MP3 Trying to Escape the Bigotry - POP: Quirky

Cheesy, sarcastic, sometimes idealistic indie pop.

13 MP3 Songs
POP: Quirky, POP: Power Pop



Details:
Electric Needle Room is Steven Beat on percussion and cowbell and Matt Beat on everything else. They are famously known as the first ever duo to play indie pop songs in a random street alley in Newton, Kansas.

It indeed did all begin in Kansas- Augusta, Kansas to be exact. ENR had modest beginnings under the moniker of Feedback in 1995. Matt began recording songs at the ripe age of 14. Some of these songs are the worst known to mankind, but they eventually became better. Throughout high school and college, Matt went on to record more than 150 songs, some of them good, most of them bearable, but all of them primitively recorded on his parents' karaoke machine. His brother, Steven, assisted him on some songs with percussion (which Matt definitely needed help on) to add some organic flavoring to the songs.

In early 2005, Matt invested in a multi-track recorder for his low-fi surprises. Thus, the songs began to sound better, and the songwriting had also gotten better since the early days. Steven joined the band full-time later that year to help Matt out with Beats. The brothers immediately decided they should not be living in the same city in order for the band to work, so Matt moved to Manhattan, KS and Steven to Kansas City. They currently split operations between Kansas City and Omaha.

ENR's debut full-length album, "My Socks Never Match," mostly a solo effort by Matt due to his ego, was released in November 2005 and has already went multi-platinum in Antarctica.

2006 was full of collaboration between Steven and Matt and some random stuffed animals in Matt's in-laws' basement. The result was some shows at places like The Replay Lounge in Lawrence (providing music for a puppet show), Oleavers Pub in Omaha, and numerous coffee shops and beverage establishments in Omaha and Kansas. Matt also wrote a couple songs inspired by paintings in a "contest" for a local museum in Omaha, and received much international recognition for his song "You Make Me Feel Sunny" by some dudes in Italy that Matt bugged to be friends with on Myspace.

The boys also found time to record their second album, entitled "Trying to Escape the Bigotry," a title Matt came up with after running into a few bigots here and there and everywhere, although not one song on the album even remotely mentions a bigot. Steven didn't care. He was just excited to try out is new multi-million-dollar electronic drum kit he had sold his soul for. It paid off- the new album sounded much more "professionally" produced than the first one, with Steven contributing to all but one of the songs this time around (although he significantly contributed to the mastering of the album).

The album was officially released on January 30th, 2007 to much disdain by the general hearing public.


A review of Electric Needle Room's Trying to Escape the Bigotry...

The inside cover of Electric Needle Room's Trying to Escape the Bigotry lists the definition of "Bigot" as "any person who is utterly intolerant of a differing creed, belief, or opinion." Once this definition has been stated, the band leaves you with a simple question: are members/brothers Matt and Steven Beat bigots themselves?

The answer (thankfully) is a resounding yes. Quirky, irrelevant, and utterly satirical while still maintaining a lighthearted sense of tomfoolery, Bigotry is exactly the kind of tongue-in-cheek fun I've come to expect from this duo. Their last album, 2004's My Socks Don't Match, was gently layered synth pop that walked some ironic tightrope between complete goofiness and legitimate sadness. Several years later, ENR have upped the ante considerably, with things being alternatively more dorky yet more serious as well. Did I mention that this stuff is well-crafted, hook-laden, sugary-sweet synth-pop of the highest order? Would-you-like-more-hyphens? No you wouldn't, and no I didn't, to answer both questions in reverse order. But in all honesty, this is a band that is pretty much the epitome of the goodness synth-pop can have.

