Minus the Bear - They Make Beer Commercials Like This - VINYL LP

Pop is a tag that's been assigned to Minus the Bear throughout their career. It's been used to set a distinction between the unique brand of complex indie rock they introduced on their first EP, and the more angular and aggravated sounds of their previous bands Botch, Kill Sadie, and Sharks Keep Moving. It's also a tag that was thrown around frequently in the wake of their streamlined fourth album, OMNI. And it's a descriptor that immediately comes to mind within the first few seconds of their classic second formal EP, They Make Beer Commercials Like This. Beer Commercials is the evolutionary step between Minus The Bear's first two landmark albums, Highly Refined Pirates and Menos El Oso. Opening track InchFine + 2 PointsInch remains one of the band's strongest opening tracks in their discography, charging out of the gates with a syncopated stomp that comes across as a more agitated take on Kylie Minogue's InchCan't Get You Outta My Head.Inch If Minus The Bear were looking to make pop music without any of it's major-scale bubblegum trappings, they nailed it here. The band follows it with InchLet's Play ClownsInch and InchDog ParkInch-nods to Highly Refined Pirates' formula of frenetic clean guitar work, bombastic choruses, and Jake Snider's lyrics of detached romantic nostalgia. These tracks may represent Minus the Bear's original trademark version of pop but on songs like InchI'm Totally Not Down With Rob's Alien,Inch the band eschews it's restless energy for atmosphere and dynamics, creating a sound that's inspired more than a handful of contemporary melodic post-rock bands. By the time the band belts out InchPony Up!Inch the listener has watched the three-year sonic transition between Minus the Bear's first two full-lengths transpire within under half an hour, with their earlier math rock predilections yielding to the tightly wound club-banging pedalboard trickery