Liars at First Avenue, 7/13/10

Photo via Fire Records

​The last time I saw Liars I apparently had these things to say about them:

Packaged as a sort of art experiment, Liars drift in and out of minimal meditatives and ululating headpunk. Their frontman is a commanding, greatly odd-faced and tall shapeshifter who doesn't sing very well - even in falsetto - and that doesn't matter. His crazed finger repeatedly pointing at you, staring cockeyed and head-tilt, is a tractor beam Meanwhile the band barely head bobs...it's all business. They are far cooler than [SXSW] usually allows.

Opening the night was John Wiese, a man who sits furrowed at his table console and creates what we call noise or ambient in one gradation or another. Round unassuming glasses, Mac and a mixer/MPC/consolemabob, heinously rattling and lovely bass, squelching (hate that word), pterodactyl holler, loon whistle into cedar shake, all barely punishing until they do. Thought I heard a birdcall, clipping guitar, and moans, but anything can be turned into a certain type of stab in 2010. It was nice and fitting, not in theory but for actually, that Liars opened with a (at least in this room) obviously learned and brutally ambient artist.

For what it's worth, Liars have gotten pegged throughout their existence as an art rock band, which means a band that has a mercurial sound, with photographic lyrics, a heaping tablespoon of drone, and shimmering distortion, maybe employs a string section very part-time, dress underwhelmingly, use the wrong instruments, are bad in interviews, don't reference lost love enough/too much, try to make metaphorical analyses of everyday life, have minimal tattoos, bad stage presence, drink tinctures, dabble in photography/painting/woodworking, who probably won't eat a cheeseburger after the show. "Art rock" is a term that should be reserved for those trying to reconcile their toes to their fingers, a meaningless categorization of something that, duh, is art regardless of whether it's hard to understand or just aggravating or exploratory or um, music. Liars are art rock, I suppose, but only so far as any band with a keyboard, two guitarists, a drummer, a bassist and a singer (on the road) makes art that we think rocks.

What kind of lovely nerd of a singer spends the first song air guitaring from stage left to stage right? That'd be the perfectly endearing Angus Andrew, who probably gets as sick of alliterations between his name and "aussie" as I am just thinking about it. Andrew's moody swingy mopey moveys approach frontman self-parody and ring perfect; the "show" part of the show was defined by his spidery, honest getdowns, crappy falsettos and admonishing baritone. The drummer had a good drummer face, cold stare forward hair flailing, while the rest of the band was studiously subdued, busy making all that complicated art giving the old timers such a rankle these days.

Pausing not really at all between songs, Liars played through a set I could see being performed pitch-perfect night after night and losing none of its grit; no bristles missing. They are honest, extremely talented, and have received attention for the latter while the former seems to be skidded away in lovely descriptions. Watching them live and listening to their recordings are two complimentary things, a band that gives as much of a shit about what I'm saying as to what their theory is: none at all.

Personal Bias: Liars sit directly in the middle of everything I like.
The crowd: Appreciative.
Overheard in the crowd: "I'm going to go get another drink."
Random Notebook Dump: Just learned that dudes that do books on tape get wasted constantly

Set lists:

John Wiese:
[Bug zapper while pressing your eyelids]

Liars:
"I Can Still See An Outside World"
"Scarecrowed On A Killer Slant"
[Hm]
"Scissor"
"We Fenced Other Gardens With The Bones of Our Own"
"No Barrier Fun"
"A Visit From Drum"
"Here Comes All The People"
"The Overachievers"
"Houseclouds" [?]
"Clear Island"
"The Other Side of Mt. Heart Attack"
"Plaster Casts of Everything"
"Proud Evolution"

Encores:
[First Ave. fades in a classic hip-hop sample]
"Broken Witch"