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Teen-Beat 363.

+/- {Plus/Minus}

You Are Here

Ventriloquist
Surprise!
Trapped Under Ice Floes (Redux)
She's Got Your Eyes
Summer Dress 1
    (All Her Winter Clothes)
Cutting Out
Megalomaniac
Scarecrow
No One Sees You Like I Do

Here We Are (Again)
Everything I See Makes It Feel Wrong

FILM ON CD

Trapped Under Ice Floes

Compact Disc (CD) ($14,44)

Full-colour slip-case and
6-page folder.

Download (FLAC/MP3) ($9,90)

Listen and purchase FLAC or MP3 files from our friends at Midheaven.

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LINER NOTES

PLAYERS

James Baluyut, vocals, guitar, bass guitar, keyboards

Chris Deaner, drums, clarinet, bass guitar

Patrick Ramos, vocals, guitar

GUEST PLAYERS

Margaret McCartney, backing vocals on 10

Tony Zanella, bass guitar on 3

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 June, 2003

MASTERED BY

Michael Iurato,

at Jigsaw Sound, New York, New York, USA

MUSIC COMPOSITION

+/- {Plus/Minus},

© 2004

Lyrics: tracks 2-6, 8-11

James Baluyut

Lyrics: track 1 and 7

Patrick Ramos

VIDEO

Chris Deaner, Abibos Studios

INTERIOR PHOTOGRAPHY

Chris Deaner

COVER PHOTOGRAPHY

Mark Robinson

COVER DESIGN

Mark Robinson, Teen-Beat Graphica

ET CETERA

The CD includes a film with the track "Trapped Under Ice Floes" is embedded onto the compact disc. It was filmed and directed by the band's own Chris Deaner. The version of the song is the mix that appears on the "Holding Patterns" record (Teen-Beat 343).

"Holding Patterns" is the companion record to "You Are Here". Most of the songs were recorded at the same time.

Designer Mark Robinson was unhappy with the cover photograph on the first pressing, so a differerent image, a stock photograph, was used on the second pressing.

Also see:
You Are Here postcard (Teen-Beat 365),
You Are Here advance promo edition (Teen-Beat 368),
and You Are Here Deluxe Edition (Teen-Beat 443).

Gratitude=

Margaret McCartney,
Tony Zanella,
Jeff Gramm,
Kevin Barker,
Matthew Safer,
Fontaine Toups,
Ed Baluyut,
Richard Baluyut,
John Everhart,
Mark Robinson,
Geoff Sanoff,
Ioana Bontea,
Anne Ramos,
Winnie Chang,
Paul Phillips,
Joe Cohen/Proletariat,
and French

REVIEWS

Pitchfork Rating: 7.6
Weaving inoffensive melodies into odd time signatures and jagged rhythms is not an effortless task. Few bands even attempt it, and those who do are mostly found in hardcore and prog-rock, which is all but predicated on senseless scale masturbation. One of the very few bands in the past decade who built a successful discography on this formula is The Dismemberment Plan, who had a lot more going for them than just their rhythmic chicanery. +/- are indie's current masters of meter, and may one day inherit the Plan's crown as champions of the pop periphery, if only they sandpaper their edges and stick to their guns.

On 2002's Self-Titled Long-Playing Debut, +/- employed glitchy samples, then common only in IDM, and electro-pop. They were, in fact, progenitors of the sound that would, for better or worse, come to be termed "lap-pop." James Baluyut's lullaby vocals and an array of dreamy synth pads helped smooth the stuttering a bit, but the sound was unquestionably loop-driven. At times, their compositions were so choppy and repetitive that they sounded as if they were woven together by a Garage Band maestro, yet always retained human character. The band also understood that, in some situations, the pale, robotic sound of a drum machine better accompanies a song than a less exacting, more colorful human performance. Chris Deaner gladly took a backseat throughout most of Self-Titled, only to emerge at the most opportune moments.

You Are Here is a much more ambitious effort than its precursor. It's evident that +/- are attempting to branch out stylistically while simultaneously condensing their sound. The results, however, aren't always fruitful, as the band's incessant genre-hopping frequently sounds stilted. Only on "She's Got Your Eyes", a tasteful odd-time samba, do they master a niche experiment. Deaner's agile drumming offers a nice counterpoint to the one-bar guitar loop upon which the song is structured, while Baluyut delivers the line, "I've got ways to make you pay," more benevolently than would seem appropriate for a song about a man abandoning his pregnant girlfriend.

