The Incompetents

Coming to Beirut I had a few vague ideas of what kind of bands I hoped to discover. While these ideas were never specific, in my own naïve romantic imagine they involved bands that took real musical risks and encouraged their audience to participate, rather than just watch. On Thursday night I saw a band at Kunkunkun’s, in Gemmayze, that fit this description. That band was The Incompetents.
The Incompetents in Beirut.

The Incompetents in Beirut.

After the first 3 songs of The Incomptents’ set I was giddy. I was giddy because they had this knack for taking twisted, disjointed, Tom Waits-esque melodies and them mixing with happy, loud, and danceable guitar pop tunes, a la CBGB’s. On top of that they did these intricate psychedelic prog-rock breakdowns that didn’t last too long and didn’t scare half the crowd away. Just when you were about to go, “okay this is cool, but what the fuck?” they’d hit you in the face with a leg-kicking, noise rock free-for-all.
The incompetents

The incompetents

The free-wheeling collaborative nature of The Incompetents was inspiring and highly entertaining. At their core, they are a two-piece band. However, their live shows consist of a revolving door of stellar musicians who amazingly manage to make it all work. For me, the secret weapon behind this amazing cohesion was the rhythm section. Maya the drummer was possibly one of the coolest and refreshing drummers I have seen live in a long time. She was completely free and made every gut punching hit count. Then they had this bass player, Paed, who was like John Entwistle and Les Claypool rolled into one. Watching the two them made me grunt relentlessly.
Maya the drummer girl going for it!

Maya being awesome!

On the subject of grunting relentlessly, the Incompetents pulled off something very few bands can do: they covered Tom Waits and fucking killed it! Now, I don’t want to focus too much on the one cover that the band did, especially when their originals are awesome as well, but I think the fact that they pulled this off, in their own unique way, demonstrates the character and uniqueness of this band. On top of that they’re other major asset, the French guy in the black turtleneck who plays like 15 instruments, did a 20 second long solo for this song on soprano saxophone that was essentially comprised of one note. That pretty much did it for me.

At the end of the day it was refreshing to see a packed club enjoy such an interesting band. The band definitely shows their strength live; the full spectrum of sounds that they present live elevates the band beyond their recorded sound. Aside from some technical difficulties that sort of come with the territory when have about 37 instruments on stage, the band nailed it. Hopefully I can jam with these guys sometime. - Adrian Hartrick for 2famoustv.com

Coming to Beirut I had a few vague ideas of what kind of bands I hoped to discover. While these ideas were never specific, in my own naïve romantic imagine they involved bands that took real musical risks and encouraged their audience to participate, rather than just watch. On Thursday night I saw a band at Kunkunkun’s, in Gemmayze, that fit this description. That band was The Incompetents.
The Incompetents in Beirut.

The Incompetents in Beirut.

After the first 3 songs of The Incomptents’ set I was giddy. I was giddy because they had this knack for taking twisted, disjointed, Tom Waits-esque melodies and them mixing with happy, loud, and danceable guitar pop tunes, a la CBGB’s. On top of that they did these intricate psychedelic prog-rock breakdowns that didn’t last too long and didn’t scare half the crowd away. Just when you were about to go, “okay this is cool, but what the fuck?” they’d hit you in the face with a leg-kicking, noise rock free-for-all.
The incompetents

The incompetents

The free-wheeling collaborative nature of The Incompetents was inspiring and highly entertaining. At their core, they are a two-piece band. However, their live shows consist of a revolving door of stellar musicians who amazingly manage to make it all work. For me, the secret weapon behind this amazing cohesion was the rhythm section. Maya the drummer was possibly one of the coolest and refreshing drummers I have seen live in a long time. She was completely free and made every gut punching hit count. Then they had this bass player, Paed, who was like John Entwistle and Les Claypool rolled into one. Watching the two them made me grunt relentlessly.
Maya the drummer girl going for it!

Maya being awesome!

On the subject of grunting relentlessly, the Incompetents pulled off something very few bands can do: they covered Tom Waits and fucking killed it! Now, I don’t want to focus too much on the one cover that the band did, especially when their originals are awesome as well, but I think the fact that they pulled this off, in their own unique way, demonstrates the character and uniqueness of this band. On top of that they’re other major asset, the French guy in the black turtleneck who plays like 15 instruments, did a 20 second long solo for this song on soprano saxophone that was essentially comprised of one note. That pretty much did it for me.

