This collection of songs from Moneybrother's earlier, European releases starts out with a disco beat straight from ABBA.

And I love it.

Moneybrother's EP contains six tracks of eclectic indie rock and roots music. Eclectic is a term generally bandied about by faux-elitists attempting to describe something that is foreign to them. However They're Building Walls Around Us definitely "derives ideas and style from a broad and diverse range of sources."¹ Integrated into this EP are flares of the aforementioned disco, soul, folk and straight-up rock. It's all packed together into a package that continues to floor me.

While I was listening to this (on repeat for several hours) my brother walked in, stopped and asked me why this guy was singing with Joe Strummer's voice. I'm not kidding. "Strange Is the Night," "Feelings, Getting Stronger in the Dark" and "Bum Fucked (For Sure)" sound like long-lost Strummer compositions from either X-Ray Style or Streetcore. Moneybrother continues in the blended, world music template forged by the Mescaleros and adds to it a sense of hip, retro `70s swagger. The dance beat and raucous horn line on "Reconsider Me" will have even the most angry punk shaking their ass alone in their room.

According to the one-sheet that came with this album, the whole "Moneybrother" moniker was created to push forward an image that was larger than life. Hopefully former Monster frontman Anders Wendin will realize that he could have relied on his music all along rather than pushing forward some sort of ridiculous front. To this end, hopefully Sabot or Epitaph will pick up the domestic release rights for this album soon so that we can enjoy the full fruits of this musical project.

According to some, this is Sabot co-conspirators Against Me!'s favorite band. Shocking, but I can totally see why. This has definitely taken the top spot for EP's released this year for me.

Stream They're Building Walls Around Us at Moneybrother's Punknews.org Band Profile.

1 - As defined by Mac OSX 10.4's Dictionary:
eclectic |iˈklektik| adjective 1 deriving ideas, style, or taste from a broad and diverse range of sources : her musical tastes are eclectic. 2 ( Eclectic) Philosophy of, denoting, or belonging to a class of ancient philosophers who did not belong to or found any recognized school of thought but selected such doctrines as they wished from various schools. noun a person who derives ideas, style, or taste from a broad and diverse range of sources.