MYSLT: Gerta by Beaten By Yuri
Today, in our Music You Should Listen To column we feature the album:
Beaten by Yuri soar through subconscious worlds with oddball psychedelia
December 10, 2007 by kyrbyraine
Reviewed by Kit Burns
Beaten by Yuri/Gerta
With a name like Beaten by Yuri, you realize that there are still interesting ways in which to call your band. Beaten by Yuri? What does it all mean? Who knows? And the same question can be posed to Gerta, Beaten by Yuri’s new record.
Beaten by Yuri is the kind of group that could probably give major-label execs massive headaches. This is a band that defies categorization, just doing whatever they like without apology or compromise. Some of it, such as “Killer’s Cousin and the Faults of Tomorrow,” remind me of Radiohead’s Kid A period of enigmatic experimentalism. However, after a couple of listens, you begin to understand what originally seemed like madness. Beaten by Yuri are working from the template set by the Beatles 40 years ago, a mish-mash of rock, psychedelia, and avant-garde pop that strips away the layers of reality and takes you onto a different plain of existence.
The screaming and yelling that sometimes disrupts the melodic flow of music, such as on the hilariously titled “Building an Aeroplane Without Prior Knowledge” and “Darling Uvula” is reminiscent of Frank Black’s maniac squealing on vintage Pixies records but Beaten by Yuri aren’t just about noise; they know how to free flow as well, let us sail the worlds in their subconcious with them. It’s a pretty trippy record so leave the artificial stimulants at home.
| Review:
'Beaten by Yuri' 'Gerta' - Genre: 'Indie' - Release Date: '2007' |
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Our Rating:
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Beaten
by Yuri (http://myspace.com/beatenbyyuri) have released what is
probably the year's weirdest album. Given that it's December already
and I can't imagine anybody raising a higher freak flag than Beaten by
Yuri, we should already give them the title. On "Gerta," Beaten by Yuri sound like a number of different groups, sometimes even in the same track. Of course, given how largely dull alternative rock has become, I'm not complaining here; that Beaten by Yuri had me disoriented and confused upon my first initial spins is a credit to their boundless creativity and artistic courage. Where do I start? The opener "Building an Aeroplane Without Prior Knowledge" starts off as shambling psychedelia before exploding into a Pixies-like fury with enough crazed screaming to spook any adolescent emo group. Watch out for Beaten by Yuri's abrupt mood shifts; they can come at any moment, without warning. Stylistically one can hear the influence of not only the Pixies but their peers Sonic Youth and spiritual offspring Nirvana and Radiohead. "Missing Link" and "Darling Uvula" have an otherworldly quality that the young Pink Floyd would've admired although Beaten by Yuri are far more quirky and low-fi. |
The acoustic twang of "Saluting the Better Half" again finds the group veering into another direction while "Tillie Unite Us" is rife with Beatlesque vocal harmonies. It's pretty original, adventurous, and bewildering rock, looking to the future of music with high-I.Q. irreverence. |
| author: Adam Harrington | |
