1. Grown Men Don't Fall In The River, Just Like That
2. Mr Your On Fire Mr
3. Loose Nuts On The Veladrome
4. The Garden Was Crowded And Outside
5. Tumbling Walls Buried Me In The Debris With ESG
6. Nothing Is Ever Lost Or Can Be Lost My Science Friend
7. We Live NE Of Compton
8. Why Midnight Walked But Didn't Ring Her Bell
9. This Dust Makes That Mud
The debut LP from Brooklyn's Liars is a churning collection of jerky punk rock, funk grooves, and computerized mayhem that oddly enough comes off quite charming. With sufficiently angular guitars, British-tinged vocals, and a truly pummeling bass presence, the group rocks with phenomenal energy and absolutely no restraint. The half-hour-long closer, "The Dust That Makes the Mud," collapses into a puzzlingly repetitive, sample-ridden hip-hop beat that ends things on a bizarre note, but the lead-up is pure rock & roll, complete with the attitude and aggression that makes for a great listen. Liars have a surprisingly unique approach that distinguishes them from other groups in their willingness to experiment with different tones, volumes, and styles, all of which make They Threw Us in a Trench and Stuck a Monument On an astounding debut. Catchy group vocals are all over the disc, and just about every chorus is instantly memorable yet still somewhat pummeling. The use of digital sounds and beats only adds to the unique properties of the record, giving it a feel somewhat akin to later Les Savy Fav records, only with a much more punk-fueled sound. Liars are something special, and when a young band puts out a record like this it is hard not to pay attention. Where they'll go from here is impossible to guess, but with a band this hyperactively creative, that seems to be the point.
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They Were Wrong, So We Drowned (2004)
1. Broken Witch
2. Steam Rose From The Lifeless Cloak
3. There's Always Room On The Broom
4. If You'Re A Wizard Then Why Do You Wear Glasses?
5. We Fenced Other Gardens With The Bones Of Our Own
6. They Don'T Want Your Corn, They Want Your Kids
7. Read The Book That Wrote Itself
8. Hold Hands And It Will Happen Anyway
9. They Took 14 For The Rest Of Our Lives
10. Flow My Tears The Spider Said
The album takes the form of a very loose concept album concerning witchcraft upon The Brocken (a mountain) during Walpurgis Night, and tales of witch trials in the area around the Harz Mountains in Germany. The recording coincided with the band's relocation from the Williamsburg, Brooklyn scene which spawned them to the woods of rural New Jersey, which also inspired the initial direction of the album.
The focus upon the Brocken legends came when one of the band members mistakenly entered "Brocken Witch" into a search engine while researching the song "Broken Witch".
Stylistically, the album lies between the gritty dance-punk of They Threw Us All in a Trench and Stuck a Monument on Top and the ethereal neo-no-wave of Drum's Not Dead.
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