Fingerprints Music

Reviews:

By all accounts, Liars are one of the hottest things going in New York at themoment, which is saying something considering the recent mania over the Strokes.On a different branch of NYC's storied sonic tree, Liars have resurrectedthe more fascinating aspects of the city's No Wave scene of the '70s,not to mention the spiky martial rhythms of Gang of Four ("Grown Men Don'tFall in the River, Just Like That"), the dour dirge melodies of Joy Division("The Garden was Crowded and Outside"), and the relentless dance attackof John Lydon's Public Image Ltd. ("Mr. Your on Fire Mr.," "LooseNuts on the Veladrome").

For the first half of Liars' debut album, They Threw Us All in a Trenchand Stuck a Monument on Top, the band goes a long way toward proving thetruth in the hype with an infectious energy. Only the last track on the album,the 30+ minute dance drone of "This Dust Makes This Mud," dulls thesheen of Trench/Monument; on stage, the song is likely a throbbing showstopper-especiallyif the audience is an advanced state of chemical susceptibility at that pointin the show-but on disc it's overlong and ploddingly repetitious,making Tangerine Dream seem like the Ramones by comparison. Still in all, Liarshave made an album that shows its power in the studio and its potential fortearing up the clubs.