Idiot Pilot – Strange We Should Meet Here
Review coming soon to a computer screen near you 
Megha
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Update 1st Jan 2007
Okay, here is some quality work. Before I give you the low down on these Rock – Electronica prodigies I would like to say that if you haven’t already listened to their stuff then get off your ass and listen to it now. Just kidding. No pressure.
Idiot Pilot is a band from Washington (do they mix some sort of a music steroid in Washington’s water?). After you have heard their music, you’d be surprised to know that it is nothing but the genius of two soulful teenagers – Michael Harris and Daniel Anderson. Equipped with a laptop, guitar and lots of thoughtful ideas, these kids, who still legally can’t drink, have been able to create a highly inebriating variety of music. I won’t say they belong to the Indie genre but that is not because I know they prefer not to be called Indie, but because I know that it won’t be long before the music of these two fine lads climbs out of the reaches of obscurity and makes a big impression on more popular soundgrounds, where the likes of Radiohead and Deftones prevail. When I first heard their stuff I said to myself – Is that Radiohead experimenting with electronica and screams? I was glad to find out that many other music reviewers concurred on that point. So basically I am sharp, yeah.
You will know what I mean once you hear their songs from Strange We Should Meet Here. Spark Plug is probably the most impressive track from this album. It starts with mellow acoustic guitar riffs and anyone listening to it for the first time can never expect the sharp turn it takes twenty seconds into the play. Daniel Anderson who has landed the job of the “screamer” in this band does a good job. The screaming and shouting does not seem out of place like it normally does in most songs from grunge and metal genre. I can say that because despite being averse to the idea of vocal chord blaring in songs, I quite like it in their songs. The mellifluous voice of Michael Harris is the soothing factor without which this song would have been a yet another sad hardcore creation. The psychedelic electronica rock ambience that the incessant cash counter beep like sounds create is fantastic.
Moving on, the next best song from this album in my opinion is, Open Register. Just like Spark Plug, it starts with sweet, peaceful accoustics and vocals and then all of a sudden, a scream – “WE’RE TRYING TO HELP YOUUUU!!” I so totally love that. It is like playing a game of Peek-A-Boo. I want to play more, more and more. You ask me, okay then Megha, what is the tune like? One word – Brilliant.
Press next on random shuffle. The psychedelic track Les Lumieres has an intro typical of a dance track; let me rephrase, a fantastic dance track. The foggy music, the beats, the cash register beeps and not to forget the sound of someone chanting (Michael Harris or Daniel Anderson or both?) make this song something you can listen to at a club, in your car, at work (if the bosses allow), in your room or wherever. To top it all off, they have added subtle turn table effects to the song just like tiny bells on a Christmas tree.
Another track worth mentioning from Strange We Should… is Arrhythmia. I honestly don’t know what that means and I couldn’t be bothered to look that up in a dictionary. Actually I did but I couldn’t find it. Back to the song, this 4:36 minutes long track has a lot of electronica beeps to offer. The real fun does not begin until the second phase of the song starts, that would be somewhere around 2:54 minutes into the play. That is when the tune really escalates into another plane. If you don’t like the song at first, I would advice you to wait for the second phase to begin.
When A Day in the Life of a Poolshark starts, you imagine a Mario-esque video game, something like where you have to feed sharks or better still save yourself from them. I think that could be partly because of the song title and partly because of the way the song opens. It begins with a sound one would expect to come out of an eighty’s video game.
Other Idiot Pilot songs worth trying out are A Light at the End of The Tunnel, the title track Strange We Should Meet Here, To Buy a Gun(from To Buy A Gun EP), and Violent Tango. The reason why I haven’t mentioned the rest is because I am yet to hear them. I am sure the rest will be as cool as the ones mentioned above.
Don’t be surprised if after sometime you see every average Joe music lover talking about Idiot Pilot. Even if you don’t get surprised, don’t forget you first heard the prediction here on Laidbackness 
Megha Kehar
P.S: If anyone understood what I meant when I said “cash register/cash machine/cash counter beeps” and knows what they are actually called then please do let me know. Thanks loads in advance!
P.P.S: Feel free to contact me if you can’t find their stuff. I might be able to help.
The Complete Idiot Pilot Discography
Strange We Should Meet Here
1. Losing Color
2. Day in The Life Of A Poolshark, A
3. Open Register
4. Les Lumieres
5. Violent Tango, The
6. Nightlife Sparkplug
7. Moerae (The Locust)
8. Strange We Should Meet Here
9. Militance Prom
10. To Buy a Gun
11. Light at the End of the Tunnel, A
12. Arrhythmia
13. Lucid
To Buy A Gun
1. To Buy A Gun
2. To Buy A Gun (Her Space Holiday Remix)
3. Morae (The Locust)
4. Morae (The Locust) (Jel Remix)
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