3 out of 5

Label: Suicide Squeeze

Producer: Matt Bayles

Minus the Bear started out their shtick by practicing their filler game.  Their first EP was essentially all filler tracks – light electro experiments that were leftover influences from some of the bandmembers previous groups – with a couple show-off tracks thrown in to show the intent of the band, and then Highly Refined Pirates was an expanded version of the same, but the show-off tracks were MUCH better and instantly catchy.  On Menos del Oso they ditched the nonsense, and then on Planet of Ice they ditched the fluff and got down to carving out almost an entire album of listenable tracks.  But we wouldn’t have gotten there if ‘Pirates’ hadn’t won us over with that jaw-dropping finger tapping and some of the stupid catchiest songs that weren’t part of the dumbass new wave post-rock crowd… and indeed maintained a cool edge by leaning toward the punkier influences of the Bear crew’s old bandy haunts.

So “YAR!” sorta took the opposite tactic – it’s almost all killer (except for one throwaway instrumental track, but its only like a minute long, so woe is you).  I recall this coming out after ‘Pirates,’ which would make it a dick move, but I read elsewhere that it came out before the album, which would make more sense since – and this is why we’re going with a lower rating – 2 of the tracks from this EP appear as is on that disc, with one track an alternate take of a ‘Pirates’ song.  Which means… 2 wholly new tracks, and one of those is that throwaway I mentioned.  Womp womp.

That being said, this era MTB was all fast-paced fun, but damn if the songs didn’t blend together after your favorite track went by.  (My jam was track 3)  So “YAR” is enlightening because it brings attention to a couple of those blent-together songs – Spritz!!! Spritz!!! and Women We Haven’t Met Yet – and moves ’em to the front of the list, proving that they’re just as tight and fun as any other song by the band.  The new track, “Drop It Like It’s Hot” is actually a winner also, though I can understand why it was left off of ‘Pirates’ ’cause it doesn’t have exactly the same vibe – it’s focus on its chorus isn’t as forward momentum as most of ‘Pirates,’ but whatever, it’s a damn catchy track.  And though alternate takes are normally a shrug, the more downtempo version of ‘I Lost All My Money At The Cock Fights’ (unmixed or something) shows how Bayles slick studio tricks can sometimes gloss a song too much, as it maintains a much more organic feel that it seems the band worked hard to flesh out as time went on.

Totes listenable, if not as “rich” as later era stuff.  But bang for your buck is crazy questionable if you just got done listening to ‘Highly Refined,’ so we’ll go middle of the road with our rating.  You and me.  Together.