To Kill A Petty Bourgeoisie Receive A 6.7 On Pitchfork

Download: To Kill A Petty Bourgeoisie - "Lovers and Liars"

The score is a little on the low side, but Pitchfork's Aaron Leitko makes some interesting points regarding the band's use of a narrative (The Patron tells a story about two merging companies falling in love) and praises the band by saying that "the duo's combination of pop melody and lo-bit-rate noise provides plenty of lilting and creepy moments." However, the review also says that "for all of its myriad atmospheric charms, the sampler-and-guitar set-up inhibits TKPB a little. Plodding lifeless rhythms largely dominate the record and any dynamic shifts come slowly, if at all."

In listening to The Patron, which we reviewed here, the rhythms don't come across as plodding at all, but rather, they have the icy quality of a moving glacier. The Patron sounds like the sonic equivalent of a Stanley Kubrick film (to make a potentially pretentious comparison), with each atmospheric texture serving the same purpose as the film director's long, uninterrupted takes: to look at humanity's failings in as coldly objective way as possible, and to maybe mourn the loss of that humanity. That theme may not necessarily come out explicitly in the lyrics, but the music certainly makes the subtext as clear as it can with the juxtaposition of the haunting, sorrowful vocals and the jarring, detached sonic textures.

Read P4K's take on TKAPB here. The band plays Thursday night at the 7th Street Entry. Buy tickets here. Update: Never mind, show has been canceled. However, the openers for TKAPB are still playing, if you are interested in seeing them.


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(Jonathan Graef)