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The Intellectuals : Invisible Is The Best CD (Dead Beat Records)

Rome's best kept secret! Two gals and one dude who apparently got excellent (trash) taste in music, "Invisible Is The Best" sounds like it could've been released by Ripoff or Crypt Records in the mid90s. 14 mindblowin' tracks of some of the most irresistable sexy garagepunk I've heard in many moons. "Identity" is easily the best cover of the X-Ray Spex classic ever recorded. The Intellectuals is probably my fave European punk act of the moment, and definitely the best Italian band EVER - please tour Denmark, NOW! Or at least play the Rotterdam Rumble 2007, and I'll be there! This shit is hotter than the insane Guatemalan chili peppers that Homer Simpson ate!

If you dig: Supercharger, Les Sexareenos, Thee Headcoats
Jens
www.lowcut.dk

The Intellectuals
Invisible Is the Best CD
(Dead Beat Records)
(REVIEW BY LORD RUTLEDGE)
Here it is just the 16th day of the new year, and I'm already using up one of my four allotted "hyperbolic rave reviews" for 2007. Only three more times all year will I be permitted to completely bust a nut for a new release. Should I exceed my quota, the penalties will be severe and extensive, and at the very least will entail a one-week abstention from beer consumption, 72 hours imprisoned in a studio listening to the mixing of the next Paris Hilton CD, a mandatory barium enema to be videotaped for the Discovery Health cable channel, slave labor at gunpoint writing one-sheets for 47 upcoming American Idol CD singles, and the forced accompaniment of one lucky Christian Women for Guns reader on her dream date to a Dr. Phil taping. These punishments would be well-deserved and perfectly proportional to my crimes, for it's just not right to hail a new band every other week as the greatest thing since sliced bread. But every once in a while, damn it, I'll hear a record that practically compels me to leap over the top. And in the case of The Intellectuals, I'll be severely disheartened if I'm their lone fanboy in the press. If you can't get excited about this band's music, why are you even bothering to write about rock n' roll?!

I mean, if all the hip-and-happening rock mags are gonna keep kicking up the buzz over the latest "garage" sensations, why not do it right and make a royal fuss over this shit-hot trio from Rome? These gals and guy sound like they just learned how to play three weeks ago, yet they assault every note with such unhinged enthusiasm and exhilarating force that they make most of today's garage/punk bands sound like they're barely even trying. These three are not the most talented or musically skilled folks in the underground rock world right now. But their music is exciting, fun, distinctive, delightfully listenable, and truly inspired - all things that today's punk too seldom is. Mashed together in the group's trashy, frenzied rock n' roll attack are the various hints of influence: Oblivians/Gories primitive blues racket, squawky-keyboard proto punk, Back from the Grave garage, good old '77 punk rock, the Velvet Underground, Supercharger/Mummies lo-fi trash, the blistering co-ed punk of early X, and late '90s Rip Off Records greats like Loli and the Chones and The Metros. Invisible is the Best, the band's second full-length album, is laden with the sheer catchiness, high-spirited gusto, and uncontrived rawness that separate truly great rock n' roll from tedious three-chord rehash. Veterans of splits with the Rock N Roll Adventure Kids and River City Tanlines and now allied with the all-powerful Dead Beat imprint, Guitar Boy, Drum Girl, and Key Tee are poised to make a name for themselves in the states. And if this album doesn't garner substantial adulation on this side of the Atlantic, I'll have to abandon all of my faith in the American populace.