At the end of the day it was refreshing to see a packed club enjoy such an interesting band. The band definitely shows their strength live; the full spectrum of sounds that they present live elevates the band beyond their recorded sound. Aside from some technical difficulties that sort of come with the territory when have about 37 instruments on stage, the band nailed it. Hopefully I can jam with these guys sometime. - Adrian Hartrick for 2famoustv.com

Conceived accidentally in 2007 by Serge Yared and Fadi Tabbal (a bastard band, sort of), The Incompetents is an ongoing musical project that has been delighting, infuriating, and perplexing the Beirut alternative music scene with upbeat folk-pop melodies, a constantly shifting line-up and unpredictable experimental tendencies.

The Incompetents debuted with “More Songs from the Victorious City” in 2008 when the band only consisted of Yared and Tabbal fiddling around in the studio with any and all instruments they could get their hands on. That effort was followed up by “I’m Really Important Back Home,” a 4-track EP released in 2011 with a more band-oriented approach. For this, Yared and Tabbal got a little help from some friends, including saxophonist Stephane Rives, keyboardist Vladimir Kurumilian, and drummer Malek Rizkallah of Scrambled Eggs and Who Killed Bruce Lee.

Their next step could be regarded as a sort of fusion of the two forms they have taken so far: “No Applause: The Incompetents Live at Tunefork” (2011) is The Incompetents’ first live album, recorded in Tabbal’s own Tunefork Studios. The lineup was once again whittled down to Yared and Tabbal, this time without the studio wizardry utilized on their debut release. The result: a collection of stripped down, minimal, sometimes altered on a whim, representations of past works: so pretty much, exactly like one of their live gigs.

That brings us to the band's latest release of their second studio album, “…Of Narcissism… and Minor Differences” (2012). This time around, the whole band is back. Yared and Tabbal joined forces once again with Rives, as well as newcomers Paed Conca and Maya Aghniadis, on bass and drums respectively.

The lyrics are a treat to read into because of how enigmatic they are. Love and relationships feature prominently as subjects, and there’s even some room for politics. When I say “love”, I am not referring to flowery ballads. There’s lamentation (It Could Happen to You), there’s heartbreak (This Gun for Hire), and there’s… love? (Breaking Point).

The one political song is “Stripped”, but there’s a twist here: “Stripped” is a vaguely political song detailing a list of essential humanistic elements that have been “stripped” away (home, dignity, family, etc.) However, despite that, there is still a sense of ambiguity to it, which doesn’t make it preachy, or even strictly political; it’s a matter of perception. The final track “Stripped (Exit)” is a reprise of the song, with an extra verse added in the beginning. In that verse, the elements recited are those of an individual (warmth, kindness, breath, etc.) Where the first version says “Stripped from my home” etc., the second says, “Stripped from your warmth” etc. So, it all comes full circle, and the song is revealed to cover the effects of political oppression on both the social and personal levels.

As usual, the beauty of the Incompetents’ sound lies in the bold variety of instrumentation. Harmonium, stylophone, banjo, you don’t hear those on the same album often do you?

A new feature found on this album is the instrumentals. The absence of lyrics left the band free to play around with instrumentation and structure, from the ethereal minimal electronic opener “Long Gone” to the raucous post-punk snippet that is “What Young Women Ought to Know”.

The band also flexes its compositional muscles with the alternating tones of a single song, for example, the semi-schizophrenic mood swings of “This Gun for Hire”.

There's one thing about the band that's produced a consistent love-hate attitude from audiences who listen to the Incompetents: Yared’s “unpolished” singing style. Some love it, others loathe it. He's certainly come a long way since “More Songs…”, where it wasn’t necessarily awful, but merely “raw”. It has been cooking for some time now, marinating in confidence and seasoned with experience. Despite that, Yared remains more of a treat for those with unconventional tastes. So does this entire album really…

Once again, The Incompetents fail miserably to live up to their namesake by putting out an album that successfully demonstrates their versatility and dynamism in a way that is their own. Maybe someday boys, maybe someday…

The Incompetents' latest album is available for purchase at the Beirut Art Center, Dar Bistro and Books, Chico Video shop and Music Now. - Omar Al Fil for Beirut.com

Conceived accidentally in 2007 by Serge Yared and Fadi Tabbal (a bastard band, sort of), The Incompetents is an ongoing musical project that has been delighting, infuriating, and perplexing the Beirut alternative music scene with upbeat folk-pop melodies, a constantly shifting line-up and unpredictable experimental tendencies.