When the band relaxes into a wider, 4/4 time channel, they often succumb to prosaism. "Summer Dress 1" is a blithely strummed ditty that sounds as if it was torn straight from Chris Carraba's How to Be a Sissy Bitch Handbook, while "Trapped Under Ice Floes (Redux)" dangles not far from emo mediocrity. But fortunately, a more mature set of influences shines through on You Are Here's best numbers. On the sinuous opening track "Ventriloquist", Baluyut evokes Michael Stipe's nasal crooning when he sings, "I'm riding in a car/ Please don't take this exit/ And please don't drop me just yet." Other songs recall Joy Division and Depeche Mode, as Baluyut's brittle voice tiptoes to center stage with only a spare backing of guitars and drum loops. "Surprise", another standout, is a nocturnal rumination that would feel right at home among The The's standard fare.

If anything holds You Are Here back from realizing the promise hinted at on +/-'s debut, it's the band's relentless modesty. While I can think of a hundred bands for whom it would be a welcome attribute, +/- are often frustratingly retiring, suppressing their prodigious rhythmic and melodic talents in favor of something more straightforward. Many of the songs here aspire to almost radio-friendly levels of accessibility and shamelessly exhaust easy pop cliches. Still, a few tracks manage to recapture the pop bliss the band achieved by doing it their way on Self-Titled Long-Playing Debut. If only for the endless promise of that record is You Are Here somewhat of a letdown, like untold albums from bands who choose to loiter on the cusp of something bigger and can't quite make that breakthrough step to greatness.

- Sam Ubl, Pitchfork, Febraury 23, 2004

DETAILED TRACK NOTES

1. Ventriloquist

James Baluyut, guitar, keyboard

Chris Deaner, drums

Patrick Ramos, guitar, vocals

2. Surprise!

James Baluyut, vocals, guitar, keyboard, hand claps

Chris Deaner, hand claps

Patrick Ramos, hand claps

3. Trapped Under Ice Floes (Redux)

James Baluyut, vocals, guitar, keyboard

Chris Deaner, drums

Patrick Ramos, guitar

Tony Zanella, bass guitar

4. She's Got Your Eyes

James Baluyut, vocals, guitar, keyboard

Chris Deaner, drums

Patrick Ramos, guitar

5. Summer Dress 1 (All Her Winter Clothes)

James Baluyut, vocals, guitar, keyboard, hand claps

6. Cutting Out

James Baluyut, vocals, guitar, bass guitar, keyboard

Chris Deaner, drums

Patrick Ramos, guitar

7. Megalomaniac

James Baluyut, guitar, backing vocals

Chris Deaner, drums

Patrick Ramos, vocals, guitar, bass guitar

8. Scarecrow

James Baluyut, ocals, guitar, bass guitar, keyboard

Chris Deaner, drums

Patrick Ramos, guitar

9. No One Sees You Like I Do

James Baluyut, ocals, guitar, keyboard

Chris Deaner, bass guitar, drums

10. Here Qe Are (Again)

James Baluyut, ocals, guitar, bass guitar, keyboard

Chris Deaner, drums

Margaret McCartney, backing vocals

Patrick Ramos, guitar

11. Everything I See Makes It Feel Wrong

James Baluyut, ocals, guitar, keyboard

Chris Deaner, clarinet

RELEASE DATE

October 27, 2003

FORMAT

compact disc

LENGTH

41 minutes, 24 seconds

11 tracks

CATALOGUE No.

Teen-Beat 363

DETAILS

FIRST PRESSING

October 27, 2003

3,042 pressed.

PACKAGE:
CD O-card with full-colour printing (light grass image on cover).

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

JEWEL CASE:
with clear tray.

LABEL:
Pantone 5787 (pea green), Pantone 7421 (burgundy), Pantone 7408 (yellow), and Pantone 7401 (cream) ink.

SECOND PRESSING

May 10, 2005

1,054 pressed.

PACKAGE:
CD O-card with full-colour printing (darker grass image on cover).

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

JEWEL CASE:
with clear tray.

LABEL:
same as first pressing.

Printed and pressed by Bellwether Manufacturing, Bloomington, Indiana.

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