I wasn't sure what to expect from an album named "Highly Refined Pirates" but I went in with an open mind. What I got was an album full of indie rock at it's grooviest (I know, lame word). The boys in MTB have been in the music scene for a long time and know how to make an album's worth of good material.

"Highly Refined Pirates" dabbles into the good life with tales of good times and good friends by way of great songs. If that's not your thing, don't worry; HRP has plenty of dynamics and great, tasteful playing to keep things interesting. Somehow they mix understated electronic elements and the best rhythm section in indie rock with a guitar player (who, by the way, used to play in the legendary metalcore band Botch) playing on a completely different level than the rest of us. In fact, after the first listens I found myself humming the guitar parts as often as I was singing the lyircs.

Whether you need good grooves, demand "make you stop and think" lyrics, or just dig good music, this album is a good way to go.

*Extra bit of opinion inserted here: Everyone has that friend or relative that says "There hasn't been a good song written since [enter date here]." Borrow them a Minus The Bear album. Whether they're a classic rock cat or an indie snob they'll probably like it and they can finally stop playing their old CDs every time they get in their car.

Ok, so by now pretty much everybody has in some shape, way, form, or fashion heard of Minus the Bear. Highly Refined Pirates is probably their best album, atleast in my opinion. The thing about the album is even with all of it's absurd lyrics, the music is simply great. The begining of the album draws you into something you never though you'd hear, and the music is amazing. Everybody knows the band has come from all sorts of various backgrounds. Minus the Bear delivers with this album. Absinthe Party at the Fly Honey Warehouse is without a doubt the greatest song ever written. If you get a chance to this spring go see these guys on tour. They tour with bands that sound nothing like them, but MTB is not one to miss.

MINUS THE BEAR - Highly Refined Pirates
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Like many, my introduction to this band was because I heard this guitarist Dave Knudson's new band. (Dave was formerly in a little ol' hardcore band called: Botch)
My initial reaction was shock... Wait! Stop the Presses! This isn't Heavy!
Then I got a grip on myself and actually listened to the CD.... AMAZING!!!
-Honestly if radio stations played music like this I would actually appreciate Pop-Music.

Minus the Bear is filled with amazingly catchy, and skillful, guitar riffs, funktastic bass lines, complex drumming, nice elemental prog-inspired keyboards and a great singer who is also is an amazing lyricist. (See, Get Me Naked: Part II)
They have oodles of talent and are beyond catchy... I ponder my brain everyday wondering why bands like this and Porcupine Tree aren't at the forefront of Mainstream music... and then I remember... Sometimes it is better we keep these gems to real music fans and not companies that will just exploit and ruin them.

Favorite Songs: Get Me Naked 2: Electric Boogaloo, Thanks For The Killer Game Of Crisco Twister, and Women We Haven't Met Yet
-4.5 Stars


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This is probably MTB's best CD...even if you are not typically into this genre I highly recommend having a listen. It's great background music; upbeat but not too demanding. I especially recommend this as a first-time album if you have heard of Minus the Bear and are looking to give them a go...MTB definitely has their own style and the best of it comes out in Highly Refined Pirates.

They may call this math rock but - contrary to the attempt at pigeonholing - it rarely gets boring. Which is usually a good sign that the usual musical designations don't really apply to Minus the Bear. The only question that comes up during a casual or earnest listen to their latest release, Highly Refined Pirates, is this: where would you place these guys if you had to? Then comes the rejoinder: who cares? Filled with complex guitar fingerwork, aural synth embellishment, and spiraling arrangements that recall everything from King Crimson to More Songs About Building and Food-era Talking Heads to later work from bands like Fugazi (especially The Argument) and Juno, Highly Refined Pirates is a trip through what's great about newer indie rock that doesn't sound like it's trying to be punk without the danger. Many songs on Highly Refined Pirates float ethereally above their conventionally driving drum and guitar lines, and pack a serious lyrical punch to boot. Such as "Get Me Naked 2: Electric Boogaloo" - comedy! - which boasts one of the coolest choruses ever committed to memory ("You said, 'My life's like a bad movie'/I said, 'That's true of all of us'/You said 'I've got to wake up so f**king early'/I said 'Maybe the director's turned on us'). Or "Let's Play Guitar in a Five-Guitar Band," a dense collection of echo-heavy vocals, light arpeggiation, distant distortion, and enough hammer-ons to make Eddie Van Halen proud. But the greatest thing about this Minus the Bear album is that it doesn't let its sonic complexity go to its head. Each of Highly Refined Pirates' songs is filled with tongue-in-cheek lyrical wordplay (like that cited above) or entitled with toss-off lines from Paul Verhoeven's outer space soap opera, Starship Troopers (samples: "You Kill Bugs Good, Man" or "Damn Bugs Whacked Him, Johnny"). Al in all, Highly Refined Pirates will probably satisfy the music notation nerds, the indie cynics, and the random listener searching for something indefinite in a saturated pop landscape looking to hawk the usual boring band du jour.