I hate to repeat myself so conspicuously, but the word FUN needs to be brought up again for emphasis. Clearly, The Intellectuals have great fun playing their music, and you'll have great fun listening to it! The lively boy/girl vocals are hollered and screeched with relentless, irresistible cheer; each mangled chord, loose-flung organ riff, and sloppy drum beat is banged out with reckless abandon and appealingly amateurish glee. And whether you're talking about rippingly good originals like "We Are Cells" and "Baby-O", or covers of "White Light, White Heat" and X-Ray Spex's "Identity" (both of which are done up in true Intellectuals fashion), the material here is just as impressive as the presentation. No doubt this is great rock n' roll - glorious noise that's simple and stupid and raw and alive. I'd love for the world to stand up and take notice, but I sure ain't holding my breath.
http://www.geocities.com/nowwave

Intellectuals

Invisible Is The Best

2006
Hate Records

Giancarlo De Chirico

Secondo album per gli Intellectuals, il gruppo romano di thrash punk e di garage blues che ora .. diventato un trio, grazie all'apporto di Tina, chitarrista delle Felt Ups che nell'occasione offre il suo apporto alle tastiere. Velocit.., ritmo e afflato punk sono le chiavi di interpretazione scelte dalla band per un album registrato in soli quattro giorni, assolutamente "non prodotto" - come tengono a precisare gli stessi Intellectuals sulle note di copertina - e disponibile soltanto su vinile. Il disco contiene canzoni originali, davvero divertenti e ben riuscite, come "Vinyl Junkie Paranoia", "My Brother Chorizo" e la fantastica "Fichetti" (un tributo o una citazione da "Sono Un Ragazzo di Strada" dei Corvi, reinterpretata da Tonino Carotone?) alle quali si aggiungono cover importanti come "White Light / White Heat" dei Velvet Underground, "Identity" degli X Ray Spex e "Never Understand" dei Jesus Mary Chain, tutti gruppi che hanno influenzato in maniera determinante le scelte musicali di questa giovane band. Per garantire lo sconquasso pi.. totale il disco va suonato a volume alto, l'energia che ne fuoriesce .. quanto mai contagiosa e vitale, sembra tornare a rivivere la stessa voglia, la stessa rabbia del punk italiano dei ragazzi del 77. Canzoni brevi ed esaltanti, condite con grida furibonde e selvagge, molto poco "intellectuals", che mettono in discussione tutto, scoperchiano falsit.. ed ipocrisia, che ti mettono con le spalle al muro e ti obbligano all'ascolto. A dirla tutta per.., non ne avevamo bisogno, anzi... non chiedevamo di meglio!!!
www.xtm.it

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I like wild and crazy, trashy garage punk, and the Intellectuals are bring the good times with fine, hyperactive boy/girl shouting, keyboards, and ultra-catchy ape-fisted guitar. There is a picture on the back cover. It looks like they crashed on the couch after playing a show, and "Guitar Boy" (that's what he goes by) is drenched in sweat. That's the kind of music these folks play. Sweat-drenched, hyper, catchy and awesome garage rock. You can just about work up a sweat just listening to this thing. Dig the white-hot version of White Light/White Heat, too. FUN FUN FUN.
www.odysseyzine.com
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Is Cinnamon the new Whiskey in songwriting? Seriously, is EVERYONE singing about Cinnamon or is it just me? Colin Meloy (The Decemberists) is whining about it, John Roderick (The Long Winters) likes Cinnamon skin to say nothing of the historical archive of songs about said spice by Neil Young and The Stone Roses. Now we can add The Intellectuals to this prestigious list with cut ..5 on "Invisible Is The Best" "Go to the Beach With Cinnamon Girl".

Thankfully, there are still plenty of songs about Whiskey yet to be written. Whiskey or God you ask?

The answer is always Whiskey. Trust me.

The press release calls The Intellectuals "Rome's Premier Garbage Can Derelicts". I don't know what that means but I love it. I also love the fact that The Intellectuals have previously released their music on cassette tape. I still can't throw mine away. 8 Track is really hot right now so inevitably, in like 2047, my cassettes will again be cool.

For those of you keeping track, "Invisible is the Best" is the 5th release from the Italian Trio. The Intellectuals were formed under the influence. Although this is nothing new. Everyone starts their band in order to make excuses for getting something. Getting drunk and making noise are the least of the reasons.

After listening to "Invisible Is The Best" I strongly believe that The Intellectuals were drunk when they recorded this record. It's also likely that Guitar Girl, Guitar Boy and Key-Tee were drunk when they shot the back-cover.

