Minus the Bear

Y'all,

I'll come out and be the first to say that I'm not a big Minus the Bear fan. Seattle's darling band has released a few very averagely good records over the years and created a fan base that spans oceans. They are, to me, the remnants of Seattle's grunge - among other NW favorites like Built to Spill and Modest Mouse. They are the natural, direct evolution of that dead genre and, likewise, embody a sound that 'sounds NW.' Seattle's grunge movement captured the contrast between the raw energy of a newly bustling city, surrounded on all sides by some of the best nature has to offer in this country, with the general feeling of what it's like to live here. As Seattle died in the late 90's, so did grunge. From the ashes emerged a new kind of post-rock that embodies [imo] the mundanity, general dreariness, and out-of-touch feeling that graces our land for a majority of the year (it rains here a lot, btw!). Minus the Bear, as well as the other bands mentioned, have built mountains of sound: tall, twisty, complex, guitar-driven masterpieces.

So what is Minus the Bear up to on their upcoming LP release Omni (May 4; Dangerbird Records)? New record label + new toy = new sound. The album, named after the Omnichord synthesizer, will not be that complex guitar mountain masterpiece fans are expecting. And I expect that the scene will take notice. "My Time" is the synth-driven lead single from their upcoming release. The track marries the MTB vocals and general MTB caveats with a retro-future synth sound that could make Michael Angelakos' head turn. It's everything you would expect from MTB, except not. I'm wondering how hard it will be on the fans to swallow the new sound. I've listened to plenty of MTB in my time - Planet of Ice is one of my favs in my record collection - but I've never been able to get over the severe bland taste that develops in my mouth after back-to-back replays. It's like drinking soda; the first can is just as quenching as you'd expect it to be, but the second just tastes like corn syrup. MTB builds albums - not iPod filler; they're like books - you don't reread them back to back and you don't skip through to your favorite parts.

If MTB can build an album off of this sound, it has the potential to bring forth something new in Seattle's music scene. Not that the ideas presented in this song are anything special, just different. A new decade; a new sound. Let's just see what happens. Please, listen for yourself (you've been warned).

Minus the Bear (Wiki) | (OS) | (MS) - My Time (mp3 via Box)



UPDATE: Just listened to a couple new tracks off the forthcoming release. Can't wait to see how they bring it all together!!