Fast-paced drums over-reliant on hi-hat and snare? Guitar that sounds distorted but not quite entirely distorted like maybe the speaker is split a little bit and its making a buzzing noise? Band members dressed in the kind of dress clothes you might pick up at a higher class op shop? It must be early-noughties indie-rock!

I joke, but it did feel like there was a massive trend toward these elements in the early 2000s – see also OK Go, Maximo Park, The Strokes, Franz Ferdinand. We Are Scientists snuck mostly under the radar, but I discovered them through their music video for opening track “Nobody Move, Nobody Get Hurt” in which the group are hunted down by a man in a bear costume.

It’s actually funny that they came up in the same week as Pluto; I wonder if part of the reason I dismissed Pluto back in the day was that I felt like they were doing a bad copy of these kind of acts.

With Love And Squalor still holds up – the aforementioned opener is pretty great, though I prefer second track “This Scene Is Dead” (‘[Arrested Development voiceover] It wasn’t.’) and late album singles “It’s A Hit” and “The Great Escape”.

Not a challenging listen by any means, but enjoyable nonetheless. And it’s made me want to go back and listen to some of those other bands from the time.

…
CLTM (Chris Listens To Music) is my attempt to listen to a new album every day; you can follow my efforts on Instagram here (and send recommendations), and if you like what I’m doing, support my efforts by shouting me a cuppa at Buy Me A Coffee.