MtB defeats TMV in nearly every way.

Artist: Minus the Bear

Album: Menos el Oso

Label: Suicide Squeeze Records

Okay. Minus the Bear. I first heard of them from a girl who worked at Stuart Hall housekeeping--the one who came to be known as Crackhead Molly. She gave me a few of their old songs--"Absinthe Party at the Fly Honey Warehouse" and "Monkey!!!!! Knife!!!!! Fight!!!!!" are the ones I remember best. And i thought they were cool, I guess.

Then Joe Weishampel gave me another of their songs ("Get Me Naked 2: Electric Bugaloo") and I got hooked.

So I bought Menos el Oso, a 2005 release with no songs I recognized.

AND IT ROCKS!

Minus the Bear is hard to describe beyond: they are a rock band. They have a slightly jam band quality, especially in thier Phish-like guitar tones, but their songs are really easy to handle. Every single song is really catchy. Sometimes I think they're a more indie version of Incubus, but about 20 times better. They have a similar sense of rhythm, though.

Each song is badass in its own way. The first, "The Game Needed Me," has a sort of guitar-based hip-hop rhythm through the verses. Guitar and bass drum thump through eighth notes to start and end the verses. The chorus shows off the quick changes of chords that Minus the Bear uses quite a bit.

Then there's "Memphis & 53rd," which has a nice verse that bumps along with the guitars dancing up and down the fretboard in the usual way. The drummer spices up the interludes nicely. And I just like the lines "I could barely sleep / I had this dream. / There was a man in a black car / With a man in the back seat." Somehow the repetition of "man" is funny to me. And you have to love when they bring the chorus back toward the end with more intensity.

My favorite might be #3, "Drilling." I'm not sure why. It might be the insistent eighth note muted strumming and snare drum. It's just funny that they can get away with it.

I could do the whole album, but the point is that every song is a winner. I would recommend it to anybody. Just try one of the songs--maybe "Hooray," "Pachuca Sunrise" (which has a chorus that reminds me of a Europop dance song) or the bouncy "The Fix." I'd say "Hooray" is best because I just love the chorus: "And I can feel my hands again / We're almost home." Simple, I know, but pretty awesome. The song with the best payoff is probably the last, "This Ain't a Surfin' Movie."

Just try it. I can't speak for their other albums, of which they appear to have three (and an EP with a song called "Drop It Like It's Hot," mysteriously). But Menos el Oso is definitely a winner.

Grade: A

Advantages: catchy, accessible rock; vocals you won't hate; complex songs that sound natural and fun.

Disadvantages: maybe just a little uncreative lyrically.

Okay that's all. Be back soon, I hope.

Love,

Steve