Despite these odds, The Intellectuals actually made a decent record. They aren't afraid to rock keyboard on all 14 tracks. They sound like the B 52's if Fred and the Girls were strung out and decided to cram a Rich Bich through a Fuzz Box. "Invisible Is The Best" has the energy of a live performance. Although, okay, I'm not really sure when each song ends and a new one begins. "My Brother Chorizo" has few other lyrics besides the ones noted in it's title. But hey…sausages taste good. Pork Chops taste good.

Actually, I haven't been honest. I'm totally drunk right now. The Intellectuals and Vodka go good together. They reaaallly do…

And listen, I never told you this before but I love you too. Seriously, it's not just the booze talking.

- DJ Cherrybomb
www.sleazegrinder.com

THE INTELLECTUALS
Invisible is the Best
Checking stuff like this really gives some hope. To know that a band like this hails from Rome and is being issued via Los Angeles based label Dead Beat gives us some impulse and along with that a reason to continue this heartbreaking labor. The scene is perhaps stale (isn't that always what we have to say?), but the quality is there. All you have to do is gather up the energy to unearth tiny bands like THE INTELLECTUALS. Formed in 2001 and sowed out of a punk/garage/rock 'n roll Italian scene; the trio formed by the tacitly named Guitar Boy, Drum Girl and Key Tee (we are guessing this last one plays the keyboards) shape up some basic and gutsy garage punk. The sound is organic, and as being organic goes, the music is basic and full of hooks with a blues based sound. Think of what RL Burnside could have made had he been born in Rome, raised on crack and become a punk fanatic at the age of twelve. Guitar Boy and one of the girls here take turns or attack the mike at once; the energy is there and also certain flamboyance that only comes with at least 4 years in the circuit. The flamboyance is covered alright, and made up as if all that mattered in music was music and groove, which Invisible is the Best has plenty to spill of.

Like much of the riot grrrl stuff, when THE INTELLECTUALS leave Guitar Boy in his corner the music comes off as if it had been crafted in WA only a handful of years ago. But this is much more disheveled plus the boy makes his presence be felt in about 98% of the songs. The girl's pitch is almost strident and matches up to the fuzzy lucidity of the two-chord rock and two-note keyboards.

Some of it also makes you think of the land of the rising sun, with its crazy garage scene and the furious sound of bands like the awesome GUITAR WOLF and the cozy-doll vocal sound of SHONEN KNIFE. "The Insiders" perhaps one of the most calmed moments in this very contagious record makes you think of THE ANIMALS minus the suits or the ugly old age that was about to come. Like said earlier; this is a breath of fresh air. Let's keep stuff like this rolling in and never quit.
www.deafsparrow.com

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Trying to intellectualize what the Intellectuals do would be insulting to the intellect. It ain't chaos theory, though it is splendidly chaotic; it ain't quantum physics, though listening to 'em will make you want to get physical with the opposite sex. What it IS is a stroll through the rock'n'roll section of the id, beer-drenched, wild-eyed, libidinous, making out with the gorgeous girl next to you while checking out the other gorgeous girl standing behind her. Great guy/ girl vocal exchanges, a la the Lids, pluckily sinister organ sounds like Cococoma and the Juvinals, and a fuzzed-out guitar that sounds like the amp is seconds away from blowing up. I gotta find me a shirt that says "Italians do it better!"
Josh Benke
Razorcake.org


