TIGERS CAN BITE YOU

10. Tigers Can Bite You - Tigers Can Bite You (Tune Core)

Dave Woody started Fiver around the same time Death Cab for Cutie and Granddaddy were getting off the ground. While those bands saw some success over time, Fiver missed out. Woody is back with a like-minded band, Tigers Can Bite You, and fans of DCFC and Granddaddy should pay heed and give TCBY’s spacey pop sound a listen. This was my favorite random discovery of the year (thanks to Alex of Sea Wolf for introducing me to their music). - Done Waiting

Their new album, Steve Ward Hears Voices is the realization of the unique sound the band has been building towards since its inception. Imagine Ben Gibbard being noisy and roughed up a bit while listening to Swervdriver and you can start to picture what Tigers Can Bite You sort of sound like. With song lengths barely making it over the three minute mark, tracks can end before they've finished building up, leaving you wanting more. Which, depending on how you look at it can be a good or bad thing - The Pop Stereo

This L.A. outfit has arrived at a cool sound: Think an electro Death Cab for Cutie trying their hand at shoegazer rock. TCBY scrawls its angst on a wall of sound that is at once agitated and melodic; there are some nice aha moments amid those waking-dream breakers too. - BuzzBands.LA

I featured this guys before and here they are again… they are just so freaking good. This week they unleash their debut album Steve Ward Hears Voices. Apparently the release has been delayed on the digital side but you can get the physical here. Here’s a small peep… you’ll love it if you are on the Death Cab mood.

“Colleagues” | download - We Like It Indie

Tigers Can Bite You are pushing the boundaries of indie rock with their new album, Steve Ward Hears Voices, which was released Tuesday, October 28 on New and Used Records. Below are two amazing songs, “Taking and Running Away” and “Colleaugues” for you to listen to and download. The three piece group sets themselves apart from their predecessors and contemporaries with electronics that have more in common with Ladytron and M83, and a songwriting structure that is wholly unique. - BeatCrave

Tigers Can Bite You's new 4-song EP Taking and Running Away is more of a single than an EP, featuring one new song and new versions of three songs from their full-length record TCBY. It's also a very short eleven-minute ride. These facts notwithstanding, the release is a meaty one and especially worth owning if you've not had a Tigers Can Bite You ice cream cone and would like a mini-spoon sample.

The titular track is the new one and it starts-off the record. A worthy entry into the Tigers Can Bite You canon, "Taking and Running Away" features fistfuls of guitar crunch that crash more than the drums, with minimal (but effective) synth layers delicately poisoning the soundscape. Dave Woody's androic voice darts in-and-out, emulating emotion without ever quite getting there to great effect. True to the band's sound, "Taking and Running Away" soundtracks 2008 in the moment, wrought with technology and anti-human peril.

The remaining three tracks are reworkings with various degrees of success, remixed by Josiah Mazzaschi of Light FM, who also engineered TCBY. "Tigers Can Bite You" is vastly improved and has a much fuller sound. The remixing of "Estimates" is maybe a slight step backward, taking away from the track some of its dynamics.

The real gem of the EP; however, is the new version of "Hawks". In revisiting the track, Mazzaschi has succeeded in elevating the song to its full potential. It's now crunchier, more electric, and better captures the live performance of the song. There's more going on here now, and the moments where the noise falls away from Woody's vocals feel more pronounced as a result. "Hawks" was already a great little track, but now it is one of the most irresistible songs Los Angeles has to offer in 2008.

Click here to buy Taking and Running Away on iTunes.


The Taking and Running Away EP has been released as a run-up to Steve Ward Hears Voices, the next full-length record from Tigers Can Bite You. The release of that album will be celebrated at Radio Free Silverlake's Let's Independent! on October 21st at Boardner's. Also on the bill are Light FM and The French Semester. $6. 21+. - Classical Geek Theatre

teve Ward Hears Voices is the new studio album from Los Angeles indie rock band Tigers Can Bite You (a name that makes me respond by saying "no shit").

The band has drawn comparisons to such blogosphere favorites as Death Can For Cutie, Grandaddy, and M83. After listening to the album I can definitely see where those come from.

When you strip them down the band's songs are rooted deeply in the indie pop tradition. They are well crafted and slightly offbeat.

What makes Tigers Can Bite You stand out from the standard indie band is their use of electronics and wall-of-sound elements to flesh out their music. Throw in some elements of shoegazer and dream pop and to me what you really have is a successful blend of The Weakerthans, Silversun Pickups, and Mercury Rev.

The vocals do little to discourage these comparisons either. Songs like "Anecdotes" sound like they could be on the next album from British neo-shoegazers Mew.

Despite it's odd name Steve Ward Hears Voices is a solid album that passes by far too quickly.

