love it. Read more
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Jack said | 2 April, 2008
I like this album, but it isn’t as special as the debut. My favourite tracks are After Hours, Impatience, and Tonight.