Frontman Bren Mead (ex-Masters of the Hemisphere) spent some time in New Mexico working on solo stuff and ended up calling it Vetran. Heʼs been back in Athens for a while, and has pushed his bedroom pop-rock into the live setting.
-Flagpole Magazine (October 2005)

Bren and Jeff from the Masters with Ian and Jimmy from Bumblebear records. OK, sounds a lot like the Masters, but fantastic new songs, canʼt wait to hear recordings of these.
-MrClay.org live review of PopFest 2005 (August 2005)

 

[Masters of the Hemisphere Press]

Athens, GA-based indie-pop combo Masters of the Hemisphere was founded in 1996 by singers/songwriters Sean Rawls and Bren Mead, longtime friends who by high school were already veterans of a series of bands including Jasperʼs Arm, Vetran, Volcano Clutch, Eat Rice on Friday and Linus, many of them documented on cassettes released via the teen duoʼs Everybodyʼs Wearing Them label. When Meadʼs family relocated to New Mexico, he and Rawls continued writing and recording independently, planning a split cassette for Kindercore, Nose Plug, which remains unreleased; eventually reuniting in Athens, they formed Masters of the Hemisphere with Kindercore chief Ryan Lewis on drums (later replaced by the Mendoza Lineʼs Jeff Griggs). After debuting with the EP Going on a Trek to Iceland, the group expanded to a quartet with the addition of multi-instrumental-ist Adrian Finch; the Mastersʼ self-titled full-length LP followed in 1999, and a year later the group issued I Am Not a Freemdoom, an ambitious concept album released with a comic book.
- Jason Ankeny, All Music Guide

I should start by apologizing to Masters of the Hemisphere, as they hit the top of my review pile about a year too late. There was a time when I was crazy in the coconut for the kind of sky-blue sundress pop the band peddles, scooping up anything with the serpentine Elephant 6 logo or by a band whose name could have been lifted from the lyrics to “Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite.” At their best, these acts seemed to tap into the unrealized potential of late 60s sing-along psychedelia, and the possibilities seemed endless. Well, endless ainʼt what it used to be, and unless Iʼm just getting cynical (a reasonable possibility) anything the Beach Boys and Beatles didnʼt get a chance to say may now have been officially said. Elephant 6 is in shambles: Olivia Tremor Control has split into two inferior entities; Apples in Stereo has attained their lifelong goal of becoming cartoons; Jeff Mangum is a drug casualty with follow-up fear. But that doesnʼt matter to labels like Kindercore who continue pumping out competent but unexceptional collections of catchy, sunny tunes...
-Rob Mitchum, Pitchfork (May 2002)

Masters of the Hemisphere are the head-bopping, merry melodic fun that is expected of Kindercore bands, and they make sure to lighten the load with a few love songs and a string of catchy hooks. With Protest a Dark Anniversary, they prove that theyʼre actually members of our society with something important to say, and they do it while maintaining their great light-hearted, multi-layered indie-pop songwriting. Protesting societal blotches is rarely this finger-snapping. Jason Feifer, Ink 19 (June 2002)

With the impending release of their third full-length album, Athensʼ Masters of the Hemisphere remain one of the most misunderstood and unfairly maligned pop groups of this generation. Generally relegated to the indie-pop gutter by their detractors, the Masters possess a keen wit and an element of understated subversion largely lacking in most so-called “twee-pop” bands. The Masters exhibit these qualities on their forthcoming long-player Protest a Dark Anniversary, with which they intend to hammer home the legitimacy of their own significance. (As with their two previous albums, Protest a Dark Anniversary will be released by Kindercore Records.) The overwhelming majority of their criticism derives from their second full-length release, 2000ʼs I am Not a Freemdoom. Freemdoom, a disjointed concept album concerning the capitalist endeavors of an evil dog-like creature, can come across as one of the most pandering and juvenile records ever made, and it has frequently been cited as the extreme distillation of a handful of indie-popʼs most annoying facets, such as rampant childishness and an aping of classic forms of pop music without the ability to play said styles adequately. If one is able to look pass the treacly nature of the presentation, however, one will realize that Freemdoom is one of the most subtly political records released in recent times. Upon closer inspection, Freemdoom reveals itself to be perhaps the first (and finest) indie-rock album to ever address the Globalist conspiracy and decry the dangers of increasing one-worldism. I had the opportunity to interview Sean Rawls for roughly one half-hour, as he was working a delivery shift at the local Steak-Out restaurant. Mr. Rawls is one of the Mastersʼ three singer-songwriters and their most out-spoken member. He touched on a number of issues of import, and through his eloquence and wit proved again that he and his band-mates are neither simpletons nor fools. [2000 word interview follows]
- Garrett Martin, Delusions of Adequacy (July 2002)

