Review - Minus the Bear

Band: Minus The Bear
Album: Planet of Ice
Label: Suicide Squeeze Records
Score: 5 out of 5

Last Friday I traveled down to Long Beach (that's in California) to an indie record store named Fingerprints. If you were savvy enough to preorder the new Minus the Bear album, Planet of Ice, you were treated to a nice in-store concert. The line to get in went for blocks and my guesstimate would be that about one hundred lucky fans made it into the record store. Being able to see Minus the Bear in this intimate setting was a real treat and an experience I will never forget. The set list consisted mainly of songs from Planet of Ice and a couple of the band's classics. If you're dying to know the set list looked like this: Knights, Burying Luck, Ice Monster, Fix, White Mystery, Throwin' Shapes, Pachuca Sunrise, and Lotus. At the end of the night it was clear that Minus the Bear is nothing short of genius.

Planet of Ice seems to be a very appropriate title for this album because the music is cool, smooth, chill, and refreshing. Minus the Bear doesn't rock as straightforward as they did with their previous releases Menos el Oso and Highly Refined Pirates. Their latest release really lets guitarist Dave Knudson explore his unique playing style. Knudson could be the most creative and unique guitar player on the indie market right now. Another noticeable difference is the increased importance of keyboard/synth with newcomer Alex Rose. Old keyboardist Matt Bayles, who left the band to concentrate solely on producing, produced the album. This made for a nice team and it will be interesting to see if Matt Bayles becomes Minus the Bear's go-to producer. I sure hope he is.

With the more relaxed and experimental approach of Planet of Ice, Minus the Bear was still able to write some really catchy songs. They accomplish sucking the listener in with the first track "Burying Luck." It's sure to leave the listener singing the lyrics "what have you done" and nodding their heads with acceptance. My personal favorite track on the album is "Ice Monster" which is a great representation of what Minus the Bear is all about.

An interesting tidbit of information that people who haven't seen the band live might not realize is that Knudson is responsible for a lot of the psychedelic sounds that might be confused for keyboardist/synth work. For example, the intro of "Knights" is all Knudson working his pedals.

What makes this album such a huge success is the fact that it's catchy, enjoyable to listen to, experimental, and musically complicated all at the same time. You can either just enjoy the catchy tunes or you can listen to each track for hours in awe of its musicianship. Minus the Bear's latest release should please old fans and help build an even bigger fan base for the band. Planet of Ice should definitely be a candidate for indie album of the year.

Suggested tracks: Ice Monster, Knights, Dr. L'Ling and Lotus.