Today's Hotness: Sister Palace, Twerps

>> Few bands have enticed this reviewer in his hometown of Portland, Oregon as much as emergent, dreamy rock act Sister Palace. Comiing along in the wake of its mid-2014, sold out The Purple Tape EP is the act’s towering first full-length, Count Yr Blessings. The set will be self-released Feb. 1, at the conclusion of a West Coast tour that kicked off Friday night in San Francisco. The new set has taken much of the scene by surprise, as few local acts have as ably harnessed the sounds of well-aged '90s indie touchstones and channeled that inspiration into something as pristine and powerful as Count Yr Blessings’ lead single "Corporeality." The tune opens with a simple, picked refrain and the lead singer's straightforward, soft vocals. And then there's that thing -- you’ll hear it: a mighty, powerful wordless chorus that not only calls to mind the finer aspects of those Steve Albini-recorded Breeders records, but also packs a melody so honest and serene that listeners will be able to do nothing but listen and nod along in abject pleasure. Maybe it's the great harmony that haunts the passage, or maybe it's the clear, open production capturing Mac Pogue’s drumming, but there’s a timelessness to the tune that suggests great things for this young band’s future. Add to that a creeping harmonic bridge that recalls guitar-band greats like Helium, Come, and the aforementioned Breeders, and you have a recipe for success that also adds something special and original to the Northwestern DIY rock scene. We would be remiss if we did not report that the balance of Count Yr Blessings is equally strong, and that we expect listeners will be hitting repeat on the mesmerizing ballad "Sister Vincent" as well as the understatedly brilliant "Fuck The Nation," which brings back the effective, simple vocal harmonies of "Corporeality." Oh, there's also a surprise '90s alt.rock cover tagged to the end of the set, which is nicely done, and puts a twee spin on something you've heard a million times before. But we don't wanna say too much. Pre-order Count Yr Blessings right here, or grab one from Sister Palace at one of the stops on its present tour -- we’ve listed the remaining dates below along with the album embed, which we highly recommend to your attention. -- Edward Charlton

01/24 -- Santa Cruz, CA -- SubRosa w/ Burnt Palms
01/25 -- Santa Barbara, CA -- Funzone w/ Spring, Waxer
01/28 -- Los Angeles, CA -- Redwoods w/ Badlands
01/29 -- San Luis Obispo, CA -- TBA
01/30 -- Oakland, CA -- TBA w/ Watercolor Paintings
01/31 -- Cottage Grove, OR -- Axe & Fiddle
02/01 -- Portland, OR -- The Know w/ Lubec



>> It's no surprise, Merge Records having a winner on its hands, as that is sort of their "thing" (have you seen its spring release schedule?). But we feel like the forthcoming sophomore LP from Aussie indie pop act Twerps is getting a bit lost in the shuffle, and, well, it shouldn't, as it has all the makings of a classic album (and the band is already influencing a new wave of English outfits, to boot). The Melbourne-based foursome's new set is titled Range Anxiety; it was preceded by a self-titled debut in 2011 and the Merge-issued 2014 EP Underlay. Range Anxiety is replete with inexhaustible melodies, jangly guitars and a beguiling blend of pep and melancholy that recalls the finest work of notable antipodean acts such as The Go-Betweens. Indeed, Range Anxiety nearly comes across as a hits collection, its track listing is so strong. The uptempo strummer "Simple Feelings" recasts The Feelies' mellow and resigned "Only Life" as a jittery pop gem, while the preview track "I Don't Mind" plays it cool from within a quiet cloud of, uh, something? Is that feedback? Backwards masked ride cymbal? Whatever it is, it's nifty, and plays well against the chorus's clean jangle and the tremeloed leads in the verse. Deep album cut "Cheap Education" goes back to the Feelies well again for its firmly cycled three-chord verse, but thrums with a caffeinated intensity that points relentlessly forward. Merge will release Range Anxiety Tuesday, and you can purchase it right here. Stream the aforementioned "I Don't Mind" and the entirely charming weirdo "Shoulders" (which reminds us of a more hi-fi take on the Glo-worm sound) via the Soundcloud embeds below.