The Incompetents debuted with “More Songs from the Victorious City” in 2008 when the band only consisted of Yared and Tabbal fiddling around in the studio with any and all instruments they could get their hands on. That effort was followed up by “I’m Really Important Back Home,” a 4-track EP released in 2011 with a more band-oriented approach. For this, Yared and Tabbal got a little help from some friends, including saxophonist Stephane Rives, keyboardist Vladimir Kurumilian, and drummer Malek Rizkallah of Scrambled Eggs and Who Killed Bruce Lee.

Their next step could be regarded as a sort of fusion of the two forms they have taken so far: “No Applause: The Incompetents Live at Tunefork” (2011) is The Incompetents’ first live album, recorded in Tabbal’s own Tunefork Studios. The lineup was once again whittled down to Yared and Tabbal, this time without the studio wizardry utilized on their debut release. The result: a collection of stripped down, minimal, sometimes altered on a whim, representations of past works: so pretty much, exactly like one of their live gigs.

That brings us to the band's latest release of their second studio album, “…Of Narcissism… and Minor Differences” (2012). This time around, the whole band is back. Yared and Tabbal joined forces once again with Rives, as well as newcomers Paed Conca and Maya Aghniadis, on bass and drums respectively.

The lyrics are a treat to read into because of how enigmatic they are. Love and relationships feature prominently as subjects, and there’s even some room for politics. When I say “love”, I am not referring to flowery ballads. There’s lamentation (It Could Happen to You), there’s heartbreak (This Gun for Hire), and there’s… love? (Breaking Point).

The one political song is “Stripped”, but there’s a twist here: “Stripped” is a vaguely political song detailing a list of essential humanistic elements that have been “stripped” away (home, dignity, family, etc.) However, despite that, there is still a sense of ambiguity to it, which doesn’t make it preachy, or even strictly political; it’s a matter of perception. The final track “Stripped (Exit)” is a reprise of the song, with an extra verse added in the beginning. In that verse, the elements recited are those of an individual (warmth, kindness, breath, etc.) Where the first version says “Stripped from my home” etc., the second says, “Stripped from your warmth” etc. So, it all comes full circle, and the song is revealed to cover the effects of political oppression on both the social and personal levels.

As usual, the beauty of the Incompetents’ sound lies in the bold variety of instrumentation. Harmonium, stylophone, banjo, you don’t hear those on the same album often do you?

A new feature found on this album is the instrumentals. The absence of lyrics left the band free to play around with instrumentation and structure, from the ethereal minimal electronic opener “Long Gone” to the raucous post-punk snippet that is “What Young Women Ought to Know”.

The band also flexes its compositional muscles with the alternating tones of a single song, for example, the semi-schizophrenic mood swings of “This Gun for Hire”.

There's one thing about the band that's produced a consistent love-hate attitude from audiences who listen to the Incompetents: Yared’s “unpolished” singing style. Some love it, others loathe it. He's certainly come a long way since “More Songs…”, where it wasn’t necessarily awful, but merely “raw”. It has been cooking for some time now, marinating in confidence and seasoned with experience. Despite that, Yared remains more of a treat for those with unconventional tastes. So does this entire album really…

Once again, The Incompetents fail miserably to live up to their namesake by putting out an album that successfully demonstrates their versatility and dynamism in a way that is their own. Maybe someday boys, maybe someday…

The Incompetents' latest album is available for purchase at the Beirut Art Center, Dar Bistro and Books, Chico Video shop and Music Now. - Omar Al Fil for Beirut.com

With the release of their album ‘Of Minor Differences… and Narcissism’, this experimental pop music band can certainly no longer claim incompetence. Lead vocalist Serge Yared chats to Natalie Shooter after rehearsal as the band unwind over a game of table hockey.

As the mini bottle of whisky is passed around in Broken Records Studio, The Incompetents are busy rehearsing for the launch of their new album, ‘Of Minor Differences... and Narcissism’. ‘Now I wanna be your Daaag’, lead vocalist Serge Yared drawls – a version perhaps even more twisted than the original. The band make an unusual grouping; the strong-and-silent type Paed Conca makes great bassist material. Fadi Tabbal swings back and fourth with his guitar, while young drummer Maya Aghniadis bounces in her seat as she hammers away with carefree abandonment. Yared plays guitar and sings barefoot – ‘It just feels right’, he says.

Even in the basement studio away from the crowd he puts on a performance. Yared was something of a late bloomer when it came to being in a rock band. Starting out ‘as a guy who used to write songs in his room and never expose himself’, he stepped out into the world at the age of 29. ‘Weirdly enough we had an album before we had a band,’ says the frontman, who took his songs to local musician/producer Fadi Tabbal’s Tunefork Recording studio in 2007. Starting as a duo, Tabbal and Yared’s debut album ‘More Songs from the Victorious City’ was an offbeat alternative folk album with psychedelic wanderings and sardonic lyrics.