I am not a huge fan of pop, but it seems like every year there are 1 or 2 pop albums that I like a whole lot. This album, Masters of the Hemisphereʼs I am not a Freemdoom, may very well be one of them. The album is a concept album/rock opera about an evil dog named Freemdoom, his unloyal henchman Gorgar, and our heroes Mal and Ed, and includes a comic book to be read as the music plays. Itʼs like Pet Sounds if Brian Wilson had concentrated less on the Sounds and more on the Pets. The songs of this popopera do not cover the entire plot of the comic, so in order for this album to be at all successful, the music has to stand well on its own. Luckily, it does. The lyrics are not at all forced, even without any attention to the story, so you can still get wrapped up in the choruses and vocal harmonies without bothering with the comic. The hooks are solid as well, mostly from acoustic guitar and keyboards but a wide range of instruments are used to compliment them. Reading the book along with the album will make the lyrics more meaningful, but I doubt that youʼll do that more than once. In fact, it may be sufficient just to skim the book after a few listens to the album, see all the cute pictures of severed heads, and then put the book away. The story is simple and straightforward; the real prize to this album is the music and singing. Listening to this album reminds me somewhat of listening to those first two Verbena singles. The songs are simple, bare, and catchy, and the vocal harmonies are irresistible even if they are not perfectly matched pitchwise. Where Verbena added early 90s fuzzy fuzz to make their sound more weighty, Masters of the Hemisphere uses standard late 90s Elephant 6 trickery, while still remaining minimal in their arrangements. If Verbena was cute like underage Calvin Klein models or Jonathon Taylor Thomas, Masters of the Hemisphere is cute like puppy dogs and fairy tales, which is of course less interesting (in other words, less sexy) but still undeniably cute. But how cute do you have to be to be too cute? How cute before I start to throw up? Masters of the Hemisphere must see that line between cute and too cute. And not only do they see it, they pogo up and down it, mocking it and me with their wide smiles and boyish glee. I am not a Freemdoom is a cute, fun album for cute, fun people; I guess all you really have to decide is whether or not you are cute and fun enough for it.
- Jim Steed, FakeJazz.com (July 2000)

Right now, I am very worried. Iʼve just learned, from the new Masters of the Hemisphere record, that my life may very well be in mortal danger. A “sinister dog doing sinister things under cover of dark” is on the loose. This sinister dog is a mob boss. He wears dentures. And he can control your lungs. He was temporarily apprehended by a land-bound fish and a cigarette-smoking pink cybernetic thing, but he escaped. And now I fear that he will come for me. Whatʼs worse, heʼll come in the form of a Beach Boys-obsessed twee-pop band. Shit. No, Iʼm not intoxicated. Iʼve been listening to the latest Masters of the Hemisphere record, a concept album about an evil water-polluting canine mafia boss named Freemdoom. No, Iʼm not intoxicated. Iʼve been listening to the latest Masters of the Hemisphere record, a concept album about an evil water-polluting canine mafia boss named Freemdoom. While at first glance, this plot may seem to harbor some kind of hippie clean-water political agenda, the story doesnʼt even approach the level of comprehensibility necessary for a political agenda. However, if youʼre adventurous, and a fan of bad art, I Am Not a Freemdoom comes with a truly awful comic book, containing a full narrative and a shoddy line drawings of the characters in tight situations. At this point, I feel it necessary to describe the albumʼs plot in further detail. As youʼve probably figured out by now, thereʼs a maniacal dog by the name of Freemdoom who wants to do evil things. I know that heʼs maniacal because in the comic book, he says things like, “Hahahahaha! I am invincible!” Freemdoom has a bodyguard named Gorgar....

...Anyway, a bunch of other weird, incomprehensible shit happens, and Ed and Mal finally capture Freemdoom, and “repeatedly smack” him into a tree. Then, he escapes. Fuck.

So, Iʼve just taken you through the entire plot-- or, at least, the parts of it that make a marginal amount of sense. Sadly, all of this information is taken from the accompanying comic book. Trying to decipher the storyʼs plot from the album itself is like trying to pull teeth from a rabid marmoset-- itʼs probably not worth the effort. Of course, thatʼs not to say I Am Not a Freemdoom isnʼt packed with instantly-quotable nuggets. Take the opening track, “So What About Freemdoom,” for example: the line “Goooooorgar waaaaants/ To destroy Freeeeeeemdoom,” is not only one of the worst lyrics this side of a Wesley Willis acid trip, itʼs also sang with utmost sincerity. Plus, it also confuses the hell out of plot diehards like myself. I thought Gorgar only wants to destroy Freemdoom at the end! If this first track is supposed to be a summary of the entire plot, it isnʼt a very effective one. “Freemdoomʼs gone,” sing the emoting Masters, “heʼs inside you!”
- Matt LeMay, Pitchfork (May 2000)

updated 11/11/05