That Was The Show That Was: Soccer Mom Record Release Show | TT The Bear's Place, Cambridge, MA | Sept. 23

The few inconsequential hiccups during Soccer Mom's striking live set for its You Are Not Going To Heaven EP release show -- a broken string, a false start here and there -- are entirely understandable within the context of the Boston quartet's now reliably cataclysmic live performances. At any given moment Friday evening guitarist/singers Dan Parlin and William Scales were doing all they could to keep their respective streams of colliding positrons blasting from their amps from crossing, which theoretically would have vaporized all of TT The Bear's, as well as much of the northern end of Brookline Street in Cambridge, Massachusetts. That the mass of humanity present for the show (which show included attendant sets by Autochrome, Marconi and Emergency Music) survived intact, and were treated to Soccer Mom's astonishing serial delivery of squalling noise rock anthems to boot, well, that's just icing, baby. Soccer Mom's performance was highlighted by the increasingly familiar, lights-out bludgeoning of "Southern Bells," the retro-Youth buzzsaw of the Scales-sung "(A) Natural History" and Mr. Parlin's bending, existential wailers "Celebrity Unrest" and "American Shirt (Eagle Flag 911)." The band's energy level was high, and despite its meandering path in the general direction of becoming one of Boston's most-buzzed about bands, it was hard not to feel like Soccer Mom is reaping hard-fought rewards. You Are Not Going To Heaven resolutely establishes Soccer Mom as the real deal, not bad for a foursome whose only other release is a single. The band has another record release show booked for New York Oct. 8 at Party XPO (XPO 929) in Brooklyn, and makes a return to Boston stages Oct. 22 at Precinct in Somerville, MA.