Idiot :)

Link to original article: http://goodtimesmag.com/Issue1031/lispotlight.html

Idiot: Heavily Crazed

Who: Finalists in the 2009 Long Island Music Festival, this dynamic threesome offers a whole lot more than silver paint and bunny ears.

The Artists & The Sound: Idiot was formed roughly three years ago by bassist Jeff Yanchek and lead vocalist/guitarist Matt “Mumbles” Nyberg who met while studying their respective instruments at Berklee College of Music in Boston. After completing school, the two found themselves in New York looking to start a band, and eventually doing so after teaming up with Sean Lynch who was described as “an animal” on drums.


Not long after, the band established themselves with a name, a sound, and a humorous persona unique their own. With music as heavy and serious as theirs, it was a conscious decision from day one to present the band in a more light-hearted, jokey fashion, proving to audiences that the people who create and play music like theirs don’t necessarily need to be dressed in “chains and leather with a pissed off look on their faces, overselling an image of what the band is “supposed to look like.”


Beginning with the band’s name, untraditional by any metalhead’s standards, “Idiot” was inspired by the classic court jesters (or “buffos” in the operatic tradition) whose role it was to convey oversights and truths amidst drama in an entertaining, sometimes sarcastic way to audience members. Coupling that with live performances that they describe as “orgasm and then guilt” in which band members painted themselves silver and sported bunny rabbit ears, they were soon successful in demonstrating that clearly they took their music seriously, but themselves, not so much.


Drawing influences from bands such as Radiohead, King Crimson, and Tool, Idiot’s progressive metal sound covers the musical spectrum “from Sigur Ros to Meshuggah,” though it tends to be “a bit more dramatic, with intense and chaotic overtones.” According to the band, “Idiot sounds like standing on top of a pickup truck that’s going 120 mph while shooting zombies with the sawed off shogun that your grandmother gave you last Christmas.” Chew on that one for a minute.


Since getting together, Idiot has released a demo that is a compilation of recordings (which can be purchased on iTunes through their website) that they likened to “schizophrenic anxiety attacks that force you into a state of ego-death, which is followed by transcendence of time and space and then a strong urge for jello pudding,” and are currently working on a full-length album with an anticipated February release date.


The band joked, “our goal for this album is [for it] to sound bad for people who have horrible taste in music,” going on to say that “it was influenced heavily by Norwegian death metal and Justin Beiber: yes that’s right, Idiot has Beiber Fever!”


Idiot hopes to tour in support of the new album, with an ultimate goal of being successful and living “a comfortable- but not too comfortable lifestyle through making music.” In the meantime, the band reminds you that “Idiot is available for weddings and Bar Mitzvahs.”


To Contact the Band: Catch Idiot live on Friday January 15, 2010 at The Dublin Pub in New Hyde Park. For more info on the band, to hear music, and get a schedule, visit IdiotMusic.com
-Blair Lamendola
- Good Times Magazine

Link to original article: http://www.hartfordadvocate.com/article.cfm?aid=14308

Eclectic Boogaloo
The Radio 104 Battle of the Bands at The Warehouse is serious business; and Saskia Laroo's acid grooves melt Middletown

Tuesday, August 25, 2009
By Dan Barry

You can battle for bragging rights, for cred, or for a chance to record your demo. But when the prize is filthy lucre — in this case, $1,004 — that's when the heavyweights come out. The second Battle of the Bands I've attended in as many weeks was also the most professional one I've ever seen. Hosted by The Warehouse in Hartford, and sponsored by Radio 104.1 and Dream Team Entertainment, this ongoing battle is offering some serious prizes (cash, record deals, airplay, a gig), and has attracted some serious talent. (Bands can still enter, too — look for a link on radio1041.fm.)

This past Thursday, I was blown away by Idiot, whose heavy riffing shotgun-blasted away any whiff of insincerity in their name. The power trio played slow, noisy math metal — think Helmet, Deftones or Unsane — but with non-linear song structures that were more reminiscent of Dillinger Escape Plan. Their material was eclectic and unpredictable, with electronics and Weather Channel-style smooth jazz punctuating the metal, but Idiot always had slick transitions to guide each song from port to port.

I loved their push-pull polyrhythms. At one point bassist Jeff Yanchek played a spiraling riff on his 5-stringer while Sean Lynch went apeshit on the drums with complex fills. Meanwhile, vocalist/guitarist Nyberg washed their intricate work in noise, as though to unstitch it and fill it with chaos. One of their song closings was equally powerful, with Nyberg quietly tapping his guitar strings on the neck and whisper-singing in a voice not unlike Chevelle's Pete Loeffler. He commanded the audience's attention so thoroughly that no one noticed Yanchek and Lynch, who were playing more quietly with each passing note. The band perfectly executed a live fadeout. If anyone in the audience had spoken, they could have broken the spell — that's how quietly the band was playing. It's to Idiot's great credit that everyone was rapt. And apparently, the effect lasted. At press time, Idiot was dominating the online polls, with almost 57 percent of the popular vote.

As for the follow-up act, Call 2 Consciousness — Hartford, seriously? When they weren't busy ripping off Green Day or Blink 182, they were fucking up their Weezer covers. Dude, everyone in our entire generation has "My Name is Jonas" committed to memory; did they really think we wouldn't notice their drummer stumbling or the whole band screwing up the crescendo? Or did they just expect we wouldn't care?

Hartbeat's C2C did play a lot of original material, but it was typical woe-is-me, post-breakup stuff. To their credit, C2C brought the biggest crowd of the night to The Warehouse. And their fans were really into it.

