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Psychedelic influenced Indie Rock from New York ... `We Tigers` release their debut four track E.P to adorn another generation of sitars & pop art. The sound is original & loose , maybe damn right dirty at times. You may like to open your eyes now!
http://mojophenia.blogspot.com/2007/07/we-tigers-in-transit-ep.html - Mojophenia
We Tigers leaves this week its first individual... the superb "Tell Two Friends". A group which one will add on the long list of the groups to watch for.
http://tralalaclub.blogspot.com/2007/05/we-tigers-in-transit-ep.html
- Le Tralala Club
This is a sample from over 1000 'comments' posted on We Tigers' Myspace page from people of all ages, both sexes and from all over the world.
www.myspace.com/wetigersmusic
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WOW!! Fantastic! Great psychedelic rock, I'm tripping out just writing this. You have a really wonderful sound, right up my street.
-Adam S. Leslie
Great stuff, guys. Love the real sitar on "Elbow Room"!
-Lane
Your music is absolutely gorgeous! Will there be copies of your auditory treats in music stores any time soon? I'm not a big fan of on-line music shopping, but I'd luuurrrrv to get my hands on your record or CD. Thank you so much, for remembering what good music is supposed to be about.
-natabaloo
Sounds good. Something new...I can't believe it. Are you sure you're from NYC? I thought there's was nothing new and original to be heard in our great city. Thanks for proving me wrong.
-Zed Never
Guys, you are AWESOME! so gllad you found us, Elbow Room is one cool tune, and not just cos of the sitar, it's all good, the writing,arrangement, back-up vocals...
You're going straight to top friends!!!
-Third Bullet Theory
woooow! these tunes are fantastic, we really like them…
-Ice Cream Van
Some excellent sounds kicking off here…You can really feel the Syd influence in here which I absolutely adore. Cheers.
-Youzabooza
i tend to hate all myspace bands but ur tunes are pretty good
-La Vie en Rose
OHhhh, you guys are so cool!!! I absolutely love your music to death.
-Leah
Oh my.. I love you.
-We Love to Boogie! Party - News
Post-punk meets modern garage attitude in this excellent release from the Brooklyn-based We Tigers. It's a wonderfully messy little disc, with the band swaggering through seven cuts that are brash and in your face.
Vocalist/keyboardist Harris Novick sings like a man in desperation, his voice rising like a wail against the droning of guitars and the driving rhythms from the bass & drums. The influences run deep and wide, skewing any direct comparisons. The standout track here is Transatlantic, a tune that breaks out of the gate at full gallop, only to change up in the middle briefly, and then back to the unrelenting run until the end.
MISH MASH Mandate: Tiger In Your Tank
http://mishmashmusic.blogspot.com/2007_11_01_archive.html#4012467973850509994 - Mish Mash Music Reviews
We Tigers / Rivals EP
Listening to the Rivals EP by Brooklyn-based We Tigers, I get the sense that this band would be excellent in concert. Between the garage-style recording and the true passion in the vocals and guitar, the music emanates the spirit of rock and roll. And judging by the fact that when We Tigers submitted their CD for review they also included some live photos, this is probably something they've been told before. There's influences from Lou Reed that go as far back as when he played with The Velvet Underground, with the vocals stepping through the music. The instrumentation often builds to a big crescendo of wailing guitar and pounding drums. I'm guessing that this is the kind of band that wins fans by the sheer force of their gigs. If they ever play in Toronto, I'll report back and confirm/deny that statement.
http://www.petenema.com/article.php?story=quick-shots-6
- Pete Nema Music Reviews
I'll let you imagine the scene. One foot in the anthill, one hand in a beehive and the head in the jaws of the wolf; evidently after a while, things start to itch. The magical formula to get out of this wasp's nest is simple: In We Tigers, We Trust.
We could've waited for their LP to talk about We Tigers, but with 2 Eps swarming with ideas and 12 tracks that are a presage of the greatness ahead, we felt indebted to bring to your attention the existence of this New-Yorker combo.
In Transit EP: We are not about to forget the greeting which We Tigers prepared for us on opener Elbow Room. Michael Kirsch on sitar, that was the instrument needed to awaken the curiosity of any indie rock listener. Even more so when this track reveals itself to be as boiling-hot as it is psychedelic. We hadn't asked for so much, and yet this was just the start of our surprises.
For the band, without knowing, was all at once going to give us a breath of fresh air and to rekindle our best memories made in France. Indeed, on the second, more classical track In Transit, I honestly thought this was perhaps the return of Thierry Duvigneau A.K.A. Kid Pharaon. This formation from Bordeaux having won the oscar for 'most cult band' at least in my book, the mere fact of finding here the same voice, the same accent, the same guitars, was obviously going to consecrate We Tigers as THE band to follow.
I am well willing to make a few concessions for some good "old-school" rock, such as to garnish my CD collection with their Eps. Especially when on Tell Two Friends we catch Harris Novick gaining stature in the style of a 70's David Bowie.
Rivals EP : Quite logically, I find myself to be the happy owner of the Rivals EP, purchased with eyes closed, and yet with a slight apprehension. This apprehension dissipates into unanticipated surprise as the band throws us into Transatlantic, an energized Frank Black-like rocker. And so these Americans thusly take advantage of the occasion to harness their best influences throughout this EP, while showing us that with this slight change of styles, they confirm, for those still doubtful, their energetic mastery of a vintage sound which suits them like a glove.
To our great pleasure, the influences quoted in In Transit's liner notes remain accurate here. But with this second, longer EP, more homogeneous, denser, more powerful and now mandatory listening, we finally have the guarantee of a band capable of the best and the best. We can hence swear that if an album does come out in 2008, we'll be eating tigers 'till our bellies burst. You have been warned.
