Wires In The Walls

The North Atlantic, The North Atlantic | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (May 23, 2003)
• Original Release Date: May 23, 2003
• Number of Discs: 1
• ASIN: B00009W2IW
• In-Print Editions: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,525,365 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. The Lotus Eater

2. Drunk Under the Electrics

3. Swallow Fire

4. The Man Who Saved Your Ass

5. Scientist Girl

6. Bottom of This Town

7. Street Sweepers

8. Atmosphere vs. the Dogs of Dawn

9. Cities

10. Swallows Air

11. The Ministry of Helicopters

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Record, July 27, 2006

By 

John - See all my reviews

This review is from: Wires in the Walls (Audio CD)

This is very intense record from start to finish. The record is very diverse but still remains cohesive from dirty rock n' roll of "Drunk Under Electrics" to the 80's new wave inspired "Bottom Of This Town" to a great pop song "Scientist Girl" (which bears some similarity to pinkerton era Weezer). The narrative nature of the lyrics are also very captivating. A band really worth checking out if you are a fan of bands like At The Drive-In, Archers Of Loaf, Yeah Yeah Yeahs etc.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great, Urgent Record, September 21, 2006

By 

James T. Young "James" (Jersey City, NJ) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Wires in the Walls (Audio CD)

I really dig this records. From front to back, I'm able to find soemthign that really gets me. I love the eclectic mix of song styles. Great live, too!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars "I had a dream of stereos, building cities, silicone and tin", September 3, 2006

By 

mwreview "mwreview" (Northern California, USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Wires in the Walls (Audio CD)

In this hip hop-dominated world, I'm always interested in finding new music with a style that I like (usually reminiscent of the 1980s). I was surfing channels and found a crude-looking surfing program with post-punk style music blaring in the background. I caught the song title: "Drunk Under Electrics" and immediately looked it up and found these guys! The audio clips were intriguing, so I gave the CD a try.

As the title indicates, this is a very urban-sounding album with lots of references to cities, buildings, streets, wires, fire, and machines (with some sex thrown in as well). Their music reminds me of post-punk, skateboarding, politically-conscious groups but also like 1990s heavy-sounding alternative bands like Jawbox and Sebadoh with a little Cure thrown in the mix. Many of their songs are surprisingly complex and go in many directions.

"The Lotus Eater" (2:49): The opening almost sounds Ska-like, which worried me because I am not a fan of that style of music. Fortunately, it does not continue in that direction and, at the 1:30 mark, kicks in with haphazard Jaxbox-style guitar that really rocks!
"Drunk Under Electrics" (4:03): This track was the reason I purchased this CD and it just flat out rocks! The only problem is, it does not keep up that intensity. It moves into different directions which are good, but the first part of the song is so awesome I wish they just continued with it and made a straight-forward, kicking, post-punk-style rock track. They start doing this slower, transporting stuff and I think it softens the edge way too much. Still a great track, though.
"Swallow Fire" (3:24): Loud, noisy, intense post-punk style rocker.
"The Man Who Saved You're A--" (2:21): Like "The Lotus Eater," it starts almost in a Ska direction. A little more depth to this one than the previous track, but not one of my favorites.
"Scientist Girl" (4:25): Accessible, fun track with addictive guitar riff that grabs you right away. Like "Electrics," it changes direction but not as drastically. The last line is "I'd rather listen to The Clash all night than be with you." I'm not sure who they're dissing, the scientist girl or The Clash.

"The Bottom of This Town" (4:21): Slower track. I could actually hear The Cure doing this. It keeps the same quieter, darker sound throughout.
"Street Sweepers" (4:28): Nice opening guitar for the first minute or so. Becomes a noisy rocker when the vocals kick in and then changes course to a quiet guitar instrumental for the last minute.
"Atmosphere vs. the Dogs of Dawn" (7:35): I really like the guitar sound on this one. It has that quiet, dark, Cure-like sound like "The Bottom of This Town" but bursts into a loud, industrial rocker at times and then brings in a beautiful, transporting guitar riff. There is a lot of depth here and, with this epic number, I think the different directions really work well.
"Cities" (2:42): Sebadoh-sounding with harmonizing vocals; in fact, you'd swear Lou Barlow was on vocals. No drums at first--quiet and slow and then hooks into the loud, hammering opening of the next track.
"Swallow Air" (4:38): More harmonizing vocals and Sebadoh-esque screeching bursts. Then it starts to rock out to a funky bass beat--moving almost to a Ska-like sound. Back to rocking out soon after. A very disjointed song.
"The Ministry of Helicopters" (7:22): Post-punk screaming vocals. More Sebadoh-sounding guitar riffs. I like the dark guitar riff that comes in around the 2:30 point. Around 4:30 it explodes into more beefy Sebadoh sound. I like how this track ends. It is very powerful; but, as a whole, it is a very long track that is difficult to grasp. I prefer "Atmosphere..." The CD includes a booklet with a photo of each band member (I guess it's them. It's three guys, anyway), illustrations, credits, and lyrics.