Saturday was a treat when Amsterdam's Saskia Laroo fronted a local supergroup at Middletown's Fishbone Café. The venue, rapidly becoming the Sully's of local jazz, was packed with people digging the quartet, which featured Warren Byrd on keys, Liviu Pop on drums, and Dave Anderson on bass. They played some standards, but really got ripping on trumpeter Laroo's originals, which were jazz-funk with hints of acid jazz and hip-hop. Laroo tweaked her horn's sound with a belt full of effect pedals, using delay effects to dilate and thicken her sound. It was as though the knobs allowed her to twiddle with time itself. Meanwhile, all three locals took heroic solos. Byrd in particular is like a living fountain, constantly spouting forth fresh ideas, possessed of a reliable playfulness and whimsy, avoiding repetition at all cost.

You can check out Idiot online at idiotmusic.com, and Call 2 Consciousness at c2cband.com.



- The Hartford Advocate

Link to original article: http://www.adequacy.net/2008/07/idiot-2008-demo/

Idiot – 2008 Demo
July 23, 2008 by Laura Bettney
Category: Albums (and EPs)


Idiot, consisting of Nyberg on vox/guitar, Sean Lynch on drums and Jeff Yanchek on bass, met at a Hanson concert according to their Myspace. I think that’s probably a wind-up, since the Hanson influences are few and far between on this demo (fortunately, or maybe not depending on your perspective). Instead this sounds like a very metal version of Queens of the Stone Age, mixed with some of the heavier Muse riffs and hints of the screamy bits employed by Die So Fluid and Cortizone. For me, this does verge a bit too far into “metal” sometimes for my tastes, but it has to be admitted that Idiot do what they do very well and provide some enjoyable vocal melodies and great, heavy riffs.

Opener “Frankie Sharp” has a fast opening riff, reminiscent of Muse’s “Assassin”, from their album Black Holes and Revelations, with all the instruments chugging away furiously. This breaks off suddenly, with the bass guitar making the majority of the noise, to reveal vocals best pictured if you could imagine some kind of Josh Homme/Nick Oliveri hybrid – with Homme doing the melodic stuff and Oliveri doing the screamy bits he was so good at. This is a frenetic and exciting opener to the demo, certainly making it difficult not to be intrigued as to where the rest

“Smile 2012? seems to rely pretty heavily on the same chugging, fast riff – again very (even more so) reminiscent of “Assassin” by Muse. Again, there is the mix of melodic singing with the occasional System of a Down-esque scream thrown in for good measure. This has a great chorus section, with tremolo guitar parts (it also sounds like there might be some synthed string parts layered in as well) over a really good vocal part that shows off the vocal talents of Nyberg – the only thing that should be said, and it’s a fairly small point and kind of adds to the overall feel of the music, is that his intonation is frankly, appalling, making it very difficult to catch anything but small snippets of the lyrics. Although I do usually have a major issue with this, the generally good tone of his voice and the catchy music kind of makes this a small niggle for me.

“Unimpressed”, the first slow track on the album is very Cortizone-esque, with a typical “System of a Down slow song” drum beat. There are some subtle and understated guitar parts here as well. For the most part there is the same trouble with intonation here, but I did manage to discern this: “Just think of me, as self-righteous/I’m just the result of the mindless”, which is alright, as far as lyrics go. However, I think there is less room for this kind of sloppiness with pronunciation on slower tracks. This said, it’s a very beautiful, epic song that drifts along nicely.

“Big Spender” takes us back to typical heavy form, with a great, dirty sounding bass line that Twiggy Ramirez would be proud of. Actually, this is the first time the bass has been very overstated and obviously doing something other than chugging away at root notes. This instantly kind of makes it the best song on the album for me. The singing is better here as well, with more of the lyrics being decipherable “Hey, big spender, show us all of your self-indulgences/ Be everything that we dream, don’t worry it’s not (something).” Again though, because the song just sounds so bad-ass, it almost doesn’t matter when you can’t hear bits of the lyrics, since you imagine they would most likely be just as bad-ass as the music.

The last track, “Thumbscrews”, definitely has some kind of weird electronic sampling going on underneath the melancholy, sweet acoustic guitar sounds, making me wonder which member of the band is responsible for this, as it’s not credited to any of them on their Myspace. Again, this is a slow number and shows off Nyberg’s vocal range well. The lyrics? I have no idea for the most part. Never mind.

Overall then, this is a great rock album with strong hints of metal thrown in. It has some fantastic riffs and a great vocal tone over the top of it all. However, on slow songs either the intonation needs to be much better, or the vocals need to be higher in the mix for them to come through clearly. I suppose, since it’s a demo, this is the kind of thing that can be ironed out later on. Definitely though, this is worth a listen – especially the heavy tracks, which are a great collection of truly blistering riffs.

- Delusions of Adequacy

Link to original article: http://gearsofrock.com/category/idiot/

Review: Idiot – Demo [2008]
Posted in Idiot, SOS Metal Update with tags Heavy Metal, Modern Rock on December 28, 2008 by gearsofrock

Idiot is a Metro NY area trio whose eight-track endeavor (Demo) showcases a band with a heavy sound made for the modern age. Changing over from fragile to frantic on the drop of a dime, this squad can flex its metallic muscle a la Deftones and Chevelle with the best of them (”Frankie Sharp,” “6?) yet can equally take to the heavens to bring down a dose of ethereal atmosphere a la Muse (4) while even delving into the electronic side of the spectrum to close out the affair (8). Unleashing a slew of slamming dynamic shifts with blistering guitars and booming bass fluctuating throughout while providing a well-balanced hybrid of pristine rock ‘n roll finishings and knuckle-dragging aggression, Idiot has crafted a supple supply of forward thinking metal that fans of today’s brand of brain-powered heavy will unquestionably adore. www.myspace.com/idiotbandpage -Mike SOS - Gears of Rock