'Ants' worth marching to

When dealing with music, one can often find himself confronted with a central, and sometimes unanswerable, question. This question is: Why do I like this band? The Ants are a band that is likely to have many individuals scratching their heads and tapping their feet. The Ants are a relatively obscure band from Kansas that I was exposed to when they rolled through Bloomington with Drakkar Sauna. My curiosity concerning this four-piece hasn't diminished since that warm summer evening.\nThe third LP from the Ants, Ideabreaker, contains elements from their live show and introduces some novel new ideas. The most striking part of the live set is that the band has the most cohesive disorganization of any band you're likely to encounter. It seems as though they're teetering being balanced and stumbling. The songs contain the same rambling lyrics and a lack of choruses that the band is known for, but on Ideabreaker the more curious elements of the band's sound seem instantly more accessible.\nOn their 2004 album, Victory Side, the songs were appealing but felt as though they were lacking in many elements. Ideabreaker seems to address all of the problems of the band's previous effort. The drums are more pronounced and proficient, the guitars are steadily strummed, and the bass and electric organ help in the harmony department. The vocals of front man Chad Bryan also have a much more pleasant timbre and make him sound less like a lonely drunk and more like a happy drunk. The band also manages to fill in the voids nicely. None of the songs feel as they are lacking anything and they don't feel too busy either.\nStill absent are choruses that would draw more people to the band, but their style of freakish folk-rock tunes aren't really conducive to hooks anyway. At times the band almost sounds like a lounge, garage rock and folk hybrid. Songs like "The Donkey Talking about Long Ears" manage to sound nothing like the other tunes, but feature the same qualities that make the Ants' songs unmistakable. \nTo answer the original question: What draws me to the Ants seems to be, above all else, authenticity. The songs aren't showy, complex or overwrought. Ideabreaker is original, simplistic and doesn't make any apologies. It is a work that shows four individuals who make the music they want to and don't let success, or lack of it, influence the direction their music travels.