Music Snitch

After multiple occasions of missing Minus the Bear either a day late or a city short, I finally caught up with them at the Ritz in Ybor City.  The band started things off with “Drilling”, a track from ‘Menos el Oso’, and proceeded along with a couple ‘Planet of Ice’ tracks, “Throwin’ Shapes” and “Knights”.  Their mellow tunes sounded groovier in a live environment and the audience was definitely soaking it in.  The set-list included a lot of new ‘OMNI’ material, such as, “My Time”, “Summer Angel”, “Excuses” and “Into The Mirror”, which was part of the three song encore.  To conclude the evening, MTB went with an oldie but a goodie, “Absinthe Party at the Fly Honey Warehouse”.

Minus the Bear was  pretty reserved on stage, but if you were expecting rowdy behavior, chances are, you never heard their music before.  Although, the bass player, Murchy, did show signs of life after just about every song, giving the audience two very enthusiastic thumbs up.  So I guess I’ll follow his lead and give the night a wink and a hand shoot.

Minus the Bear’s latest album, ‘OMNI’, hits stores today, and if you want to give it a test run before making a purchase decision, you can steam it here.

A bit of insight into ‘OMNI’ (from Dangerbird Records):  This time out MTB wanted to collaborate with an outside producer and began interviewing potential candidates.  Joe Chiccarelli (My Morning Jacket, The White Stripes, The Shins) flew up to Seattle and the rapport was immediate, with producer and band in agreement about how to proceed.

“We played the songs for Joe in our rehearsal space and he had a ton of ideas,” Snider says. “He had a great sense of where things could be trimmed, so he was a good set of ears to help us edit what we were trying to get across.”

On April 27, 2009, Minus the Bear began sessions at Seattle’s Avast! Recording Studios, opting to take a more organic approach towards recording.  A conscious effort was made to play together as much as possible, eschewing the usual scratch tracks and overdubs whenever possible.

“He was really awesome about wanting to find the perfect sound before we even started tracking the songs,” Knudson says. “That was a big thing for us, changing the way we record, trying to keep as much of the performances that we were doing in the studio together to maintain the energy.”

“Joe kicked a lot of us in the ass more than any of us had ever been kicked in the ass before,” Knudson says.  “We were doing 10 or 12 takes, more than any of us had ever played, but obviously all those takes paid off. He broke us down and made us evaluate what we were doing and maybe made us think of it from a different perspective.”

After their performances at SXSW, Minus The Bear will head out on a spring tour of the states that just so happens to conclude in their home state of Washington at The Sasquatch Music Festival.   The band is also giving away ‘Omni’s’ first single, “My Time”, for the small price of your email address, here.

Minus The Bear’s forthcoming album, ‘Omni’, will hit stores on May 4th via Dangerbird Records.

Take A Listen: My Time from Minus The Bear

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If you are unable to download the track through the band’s site, you can get it right here. Download: My Time (Right click on link and select “Save Target As” in IE or “Save Link As” in Firefox)

I was (still am) pretty bummed that I wasn’t able to check out Minus The Bear this past week when they passed through Athens; as they are one of my personal favorites. Since I was unable to offer a concert review, the least I can do is share some new music from their ‘Into the Mirror’, 7”.

Take A Listen: Broken China from Minus The Bear

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Minus The Bear still has a few more stops on their tour.

Minus The Bear will be releasing their new 7″ single, ‘Into the Mirror’, on October 27th…you can listen to it on their MySpace page.