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Teen-Beat 343.

+/- {Plus/Minus}

Holding Patterns

SIDE ONE

I've Been Lost
Trapped Under Ice Floes

SIDE TWO

Far Into the Fields
You've Just Got it All
Making the Horse Drink

10" EP or Compact Disc ($12,00)

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LINER NOTES

PLAYERS

James Baluyut, vocals, guitar, bass guitar, keyboards

Chris Deaner, drums

Patrick Ramos, vocals, guitar, bass guitar

GUEST PLAYERS

Tony Zanella, additional bass guitar

RECORDED BY

James Baluyut,

and Geoff Sanoff,

at Union Square, New York, New York, USA
and Stratosphere Sound, New York, New York, USA
December, 2002 and February, 2003

MUSIC COMPOSITION

+/- {Plus/Minus},

© 2003

Lyrics: tracks 1-4

James Baluyut

Lyrics: track 5

Patrick Ramos

COVER DESIGN AND PHOTOGRAPHY

Mark Robinson, Teen-Beat Graphica

ET CETERA

"Holding Patterns" is the companion release to the second +/- {Plus/Minus} album "You are Here". The songs on "Holding Patterns" were recorded at the same time as the "You are Here" album.

Gratitude=

Margaret McCartney,
Tony Zanella,
Wyatt Cusick,
Beaty Wilson,
Dylan Jones,
Phillip McEachern,
Geoff Sanoff,
Fred Kovey,
and French

REVIEWS

Pitchfork Rating: 7.5
With the success of albums like the Notwist's Neon Golden, lap-pop has fast become one of the most conceptually appealing micro-genres available to today's jetsetting youth. And though its combination of breezy melodies and subtle electronic textures often yields gorgeous results, it has doubtless left a few people asking, "Where's my fucking lap-rock?" On their second release, +/- may be on their way to providing a resounding answer to that very question. Though it relies largely on the laid-back charm of its predecessor (the excellent Self-Titled Long-Playing Debut Album), Holding Patterns frequently finds the band taking their sound in new, more forceful, kinetic directions. As a result, Holding Patterns is a less consistently enticing listen than its full-length predecessor, but it's still a lovely EP in its own right and, hopefully, a glimpse at what could turn out to be one of the most interesting permutations of the pop-electronic-rock continuum to emerge so far.

"I've Been Lost" opens with a burst of barely-contained energy before a foundation of crystal-clear acoustic guitar and fuzzy electronic drums gives way to blasts of overdriven electric guitar and hyperactive drumming. Percussion is a big part of +/-'s sound, and the contrast between natural and synthetic drumming is played up in "I've Been Lost" as well as it has been in any song since the Dismemberment Plan's "You Are Invited". James Baluyut's markedly unspectacular vocals work strikingly well here, as the simple, charming melodies he intones hold together the tremendous dynamics that make it so interesting.

"Trapped Under Ice Floes" is a more straightforward rock song that recalls the dark, glistening tones of the Moles. Working almost entirely from the interplay between layered clean electric guitars, bass, and Baluyut's voice, it occasionally brings to mind the intense emotional deliberateness of Interpol, minus the perfectly manifest combination of dread and optimism. Indeed, the most frustrating thing about Holding Patterns is that it often hints at what it never fully delivers. Baluyut's songs are generally pretty straightforward in structure, and have a tendency to return to a familiar chorus right when something incredible seems to be in the works. "Trapped Under Ice Floes" is certainly a fantastic song, but it ends awfully close to where it begins, failing to fully capitalize on the momentum of an gorgeously tense, subtle midsection.

The remaining three tracks on Holding Pattern offer rock takes on the lovely, electronic-inflected pop songs that made Self-titled Long-playing Debut Album so great. While that album was largely Baluyut's own work, Holding Patterns sounds much more like the work of a band in the traditional sense: gone are many of the tricked-out lo-fi production quirks of Self-titled, their absence compensated for by more assured songwriting. "You've Just Got It All" is the most successful of these tracks, pairing lovely organ and bell sounds with a drumbeat so effective it can only be described as "catchy." As always, Baluyut isn't afraid to incorporate massive changes in instrumentation and general tone into a song, and the subdued, electronics-heavy section in the middle of "You've Just Got It All" is quite possibly the most beautiful thing on this EP.

Holding Patterns is a beautiful record, it simply finds beauty in different places than its predecessor. While Self-titled... worked around gorgeous, drawn-out sonic vistas, Holding Patterns shows Baluyut and company are just as adept at finding beauty in motion and interaction. Though the focus is largely on texture and melody, this is far from lap-pop-- it's fully realized rock with enough sonic variety to keep things fresh and interesting.

- Matt LeMay, Pitchfork, July 8, 2003

DETAILED TRACK NOTES

1. I've Been Lost

James Baluyut, vocals, guitar, bass guitar

Chris Deaner, drums

2. Trapped Under Ice Floes

James Baluyut, vocals, guitar, keyboard

Chris Deaner, drums

Patrick Ramos, guitar

Tony Zanella, bass guitar

3. Far Into the Fields

James Baluyut, vocals, guitar, keyboard

4. You've Just Got It All

James Baluyut, vocals, guitar, bass guitar, keyboard

Chris Deaner, drums

5. Making the Horse Drink

James Baluyut, guitar, keyboard, backing vocals

Chris Deaner, drums, guitar

Patrick Ramos, vocals, guitarbass guitar

RELEASE DATE

April 14, 2003

FORMAT

compact disc
vinyl 10" E.P.

