Liars

The Liars were formed in 2000 in New York by Angus Andrew (vocals and guitar), Aaron Hemphill (percussion, synthesizers, and guitar), Pat Noecker (bass), and Ron Albertson (drums). The group emerged at the heart of the dance-punk scene in the early 21st century, a movement that also brought to prominence New York acts such as Radio 4, The Rapture and LCD Soundsystem.

The main influences of Liars come from British post-punk of the late 1970s and early 1980s, especially from bands that fused the urgency of punk with syncopated, danceable rhythms, such as Gang of Four and A Certain Ratio. In 2001, the group released their debut album, They Threw Us All in a Trench and Stuck a Monument on Top, on the Gern Blandsten label, recorded in just two days and produced by Steve Revitte. The following year, Noecker and Albertson left the band, making way for drummer Julian Gross.

With They Were Wrong, So We Drowned (2004), co-produced by David Sitek (of TV on the Radio), the trio embarked on a radical aesthetic shift, embracing avant-garde experimentalism and the concept of thematic and conceptual albums. This sonic immersion continued on Drum’s Not Dead (2006), recorded in Berlin, and on the self-titled Liars (2007), recorded in New York.

The discography continued to evolve with Sisterworld (2010), the electronic album WIXIW (2012), and the expansive Mess (2014). By the time of TFCF (2017), their eighth studio album, the project was essentially operating as a solo project by Angus Andrew, the sole remaining member of the original lineup. Maintaining their inventive momentum, Liars released Titles with the Word Fountain in 2018 and the acclaimed The Apple Drop in 2021.