Best tracks: "Opener", "Anecdotes" - Snob's Music

While it may be impossible for Silverlake's Tigers Can Bite You to escape comparisons to bands such as Death Cab For Cutie (TCBY frontman Dave Woody has in fact collaborated with DCFC in the past), the L.A. trio maintains an original electronic style that meets the sentimentality of the Seattle indie rockers head on. Yet, Tigers Can Bite You achieves this with melody rather than lyrics. Sidestepping the typical verse-chorus-verse technique, they captivate listeners with multiple rhythmic hooks, haunting chords and almost-alien arrangements. Cindy Morrow's minor keys, Andrew Platts' driving drumbeats and Woody's Brendan Canning-esque vocals hypnotize in a manner that completely transcends conventionalist.

On their new album, Steve Ward Hears Voices, "Chinese Checkers" begins with melodic piano and soothing, ambient vocals. Then further in to the track, several dissonant, reverb-heavy guitars invade the atmospheric tone and give way to a cacophony of ominous sounds. The dancing minor chords and buzzing electronics heighten the confusion as the song continues to mount with tension until it halts, almost jarringly, and never allows for the sigh of denouement.

This approach seems inherent to the band - never allowing the listener to make predictions as to where a song is headed by either going in a new direction or stopping the song dead in its tracks (or both). Track five, "Steve Ward Hears Voices," maintains the dynamic drumbeat characteristic of the L.A. group, as well as TCBY's tendencies for variation, but with an optimistic and energetic feel. The melancholy of Woody's voice is mirrored in the lyrics, "Someone save us from our choices," a vacant plea unanswered by the backing irony of the perfectly timed electronics. As a whole, Tigers Can Bite You gives a revitalizing spin to this genre, disorienting and entrancing the listener with a unique propensity to avoid prediction and overproduction. - Performer Magazine

Although Tigers Can Bite You received their first national press being voted one of the 100 worst named bands of 2007 (The Onion), they have since received high praise for their minimalist electronic/indie style employed on Steve Ward Hears Voices. In the vein of indie rock giants Death Cab for Cutie, Tigers Can Bite You deliver a fresh approach to the indie rock genre by straying away from the traditional verse-chorus-verse-chorus song structure and by meshing subtle electronic instruments into the indie style.

“Opener” begins Steve Ward Hears Voices by building up piece by piece. Guitars come in over a background of fuzzy interference, shortly followed by drums and bass, and the listener can quickly grasp the minimalist approach Tigers Can Bite You are becoming known for. The word "synergy" comes to mind, in that separately the guitar and keyboard parts would sound pretty simple, but when arranged together they combine for some truly awesome music. The vocals are reminiscent of Death Cab For Cutie, with a smooth tone and consistently faultless pitch alterations, but sound slightly softer and thus blend in with the subtle electronics extremely well. “Taking and Running Away” features a little more intricate guitar work than “Opener”, and has an extremely groovy feel (a bit like some These Arms are Snakes’ material). “Colleagues” contains more indie style guitar parts over a background of soft keys, and is one of the few tracks on the CD with some structure/repeated parts. “Chinese Checkers” is a slower paced track, and I know this may seem like a strange comparison, but it had me thinking of Between the Buried and Me at their softer moments (see Alaska – “Backwards Marathon” at 3:15, you’ll see what I mean).

The title track of the album, “Steve Ward Hears Voices”, is led by some catchy synth and keyboard work, and the addition of some subtle clapping helps bring out the catchiness of the drum beat. “(visits)” is a short track(:57) of just drums and a keyboard jamming, with some inaudible spacey vocals over top of the mix. Maybe these are the voices Steve Ward keeps hearing? The longest track on the album, “The Wilding” (4:27), follows the auditory-hallucination-like interlude with more groovy electro/indie, and some much welcomed shaker percussion spices things up a bit. “Anecdotes” has to be my favorite track on Steve Ward Hears Voices, with a heavier drumbeat and some perfectly blended guitar and synth work. “Checkmate” combines Tigers Can Bite You’s softer guitar and keyboard styles with some aggressive percussion, adding some nice variety to the album. The album's closer, “Second Nature”, is slightly faster paced than the other tracks, and also features some higher pitched vocals which add extra intensity to this last track.

Tigers Can Bite You use free flowing song structures and shorter song lengths to draw the listener in from start to finish, making Steve Ward Hears Voices an album you’ll listen to all the way through, time and time again. The indie rock guitars are blended perfectly with subtle electronic textures and synth patterns, and the spacey vocals and thought provoking lyrics help provide extra depth to the sea of ambient instrumentals. To finish, Steve Ward Hears Voices is a very solid release from an extremely talented up-and-coming band. Now go tell all your friends about them, so when they blow up you can say, “I told you tigers can bite you...”

Recommended If You Like: Death Cab for Cutie; Circa Survive; Pompeii; Jimmy Eat World; These Arms Are Snakes - Absolute Punk