Image Via Natalie Dee In case, you were wondering, I do have a pair of boombox pants and yes, they're quite comfortable. 10. King Khan & The Shrines- The Supreme Genius Of.... (tie) If my review of Khan's Pitchfork Fest set didn't convince you, this interview that ran today should seal the [...]
Tonight at the Open Lot (1310 S. 18th Street), here's a great show: California's Sic Alps are playing with St. Louis' own Raglani , Animal or Vegetable and Thankful Tree. Joe Raglani describes S.A. to me thusly: ... two guys who have resurrected the lo-fi aesthetic from 90's indie rock and imbued it with a classic dose of damaged 60's style indulgence with a nod to 00's noise and abstractions. They have put out various releases on various labels including the excellent Animal Disguise Recordings, Skulltones, Important Records and Woodsist. The 2008 summer [...]
We are in the midst of a heatwave here in New York with temperatures in the upper '90s during the day and only dropping to around 80 at night. I have spent a lot of it in semi-legal performance spaces with zero air conditioning. There has been a lot of sweating but Sic Alps were the first band I've seen all week that made it feel like the heat was being generated from the stage . Incredible. MP3 : Sic Alps - Message from [...]
:: Assholes By Nature , It is What It Is (Rap-a-Lot) :: Ace Young , Ace Young (Pazzo/Fontana) :: David Banner , The Greatest Story Ever Told (Universal Motown) :: Black Devil Disco Club , Eight Oh Eight (Lo) :: The Boy Bathing , A Fire To Make Preparations (self-released) :: Drakkar Sauna , [...]
This week I'm going to hitch a ride with one of the local bands I've been hott on this year, This Piano Plays Itself , for their first ever tour and blog from the road. For everyone else who is chilling in the city this week, there are some great shows that you should go to: Tomorrow night I recommend going to The Earl to see The NEC, Sic Alps, Suitcases, Hawks . Sic Alps : [...]
Last nights Hidden Depths was a roaring success: Unabombers warmed up beautifully, playing lots of quality Disco cuts. The Glimmers were next up and they expertly blended party hits from a plethora of genre's. The special guest was Grandmaster Flash : The Hip Hop legend scratched and cut classics from the likes of The 45 King, White Stripes, Incredible Bongo Band, Nirvana and, of course, a couple of his own joints. The baying crowd lapped it up: Total throw down. There are more events planned later in the summer, check the website for details. [...]
July 11: Noise Quean Ant / Command Module @ Eclipse Records Sic Alps / Wet Hair @ Treehouse Records Lee Scratch Perry @ First Avenue (CANCELLED) Sic Alps / Knife World / Birthday Suits @ Turf Club The Knotwells @ Hexagon Bar Mute Era / Military Special @ Lee's Liqour Lounge Tiger Gang @ Memory Lanes [...]
Well it seems like just yesterday I was writing up a piece on Sic Alps and here we are already with their brand new album upon us. After a well deserved reissue of some of their finest OOP slabs the duo are back and kicking with U.S. Ez and this time they've landed in perfect company on Siltbreeze's ever expanding roster. After years of praise in the Siltblog pages it's about time they stepped up and put money behind the Alps. And money well spent it was, as this is one of their finest offerings yet. Still burning [...]
Sic Alps has basically taken control of my headphones for the past few days with their lo-fi psychedelic garage pop. Which might be a hefty mouthful for a band that seems not to care what people think, but thats just it; Mike Donovan's strained voice whistling over his distorted guitar and Matt Hartman's crunchy drum beats congeal to form a array of sound that speaks in a poetic tongue of soaring skies and lands filled with "Gelly Roll Gum Drops". Sic Alps new album, U.S. EZ , is definitely at the top of my to get list. [...]
With the re-emergence of the lo-fi aesthetic led by bands like Times New Viking, No Age, and Psychedelic Horseshit, it's only natural to wonder who's going to be the next band to take their art damaged, fuzzy and hissy racket to the underground masses and gain acceptance from the indie elite in the process. Sounds like a question for the Magic 8 Ball, no? Magic 8 Ball, will the primitive San Francisco psych rock band, Sic Alps, be the next band to break out of the lo-fi scene? It is decidedly so. [...]
