Music
The best kept secret in music
Press
http:/www.whisperinandhollerin.com/reviews/review.asp?id=4004
For the sonically adventurous, or anybody sick of predictability and cookie-cutter boredom, Less the Band is what you have been longing for. Opening with the spare, droning "Science," Less the Band summon the sly talk-singing of Lou Reed's "Walk on the Wild Side" and give it an Eels makeover on "I Want to Know You," a bizarre tale of longing well-suited for robotic courtship.
Less the Band's short attention span never has them sticking to a groove. On "Cord On Rat," the group goes nuts, copping a Pink Floyd "Money" riff with the ominous tones of Joy Division then abruptly crashing into a stomping beat and strangely rapped vocals. Your parents will be scared.
Much has been made of the post-punk revival lately, but Less The Band more accurately reflects the no-compromise edges of the genre's original philosophy than many of today's wanna-be's. With obvious influences ranging from Public Image Ltd. to Sonic Youth and the Pixies, Less the Band embody the damn the mainstream attitude which sparked post-punk in the first place.
- Whisperin & Hollerin a UK Review by Adam Harrington
I remember fondly a band called Mule, which was active for four glorious years in the early ’90s. Mule played this weird kind of blues-rock, with total punk inspiration, like a good, dangerous Jon Spencer. The band fucked with the blues so badly, in such a fine way, that it made me buy their records for the absurd quality of the songs. Turned out some suck. That’s beside the point.
Less the band, a new NYC project involving some well-reputed Louisville folks (Ray Rizzo, you make me smile!), made me think about Mule for the first time since I last moved. They’re bluesy like Captain Beefheart, with all kinds of weird barking vocals that play like percussion, and a Sonic Youth sense of noise parameters. “Cord on Rat,” a disjointed paranoid fantasy a la Radiohead or Pink Floyd (lyrically), jumps with the unbounded energy of a child first discovering open spaces. “I Don’t Know You Now” does the Flaming Lips (just for, like, 30 seconds) better than the Flaming Lips do. Speaking of, that song kicks off a three-tune, 23-minute denouement that shows the band’s supreme musical athleticism. Do not — I repeat, DO NOT — miss this album. - Louisville Eccentric Obsever
Coming up closer to the surface, however, is a work from a band that acts as a companion piece to other art it creates. Bear from Less the Band stands on its own as a recording of downbeat, down-tempo, dreamy and trippy ambient rock. But it also acts as a soundtrack to the band's stage show and the stories that unfold on the band's Web site, which also contains an interactive Flash-based comic book that explains the concept of the album and why there's a childlike drawing of a robot and a bear trudging through a snowstorm on the back cover.
Expertly-produced by Louisville's Ray Rizzo, who is also the band's percussionist, Bear is full of music that mirrors Rizzo's own musical experiments in pop (with L'Woo), soul and funk (a.m. sunday) and jazz (the Java Men). The songs contain flashes of dry lyrical wit amid the often lovely melodies textured in reverbed guitar and synthesizer. There's some Lou Reed style talk-singing in "I Want to Know You" and a stinging rap in "Cord on Rat." An added treat are the short instrumental bon mots between several of the tracks, such as "Transmission Theory" and "If I Unscrew That Will Your Ass Fall Off?"
Two particular tracks, though separated by others, seem to form the basis of a story: the aforementioned "I Want to Know You" and "I Don't Know You Now." The latter contains a variation of the melody played at the end of "I Want," before the theme featured in "Transmission Theory" appears, followed by a finale where the tempo increases and the vocals become wailing and angry. The two songs act as a theatrical core for the entire work, which makes Bear far more than a stand-alone recording. It seems like it is only part of a larger work that can stand alone, but needs a connection to something visual. It's a soundtrack needing a movie or a stage show. That by no means makes Bear worthless. Instead, it lets its listeners look for their own ways to match their visuals to the music they hear.
Unfortunately, Orson Welles stepped away from his Heart of Darkness project. It would be several decades later before the story was once again adapted for the screen, but not before the locale was moved to Vietnam, the story altered so that it involved a renegade Army colonel and an officer sent to kill him and its name changed to Apocalypse Now. Still, the deep story structure remained intact while the film's creators took calculated and effective liberties with the appearance. Just like someone who takes a simple oval of train track and builds an entire railroad world from it.
Recent Fossils and Bear do that for music.
http://www.louisvillemusicnews.net/webmanager/index.php?WEB_CAT_ID=49&storyid=3950 - Louisvillemusicnews.com
Coming up closer to the surface, however, is a work from a band that acts as a companion piece to other art it creates. Bear from Less the Band stands on its own as a recording of downbeat, down-tempo, dreamy and trippy ambient rock. But it also acts as a soundtrack to the band's stage show and the stories that unfold on the band's Web site, which also contains an interactive Flash-based comic book that explains the concept of the album and why there's a childlike drawing of a robot and a bear trudging through a snowstorm on the back cover.
