Ideamen May You Live in Interesting Times
by Derric Miller
Staff Writer
The semi-heralded and underground Ideamen has released the follow up to their 2007 EP and first full-length album, the appropriately titled May You Live in Interesting Times. It’s sort of a double-whammy here, because 2009 certainly counts as “interesting times,” but the array of music Ideamen creates certainly be described as interesting. Self-described as Progressive/Alternative/Experimental, Ideamen sounds as if Ben Folds Five and Faith No More/Mr. Bungle decided to become Siamese twins and write danceable yet heavy Rock anthems that run the gamut from Metal to Jazz. It’s all there for the listening …
The opening track, “Interesting Times,” is a burner, with drummer Phil Goodrich stealing the show amongst the chaos around him. You will have to immediately understand that although Ideamen uses two singers, Tim Swanson and Dave Solar, they both have an affinity for Mike Patton, thus the Faith No More vibe. With signature changes, mechanized falsetto passages and two and four-part harmonies, there’s a lot to digest. Mostly, it’s just cool.
“Emergency” is a more straight-ahead rocker, with chunky riffs from guitarist Dan Figurell. With Ideamen, though, everything can change at once, as it does here, slowing down before heating back up throughout the song. You won’t get the verse/verse/chorus from these guys, but it’s always interesting. The vocals trade lead and are accompanied by a female vocals as well.
One of the goofiest songs is “Horse’s Head,” also one of the most upbeat songs, and at under four minutes, it doesn’t give them time to be convoluted about the songwriting. In this aspect, it immediately becomes the most memorable. Ideamen is never about elongated guitar solos, but more likely to change tempos a few times in the song, offer various breakdowns, and also, come at you with a mountain of vocals. It reaches its peak on “Horse’s Head,” especially with the cool keyboard passage near the end of the track.
If you like Swing Music, check out “Uneventful Day.” Fans of They Might Be Giants or maybe The Mighty Mighty Bosstones would get a kick out of this. Actually, label mates Dog Fashion Disco/Polkadot Cadaver regularly pull off stunts like this; maybe they were influenced Todd Smith and the boys here. It’s rare to find a band that can easily play so many styles of music this well.
Swanson, who also plays keys, takes charge with his fingers as “Paper Goose” begins, another upbeat, happy anthem about … something. It doesn’t really matter. If you are a fan of the aforementioned Faith No More, the Patton-like vocals (although not nearly as sinister) are a pleasure to absorb.
May You Live in Interesting Times gets eerie on the final track, “Your Signature Here.” With swarming keys, an ever-changing wall of sound and those mammoth vocal melodies, “Your Signature Here” is the most complicated composition on the release. Bassist Mark Vasquez shows he can pummel yet play as intricately as the rest of his mates, sometimes just a few bars apart.
Ideamen, based on their dynamic style of music, probably are even a better live act than studio creature. With the endless amount of energy packed into their music, it’s nearly impossible not to glom on to their infectious songs and musicianship. That aside, May You Live in Interesting Times isn’t the most accessible release you’ve ever heard, and you’ll have to put the work in to figure out what they are all about. That being said, if you only delve as deep as their vocal harmonies, it’s still a sound you’ve yet to hear this year.
Label: Rotten Records
Online: www.myspace.com/ideamen
Track listing:
1. Interesting Times
2. Emergency
3. The Rest
4. Sunshine
5. Horse’s Head
6. Incident
7. Collectibles
8. Uneventful Day
9. No Thought
10. Paper Goose
11. Quares
12. Your Signature Here
HRH Rating: 7.7/10