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 | Minus The BearHighly Refined Pirates2003 Suicide Squeeze 
 Review by: Dan Perrone See others by this writer Minus The Bear (link) Only registered users can post comments 
 
Published on July 15th 2003
Minus The Bear is a band many people don’t know about yet. Sad thing is, it will
probably stay that way as well. Their rather unique blend of emo and synth-pop makes
them an acquired taste to most - you either like it, or you don’t. With Minus The Bear,
there is no in-between. I, for one, find myself liking their debut full-length, Highly
Redefined Pirates. People who liked this also liked:           Please login or register to post comments. What are the benefits of having a Punknews.org account?
The guys voice totally reminds me of the dude from Karate and the music is sort of an upbeat, more frenetic version of Karate. I think that might be why I'm digging these guys so much. Minus the Bear seems to be garnering lofty praise from critics coast to coast and I continue to be left speachless by how incredibly overrated this band is. Listen kiddies, take the album title seriously because on "Highly Refined Pirates," MtB takes it's listeners on a 15 track borefest where every song's lyrical subject is either about being out to sea, drinking wine, or both. I truly wanted to like this band. I gave "...Pirates," plenty of attentive listens and none of it is worth the price of admission. Very disappointing. I can't believe the reviewer would call "Absinthe Party at the Fly Honey Warehouse" a "forgettable" track. It's the second best on the album (first being Monkey!Knife!Fight!). The dreamy sequence in the intro is fantastic, and only gains appeal after it takes a dramatic pause before the verse. The chorus in this song completely overpowers all others. The lyrics are great. My second favorite line ("Two star hotel... where the stars don't mean anything") is held by "Absinthe..." (the first is on the next track after the interlude, "my life's like a bad movie... maybe the director's turned on us"). I think this eratioanlly thinking idiot below me hasnt listened to it very well now has he!?!?! I think youll find if you actually listen to Minus the bear in concentration youll find that some aspects of them are better than botch, the guitar parts are more genius than Botch if your refering to Knudson, i say this being one of the biggest Botch fans ever. minus the bear is one of the sweetest band names ever. theyre defintely a cool band but Botch was so much better it makes me laugh it isn't an "Acquired taste" if one either likes it or doesn't. an acquired taste is something almost everyone will like with repeated listens. fucking fool. Indescribable. I won't pretend that I can sum up the awesomeness here. all the minus the bear albums are great, especially when you consider some of the members are from botch. how is absinthe party forgettable? its the best song on this cd! the whole thing is great, very dreamy. i really like the way the reviewer uses the word "synth" thats just something you dont here enough this album scores a ten, but you over use the word synth. most of the sounds are guitars. You reallllllllllly like to talk about the "synths" on this album... yet fail to mention the tempo time sig. changes, the finger tapping and really cool arpegios. Why is every one so into using the word "synth"? Ninjas would win. fuck you man, pirates could fuck the shit out of ninjas, when they're not pillaging or raping, rather. this score is for pirates. amazing band, amazing album. if you dig minsus the bear you should check out the chicago local band dakota/dakota. they have a similar melodic guitar sound, but no lyrics. they have an amazing live show as well. SHOULD BE CALLED HIGHLY REFINED NINJAS!!! Really dig this CD, but the guitar player's excessive "noodling" gets annoying really quickly. I'm shocked no one commented on the Pirate useage in the title. i have a burn of their EP (and i've seen them live) and i just find them to be really bland. not bad or anything, but nothing that particularly catches me ear. "you either like it, or you don’t. With Minus The Bear, there is no in-between." Eh. I found myself fairly indifferent to this band. They weren't bad but you won't find them on my stereo too often. He was comparing them to Curl Up And Die based on the song titles only...not the sound. and please dont say they sound like the almighty braid, hey mercedes cant even sound like braid I dont get the curl up and die comparison, those 2 bands sound nothing like each other. i wouldnt even compare botch and curl up and die but they are at least closer. that said this cd either goes over my head or under my feet but either way i cant get into it. i love this band. the end. I was disappointed with this album. The EP was a lot better. Most of this isn't bad, just boring. Technicality alone doesn't make a band good. I like Curl Up And Die better. I've only got a couple of the mp3's (Crisco and Spritz!Spritz!), but I think that these guys are putting out some pretty sweet tunes. That "girls are looking so good" song reminds me of a Braid tune; I'm not sure which one though. Whoever said it down below had it right about not going wrong with a band that has members of Botch and Sharks keep moving. However, you forgot that it also contains ex-members of Killsadie, and those guys fuckin' tore it up every time. I take to calling new new wave Neo-wave wow, i was waiting for minus the bear to finally get on this site. and while i don't agree with everything on this review, it's a stellar album. You must see them live as soon as possible. They are a truely fucking talented band. I'll take this stuff over any pop-punk shit anyday. and how do you guys call this new-wave? that is bullshit. Fuckin' shit... el vaquero, these guys aren't even in the same league as the bands you mentioned...the guitar player is the guy from Botch and he uses ALL two-hand tapping, which if you know anything about playing guitar is fucking incredible. Dude, your an idiot, stop whining, and you used the wrong there in your post... you wanted their. Dude, 15 bucks from the record label... what kinda crap is that. That is the most I've ever heard of directly from an indie label. I'll just download some stuff and go to there show and buy it. Hopefully it won't be 15 friggin bucks there... I believe the term is Nu-Wave. mmmm.... curl up and die makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. I'll take Adventres Of Jet or The Faint over this band for my new wave revival, but I guess I'll check them out. Maybe. their song titles are just classic... beep boop boop bip. bleep oot oot oot. blip bleep. absinthe party is the best song on the album. the tapping on this cd is great. JESUS, in my opinion, one should not be allowed to review an album if they do not submit the actual name of said album. It's "Highly Refined Pirates" bucko. i did the last comment. no one needs to mess with a band that has members from botch and sharks keep moving. these guys are so good. im lucky to live near seattle. i see this band live once a month... well, not anymore now that theyre touring more and what not. but anyways, what a fine release. 'Absinthe Party...' is eeeaaasily the best song on there. Forgettable indeed ..... i saw these guys back in march with cursive. they were alot of fun and this CD is great. It's true, it is a good CD to help you relax and get hopefully get some Z's. But, its not boring in anyway. This isn't really 80s. I've seen them twice and they're pretty good. I bought their EP, it's not bad. An aquired taste? BS... These guys just wish it was the 80s. |
