ARTIST: Minus The Bear
TITLE: Menos el Oso
LABEL: Suicide Squeeze Records
GENRE: Indie
SOURCE: CD
BITRATE: 253 kbps avg
PLAYTIME: 44:46
RELEASE DATE: 2005-00-00
RIP DATE: 2017-03-10
ENCODER: LAME 32bits version 3.98.4 (http://www.mp3dev.org/) -V0
Track List
----------
1. The Game Needed Me 3:15
2. Memphis And 53rd 3:40
3. Drilling 5:03
4. The Fix 3:31
5. El Torrente 4:56
6. Pachuca Sunrise 3:35
7. Michio's Death Drive 3:35
8. Hooray 4:17
9. Fulfill The Dream 3:23
10. The Pig War 4:38
11. This Ain't A Surfin' Movie 4:53
Release Notes:
In music, potential can be a slippery concept. Less tenable in a Seattle
retro-rock quartet than, say, a 6'4" prep school pitcher with a great fastball,
potential causes both critics and fans to recklessly affix phrases "shows
promise" and "nice raw instincts" to lackluster debuts, hoping these consolation
prizes will come to fruition or at least become self-fulfilling prophecies. For
Seattle quintet Minus the Bear, the potential on 2001's This Is What I Know
About Being Gigantic EP has been the sole sustenance in a career marked by
unfledged EPs and a fallow full-length. While Menos el Oso falls short of
watershed magnitude, the album showcases Minus the Bear's spaz-prog mishmash
subtly solidifying into something potent.
Minus the Bear's instrumental prowess has always been a double-edged sword:
Although their signature jittery riffs and hyperactive song structures initially
reel listeners in, singer Jake Snider can't hold a candle to his bandmates,
forcing them to sacrifice complex compositions for Jimmy Eat World-style
power-pop choruses. However, Snider and his mates strike a compromise on Menos
el Oso, allowing the instruments to carry an increased share of the melody while
the singer's dry vocals take a backseat.
Opener (and possible west-coast shout-out) "The Game Needed Me" deploys jerky
percussion, vulcanized bass, and spring-loaded guitar swells to complement
Snider's smooth, detached Pedro the Lion imitation. The reduced airtime makes
room for more rhythmic and technical noodling, and on "Memphis and 53rd", this
conservative vocals approach produces one of the band's most commendable, and
downright pretty, mid-tempo efforts. The song opens with a reverb-heavy riff
reminiscent of Sunny Day Real Estate, building steadily towards a jazzy albeit
anxiety-ridden chorus until Snider wisely heeds to the best riff on the album--
a spacey, lithe little maneuver that makes the album's finger-spraining licks
seem even more gratuitous.
Unfortunately, there just aren't enough interesting ideas here to conceal
Snider's limitations. "The Fix" and "Fulfill the Dream" each storm out the gate
like Q and Not U rockers, but the vocals drag behind, eventually necessitating a
masturbatory guitar solo to finish off both tracks. Menos el Oso ultimately
stumbles on its own self-conscious maturity. Yes, the outlandishly long song
titles and sophomoric lyrics have mostly vanished, but "El Torrente" and "The
Pig War" don't need to take cues from sopor-groups Karate or Death Cab for
Cutie. Still, whether or not Minus the Bear ever fulfill their once prodigious
expectations is irrelevant at this point. They ain't exactly blue chip prospects
anymore, but I can settle for a solid, developed role player.