It might have been their occasional missed chords or Yared’s out of tune, Captain Beefheart-esque vocals, but their friend Alfred Tarazi suggested the name ‘The Incompetents’ and it stuck. ‘It worked as a way to reveal the stress of being very tight when we started,’ Yared explains. ‘Forget about the fact that some chords are a bit weird, just appreciate the fact we’re totally honest with what we do.’ After introducing extra musicians to recreate the album live and recording the follow-up EP ‘We’re Really Important Back Home’, Yared met drummer Maya Aghniadis after several lineup changes, also bringing on board two musicians from the experimental music scene, French experimental musician Stéphane Rives on saxophone and keyboards and Swiss multiinstrumentalist Paed Conca on bass.

They loosened the genre boundaries bringing free jazz and experimental improvisations into the mix. ‘Many people make fun of our name and say you’re not incompetent anymore,’ Yared says. But despite the band’s evolution of sound, their playfulness remains. Their live performances remain chaotic, but there’s a carefully constructed structure that lies underneath. The concept of their new album title ‘Of Minor Differences…and Narcissism’ comes from Freud. ‘Closeness exacerbates antagonism between individual states and people,’ Yared explains. ‘Sometimes you’re so close that it becomes a source of rivalry, it’s ridiculous.’ The album is lyrically rich, loaded with hidden meanings and cryptic hints, from the serious (comments on politics) to the lighthearted (nods to early Hollywood and noir films).

The album is an eclectic merge of genres; from the ambient-experimental instrumental opener ‘Closing Time’ to the gentle anti-folkster ‘Emotional Assymetry.’ ‘Panina’s gently melancholic melodies stand at the direct opposite to the psychedelic, free-jazz vein of ‘Debureau’. Being a band of such big music geeks, influences do seep into their sound. ‘Sometimes we choose a drum solo like Keith Moon, or the guitars of Bruce Springsteen. I like to switch from being Tom Waits to Robert Wyatt, even the Beach Boys,’ Yared says. ‘We cannot reproduce them - we don’t even try - but it’s actually the synthesis of those influences that make our sound very special.’ Embracing and merging their many influences has certainly given the Incompetents a sound unique to them.

Though the band are yet to play outside Lebanon – Yared considering them ‘too exotic for the local scene and not exotic enough for the international scene’ – their latest album due for international distribution via UK-based Cargo Records will no doubt help them to reach a wider audience.

‘Of Minor Differences… and Narcissism’ is out now. - Natalie Shooter for Time Out Beirut

With the release of their album ‘Of Minor Differences… and Narcissism’, this experimental pop music band can certainly no longer claim incompetence. Lead vocalist Serge Yared chats to Natalie Shooter after rehearsal as the band unwind over a game of table hockey.

As the mini bottle of whisky is passed around in Broken Records Studio, The Incompetents are busy rehearsing for the launch of their new album, ‘Of Minor Differences... and Narcissism’. ‘Now I wanna be your Daaag’, lead vocalist Serge Yared drawls – a version perhaps even more twisted than the original. The band make an unusual grouping; the strong-and-silent type Paed Conca makes great bassist material. Fadi Tabbal swings back and fourth with his guitar, while young drummer Maya Aghniadis bounces in her seat as she hammers away with carefree abandonment. Yared plays guitar and sings barefoot – ‘It just feels right’, he says.

Even in the basement studio away from the crowd he puts on a performance. Yared was something of a late bloomer when it came to being in a rock band. Starting out ‘as a guy who used to write songs in his room and never expose himself’, he stepped out into the world at the age of 29. ‘Weirdly enough we had an album before we had a band,’ says the frontman, who took his songs to local musician/producer Fadi Tabbal’s Tunefork Recording studio in 2007. Starting as a duo, Tabbal and Yared’s debut album ‘More Songs from the Victorious City’ was an offbeat alternative folk album with psychedelic wanderings and sardonic lyrics.

It might have been their occasional missed chords or Yared’s out of tune, Captain Beefheart-esque vocals, but their friend Alfred Tarazi suggested the name ‘The Incompetents’ and it stuck. ‘It worked as a way to reveal the stress of being very tight when we started,’ Yared explains. ‘Forget about the fact that some chords are a bit weird, just appreciate the fact we’re totally honest with what we do.’ After introducing extra musicians to recreate the album live and recording the follow-up EP ‘We’re Really Important Back Home’, Yared met drummer Maya Aghniadis after several lineup changes, also bringing on board two musicians from the experimental music scene, French experimental musician Stéphane Rives on saxophone and keyboards and Swiss multiinstrumentalist Paed Conca on bass.