Rock Over Boston Austin: SXSW Night 5

[Photos from SXSW in Austin, TX 3/18/2011 by Michael Piantigini.]
As is typical of SXSW, today was a day of frustration at long lines, parking problems, and bad timing that was more than made up for by a few spectacular performances.

Home Slice Pizza's Music By The Slice is always a great party with a great lineup with easy access to great pizza. This year, though, some permitting conflicts led to them having to put the shows on with no amplification whatsoever. Apex Manor played a great set there on Thursday, and Versus opened Friday. For longtime fans, it was a great chance to see them in a unique setup.

Our foray back into downtown was the source of the frustration I mention above, so before long we headed back down South Congress to get to the Yard Dog for the Bloodshot Records party. This is one of the most fun day parties, usually headlined by the irrepressible Waco Brothers, who stagger the line between The Clash and Johnny Cash (both of whom they covered). They blew it out of the water, as usual, while the band worked on killing a whiskey bottle between songs.

The Merge Records showcase was my target of the night, though I only managed to see the last half of it, just in time to catch American Music Club wrap up. Versus then reminded us of why they don't usually play acoustic sets - loud works for them. Wye Oak were playing their third set of the day, but showed no signs of wear.

Wild Flag were the most anticipated band of the night. They're an indie-rock Asia, of sorts: a supergroup fronted by Sleater Kinney's/TV's Carrie Brownstein and Helium's Mary Timony. Wow, does it ever seem like this group was mean to be together. They rocked. Who knew that Mary Timony could be such a guitar hero?

-Michael Piantigini

Today's Hotness: A-Sides, The Sea And Cake, Pop Narcotic

>> This is probably a first: VBS visits Philadelphia's Fishtown section to interview the indie rock up-and-comers The A-Sides and capture them performing slices of hot new numbers. The quintet recently disclosed it had signed to Vagrant. It has had a teaser cut from its long awaited sophomore set Silver Storms floating around since last year, so it is nice the record finally found a home. Anybody with any inside baseball on the deal the band had fall through before the Vagrant deal should shoot us an email; we like stuff like that. Anyway, the new A-Sides material sounds like it has taken cues from the stellar closer "Here or There" from the band's excellent debut Hello, Hello (released on Prison Jazz in 2005). Haven't heard "Cinematic" from Silver Storms yet? Here's a link to the MP3; the record is out Aug. 28.

The A-Sides -- "Cinematic" -- Silver Storms
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>> News to us: In addition to releasing its very sharp seventh studio record this month, veteran indie quartet The Sea And Cake is selling a digital-only EP entitled Anybody. It is only available via ITunes and includes the three tracks "All In Throws" (which sounds like a bit of a throwback to the One Bedroom record), "Breathless" and "Mis." The Sea And Cake released its most recent full-length Everybody May 8; we reviewed it here. Buy Anybody from ITunes here.

>> Interesting feature here in the Boston Globe about the founder of '90s indie label Pop Narcotic, a Boston-based label that issued a number of important releases including the first Helium single and the excellent double 10" Why Do You Think They Call It Pop? Nowadays Pop Narcotic's Bill Peregoy runs a yoga studio, which recently launched a new class that eschews the more stereotypical yoga class soundtrack music in favor of indie rock. If this happened in our neighborhood we'd definitely check it out -- since we already listen to music all day we might as well try yoga while doing some listening.

>> A well-written if run-of-the-mill overview of the current state of the traditional music industry in the New York Times here. Nicely assimilates a lot of news pegs (releases from Paul McCartney and that 50 Cent fellow, mergers and acquisitions amongst major labels and music publishers). Not a crucial read, but if this is the sort of thing you don't follow day-to-day, it links a lot of occurrences together to give a decent picture of the state of things. Likewise, you should probably read this interview of HypeMachine's Anthony Volodkin over at Wired. It might not make a lot of sense if you don't know what HypeMachine is, but if you do it is pretty interesting. The most fascinating thing to us is that Mr. Volodkin is so darn young. We wish we were half as clever when we were his age... in 1995.

>> The Ian Curtis biopic "Control" won best European film at the Cannes Film Festival. NME has the details. Pitchfork recently posted the trailer, which got us a little excited and a little disappointed at the same time. Watch it at YouTube here.