English Translation by Ilan Cohen
http://www.indierockmag.com/article5139.html
- Indie Rock Mag
It was singer Harris Novick's birthday, so the fans packed into the Luna Lounge with a cause for celebration. But before the set, I spoke a little bit with bassist Jonathan Silverman about New York's premier psychedelic-indie outfit. Jonathan remarked that the Tiger's like to keep the music fresh and different. But different, as it would soon become evident, was an understatement.
We Tigers opened their set Friday night with a sitar introduction from guitarist Michael Kirsch, before barreling into the first track from their In Transit E.P, "Elbow Room." Kirsch learned to play the instrument while spending time in India, studying with sitar masters for over eight hours a day.
The set also included the hyperactive "Transatlantic" from their second, and latest E.P., Rivals, as well as "Double Madonna" and "Why Us?" Anyone who has not seen We Tigers yet really needs to do so as soon as possible. It's an incredible sight to see such a young act play with as much confidence, skill, and energy.
http://chargedbythesystem.blogspot.com/search?q=we+tigers - Charged by the System
Discography
In Transit EP (2007)
1. Elbow Room
2. In Transit
3. Tell Two Friends
4. Why Us?
5. Give is a Good Girl
Rivals EP (2007)
1. Transatlantic
2. Double Madonna
3. Flattery
4. Switchrails
5. Elbow Room II
6. Business is Booming
7. Native
Rivals EP is the sound of the city from a distance. Side A shows off the We Tigers’ psychedelic post-punk sound, most evident in “Transatlantic”, an angular blues romp that is both stoic and schizophrenic in its chugging pursuit of resolution. “Double Madonna” sees a New York Band stretch beyond the paradigm laid out for them by their predecessors, eschewing the city’s famous riff-rock and harsh attack for a more pensive and playful jaunt through the psyche of a jilted lover. Side A closes with “Flattery”, perhaps the band’s most cohesive statement to date. Its interweaving guitars conjure strands of The Velvet Underground and Nico, while the vocal melody transitions easily between hooks, stopping occasionally to admire the classic simplicity of the rhythm section. Track four, “Switchrails”, sits between both sides as the conglomeration of two unique styles; the psychedelic post-punk of Side A and the darker, polychromatic compositions of Side B. The counterpoint evident in the song’s cunning interplay proves We Tigers’ prowess and penchant for innovation. Side B starts off with “Elbow Room II”, a call and response set to Indian drone. The sitar leads the rest of the band in a tribal rallying cry that builds momentum into the chorus, which explodes in a bellow of tablas and toms. This track highlights the band’s ability to fuse musical styles in an accessible manner. Track six, “Business is Booming”, offers the slowest pace and darkest tonality of any track on the EP. It sees the band zoom in to better explore their own machinations, often taken for granted. Its slippery bass-line taunts the more rigid grand piano, while the swampy slide guitar blends with shimmering arpeggios into a seamless whole. The song digs continuously deeper until it unearths a stunning outro that touches on Johnny Greenwood freak-out and David Bowie triumph but is assuredly We Tigers’ own sound. The EP closes with the nearly eight-minute “Native”, a track that represents the apotheosis of Side B’s psychedelic experiments. The song’s painfully simple theme, repeated endlessly on the Fender Rhodes, carries the band through contrasting sonic perspectives on the protagonist’s love-hate relationship with his native home. Heavy-metal guitars join marching-band drum line and droning bass to create a wall of sound that is somehow both driving and intimate at the same time.
Photos
Bio
We Tigers' music doesn't pretend to have found or comprehended all of the social patterns that bond us. It struggles with the listener to find them, and it's just that which makes it so exciting and pertinent. Through their playing, each member desperately seeks pragmatic, unforgiving answers to their own abstract questions. Harris Novick, who studied music composition at NYU takes what would plainly be infectious vocal melodies and contorts them until bliss and gloom intertwine with his muscular chord attacks. After spending a grueling six months in India studying music, Michael Kirsch's guitar and sitar playing has become commanding and ethereal. Nicholas Occhuito brings angular, New York rock n' roll to his guitar playing, while Jonathan Silverman's gasoline-bubble bass palpitates with the tribal drums of Joshua Hoffman.
When We Tigers came together in 2006 New York, the music became a gritty, blistering vehicle that charges through a dark tunnel of psychedelia. It speaks in pop rock tongues as it races towards the daylight at the end.
On In Transit EP, recorded in the first months of 2007 and released/distributed by Them Tigers Productions, the band made the first proclamation of their biting sound. A neurotic, urgent love letter to New York/UK psychedelic post-punk and Indian drone, In Transit EP sees the band beginning to root out their musical pulse, and the result towers over anything the band initially anticipated. French website, Le Tralala Club, called Tell Two Friends, "superb," and asked its readers to "add [We Tigers to] the long list of the groups to watch for."
Not long after the release of In Transit EP, the band began crafting their second EP, Rivals. The seven-track recording, released on September 20, 2007, is an adventurous chronicle of a band that found what makes them unusual and absorbing. The thick and uncompromising sound is electrified by the very things that brought We Tigers to play music—the rapture, the pressures, the guilt, the pains, the love, the hate--all the things life presented and could only be expressed musically. The raucous wall of sound was recorded by We Tigers’ Jonathan Silverman, and mixed by Tom Durack (Lou Reed, They Might Be Giants, B52s’ Loveshack).
With a quickly building fan base and a massive live show (headlining Luna Lounge, Trash Bar, The Delancey), people are undoubtedly watching and waiting for We Tigers’ debut full-length album to be released in late 2008, and the tour that will follow.
by Ryan Piccirillo
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