With Love & Squalor

We Are Scientists | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (January 10, 2006)
• Original Release Date: 2006
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Virgin Records Us
• ASIN: B000BCHJ2E
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (36 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #11,967 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

From Amazon.co.uk

With their daft facial hair and questionable fashion sense, tank-top sporting Brooklyn supernerds We Are Scientists resemble those eccentric mathematics lecturers one use to see on Open University in the early 1970s. Do not be deceived by this veil of foolishness, for With Love and Squalor is a splendidly dexterous debut, a lubricated salvo of trim pop-punk cramming 13 songs into an honorably waffle-free 36 minutes.

Obvious touchstones include Franz Ferdinand (on fun setting) and the wit, jerk, and pop inclination of XTC circa Drums and Wires and Black Sea. Exploding into action with the adrenalin swoop of "Nobody Move, Nobody Get Hurt" and "This Scene Is Dead" and taking in such other fine moments as the reggaefied "Can't Lose" and the Terrorvision-meets-Buzzcocks "Callbacks," the album nods to the mope-rock of the Cure on the philosophical experience-is-the-best-teacher procrastination of "Textbook." With Love and Squalor places We Are Scientists in line for this year's Nobel Prize for punk-pop novelty. --Kevin Maidment

Product Description

We Are Scientists comprises of Keith Murray, guitar and lead vocals; Chris Cain, bass guitar and backing vocals; Michael Tapper, drums and backing vocals. EMI. 2005.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars With Love and Squalor (Literally), February 22, 2006

By 

Garett Press "AbsolutePunk.net Staff" (Westchester, NY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: With Love & Squalor (Audio CD)

~www.absolutepunk.net~

At this point, my penchant for dancing is beginning to wear thin.

In 2005 the mainstream saw a surprising emergence of indie bands who, like a snake charmer with his flute, got the toes of American tapping with their modern dance-rock grooves. Ever since, the bass heavy sway, the semi-electronic trill, and the pick-a-minute hook with which The Killers, Franz Ferdinand, and Hot Hot Heat invaded our minds have become a major rock and roll standard. It's been done, done, and done again and mostly to great effect.

But as we've seen most recently with the "emo" trend, the "ska" trend, and the "pop-punk" trend: after a while if you don't give a genre a little creative CPR, it's going to lose its flavor, and fast. Perhaps I stand alone here, but I feel the wave of dance-rock has not received enough medical attention. While new artists like Men, Women, and Children still send my pulse soaring, We Are Scientists haven't found that kindling just yet.

It's hard to point to a flaw because, as with so many records, it's not what you hear, it's what you don't. The vocals are spot on, and instrumentally the foundation is rock hard. What With Love and Squalor fails to do though, is build upon this foundation. In almost every track I expected a skyscraper, and yet the elevator stopped a couple stories short. A major shortcoming in this whole dance-rock deal is the low malleability of the sound; rarely can a band effectively stretch it to envelop the girth of a full length record.

We Are Scientists have conjured 12 really good songs, championed by the more adventurous "Can't Lose" and rarely flinching from a straight forward but successful formula. It's a good time had by all, but despite what there is to enjoy, With Love and Squalor does not manage to achieve any of the depth or importance found in the subtly heartbreaking J.D. Salinger short from which the record draws its name.

"It doesn't have to be terribly prolific! Just so that it isn't childish and silly." Esmé reflected. "I prefer stories about squalor."

~absolutepunk.net~

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Unoriginally Good, April 6, 2006

By 

Brian Murphy (Tampa, FL.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: With Love & Squalor (Audio CD)

This is your typical L.A. or Brooklyn sounding hipster band. There have even been comparisons to the Killers with the lead singer singing in a somewhat British accent. Once you get past those distractions (meaning, I'm not a fan of the Killers or bands like them) this is a pretty good album. Very catchy album with hyper-angular guitar licks a-la Bloc Party. Drumming is decent and there are definitely some good sing along parts and catchy hooks. Grant it, some of the lyrics are cheesy and a little bit immature but the album pulls you through with its catchy at the moment 'sound'. Worth a listen.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Best CD You've Never Heard, July 20, 2006

By 

John R. Choiniere (Northfield, MN) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: With Love & Squalor (Audio CD)

Take the best aspects of The Killers, Bloc Party, and Franz Ferdinand, mix them together, and you get this, the debut CD from We Are Scientists. As we've all come to expect from this genre, the musicianship is excellent; the guitar works blends seamlessly with the vocals, drums, etc. Everything fits together wonderfully. Even better though, these guys definitely know how to build excitement. The first track gets you going, two keeps the party going, three has a good atmosphere, and four mellows out a bit while segueing into the building crescendo of rhythm that starts the fast-paced, jumpy fifth track, "Callbacks," far and away the best song on the disc. By then, you're hooked. Every track here is worth listening to over and over again.

Sidenote: Wonder why this album got all the way to #3 on the college radio charts? Check out the lyrics. This CD is the aural representation of the stereotypical college weekend, best represented by the last lines of the second cut: "The night is young, I'm blacking out, but it's been fun."

5 of 5 stars for the new College Rock.