by Debra Au
Daily Lobo
So maybe they're indie. And maybe a little nerdy. But who can resist indie nerds holding kittens on their album art? Really, who?
The Brooklyn-based guitar-drums-bass trio We Are Scientists is the latest band to join the ranks of offbeat indie funsters with its album With Love and Squalor. The band is sure to see its deserved 15 minutes of fame - until the next band that sounds exactly the same comes around, that is.
And while We Are Scientists sounds almost the same as the Killers, or Franz Ferdinand, or the Strokes or - insert any other band with a tall skinny white guy front man here - it really makes no difference.
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The beats are so catchy, for a half hour we forget that the whole indie genre sounds exactly the same. We are too busy dancing in our dorm rooms or singing along in our cars to notice the difference. Or rather, lack thereof.
With Love and Squalor is a dozen funky tracks that leave listeners doing the above-mentioned activities with its oddball arrangements and mile-a-minute shots on the snares.
The first single "Nobody Move, Nobody Get Hurt" is a fast-paced semi-techno dance hit. Think the Killers meets Fall Out Boy. But it seems like every track is fighting to be a hit single - it's all so intense and upbeat. While this might get tiring after a while, at least everything sounds great.
Perhaps the only drawback is, overall, With Love and Squalor is extremely forgettable. It's entertaining to listen to, but when it's over, it's over. It's like eating Chinese food - a few hours later you're still hungry. So goes with this album - in a few hours, you'll forget you ever listened to it.
But if you're a person with a short attention span who loves Napoleon Dynamite-esque musicians, We Are Scientists will be in your CD changer for months to come.
So where exactly does We Are Scientists stand in terms of longevity? Truthfully, we already lost them. By the time the last track ended, someone was making room for them on a dusty shelf. Indie America is already onto the next wacky band. It was fun while it lasted, though. The geeks with kittens motif was really cute.