Ox-Fanzine / Ausgabe 70
Ein ganz starkes Album, das THE INTELLECTUALS aus Rom hier vorlegen! Irgendwie erinnert mich das Trio (was für Pseudonyme: Drum_Girl, Key_Tee und Guitar_Boy!) latent an die LOST SOUNDS, obwohl sie lange nicht so experimentell sind und auch nicht mit Synthesizern, sondern konventionellem Keyboard beziehungsweise Orgel arbeiten. Die zwei Mädels singen aber ganz ähnlich wie Alicja Trout, und wie es der Teufel will, haben sie auch mit den RIVER CITY TANLINES mal eine Splitsingle veröffentlicht. Auf dieser Platte covern sie auch noch VELVET UNDERGROUND, X-RAY SPEX und THE JESUS & MARY CHAIN und aus dieser Schnittmenge kochen sich die INTELLECTUALS ihre ganz eigene Suppe, wobei 14 absolut exzellente schräge kleine Pop-/Punkrock-Songs herauskommen, von denen jeder irgendwie ein verschrobener kleiner Hit ist. Erwähnenswert ist auch das toll aufgemachte Innersleeve mit Foto-Comic. Absoluter Tip meinerseits, diese Platte! (9) (Bernd Fischer)
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Intellectuals
"Invisible is the best"
(Hate / Dead Beat)
di TotòSan
Dopo un disco d'esordio (Black!Domina!Now!, 2004) che aveva fatto gridare al miracolo tutti gli amanti del Crypt-sound di casa nostra, tornano con un nuovo lavoro gli Intellectuals.
Molte cose sono cambiate. Innanzitutto il gruppo, con l'inserimento alla tastiera di Tina, chitarrista delle Felt Ups, è diventato un trio. Questo ovviamente ha comportato anche dei mutamenti nel suono. Tutto è più a fuoco. O meglio, a ferro e fuoco, perché adesso il sound degli Intellectuals è ancora più selvaggio e abrasivo.
Immaginate di grattare con le unghie una lavagna e avrete l'idea della ferocia con cui questi tre romani violentano i timpani degli ascoltatori. Con una schizofrenia blues (quello più ostico e minimale, sia chiaro) che dà un tocco noir ai pezzi.
Una cosa soltanto, dunque, è rimasta (fortunatamente) la stessa: l'attitudine. Ascoltare Invisible is the best è come essere catapultati direttamente nel '77, quando il punk era punk e il rock una marcia bestia urlante e pericolosa. Non è un caso la scelta delle cover presenti nell'album: White light/White heat dei..... (spero non sia necessario specificarvi di chi sia!!), Identity degli X-Ray Spex (giuro, mi son sbucate le lacrime quando l'ho ascoltata) e Never Understand dei Jesus & Mary Chain.
Un disco zeppo di lascive, urtificanti e tossiche schegge di vero rock'n'roll impazzito, come la straordinaria Fichetti o la spassosissima Vynil Junkie Paranoia (Che titolo!!!).

Intellectuals: la migliore garage-punk band d'Italia e non solo...

PS: un grazie di cuore ai ragazzi della romana Hate Rec. che da 12 anni sfornano gruppi e dischi uno meglio dell'altro
www.keepon.it
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Invisible is the Best é o quinto álbum desta banda italiana, disco intenso e com o melhor "sexy trashy garage punk"que se vai fazendo por esta Europa fora, junção de "keyboards" com guitarras a rasgar, os Intellectuals afirmam-se assim com uma das melhores bandas deste espaço, disco com uma versão fabulosa, "Identity" dos X-Ray Spex, como apreciam e bem os amantes destes estilos.
>BR>
Invisible is the Best it is the fifth album of this Italian band, intense record and with the best of "sexy trashy garage punk" that it is gone making in Europe, combination of keyboards and claw guitars, the Intellectuals they are affirmed with one of the best bands of this space, record with a fabulous version, "Identity" of the X-Ray Spex, as appreciate and well the loving ones of these styles.
Xape
www.rock-around-the-blog.blogspot.com

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THE INTELLECTUALS - Invisible Is The Best {Dead Beat} This baby's been annoying the neighbours since day one of its arrival. It's wonderfully reckless, snotty, Garage Punk rock 'n' roll. Think NEW YORK DOLLS swagger played with the fucked-up distorto Punk spew of DC SNIPERS via the New Wave electro Punk of THE EPOXIES and rounded out with a nod to THE SCREAMERS. The band hails from Rome, Italy and spits out 14 tracks that rock with a total disregard for convention. Opener 'Vinyl Junkie Paranoia' sets the scene before sliding into an album highlight, 'We Are Cells'. 'Fichetti' slays hipsters while 'R 'n' R Jedi' emphasises the trash culture the band seems to revel in. There's killer covers of X-RAY SPEX and VELVET UNDERGROUND while the vibe of the whole disc is raucous, damaged keyboard, rock 'n' roll bile. Get it!!
www.scannerzine.com




