THE INTELLECTUALS- 'Invisible Is The Best' CD PRESS

SCANNER (The Intellectuals- "Invisible Is The Best" CD, Dead Beat)
- This baby’s been annoying the neighbours since day one of its arrival. It’s wonderfully reckless, snotty, Garage Punk rock ‘n’ roll. Think NEW YORK DOLLS swagger played with the fucked-up distorto Punk spew of DC SNIPERS via the New Wave electro Punk of THE EPOXIES and rounded out with a nod to THE SCREAMERS. The band hails from Rome, Italy and spits out 14 tracks that rock with a total disregard for convention. Opener ‘Vinyl Junkie Paranoia’ sets the scene before sliding into an album highlight, ‘We Are Cells’. ‘Fichetti’ slays hipsters while ‘R ‘n’ R Jedi’ emphasises the trash culture the band seems to revel in. There’s killer covers of X-RAY SPEX and VELVET UNDERGROUND while the vibe of the whole disc is raucous, damaged keyboard, rock ‘n’ roll bile. Get it!!

NOW WAVE (The Intellectuals- "Invisible Is The Best" CD, Dead Beat)
-Here it is just the 16th day of the new year, and I'm already using up one of my four allotted "hyperbolic rave reviews" for 2007. Only three more times all year will I be permitted to completely bust a nut for a new release. Should I exceed my quota, the penalties will be severe and extensive, and at the very least will entail a one-week abstention from beer consumption, 72 hours imprisoned in a studio listening to the mixing of the next Paris Hilton CD, a mandatory barium enema to be videotaped for the Discovery Health cable channel, slave labor at gunpoint writing one-sheets for 47 upcoming American Idol CD singles, and the forced accompaniment of one lucky Christian Women for Guns reader on her dream date to a Dr. Phil taping. These punishments would be well-deserved and perfectly proportional to my crimes, for it's just not right to hail a new band every other week as the greatest thing since sliced bread. But every once in a while, damn it, I'll hear a record that practically compels me to leap over the top. And in the case of The Intellectuals, I'll be severely disheartened if I'm their lone fanboy in the press. If you can't get excited about this band's music, why are you even bothering to write about rock n' roll?!

I mean, if all the hip-and-happening rock mags are gonna keep kicking up the buzz over the latest "garage" sensations, why not do it right and make a royal fuss over this shit-hot trio from Rome? These gals and guy sound like they just learned how to play three weeks ago, yet they assault every note with such unhinged enthusiasm and exhilarating force that they make most of today's garage/punk bands sound like they're barely even trying. These three are not the most talented or musically skilled folks in the underground rock world right now. But their music is exciting, fun, distinctive, delightfully listenable, and truly inspired - all things that today's punk too seldom is. Mashed together in the group's trashy, frenzied rock n' roll attack are the various hints of influence: Oblivians/Gories primitive blues racket, squawky-keyboard proto punk, Back from the Grave garage, good old '77 punk rock, the Velvet Underground, Supercharger/Mummies lo-fi trash, the blistering co-ed punk of early X, and late '90s Rip Off Records greats like Loli and the Chones and The Metros. Invisible is the Best, the band's second full-length album, is laden with the sheer catchiness, high-spirited gusto, and uncontrived rawness that separate truly great rock n' roll from tedious three-chord rehash. Veterans of splits with the Rock N Roll Adventure Kids and River City Tanlines and now allied with the all-powerful Dead Beat imprint, Guitar Boy, Drum Girl, and Key Tee are poised to make a name for themselves in the states. And if this album doesn't garner substantial adulation on this side of the Atlantic, I'll have to abandon all of my faith in the American populace.

I hate to repeat myself so conspicuously, but the word FUN needs to be brought up again for emphasis. Clearly, The Intellectuals have great fun playing their music, and you'll have great fun listening to it! The lively boy/girl vocals are hollered and screeched with relentless, irresistible cheer; each mangled chord, loose-flung organ riff, and sloppy drum beat is banged out with reckless abandon and appealingly amateurish glee. And whether you're talking about rippingly good originals like "We Are Cells" and "Baby-O", or covers of "White Light, White Heat" and X-Ray Spex's "Identity" (both of which are done up in true Intellectuals fashion), the material here is just as impressive as the presentation. No doubt this is great rock n' roll - glorious noise that's simple and stupid and raw and alive. I'd love for the world to stand up and take notice, but I sure ain't holding my breath.