Albums by this artist

Masters Of The Hemisphere (1999)

Masters Of The Hemisphere

Masters Of The Hemisphere

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» LILY KANE | STAFF WRITER

Masters Of The Hemisphere Masters Of The Hemisphere Kindercore, 1999 RiYL: Your older brother's favorite music.

My brother in Charlottesville, Va. has one of those houses I always wanted: big enough for all the indie rock bands that pass through town to crash on the floor in rumpled sleeping bags. So recently, his reviews have changed from "I heard the greatest band last night," to, "The greatest band slept on my floor last night." Sure, I'm jealous, but that didn't stop me from taking his advice and purchasing Masters of the Hemisphere's self-titled album from Kindercore, a pop gem that somehow slipped under my usually acute twee radar.

Initially, my brother sold me on the album by playing a love song that doubles as a one of the best Canada rants in recent history, "Everybody Knows Canada." Winter Olympics and their geographical proximity be damned, I'm usually ready to rank on Canada at any given moment, and this song contains perfect lyrics like "Everybody knows that Canada is the only thing that's wrong with this town."

It took me a while to warm up to the rest of the album, especially the unfortunately titled "Saucy Foreign Lass," but that was until I deciphered their formula. Each song is either a tight pop song that starts off with a bang and maintains the energy throughout, or a more meandering exploration that swells to an apex and then eases off. Either way, after a close listen, an incredible instrumental complexity emerges that is belied by the sunny toss-off lyrics.

Masters have an album coming out May 2, and although it is dubiously billed on Kindercore's website as, "The long awaited follow-up to the Masters' much lauded self-titled CD comes in the form of an epic soundtrack to the comic book "I Am Not A Freemdoom". The comic book (which is included in both the CD and LP format) tells the tale of Freemdoom, Gorgar, Mal and Ed and the conflict on the isle of Kron Ishta."

I might wind up eating my words, but they won me over once, and I'm trusting they can do it again.

LILY KANE |