Quiet guitar chords soon washed in wavering, gooey distortion is what you'll get from the start with "Everybody Wants Your Money," and what a fun start! This cut somehow combines infectious pop music with anti-taxation lines and catchy sing-alongs. The "awww-shucks" demeanor of my personal favorite song, "Nobody Cares About Me Anymore" works wonders; just try not to sing in your most depressive vocal imitation everytime you hear this angst-y beat festival of internet isolation. "Mediocre Bands" is so tongue-in-cheek it at times runs the risk of biting itself despite the joke, but the band mixes clever self-hate, twinkling piano lines, and grooving synth beats into a wonderful mix. The wistful "You Make Me Feel Sunny" is a folksy ballad about love and its redeeming powers; gentle and kind, it is definitely effective only when you feel as happy as the song itself. Regardless, it is good and has a measure of the Beatles' early, naive optimism to it. The downright-silly "All of My Ancestors Were Wrong" effectively blames human history for all the world's ills, which in all honesty is such a great idea for a synth-pop song I have no idea why no one has thought of it before. Shimmering and convicted, the song is oddly serious despite its whimsical nature, and shows the unique idenity this band will carve for itself slowly-but-surely over time.
"Hollywood" is a jangling keyboard ballad to channel surfing and old movies; nostalgic and fun, there is a very 90's feel to this...I could see it being a song on the Adventures of Pete & Pete soundtrack. The country-influenced "Middle of the Ocean" slowly ambles by in a decent but unremarkable pop-structure. Militant and with tons of repeated vocal lines, it is a bit too straightforward for its own good. The ratchet beats and general quirk of the toy-store music anthem that is "Give/Take" is an excellent piece of unique ideas, proof that to this day synths can still be forced into producing unusual or unexpected noises. "Bull Crap" kicks off with legitimate drums---just straight percussion!---before launching into a mix of jaunty anger and blissful disbelief. I'll leave the topic quiet so that some of you can be surprised, and trust me, it is a truly amusing one. "Here to Stay" is a twisting, taunting breeze of a song; it is so absurdly goofy it might be borderline irritating, but I think in a way that is part of the appeal---this is definitely one of those "guilty pleasure" type songs. The awesomely named "The Wicked Nosehair" is a psychedelic, lush ode to yes, a nosehair. A freakishly winding descent into Sgt. Pepper-worthy freakouts makes this one a surprisingly grand track, and an underdog fave to be sure. "Myspace.com" mocks everyone's favorite dirty obsession, and ironically captures all the retarded idiocy that that site has, while still focusing on the few things making it a worthwhile venture. "We Will Rewind" closes things with a sombering, poignant ballad focused more on quiet reflection and less on the band's earlier shenanigans. It ends the CD on a very professional note, and shows that if Electric Needle Room so wish they could move well beyond the chuckle-pop that is their forte.

All-in-all, good stuff. Electric Needle Room have something for everyone; the quaint independence of indie cred, the well-produced sheen of radio-friendly pop, the experimental quirk of legitmate avant-garde sensations---Hell, they even throw in casio keys! This odd mix of serious music and biting/sarcastic lyrical satire is a potent one indeed, and here's hoping that Electric Needle Room don't Escape the Bigotry anytime soon.

Electric Needle Room's Trying to Escape the Bigotry
1. Everyone Wants Your Money
2. Nobody Cares About Me Anymore
3. Mediocre Bands
4. You Make Me Feel Sunny
5. All of My Ancestors Were Wrong
6. Hollywood
7. Middle of the Ocean
8. Give/Take
9. Bull Crap
10. Here to Stay
11. The Wicked Nosehair
12. Myspace.com
13. We Will Rewind

Final Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Here's a review of the song "Myspace.com"...

Myspacedotcom by Electric Needle Room is a delightful tune. If you retool the lyrics they apply to anything really. I used to have a wife but then I got a Myspace account. Well Matt I pity you.
Matt Beat plays a mean keyboard. He knows how to perfectly accentuate his vocals. I only have 4 words for the significant other of the duo, Steven. It needs more cowbell. Actually there is no cowbell, but more of rhythmic tapping. I'm never really one to focus on percussion, but Steven keeps the beat like a bassist would without being flashy. You may scoff but his tappin' brings to mind Black Tambourine and Twisted Sister drum lines. It also brings to mind that story of the guy who lost his wife playing Everquest too much.
Electric Needle Room brings to mind as Janice French so aptly put it, '...Napoleon Dynamite-like. I kept waiting to hear him to say his lips were "chapped and they hurt ... real bad."' There is something very endearing, yet vulnerable about this song. Whether it is the duos They Might Be Giants feel or the jab at Myspace, one can't really tell.
"Tell me what is this phenomenon? It's myspacedotcom," said the two brothers. Now read the sentence to yourself and tell me that it doesn't feel slightly awkward. It doesn't feel awkward? You lying bitch. Alright fine but try throwing a tongue twister like phenomenon into a song without breaking beat. Got you now! Well ENR can do it, and make it sound like it belongs there too.
They have their sound memorized and goddamn it they feel comfortable with it too. Not to say that the song is too repetitive. It isn't. But they have a benign way of handling their instruments. Everything feels so natural. They do, however, have lots of room to grow, which I think given a few more singles they will achieve. These guys really deserve a browsing. IT'S MYSPACEDOTCOM