We made a drunken deal in Primavera Sound, and it's on, so welcome Sssamuel Strang getting down first, the curmudgeonly Spanish one plays the harmonica pensive at the back. The sound of monotony swamping your skull, Graffiti Island are not typical. Brought together through a mutual love of the deranged ...
With an affinity for limited run releases on obscure labels in obscure formats (including cassettes), it hasn't been easy keeping up with Sic Alps. Thankfully, Animal Disguise Records, has collected two years' worth of 7" singles, EPs, and cassettes onto one cd, A Long Way Around to a Shortcut (which itself is limited to 1000 copies). All of this would amount to a useless excercise in scarcity if it wasn't for the fact that Sic Alps make quite a fine racket. With a bang, clatter, and hiss, this San Fran duo run ragged through early strains of [...]
So if you missed out on all the great vinyl action from Sic Alps last year, don't worry, A Long Way Around To A Shortcut is here to save your ass. This fuzzed up scrap of plastic rounds up the some of the best of the Alps' limited wax, including The Soft Tour in Rough Form 12" , Description of the Harbour 12" and that Strawberry Guillotine 7" plus the b-sides from the Semi-Streets 7" . Though once they're compiled into one place they all seem to fold into one another inside [...]
With my current Times New Viking infatuation soaring to ear-threatening levels, I've been willfully subjecting myself to unhealthy levels of fuzz. We currently live in a paradoxical time where cheap software makes producing a fairly polished sounding recording exceedingly easy and good old 4-track recordings are also much easier to distribute to the world outside your basement. It's now just a question of aesthetics and intent. My tastes are bi-polar. Either give me meticulous DFA perfectionism or sublimely undercooked enthusiasm. From the latter column, here's a quick rundown of what's sounding good in the relatively recent world of [...]
So I thought I'd take the opportunity this week to recap a few great releases from the end of last year that got lost between the cracks. Sometimes there are just too many to sift through when they're released, you know? I managed to hit up a few 7"s by these SanFran mainstays, but missed out on their best release of the year until recently. Description of the Harbor landed in pretty limited release from Awesome Vistas; a perfect synthesis of the band's raw desperate gutter fuzz and their wandering noise pellets. This [...]
When anyone asks what's going on in San Francisco these days, I hold up a Sic Alps record and say "This shit, right here". Since the two-piece membership solidified a couple years back, the Sic Alps sound has evolved steadily over a barrage of releases. One part loose lo-fi minimalism, one part West Coast experimentalism, one part impish Syd Barrett-y weirdness and whole heaping fuckload of rock and roll. Their latest, the limited, vinyl only Description Of The Harbor 123 is a must if you can still find it, if for the hand printed [...]
Yet more trickles from the Sic Alps camp. This one comes out on RSTB favorite haven Woodsist and a righteous chunk of scuzz it is. Sic Alps - Strawberry Guillotine 7" The A-Side is a washed out pop capsule that thumps along with a chug and vigor that could only be Sic Alps. The harried vocals and easy beat of "Strawberry Guillotine" are a sharp contrast to the noise blister that takes shape on the B-side in [...]
As we were saying the other day, if our life had needed saving during 2007, it would have been saved by music. As it is, it didn't, but knowing we had this bad-ass aural bodyguard watching our spiritual backs, ready to run in our support should we start feeling disheartened by the ...
Sic Alps' album Pleasures & Treasures garnered the number 3 spot in Bull Tongues' top albums of 2006 and rightfully so. With this 7" they continue in that fine tradition and word from their site speaks of a new 12" on the way soon. Sic Alps - Semi-Streets 7" After realeasing a great album's worth of fuzzed caked scuzz pop last year Sic Alps followed it up with a 7" featuring one of the most memorable songs from the album. How a [...]
The Passion of the Weiss
A to Z
Sound Bites
BUZZGRINDER
Ohmpark
Just Press Play
More Cowbell
Raven Sings The Blues
Put On Your Ear Goggles
I Rock Cleveland
20JazzFunkGreats
Merry Swankster
Unpiano
Sleigh Bells - Demons (Official Music Video)
The Rains of Castamere by The National
A-Trak & Dillon Francis - "Money Makin'" (Official Video)
DIIV "How Long Have You Known?" (OFFICIAL VIDEO)
Nas - Daughters
Stream: Neil Young and Crazy Horse – Americana