Expertly-produced by Louisville's Ray Rizzo, who is also the band's percussionist, Bear is full of music that mirrors Rizzo's own musical experiments in pop (with L'Woo), soul and funk (a.m. sunday) and jazz (the Java Men). The songs contain flashes of dry lyrical wit amid the often lovely melodies textured in reverbed guitar and synthesizer. There's some Lou Reed style talk-singing in "I Want to Know You" and a stinging rap in "Cord on Rat." An added treat are the short instrumental bon mots between several of the tracks, such as "Transmission Theory" and "If I Unscrew That Will Your Ass Fall Off?"
Two particular tracks, though separated by others, seem to form the basis of a story: the aforementioned "I Want to Know You" and "I Don't Know You Now." The latter contains a variation of the melody played at the end of "I Want," before the theme featured in "Transmission Theory" appears, followed by a finale where the tempo increases and the vocals become wailing and angry. The two songs act as a theatrical core for the entire work, which makes Bear far more than a stand-alone recording. It seems like it is only part of a larger work that can stand alone, but needs a connection to something visual. It's a soundtrack needing a movie or a stage show. That by no means makes Bear worthless. Instead, it lets its listeners look for their own ways to match their visuals to the music they hear.
Unfortunately, Orson Welles stepped away from his Heart of Darkness project. It would be several decades later before the story was once again adapted for the screen, but not before the locale was moved to Vietnam, the story altered so that it involved a renegade Army colonel and an officer sent to kill him and its name changed to Apocalypse Now. Still, the deep story structure remained intact while the film's creators took calculated and effective liberties with the appearance. Just like someone who takes a simple oval of train track and builds an entire railroad world from it.
Recent Fossils and Bear do that for music.
http://www.louisvillemusicnews.net/webmanager/index.php?WEB_CAT_ID=49&storyid=3950 - Louisvillemusicnews.com
Discography
BEAR - released april 2006 - avail. itunes (worldwide), rhapsody, cd baby
upcoming ... ROBOT (sister album to BEAR)
Photos
Feeling a bit camera shy
Bio
“For the sonically adventurous, or anybody sick of predictability and cookie-cutter boredom, Less the Band is what you have been longing for.” - www.whisperinandhollerin.com
With no front man, Less is a collaboration of five professional New York City artists where the music stands in the center. As gnome-like tinkers they like to crack open the circuitry of the emblematic android of modern culture and with a post-punk scalpel and space-rock suture attempt to graft the tin man a heart. Some of them have been on TV or in films and you might say “oh, that guy”, you may have picked up a book or two by one (one is banned by the Pennsylvania school system), or seen another play with other world famous bands. Here their work is to bring harmony and dynamics to 3 guitars, bass, drums, effects, and a chorus of vocals coming from a spectrum of influences, colliding in the center. Straying toward the satisfying riff yet detesting sugar they invoke the sensation of a person on a diet being tempted by desert, binging then purging.
“They’re bluesy like Captain Beefheart, with all kinds of weird barking vocals that play like percussion, and a Sonic Youth sense of noise parameters. ‘Cord on Rat’, a disjointed paranoid fantasy a la Radiohead or Pink Floyd (lyrically), jumps with the unbounded energy of a child first discovering open spaces. ‘I Don’t Know You Now’ does the Flaming Lips (just for, like, 30 seconds) better than the Flaming Lips do.” - Louisville Eccentric Observer
Born out of necessity in Fall of ’04 (for the portrayal of a rock band in an Off-Broadway play) and thriving to maturity on their creative work ethic, Less has surpassed their origin playing venues throughout the country and the world with bands such as My Morning Jacket, Red Romance, Richard Swift, Arizona, Nervous Cabaret, Dawn Landes, Amps II Eleven, etc. In spring of ’06 they released their first full length “Bear” recorded at Soma Studios in Chicago with Tim Iseler, (engineer for Tortoise, Wilco, Rachels), and then in New York with engineer Kevin Meeker (Dr. John, Liz Phair), which has since been receiving radio play across the country. They collaborated with artist Danica Novgorodoff on the graphic novel “A Late Freeze” based on the characters and story appearing in their music which became winner of the 2006 Isotope Award. Then in the summer of ’06 the play which birthed Less, “Finer Noble Gases”, was resurrected thru the life of the band and became the dark horse hit of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival winning numerous awards and accolades.
Their pace isn’t slowing with a second album mastered and awaiting release, songs from both albums appearing in upcoming film soundtracks, and an animated music short of “A Late Freeze” in the works. Less are also founding contributors of “Motherlodge”.
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