Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Minus the Bear, minus the freshness

Seattle indie act's Voids is void a new formula

Maybe you can find comfort in knowing Minus the Bear still relishes in the same sound that made you fall in love with them.
Maybe you can find comfort in knowing Minus the Bear still relishes in the same sound that made you fall in love with them.

Let’s make this clear: “indie rock” is a sterile phrase. And whether you want to use it to refer to lo-fi Sonic Youth-offshoot noise bands, ’80s revival — “Hey, look we use synths!” — bands, or Brooklyn bedroom rock, at least we can agree it’s also a sterile genre. Nonetheless, the phrase and genre remain, and bands like Minus the Bear remain with it.

Video:

"Invisible"

...off of Minus the Bears' <em>Voids</em> album

...off of Minus the Bears' Voids album

It’s been five years since the Seattle group has released a full-length studio album and possibly a decade since they’ve released anything particularly exciting, but if there’s anything 2017′s Voids can teach, it’s that it’s never too late to attempt re-creating the sound that charted HypeMachine ten years ago. You know the one: the upbeat and reverb-heavy guitar intro that either plucks or strums its way into a kitschy verse revolving around banal platitudes such as, “I took a shot of whisky, I hit that bottle like a brick” (“What About the Boat”), “It was so simple in the end/ Oh, I had to just start again” (“Call the Cops”), and “Little lies, it’s part of being human, it’s part of believing the illusion” (“Invisible”). Those songs, the ones that eventually build up to a much-needed climax only to stumble on a chorus that performs like sex in a dead marriage. Yes, you can try to draw out those notes, even with heavy cymbals riding behind your frenzied synths and guitars like waves, but nothing will ever make the same song stimulating after years of H&M boot-stomping it to the ground.

Sponsored
Sponsored

Nevertheless, maybe you can find comfort in knowing a band you once enjoyed still relishes in the same sound that made you fall in love with them. Hell, some have even made whole careers off treating album and song formulas like blueprints for project housing. For those who value artistic exploration, though, you might want to set your sights elsewhere.

Record: Voids
Artist: Minus the Bear
Label: Suicide Squeeze Records
Songs: (1) Last Kiss (2) Give & Take (3) Call the Cops (4) Invisible (5) What About the Boat? (6) Silver (7) Tame Beasts (8) Erase (9) Robotic Heart (10) Lighthouse

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Angry Pete’s goes from pop-up to drive-thru

Detroit Pizza sidles into the husk of a shuttered Taco Bell
Next Article

Didja know I did the first American feature on Jimi Hendrix?

Richard Meltzer goes through the Germs, Blue Oyster Cult, Ray Charles, Elvis, Lavender Hill Mob
Maybe you can find comfort in knowing Minus the Bear still relishes in the same sound that made you fall in love with them.
Maybe you can find comfort in knowing Minus the Bear still relishes in the same sound that made you fall in love with them.

Let’s make this clear: “indie rock” is a sterile phrase. And whether you want to use it to refer to lo-fi Sonic Youth-offshoot noise bands, ’80s revival — “Hey, look we use synths!” — bands, or Brooklyn bedroom rock, at least we can agree it’s also a sterile genre. Nonetheless, the phrase and genre remain, and bands like Minus the Bear remain with it.

Video:

"Invisible"

...off of Minus the Bears' <em>Voids</em> album

...off of Minus the Bears' Voids album

It’s been five years since the Seattle group has released a full-length studio album and possibly a decade since they’ve released anything particularly exciting, but if there’s anything 2017′s Voids can teach, it’s that it’s never too late to attempt re-creating the sound that charted HypeMachine ten years ago. You know the one: the upbeat and reverb-heavy guitar intro that either plucks or strums its way into a kitschy verse revolving around banal platitudes such as, “I took a shot of whisky, I hit that bottle like a brick” (“What About the Boat”), “It was so simple in the end/ Oh, I had to just start again” (“Call the Cops”), and “Little lies, it’s part of being human, it’s part of believing the illusion” (“Invisible”). Those songs, the ones that eventually build up to a much-needed climax only to stumble on a chorus that performs like sex in a dead marriage. Yes, you can try to draw out those notes, even with heavy cymbals riding behind your frenzied synths and guitars like waves, but nothing will ever make the same song stimulating after years of H&M boot-stomping it to the ground.

Sponsored
Sponsored

Nevertheless, maybe you can find comfort in knowing a band you once enjoyed still relishes in the same sound that made you fall in love with them. Hell, some have even made whole careers off treating album and song formulas like blueprints for project housing. For those who value artistic exploration, though, you might want to set your sights elsewhere.

Record: Voids
Artist: Minus the Bear
Label: Suicide Squeeze Records
Songs: (1) Last Kiss (2) Give & Take (3) Call the Cops (4) Invisible (5) What About the Boat? (6) Silver (7) Tame Beasts (8) Erase (9) Robotic Heart (10) Lighthouse

Comments
Sponsored
Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

SDSU pres gets highest pay raise in state over last 15 years

Union-Tribune still stiffing downtown San Diego landlord?
Next Article

Reader 1st place writing contest winner gets kudos

2nd place winner not so much
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.