|

Posted in MP3 | music | tour dates on July 7, 2009

The Intelligence - new album, MP3 & 2009 tour dates

by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: The Intelligence - Thank You God for Fixing the Tape Machine (MP3)

The Intelligence

If I wasn't so enthralled with the show, I would have gone out and dragged everyone of those pedestrians into the bar, because the Intelligence were putting on a clinic. They were tight, and tightly wound, piercing and fractured in all the right ways. Before blasting into Universal Babysitter, Lars Finberg, responding to someone's earlier comment that they sounded like The Ventures quipped, "now this one sounds like the Ventures." Along with a lot of other things, the Intelligence have a twangy surf sound that is reminiscent of that Tacoma band. Finberg also has this uncanny ability to write songs that are so out there, but seem to constrain themselves to the unwritten rules of the pop song. It's probably not a formula for becoming huge, but he at least has the undying fandom of like-minded warped-pop nerds like myself.
[The Finest Kiss]
Portland Seattle's The Intelligence will soon hit the road on a massive North American tour that will take them pretty much everywhere, including two dates in the NYC area: September 11 at Market Hotel and September 13 at Cake Shop. If you haven't heard their new album, Fake Surfers, you're missing out on one of the year's best albums. While lumped in with the surf/garage/trash scene -- they are on In The Red, home of Thee Oh Sees, Hospitals, Vivian Girls, etc -- the Intelligence have been doing it longer (10 years) and weirder than almost anybody else. Main brain Lars Findberg, who was also in the A Frames, has a warped sensibility that makes Intelligence records more than just catchy little surf jams with blown-out levels. (Not that there's anything wrong with that but one look at the new album title lets you know their aware of their genre.) Fake Surfers might not offer the immediate punch of the new Oh Sees and Ty Segall records (both of which are very good) but it will stay with you longer. Check out the MP3 of Fake Surfer's "Thank You God for Fixing the Tape Machine" at the top of this post. It would be too easy to say that The Intelligence are more cerebral than other bands doing similar things, but it would also not be wrong. They also rock.

The Intelligence actually have two new albums, the second being Crepuscule With Pacman on French label Born Bad which is a decidely stranger, more lo-fi affair than the comparitively-friendly Fake Surfers. And there's a new In the Red 7" coming soon featuring a different version of Fake Surfers' "The Unessential Cosmic Perspective" and three leftovers from the album's sessions.

Tour dates and a video (from thier 2008 album, Deuteronomy) after the jump...

The Intelligence - "Dating Cops"

The Intelligence - 2009 Tour Dates
Aug 20 biltmore cabaret vancouver bc
Aug 22 the comet seattle, Washington
Aug 23 rotture / smmr bmmr portland, Oregon
Aug 24 the palace missoula, Montana
Aug 26 the aquarium fargo
Aug 27 turf club st. paul
Aug 28 cactus club milwaukee, Wisconsin
Aug 29 the hideout chicago, Illinois
Aug 30 the picador iowa city, Iowa
Sep 2 bourbon street cleveland, Ohio
Sep 3 now that's class columbus, Ohio
Sep 4 majestic theater detroit, Michigan
Sep 5 sneaky dee's toronto
Sep 6 casbah hamilton, Ontario
Sep 8 space gallery portland, Maine
Sep 9 as 220 art space providence, Rhode Island
Sep 10 tbd boston, Massachusetts
Sep 11 market hotel brooklyn, New York
Sep 12 danger danger gallery philadelphia
Sep 13 cake shop new york, New York
Sep 14 cafe nine new haven, Connecticut
Sep 17 sonar balitmore, Maryland
Sep 18 comet pizza and ping pong washington dc, Washington DC
Sep 19 the triple richmond, Virginia
Sep 20 the new french bar asheville, North Carolina
Sep 21 tba knoxville, Tennessee
Sep 22 the earl atlanta, Georgia
Sep 23 club down under tallahassee, Florida
Sep 24 tba birmingham/nashville, Tennessee
Sep 25 hi tone/gonerfest 6 atlanta, Tennessee
Sep 26 saturn bar new orleans, Louisiana
Sep 28 spanish moon baton rouge, Louisiana
Sep 29 the ten eleven san antonio, Texas
Oct 1 la sala rossa montreal, Quebec
Oct 2 mohawk austin, Texas
Oct 3 handsome kitten dallas, Texas
Oct 4 the conservatory oklahoma city, Oklahoma
Oct 5 record bar kansas city, Kansas
Oct 6 medowlark denver, Colorado
Oct 7 house party alberquerque, New Mexico
Oct 8 club congress tucson, Arizona
Oct 9 modifided phoenix, Arizona
Oct 10 tba los angeles, California
Oct 11 the casbah san diego, California
Oct 13 tba sacramento, California
Oct 15 house of nostromos oakland, California
Oct 16 elbow room san francisco, California
Oct 17 garage/vice scion festival portland, Oregon

