Mark Birtles Project

April 14

Art Crime
MBP
Rectangle Records
***

These head-slapping tracks from Edmonton's Mark Birtles Project (MBP) feel messy in a good way, as if they had been siphoned straight from a sweaty club. The songs are full of hard-knuckled interlocking rhythms and the kind of brainy passionate demands for fun we used to hear from Captain Beefheart and the most foolhardy shock troops of the New Wave.

"It's all right to feel nice!" Birtles shouts in his plaintive, thrill-seeking wail, like a town crier in Sodom. Sno Cone Sand Party shoves you into a big old convertible and heads straight for trouble of the most entertaining sort. A Walking Tour of Toronto hurtles along a prickly mesh of percussive riffs and dada-minded lyrics, abruptly collapsing into a lazy tango for saxophone. Truly a high point in the history of screwball rock. If only we could all be at the crazy party this disc evokes.

MBP plays L'Escogriffe in Montreal on Aug. 15, the Haviland Club in Charlottetown on Aug. 18, Gus's Pub in Halifax on Aug. 19 and the Underground in Hamilton on Aug. 22. - Globe and Mail

MARK BIRTLES PROJECT
Art Crime
(Rectangle)
****

The Mark Birtles Project sure chose a great label to release their first full-length album–Rectangle Records’ roster includes some of the best young indie-rockers in Alberta: Woodpigeon, Jane Vain and the Dark Matter, Twin Fangs, and now, MBP.

Clocking in at less than 30 minutes, Art Crime is a quickie, but Bryan Birtles and his boys pack a lot into it, from anthemic fist-pumping ("Pyramids") to new wave ("Tick Tack Talk") to art-school punk ("A Walking Tour of Toronto", which includes a great little late-song breakdown that sounds like someone strangling a saxophone). There’s even a bilingual song, "Oh Mon Dieu," a prerequisite for any good Canadian band (and probably helps when you’re trying to secure a government arts grant).

MBP might benefit from pushing the hooks a little more front and centre, since there are some great little keyboard and guitar riffs buried under all the power chords, but it’s fine and dandy ear candy all the same–nervy, tense, trebly fun.

Great releases by local artists haven’t exactly been plentiful lately, so be glad for a gem like this.

MATTHEW HALLIDAY
- See Magazine Edmonton

MBP
Art Crime is a Crime
Rectangle

****/5

DAVID BERRY / david@vueweekly.com
Edmonton stalwarts MBP (more commonly known as Mark Birtles Project until now) picked the right damn time to finally release its debut full-length: MBP’s relentless, spastic sound is almost the perfect music for the type of sweat-lodge heat Edmonton’s been subjected to lately, as shock-to-your-system refreshing as the first cold pint on a sun-baked patio.
Should-be single “Pyramids� is unquestionably the album’s stand out, using wistfully catchy guitars and raggedly pure drums to capture the kind of aimless essentialness of Mark Raymond’s lyrics as he describes wasting summer days by wandering around downtown, getting high or stacking rocks. Nothing else is quite that good, but the band nevertheless puts together an impressive string of breezy-but-rocking numbers that keeps the energy high.
Overall, it might be the perfect summer rock ‘n’ roll soundtrack, with the only drawback being that getting up and dancing will only make you more sweaty than you already are. - Vue Weekly Edmonton

EDMONTON — Edmonton's Mark Birtles Project made a pointed effort to break less things on their most recent cross-country tour.

"Now it only happens by accident," claims guitarist Bryan Birtles, half of the band's namesake.

While the group used to bring a baseball bat and a filing cabinet to shows, they now only bring their raw, sweaty energy, which tends to result in less incidents. "One of the reasons we stopped was that we hadn't been paid in, like, a year," says Birtles.

Still, the band argues that there was an artistic message in all that destruction. They make a clear distinction between nihilistic, destructive punk and their calculated brand of art-punk.

"It wasn't just for fun, as fun as it was," says Birtles.

There was also a statement about their Edmonton peers in there. Though there's been a lot of hype around the city's scene, the band are reluctant to jump on the praise wagon.

"We're trying to transcend just being a member of the scene, as much as we like it," says guitarist/keyboardist Blake Betteridge.

This is somewhat ironic, considering they started the band to stick it to others in the scene who were acting like jerks. But all those bands have now broken up and Mark Birtles Project are still around.

"Now we act like jerks, so I guess it's come full circle," says bassist Steve Powers.

The band recently recorded their first full-length album, Art Crimes. The title is part a reference to the art-punk contained on the album and part a reference to literal art thievery. Translating that frenetic, file cabinet-breaking energy on to an album can be challenging, but the band would run laps around the studio or record live-off-the-floor to try and emulate the intensity of their live show.

They no longer consider themselves a live band first and a studio band second. As Betteridge immodestly puts it, "We're excellent at both."

Thanks to Rectangle Records' distribution deal, Art Crimes can be found in HMV stores across the country.

"We checked every one on our tour," says Betteridge. "No one is buying them, but they're there."

—Jason Halbauer - chartattack.com