Tornano gli intelletuali ancora più incazzati per regalarci una nuova goduria, nuovi orgasmi, fuori dal qualsiasi conformazione, da qualsiasi tendenza, da qualsivoglia schema di mercato musicale. Il secondo disco sfornato dal trio garage romano è stracarico di riferimenti che vanno dai 3rd Floor Elevators ai Monks, da quei marci dei Gories ai non meno raffinati Dirtbombs, garage nuggets '60 ripreso in tutte le sue forme su cui rigurgita un punk '77 violento e grezzo.

Vynil Junkie Paranoia e We Are Cells sono i cavalli di battaglia di Ivisible is the Best, follia pura, delirio cosmico da cantare a squarciagola in qualunque posto vi troviate. Con Identity sputerete in faccia a chi vi sta sul *cappero*, in r'n'r Jedy la chitarra letteralmente pestata segue a ruota quella scatola primitiva della batteria, pedinata a sua volta con la coda dell'occhio da un organo killer.

Arriva poi White Light White Heat, tributo ai Velvet che appare come un rifiuto totale di un mondo che non ci appartiene, in cui non riusciamo a riconoscerci. Fichetti maligna al punto giusto, Oh! Freud, il blues di Chated babe Pop, My Brother Chorizo, Swimmin' e The Insiders dimostrano quanto si possa fare solo con una chitarra lo-fi, una batteria scarnificata e una tastiera abrasiva. Una montagna di rumore selvaggio e isterico. Se esistesse un poco di giustizia gli Intellectuals scalerebbero le classifiche internazionali, ma viviamo in un mondo di merda e le cose vanno diversamente… you know?


Beautiful Freak - zine
Tommaso Floris

www.likesunday.com
posté le mercredi 11 avril 2007
Voilà l'album rock'n'roll de ce début d'année. Sans rire. Un truc sans chi-chi (ni Ségolène), sans prise de tête, sans poseurs. Un truc qui balance, qui sonne juste, un son garage mais pas crade, un combo efficace et simple comme le nom de ses membres : Drum_girl, Key_tee, Guitar_boy et les titres de leurs morceaux "Go to the beach with Cinnamon girl", "RnR jedi", "Oh Freud", "My brother Chorizo", etc... il y a même une reprise enflammée du Velvet Underground. Entre les Lyres (car il y a de l'orgue) et les Swinging Neckbreakers, Gore Gore Girls, Neanderthals... Un sacré motherfuckin' good album de rock'n'roll basique qui sait vous prendre par la peau des fesses et vous jeter dans la mêlée. Je vous ai dit que ces gars étaient romains ? Je vous ai dit que c'était un sacré bon album ? Oui, 30 fois au moins. Alors qu'est ce que vous attendez ?!
le Blob (Morlock)

secondflightstudio.com
The back cover of this CD shows the band – two girls and a guy – in a state of complete drunken, sloppy mess. That's pretty much how I'd describe their music, and, yes, I mean that as a compliment. Originally formed as a guy/guitar-girl/drum duo (sound familiar?), the Intellectuals have now become a trio with the addition of Key-Tee, the keyboard girl. With an electrifying approach to Garage Punk and a lo-fi sensibility that would make the Cheater Slicks proud, these three inebriated Italians (yes, they're from ROME!) manage to lay down some dirty Blues-Trash-bashers that make the White Stripes look like the Carpenters. The frantic cover of the Velvet Underground's "White Light/White Heat" is enough to make me a fan, but lucky me, I've got another 13 songs to keep the party going as long as someone's willing to go on a beer run. Whose turn is it? –chuck.foster