It’s easy to forget -when MTV seems to have forgotten just what its original purpose was- that there are still great music videos being made. Not least the fact that they probably wouldn’t be showing some of the year’s best at a time that those of us with 9-5 jobs and children probably would have time to watch.

The first single and video from Liars’ sixth LP WIXIW was the brilliant and not a little disturbing ‘No.1 Against The Rush’ which I wrote about here.

‘Brats’ looks and sounds completely different. This is still mental – just different mental!

Enjoy…

Read the 17 Seconds’ review of WIXIW here

Liars ‘WIXIW’ (Mute)

It’s been ten years since Liars first appeared. At the time, they were bracketed with the likes of The Rapture, !!!, Radio 4, LCD Soundsystem and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs as part of a new wave of dance-punk out of New York (in fact, the Yeah Yeah Yeah’s ‘Maps’ was written about singer Karen O’s relationship with then boyfriend Angus Andrew of Liars). The reality is that while all these acts have produced some amazing moments, none of the rest of them could keep up with Liars’ ability to reinvent themselves with each release. Not in terms of having characters a la Bowie (or Madonna, at a push), but in terms of the fact that six albums into their career, each release stands on its’ own merits. Distinctively different, distinctively Liars.

On WIXIW (it’s pronounced ‘Wish you,’ in case you were wondering) their sound continues to evolve, without the mistake that some acts make of assuming that evolve mist mean casting off the rough egdes that first make an act interesting, and refining their sound. because they can still experimwnt with harsh sound, make no mistake about it. But they can also have their moments of lushness, and Liars show that the two can coexist on one of their records quite happily.

First single ‘No.1 Against The Rush’ gives a good idea of what to expect (and this has Liars battling with Spiritualzied for X-rated video of the year). But it’s only part of the story. So few bands continue to innovate, experiment and grow with each release. Liars do.

And that’s the, um, truth.

****

WIXIW is released on Mute on June 4.

…and as a bonus:

Stream the Matmos remix here

…and this time, it’s Liars!

Liars are shortly to release their sixth album. Entitled WIXIW – it’s pronounced ‘wish you’ the album arrived at 17 Seconds Towers a few days ago. Much appreciated, long-awaited, and very very good.

It’s quite dark and intense, and yet somehow unmistakeably Liars. It’s released on June 4, and I will be posting my review of it shortly…

The tracklisting for the album is as follows:

The Exact Colour Of Doubt
Octagon
No.1 Against The Rush
A Ring On Every Finger
Ill Valley Prodigies
WIXIW
His And Mine Sensations
Flood To Flood
Who Is The Hunter
Brats
Annual Moon Words

‘No.1 Against the Rush’ is the first single, which will be released at the end of May, on the 28th. Here is the video, which rates up there with Spiritualized’s recent ‘Hey Jane’ as one of the ebst and most disturbing videos you will see this year. Don’t assume on first listen that they have suddenly gone coffee table-electronica. Believe me, they haven’t.

If you just want to listen to the track, stream it here:

Liars will return with their fifth album in 2010, entitled Sisterworld. Released on Mute, the album has been completely recorded in the US, and there is a free track entitled ‘Scissors’ doing the rounds, which starts off sounding almost like Fleet Foxes, before going off in a completely different direction.

Though I cannot find a UK release date for this album as yet, the tracklisting is as follows:

Scissor
No Barrier Fun
Here Comes All The People
Drip
Scarecrows On A Killer Slant
I Still Can See An Outside World
Proud Evolution
Drop Dead
The Overachievers
Goodnight Everything
Too Much, Too Much

Click here for free mp3 of ‘Scissors.’ mp3

Liars’ website/Liars’ myspace

Liars -‘Liars’ (Mute, 2007)

So the fourth Liars is upon us. Rumours have been flying around that this one will be more guitar-orientated, which some people have been interpreting as meaning that it might be more, uh, easier to listen to, and, you know, songs and stuff.

Well, anyone expecting them to be sounding like the Strokes will be disappointed, but this is perhaps the most accessible of the four albums that the New York trio have produced. As always there are a lot of hints of the No-wave New York scene of the late seventies, but this time there are also hints of those ultimate seminal guitar works Psychocandy and The Velvet Underground And Nico. There are songs, the rumours were right, and whilst the abrasiveness appears to have been turned down, the experimentalism that has made them so rewarding so far remains. Lead off single ‘Plaster Casts Of Everything’ opens and sets the tone along to closer ‘Protection.’ Some will invariably yell sell-out, but this is a good place to start investigating the Liars.

****

From Liars

Liars -‘Houseclouds.’ mp3

Liars -‘Pure Unevil.’ mp3

Liars -‘Clear Island.’ mp3

From Drum’s Not Dead

Liars -‘Let’s Not Wrestle Mt. Heart Attack.’ mp3

From They Were Wrong, So We Drowned.

Liars -‘There’s Always Room On the Broom.’ mp3

From They Threw Us All In A Trench And Stuck A Monument On Top

Liars -‘Loose Nuts On The Veladrome.’ mp3

These links will be up for one week only. If you like what you hear, please support the artists through your local independent record shop.