Beth In Battle Mode - Technical Know-How

Ahhh, it doesn't get much better than Beth In Battle Mode. Take every great band you've ever heard, chuck 'em in a blender, hit "BLEND", and you've got a band that is so insanely fun that I defy you to sit still and contemplate life while their music is playing. Technical Know-How is a real lesson in creating a mood, demonstrating a feeling and showing the universe how to be catchy. The album opens with "Rembrandt Q. Einstein" a jumpy little number complete with Costello-ish keys and Stranglers-ish vocals. "No Feeling" is an oxymoron of sorts in that the songs oozes so much feeling that it literally leaves you feeling exhausted. "Everyone Is In A Band" has all the handclaps and thumping drums necessary to expose the pop music lover in all of us. However it's the keyboard action in this one that made me laugh out loud. It becomes so intentionally overbearing that for some reason I just found it hilarious. When the positively psycho keyboard solo kicks in about three quarters into the song, I found myself ducking in order to avoid the lasers that are sure to come shooting out of the sky like they do at Styx concerts. "Presto's at 8" takes us back a decade earlier to the garage rockin' 60's and this song would not sound out of place on a Nuggets compilation. This time the brief key solo is a little more Deep Purple than Styx but still very cool. "The Sounds Of The Internet" zips ahead to the 80's and (I'm already laughing while typing this) sounds like what The Cars would sound like if Loverboy's Mike Reno sang lead. If you haven't clued in yet, this band is more fun than paintballing with Devo, (not sure what that means but you've gotta admit, that sounds pretty fun) and at exactly 30 minutes, the CD is exactly what the doctor ordered when it comes to a prescription for good times.

Beth In Battle Mode are playing their last show of the year at The Savannah Room on December 1st. Just because I can't make it to this one doesn't mean that you should miss it as well. It's sure to be a whole whack of good times.

Photo is by Moffat media.

Download: No Feeling mp3
Myspace: Beth In Battle Mode
Stream: The entire CD can be streamed over at CBC Radio 3 here.