LENGTH

19 minutes, 56 seconds

5 tracks

CATALOGUE No.

Teen-Beat 343

DETAILS

FIRST CD PRESSING

April 14, 2003

1,014 pressed.

INSERT:
6-page folder and tray card (one side colour and one side black and white).

JEWEL CASE:
with clear tray.

LABEL:
Pantone 2706 (pale blue) and Pantone 193 (red) ink.

DISK:
standard 5" CD.

SECOND CD PRESSING

May 21, 2003

508 pressed.

LABEL:
colours the same as the first CD pressing.

DISK:
5" fan CD (inner 3" of disc is standard CD silver, the outer 2" is clear plastic).

THIRD CD PRESSING

March 22, 2004

535 pressed.

LABEL:
same colours as first two pressings, but reversed.

10" VINYL PRESSING

August 3, 2010

264 pressed on clear vinyl.

JACKET:
full-colour printing on uncoated stock.

SLEEVE:
white paper sleeve with square edges.

LABEL:
pale blue, red, and black ink on white paper.

Pressed and printed at Gramofonove Zavody in Lodenice, Czech Republic
by Pirates Press, San Francisco, California.

DISCOGRAPHY

SINGLES

split single with Whysall Lane

ALBUMS

Self-Titled Long-Playing Debut Album
Holding Patterns
You Are Here
As Seen on Television
+/- {Plus/Minus} vs. Bloodthirsty Butchers
Let's Build a Fire
You Are Here (Extended)
Xs on Your Eyes
Thrown into the Fire
Pulled Punches
Jumping the Tracks

SHORT FILM COLLECTIONS

Self-Titled Debut Digital Video Disc

COMPILATIONS

2002 Teenbeat Sampler
2003 Teenbeat Sampler
Teen-Beat Subscribers' CD, 2003
Teen-Beat Subscribers' CD, 2004
2004 Teenbeat Sampler
Teen-Beat 20th Commemorative
Teen-Beat Subscribers' CD, 2005
Teen-Beat No.1 Record Label
2010 Teen-Beat / Other Music Sampler
Teen-Beat Holiday Card 2010/2011

SOUNTRACKS

Wicker Park

ALSO

Teen-Beat 18th Anniversary Celebrations
+/- {Plus/Minus} tee-shirt
"All I Do" appears in the film "Wicker Park"
You Are Here [Promotional Edition]
Teen-Beat 20th Anniversary Celebrations
+/- {Plus/Minus} Pocket Catalog Postcard
Pocket Catalog Set of Four
Teen-Beat Graphica Exhibition

RELATED

Versus

SONGS

A Million Pieces on the Ground
All Dead, All Dead
All I Do
All I Ever Knew
All I Have to Do is Make You
All the Things She Does
Back and Forth
Banging the Drum
Beverley Road
The Bitterest Pill
Camouflage Fades Into Trust
Catch The Wind
Chromatic
Crestfallen
Cutting Out
The Declaration of Independence
Everything I See Makes It Feel Wrong
Exorcising Your Ghost
Fadeout
Far Into the Fields
Flight Data Recorder
For You
For You (Alternate)
Gokigen Ikaga
Halos
Hellkite
Here We Are (Again)
The Hours You Keep
I Sleep Forever
I'm a Little Teapot
I've Been Lost
If I Am Charming
Ignoring All the Detours
Ill Advised
The Important Thing is to Love
The Industrial Revolution
Iru Iranai
It's Not What You Think
Jack Nicolson
Jumping the Tracks
Knead (2010)
Leap Year
Let's Build a Fire
Making the Horse Drink
Manifest Destiny (in General)
Marina
Megalomaniac
No One Can Touch You Now
No One Sees You Like I Do
One Day You'll Be There
Pencil Me In
Profession
The Queen of Detroit
The Queen of Nothing
Reeling in the Years
Rewrite the Story
Running the Distance
Scarecrow
The Separation of Church and State
Setting Your Head on Fire
She's Got Your Eyes
She's So Lost
Snowblind
The Space Between Us
Steal the Blueprints
Subdued
Summer Dress 1 (All Her Winter Clothes)
Summer Dress 2 (Iodine)
Summerlong
Summerlong (Boy Version)
Surprise!
There Goes My Love
This is All (I Have Left)
Thrown into the Fire
Time and Space
Tired Eyes
Toe the Line
Trapped Under Ice Floes
Trapped Under Ice Floes (Redux)
Underfoot
Unsung
Ventriloquist
Walk in a Straight Line
Waking Up Is Hard To Do
What Lies Ahead
Xs on Your Eyes
Yamaha-1
Yo Yo Yo (Please Don't Fall in Love)
You Are Here
Young Once
You'll Catch Your Death
You've Just Got it All