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Des Moines indie-rock quartet Beati Paoli (pronounced BEE-ah-TEE POW-lee) blends pop music ("Girl Friday," "Maggie"), art rock ("Everyday is an Elegy," "You Are My Megalodon"), noise rock ("Lovely to Someone") and touches of acid rock ("Vulgarity Drifting Library") to create their second album, "A Sense Of Urgency." Singer-keyboardist Gregory Goode, bassist Ryan Meier, drummer Scott O'Gara, and guitarist Cecil Skrdlandt weave together intricate rhythm textures and catchy melodies to create an album that is as fun for the listener as it presumably was for the band to make. Additional credit goes to O'Gara for his deft ability at engineering and mixing and Doug Van Sloun for mastering an album that incorporates clever, but not over-used, fades and mutes to good effect. - Des Moines Cityview
Des Moines Band, Beati Paoli (pronounced BEE-ah-TEE POW-lee), don’t distinguish themselves by making stricktly pop rock, noise rock, or acid rock. Nor do they specifically make indie rock, art rock, or post punk rock. Beati Paoli manage to incorporate all of these styles of rock and roll, and probably a few not mentioned here, in the groups first full-length album, 2008’s “A Sense of Urgency”. Beati Paoli aren’t suffering from an identity crisis, however, they just seem to prefer their music this way. The crazy thing is that it works to a point of near perfection! The album is a cleverly woven listening experience to say the least.
“A Sense of Urgency” (track 2) is a good overall song to get the vibe of the album from a pop perspective. The song features some serious vintage sounding fuzz, and some great sing along style lyrics. For a more experimental indie feel of the band, “You are my Megalodon” (track 9) is a surefire winner with some stealthy and smart vocal work, a lengthy wavy-sounding intro, and a mishmash , noisy, outro.
In fact, “A Sense of Urgency” lives up to the albums title in as much as at times the music seems on the verge of complete musical meltdown. Portions of “Girl Friday”, “Vulgarity Drifting Diary” (track 5), and “You are my Megalodon” are good examples of this. However, listening to the way the band layers their sound and manages the possible perceived disorder, this meltdown is indeed a Beati Paoli controlled blast. The group manage to balance the tight wire act of musical experimentation and yet still retain the bands melodic sound. After a few listens of “A Sense of Urgency”, this chaos begins to look more and more orderly. What would be truly be chaotic were to be if Beati Paoli were to make strictly cookie-cutter pop songs, denying the listeners their abilities with the sound they display on this album!
You’ll enjoy “A Sense of Urgency” if you like:
the Strokes, the Killers, the Clash, Weezer, Radiohead, Beck, the Cure, the Pixies
“A Sense of Urgency” was produced by Beati Paoli, recorded at Smoking Guns Studio in Des Moines, and released the Beati Paolis newly launched label “the Noising Machine”. Beati Paoli are Gregory Goode, Ryan C. Meier, Scott O’Gara, and Cecil Skrdlant. The band has been together since 2005 and have toured the United States extensively. - Ottumwa Scene Online
So usually bored with EMO and terrible Rap, Des Moines, IA's Beati Paoli found me tonight. After listening to independent experi-rock by simple coincendence, review after review, here I am with yet another. Very much high-tempoed and focused on a bone chillin atmospheric blend of instrumentation, vocals are a back stove item here. Vulgarity Drifting Diary is a perfect example. Discount, midgrade recording budget's, this being their first full length record since their demo in 2005, they have made a fine splash.
Look to the title track for songs that carry a traditional structure, but an I don't give a f*ck feel for any rules. Light heartedly stroked bridges amidst strong full bars, and a scratchy vocalist that somehow keeps the glue warm throughout. Go to Maggie for a more dinstinct feel on the vocals and even a bit of an acoustic dramelody.
All in all Beati Paoli brings a warmth of DIY rock that I welcome. There is no plastic casing to unwrap, they are what they are, and I'm digging their full and unpolished sound. I'm very much looking out for other releases.
-Brian Rutherford
Music Emissions - Music Emissions
Discography
EP: "Penny Dreadful" (2006)
LP: "A Sense of Urgency" (2008)
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Bio
From Des Moines, Iowa comes Beati Paoli (pronounced BEE-ah-TEE POW-lee), a popular rock quartet that "straddles the precarious line between indie grit and theatrical pop flair". Beati Paoli has been steadily building a fanbase with their electric live performances, playing with the likes of British Sea Power, Man Man, and Asobi Seksu. Both live and on record, BP has been compared to early R.E.M., the Killers, Talking Heads, and claims influences such as the Cure, Pixies, the Clash, and the Smiths.
Listening to BP on record and experiencing them live are two separate worlds, both worth living in. The recordings are full of experimental instumentation and carefully textured arrangements, ideal soundscapes for headphone scrutiny. Live, the band's mix of rhythmic precision and reverb-drenched guitars coalese to create an experience notably different but equally vital to the idea of what Beati Paoli is and what Beati Paoli can do. Both act as essential outlets for the restless drive that brought these four young men together in the first place under a name that evokes curiosity, creativity, and above all a distinct point of view: Beati Paoli.
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