Review: Pile | You're Better Than This

There is an eternal unease, a sort of yearning discomfort (or is it a discomfited yearning?), that permeates the music of Boston post-punk titans Pile. Among the foursome's greatest strengths has been the ability to sew that rankled unease into the lining of each of its songs, imbuing each one with a nakedly human dimension that would seem pretty un-rock 'n' roll were it not for the fact that Pile (higher power-of-your-own-choosing bless Pile) hits the sweet spot where power meets smarts as hard as any act since, say, Jane's Addiction released Nothing's Shocking. The throbbing vitality of Pile's music elevates and even celebrates its unease, and never more perfectly than on its agile and potent new full-length You're Better Than This.

What makes You're Better Than This distinct from the band's previous releases (including 2012's towering Dripping, which we reviewed for another publication here) is an adventurous, elastic production and mix. Fronter and guitarist Rick Maguire's opaque, often inscrutable lyrics are levied in palpable Jon Spencer-esque slap-back, the guitars are firmly panned to the edges of the stereo field, and a big, boisterous ambient room sound is pushed up into the mix, amplifying the dynamics of a band already well known for its crushing shock and awe. The more fluid production and a relative dialing back of viscous sludge and distortion lets the music feel lighter on its feet, at fighting weight. You can feel it in the beautiful, 94-second acoustic guitar ballad "Fuck The Police," in the playful opening of the whirling, deconstructed waltzer "Waking Up In The Morning," and straight through to the giddy rush of the album's hidden final tune "Rock 'N' Roll Forever With the Customer in Mind," perhaps a curt nod to Mr. Maguire's day job.

The set opens with the uneven gallop of "The World Is Your Motel," whose immediate, tilting kineticism gives the feeling that one has caught You're Better Than This in medias res -- in the midst of an airing of acute grievances -- or even in flagrante delicto; the tune's cataclysmic final 50 seconds are ignited by one of many soul-searing howls emitted by Maguire over the course of the record. That stentorian yowl, Kris Kuss' explosive drumming, the massive but impressively controlled riffage: indeed, all the hallmarks of a Pile record are present here.

It would be enough for us if You're Better Than This was comprised solely by its (credited) devastating closing number "Appendicitis." The long tune offers a perfect balance of the grace and, ahem, balls that Pile musters with impressive regularity (we'd say ease, but recent interviews confirm our feeling that Maguire would tell us there's nothing easy about it, were we to ask). As the relatively gentle tune crosses the four-minute mark it seems to swallow Maguire whole, as his vocals sink deep into the skeins of guitar lines just ahead of the song's terminus under some final, chunky chords. You're Better Than This was recorded in Omaha and produced by Ben Brodin, whose production credits do not include work with JSBX or Shellac, but do include Conor Oberst, Seahaven and, weirdly, Jazon Mraz.

Exploding In Sound released You're Better Than This on vinyl, CD, cassette and as a digital download today, and you can purchase the record in any of those formats right here. Stream the entire record via the embed below. Pile is now officially on tour forever; click here to see when they stop by to bring its moveable feast to your mom's house. Dinner is served.

Pile: Facebook | Internerds

Today's Hotness: Cloud, Polvo

>> The catalog of imaginatively inept London-based indie label Audio Antihero has held many wonders over the years, but never before has it included an American act, let alone one with significant Boston roots. That all changed with the label's recent signing of the now-LA-based noise-pop act Cloud. We first stumbled upon Cloud about a year ago due to his contributions to a lo-fi release from Boston slowcore concern Marblemouth. Both Cloud and Marblemouth are satellites orbiting the Practice Room Records collective, a nebulous entity that also counts among its number Clicky Clicky faves Winter; indeed, Winter's namesake Samira Winter contributes vocals to two tunes on Cloud's new record and also appeared on Cloud's 2011 set, Rocket. Right, Cloud's new record, that's what we were talking about... the project is the brainchild of Tyler Taormina, and Audio Antihero will re-issue on Aug. 5 Comfort Songs, Cloud's third release originally issued in Sept. 2012 as a download. The 11-track collection is available from Audio Antihero in a limited edition of 140 compact discs as well as, of course, digital download, and the lead single for the Audio Antihero edition is the stormy and densely layered strummer "Mother Sea." There's something of Conor Oberst's general agitation and gift for description in Taormina's delivery and songwriting respectively, but Mr. Oberst has to our knowledge never arranged as noisy a bed to lie in as the churning instrumental to "Mother Sea." A conventional rhythm guitar track is buried amid rich reverb, spiraling and droning piano chords, slowly arcing feedback, and sundry unidentified aural embellishments, all of which conspire in the song's final two-and-a-half minutes to create a hypnotic ebb and flow, not unlike the cycling of crashing waves. Which, given the title of the song, either makes Mr. Taormina brilliant or extremely lucky. Readers who took a closer look at the recent Audio Antihero charity compilation Regal Vs. Steamboat that we wrote about last month likely saw that there is also a song from Cloud among the comp's 31 tracks, the tune "A Song Of What Stays" (originally released on Cloud's Elephant Era full-length from 2010) which you can stream right here. Stream "Mother Sea" via the Bandcamp embed below, and then click through to pre-order all of Comfort Songs from Audio Antihero. It's something you'll be glad you did.



>> Maybe our social networks were just skewed weirdly today, or maybe the lack of any preview music didn't elicit the typical Pavlovian "!OMG Firsties!" response from the blogosphere, but whatever the reason, we were surprised by the lack of widespread enthusiasm at today's news that post-rock legends Polvo will release their sixth LP Oct. 1. The set is called Siberia and it will be released by the highly esteemed Merge label, who among other things also did the honors for Polvo's 2009 comeback record In Prism and the 2011 single "Heavy Detour," which, curiously, was described as being "taken from Polvo's upcoming album." We say curious because the eight-song track list for Siberia does not contain a song called "Heavy Detour." Was the title changed for the record, or did the band have a change of heart? We suppose we'll find out Oct. 1 when Siberia hits the new release bins (or, we suppose, a week ahead of time when the record is inevitably streaming at Pantsfork Advance or NPR First Listen or whatever is The Thing two months from now). We're not sure how well this opinion will be received, but despite releasing some very great music in the intervening years, we still don't know that any new Polvo record will ever hold our affections as strongly as the band's epic double 10" from 1996, Exploded Drawing. The album has too many highlights to mention, but do yourself a favor and click the YouTube embed below to listen to the 11-minute-plus masterwork "When Will You Die For The Last Time In My Dreams," the song that closed out Exploded Drawing. Siberia can be pre-ordered now from Merge on CD and LP right here, and those who pre-order will also receive a poster along with their order, which will arrive on or around the Oct. 1 release date, Merge promises. For a related and somewhat weirder thrill, check out this video we just stumbled upon of an ice skater named Emily Hughes performing her routine to "When Will You Die For The Last Time In My Dreams," intercut with footage of a Roomba vacuum cleaner doing it's thing. INTERNET FUCK YEAH!