Sybris
Into The Trees
Absolutely Kosher Records
7/10
As I started to listen to Chicago’s Syrbis, I was thinking, fuck, not another singer songwriter. Go get yourself on a One Tree Hill episode and get out of my face. But, as I listened to it while reading the news, I realized that, son of a bitch, I like it. Now, I could say that the drumming is this adjective or that adjective, combined with some other -ism, but that really wouldn’t give you anything to go on, would it. For example, Pitchfork, whose little quotes came with the CD, said the drums were “blocky yet aerodynamic…,” I suppose that would be useful, if I was planning on flying the damn things. Really, it sounds like what could have been had the Yeah Yeah Yeahs been slightly less spastic, just as desperate, and had better production values. She has one of those voices where you think to yourself “Damn, I bet this chick is smoking hot.” Good tunes, but they don’t make me want to rock out, they make me want to read a book. And well, I got shit to do.
-Jonathan Yost