MUSIC REVIEW: MINUS THE BEAR - 'HOLD ME DOWN' EP

Something For The Weekend: A Free EP of Surprisingly Dancey Indie Breezes

It's Thursday night, somewhere around 10:00 p.m. on the west coast. And I suppose that means the big Memorial Day weekend has officially begun. And since it's the weekend, and since it's a holiday, I feel no need to lie to you. I am wearing trunks at my desk. I am rushing through the last of my work for the night so I can go out and catch Los Angeles' own Allah Las playing a pub gig down the street. There are two surfboards and a cooler loaded in my car so I can escape reality for a few hours before I start work (and the tourists descend upon us) tomorrow. I am typing with my right hand, and there is an ice cold (or at least slush cold) lager in my left hand.

Minus The Bear - Hold Me Down EP Cover - Buzzine.com

Yes, even Team Buzzine needs to participate in non-work activities from time to time. Right now, our esteemed and overworked Executive Producer and our esteemed and overworked Music Editor are paying much needed attention to their lovely significant others, and I'm...well...I'm still working on the significant other thing. Regardless, unless I'm way off the mark with regards to human nature, all of you are probably on similar tracks. So if you haven't stopped reading and just skipped ahead to the download link as of yet, then I suggest you do so. You can always read this later on your boat, or at your pool or barbecue, or on the bearskin rug in your boudoir or whatevers.

Today, as a show of fan appreciation, Minus The Bear released Hold Me Down, a free EP containing both new tracks and live numbers. I'm gonna go ahead and label this Minus The Bear EP the official soundtrack to all the awesome mistakes that we are all going to make over the course of the next three days.

Hold Me Down is an excellent offering from Minus The Bear. As pop as they are, Minus The Bear has always been sort of stuffed in the indie envelope. It may be their focus on melodies, and it may just be the fact that no one expects to hear dance music from Seattle, or it could be some entirely unrelated factor, but I don't think people realize just how danceable this band is. And Hold Me Down really epitomizes that. It's a fun, light, and terribly well-produced EP. The title track is a great and somewhat deceptive pop song. It opens with a staccato guitar that's composed like early Interpol but delivered like early Snow Patrol, but when the band A part begins, you will immediately notice that it borrows melody and lyrical content from...wait for it...Patrick Swayze's "She's Like The Wind." This one builds very well and leads into "Broken China," which incorporates a bit of that noise that no self-respecting Northwest indie song should forego.

Further pushing the dance envelope, there is a remix of "My Time" that sort of comes off like happy hardcore. It's pretty excellent fodder for that pool party you're going to. The phaser on the guitar track alone makes it a winner.

Finally, there are a couple of live tracks. There is a live version of In "The Mirror" that I like much better than the album version. The guitars are effected just enough live, and sound far better and more immediate than their post-effected counterparts. Also, the dry vocal tracks and Moog-ish synth runs make the track (which is somewhat dark lyrically) far more playful than the live version.

Are you still reading? If so, kudos, my friend. You are as big of a music nerd as I am. Now then. Download this EP, pop it in the dash, and go get you some life.

Standout Tracks: "My Time," "The Mirror"

For Fans Of: Portugal. The Man, Bear vs. Shark