Idiot Pilot

10 out of 10: Michael Harris and Daniel Anderson, who comprise Idiot Pilot, are old souls. Still teenagers, this duo has created a sophisticated album that successfully bridges rock and electronic music. Throughout the course of their debut, Strange We Should meet Here, Harris' seraphic vocals meet with Anderson's powerful scream while guitars join force with leftfield electronics. Strange We Should Meet Here is a study in juxtaposition with songs where pretty meets primal and hardcore meets ambiance. Idiot Pilot is not the only group developing this sound, but they might be the best at it. From the smooth pop structure of "Open Register" to the modern dancefloor rhythm of "Les Lumieres" and the impassioned electronic rock of "To Buy A Gun," Idiot Pilot deftly moves through the myriad of influences that have bombarded a generation reared on MTV and the internet. But don't let Idiot Pilot's sophistication belie its sense of humor. Once of the album's highlights is "Militance Prom", featuring an intentionally amateur rap from Harris("I'm gonna chill like some cubes of ice") interrupted by Anderson's screams of "Shut up, Mike!" By album's end, Idiot Pilot has just the right mix of contradictory elements to build up a strong, devoted following. - Outburn Magazine

9 out of 10: Idiot Pilot's debut "Strange We Should Meet Here" was a somewhat flawed offering. Influences had trouble sitting together on occasion, the screaming seemed to be shoehorned into every track whether it fit or not and some tracks had a sliver of filler about them. "Wolves" takes all of those points and mauls them beyond recognition.

Considering that the album is the work of just two people, the mastery of musicianship is remarkable. The strengths of every instrument is displayed impeccably. Programmed drums kick in seamlessly where their live counterparts cannot tread, bass inches to the forefront on occasion to supply sub-woofer charged melodies and the guitar is used perfectly to create sublime melodies ("Theme From the Pit") only to decimate them moments later with enough power to rupture an adrenal gland.

Everything about this album feels organic, the songs naturally progress from one moment to next, with the sense of premeditated structure never once entering into the mind. Great screenwriters will often say how the story always knows where it has to go, and all they have to do is to follow its lead. In case you hadn't grasped the point of that little sidelight, this is exactly what Daniel and Mike have done this time around.

Wolves is awash with high points, from the very first eruption of "Last Chance", to the killer chorus of "In Record Shape", the harmonic vocal lead to "Red Museum", the bridge of "Red Museum", the branching off finale scream-fest of "Red Museum". Without a doubt, this is one of the most varied, brutal and beautiful songs to reach the worlds ears in a long time. Even the low-key closing track "Recurring Dream" simply aches with melancholy.

All which begs the question of what prevents this album from getting a ten. "Relationship of Command", "Burn Piano Island... Burn", "OK Computer", "The Queen is Dead", "In the Aeroplane Over the Sea", "Turn on the Bright Lights", all perhaps worthy of the highest mark due to their sheer power to change entire lives, rendering them a cut above everything else. Despite the almost faultless nature of "Wolves", it lacks this certain something that raises some albums to legend...wait for it...dary. It'll just have to make do with the influx of inevitable 'Album of the Year' awards instead. - Strangeglue.com

HQ: Bellingham, WA
NOW PLAYING: Wolves (REPRISE)

WHY YOU SHOULD KNOW 'EM: This epic-rock duo's soaring hooks and more-than-decent looks make for a catchy mix that will bounce around your noggin even after you press "Stop."
YOU LIKE? YOU'LL LIKE: Head Automatica / Muse / Hot Snakes

STORY: Kory Grow
PHOTO: Brion Topolski

Band life can get pretty intense, especially when it involves two guys spending every waking minute together. For Bellingham, Washington, duo Idiot Pilot (who play a bombastic mix of pomp-rock, screamo and electronica) the relationship between members singer/guitarist Michael Harris and multi-instrumentalist/screamer Daniel Anderson couldn't be more volatile-at least when their making music. "I've been struggling with a lot of issues and confronting a lot of inner demons," says Harris, the diminutive, blonde vocalist from his home in Washington. "And Daniel comes from a more peaceful, sort of subdued background."

Their personal differences, however, seemed to have worked to their advantage when they wrote their second album Wolves. After sticking it out in the two years since their debut, Strange We Should Meet Here, the duo decided rather than dismiss the other's criticisms about any given song, they should learn from their differences and disagreements for creativity's sake. In the end, it was a perfect marriage of opposites. "My solo record and his solo record, in my mind, would pale to anything we could do as a duo," admits Harris, "because [we're] literally taking polar energies and throwing them together to create something much bigger than ourselves."

Beyond just understanding one another, Wolves was the first time Harris and Anderson allowed outsiders into their creative process, having co-produced "Last Chance" with (+44) bassist/vocalist Mark Hoppus, who ended up drafting his bandmate, drummer Travis Barker, to play on the track. The first day of collaboration was difficult-the duo insists all of their collaborators understand that Harris and Anderson get final creative say-but it opened them up to more possibilities, seeing that, according to Harris, Hoppus brought "pop sensibility and arrangement to the band."

Although Idiot Pilot worked with renowned producer Ross Robinson (Glassjaw, At The Drive-In), who sought them out via MySpace, they finished the rest of the album with current Coheed And Cambria drummer Chris Pennie, formerly of the Dillinger Escape Plan, who breathed new life into their sound. After working with mostly programmed drums while using a laptop live, the duo felt it was time to work on what Anderson calls a "more organic live sound... We have always considered ourselves a 'band,' but sometimes I would feel we were going onstage and doing an art project. It was very strange."

No longer a performance-art two-piece, Idiot Pilot have struggled through a bumpy journey to punk-rock's limits, and the end result, Wolves, reflects two very different people making the needed adjustments to find a poppy middle ground. For the most part, however, the pair's dynamic hasn't changed. "I would say we're really good friends at this point," says Harris, "and we still go play Frisbee-golf together or whatever." ALT - Alternative Press Magazine