Recent Related Entries

Tags: In the Red, Portland, Seattle, The Intelligence
posted at 1:37 PM on July 7, 2009 in MP3 | music | tour dates | Comments (20)

Comments (20)

the intelligence are horrible...i saw them for free at hank's a year or two ago...they made me drink more.

Posted by Anonymous | July 7, 2009 1:42 PM

I've actually never heard of them! But these reviews do double time as recommendations. Thanks vegan writers :)

Posted by Mel @ She Runs Brooklyn | July 7, 2009 1:45 PM

in the red records have been brining insane fucking bands with great fucking music. the guy above was drinking more because he found out his girlfriend was actually a dude. or if it's a female commenter then she just found out her boyfriend was a chick, but actually enjoy that, so she started to watch the l word on some cable tv channel.before she did that, he/she drank more at that intelligence show a year or two ago.

Posted by Anonymous | July 7, 2009 1:50 PM

i think it was a dog commentor who's dogfriend ended up being a cat.

Posted by Anonymous | July 7, 2009 1:55 PM

i thought they were from seattle?

Posted by Anonymous | July 7, 2009 2:03 PM

cleveland and columbus venues are wrong up there!
now thats class-cleveland

Posted by cleveland! | July 7, 2009 2:04 PM

wow, they need a better promo photo

Posted by Anonymous | July 7, 2009 2:47 PM

man, tba has opened a lot of venues lately

Posted by Anonymous | July 7, 2009 3:30 PM

you guys are nimrods...this band is amazing....to catch'em at hank's would be more amazing.

who here's even been to hank's?

Posted by Anonymous | July 7, 2009 5:41 PM

ugh i love intelligence so much. how have i never heard of "Crepuscule With Pacman"? everytime i listen to Fake Surfers I just end up going back to Icky Baby because Fake Surfers is such a tease of the glory days.

Posted by Anonymous | July 8, 2009 2:55 AM

...although very few critics seem to be pining for those glory days. guess i don't have a very evolved ear for this kind of thing. But Crepuscule With Pacman kind sounds like my cup of tea.

Posted by Anonymous | July 8, 2009 2:58 AM

i thought a band that made you drink more was a good thing?

Posted by Anonymous | July 8, 2009 2:37 PM

OK, this is where I draw a line. I do not understand them at all. Way too much for me. Or maybe I haven't give it enough chances.

Posted by Rent a car | May 6, 2010 5:07 AM

I like them a lot, but I can see none of my friends are into their music like I am, so maybe they are not so commercial.

Posted by Hostess | May 23, 2010 4:03 AM

oK, this is where I draw a line. I do not understand them at all. Way too much for me. Or maybe I haven't give it enough chances.

Posted by planet wallpaper | June 30, 2010 5:55 AM

oK, this is where I draw a line. I do not understand them at all. Way too much for me. Or maybe I haven't give it enough chances.....

Posted by free 3d wallpaper | June 30, 2010 5:56 AM

I like The Intelligence a lot and now I am waiting for their new album. I have 3 friends that love them as well.

Posted by Administrare imobile | August 7, 2010 2:09 AM

These guys sound really good. Brooklyn Vegan turns me in to so much new music!

Posted by Anonymous | August 7, 2010 3:17 AM

I like the music but it is a bit strange. I can understand it's not working for everybody - they are not so commercial as we might think.

Posted by Alpinisti utilitari Bucuresti | August 23, 2010 5:09 AM

I love the band and their music. I hope to see them in bigger concerts next years. More people should be see them live.

Posted by Curatenie | September 28, 2010 4:42 AM

Leave a Comment

What's Going On Today? BV Events Contests

Recently

Recent Comments

Recent Galleries

Most Popular

Recent Features

Browse Categories (or Browse Tags)

Blogroll

Blogroll Links

More Blogroll Links »

Dwnld & Stream