The Intelligence

by Heather PharesSeattle-based noisenik Lars Finberg has played in some of that city's noisiest, weirdest bands, including the A Frames, Unnatural Helpers, and the Dipers, but as the Intelligence, he throws downright poppy melodies in with jagged beats and shards of new wave and no wave guitars and keyboards. The Intelligence began in 1999, shortly after Finberg, Min Yee, and Erin Sullivan formed the A Frames (who were called Bend Sinister at the time). Finberg recorded the Intelligence's earliest work in his bedroom, playing his five-year-old son's drum kit and slathering everything in reverb and distortion to get a distinctive lo-fi sound. The Intelligence and the A Frames issued singles on Dragnet Records, the label Finberg, Yee, and Sullivan formed to release their own music. However, the Intelligence's debut album, Boredom and Terror, was released by Omnibus early in 2004, and was reissued by Narnack later that year. The Intelligence moved to In the Red for the following year's Icky Baby, which introduced drummer Matthew Ford, bassist Calvin Lee Reeder, and guitarist Nicholas Brawley. In 2006, Finberg left the A Frames to concentrate on the Intelligence's music; that year, he inaugurated In the Red's limited-edition 12" series with a four-track release, appropriately named 12. For 2007's Deutoronomy, Finberg collaborated with Mike McHugh at his Distillery studio, marking the first time the Intelligence recorded outside of Finberg's bedroom.