They loosened the genre boundaries bringing free jazz and experimental improvisations into the mix. ‘Many people make fun of our name and say you’re not incompetent anymore,’ Yared says. But despite the band’s evolution of sound, their playfulness remains. Their live performances remain chaotic, but there’s a carefully constructed structure that lies underneath. The concept of their new album title ‘Of Minor Differences…and Narcissism’ comes from Freud. ‘Closeness exacerbates antagonism between individual states and people,’ Yared explains. ‘Sometimes you’re so close that it becomes a source of rivalry, it’s ridiculous.’ The album is lyrically rich, loaded with hidden meanings and cryptic hints, from the serious (comments on politics) to the lighthearted (nods to early Hollywood and noir films).

The album is an eclectic merge of genres; from the ambient-experimental instrumental opener ‘Closing Time’ to the gentle anti-folkster ‘Emotional Assymetry.’ ‘Panina’s gently melancholic melodies stand at the direct opposite to the psychedelic, free-jazz vein of ‘Debureau’. Being a band of such big music geeks, influences do seep into their sound. ‘Sometimes we choose a drum solo like Keith Moon, or the guitars of Bruce Springsteen. I like to switch from being Tom Waits to Robert Wyatt, even the Beach Boys,’ Yared says. ‘We cannot reproduce them - we don’t even try - but it’s actually the synthesis of those influences that make our sound very special.’ Embracing and merging their many influences has certainly given the Incompetents a sound unique to them.

Though the band are yet to play outside Lebanon – Yared considering them ‘too exotic for the local scene and not exotic enough for the international scene’ – their latest album due for international distribution via UK-based Cargo Records will no doubt help them to reach a wider audience.

‘Of Minor Differences… and Narcissism’ is out now. - Natalie Shooter for Time Out Beirut

It only takes one listen to The Incompetents’ latest release, a boisterous collection of Beefheart-esque shanties, to realise that the band’s frontman, Serge Yared, suffers from a split personality disorder. One part Frank Sinatra, one part Frank Zappa, Yared u-turns between seductive crooning (on stand-out track ‘Red Antartica’ he’s as devilishly droll as ever) and bloodthirsty screaming (‘Cannibal Blues’, ‘Your Heart is Color-Blind’) like an alt-folk Jekyll and Hyde. Backed by the equally schizophrenic sounds of Fadi Tabbal’s slicing reverb, jangling piano and other ‘random noises’, ‘I’m Really Important Back Home’ seems a much bigger record than the four tracks it contains. More soon please boys. - Time Out Beirut

It only takes one listen to The Incompetents’ latest release, a boisterous collection of Beefheart-esque shanties, to realise that the band’s frontman, Serge Yared, suffers from a split personality disorder. One part Frank Sinatra, one part Frank Zappa, Yared u-turns between seductive crooning (on stand-out track ‘Red Antartica’ he’s as devilishly droll as ever) and bloodthirsty screaming (‘Cannibal Blues’, ‘Your Heart is Color-Blind’) like an alt-folk Jekyll and Hyde. Backed by the equally schizophrenic sounds of Fadi Tabbal’s slicing reverb, jangling piano and other ‘random noises’, ‘I’m Really Important Back Home’ seems a much bigger record than the four tracks it contains. More soon please boys. - Time Out Beirut

On parlait hier du Liban : on y reste avec d’autres excentriques, repérés depuis des années sur CQFD et mentant comme des arracheurs de dents sous le sobriquet de The Incompetents. Car lorsqu’il s’agit de jouer un rock vicié et assez flippant, quand il s’agit de propager malaise et idées noires, ils font preuve d’une compétence diabolique, héritée du cabaret macabre de Bauhaus ou Bowie (on ne parle pas du chant, lui borderline sur l’incompétence, mais pas dépourvu de charme quand même). - JD Beauvallet for Les Inrockuptibles (France)

On parlait hier du Liban : on y reste avec d’autres excentriques, repérés depuis des années sur CQFD et mentant comme des arracheurs de dents sous le sobriquet de The Incompetents. Car lorsqu’il s’agit de jouer un rock vicié et assez flippant, quand il s’agit de propager malaise et idées noires, ils font preuve d’une compétence diabolique, héritée du cabaret macabre de Bauhaus ou Bowie (on ne parle pas du chant, lui borderline sur l’incompétence, mais pas dépourvu de charme quand même). - JD Beauvallet for Les Inrockuptibles (France)