That Was The Show That Was: Basement, Adventures, LVL UP, Palehound | Royale, Boston | 16 Aug.

[PHOTO CREDIT: Dillon Riley] Let us now take the measure of the fairly meteoric rise of Purchase, NY-spawned indie rock troupe LVL UP. While a known quantity 'round these parts for some time, the Exploding In Sound-affiliated group recently gained the attention of another perennial hit-maker in Boston's Run For Cover Records. RFC signed on to co-release the Empire State act's forthcoming, Fugazi-ly titled Three Songs 7" with EIS' Double Double Whammy imprint. The short set features, unsurprisingly, three songs, is slated for release Sept. 11, and -- based on the readily available stream -- sounds like another winner in what's shaping up to be a stellar discography for the band. LVL UP put its aural gold on full display Sunday, when it performed on one of the summer's hottest rock bills, and certainly the hottest for host venue Royale in recent memory. Not unlike Clicky Clicky eternal favorites Teenage Fanclub (or, we suppose, any three quarters of power-pop lifers Sloan), LVL UP presents the charms of three legitimate songwriting talents, adding a layer of anticipation to its already hotly anticipated performances.

LVL UP labelmates Palehound opened the show, promoting the release of its potentially world-conquering debut LP Dry Food. Although the boundless charm of Palehound's first releases does not seem to dim with age, it's clear that the more assured and nuanced Dry Food is a huge leap forward. Sunday evening fronter Ellen Kempner's cutting guitar work and graceful lyricism shone during a set highlighted by the start-stop dynamics of "Cushioned Caging" and the jaunty, psych-tinged guitar leads on "Cinnamon." The latter also served to emphasize Ms. Kempner's even-tempered, yet commanding stage presence. Her brief but pointed condemnation of aggressive harassment at a past show on Palehound's current tour underscored Kempner's growing comfort wielding her voice as a "public person," something raised in the uniformly glowing press surrounding the release of Dry Food, issued by Exploding In Sound just last week. While its big-sister band Speedy Ortiz has set the most recent and obvious precedent for a big Boston break-out, Palehound may have in its stellar LP just the munitions necessary for a similar assault on the overground.

Pittsburgh-based power-pop quintet Adventures batted third for the night, bringing to the stage an armful of tunes from its still-hot Run For Cover debut Supersonic Home. Much of the early buzz surrounding the group centered around its affiliation with the hardcore group Code Orange, with whom Adventures share three members. But Adventures more than stands on its own right. The fivesome trades in the sort of big-riff vulnerability favored by the standouts on Detroit's Salinas Records, yet with even bigger guitars and a fuller sound. All of which is set off by frontwoman Reba Meyers' otherworldly voice, one capable of chilling harmonies and show-stopping solo turns. The wholly captivating Supersonic Home was released by Run For Cover in February.

UK post-hardcore heroes (at least to the all-ages set -- Ed.) Basement closed out the night with a wide-ranging set that dipped into all three of its Run For Cover releases. While Colourmeinkindness remains as natural a document of RFC's formidable influence as any, it was the tunes off their most recent Further Sky EP that drew the most cheers from our camp. "Summer's Colour," the Failure-tastic lead track from the EP, proved a critical component of Basement's live set, as the pretty, ascending melodies in the chorus offered a brief, yet potent respite from the thrash. The Boston show was the penultimate night of Basement's three-week U.S. tour; it closed out the strand of dates last night in New York's Gramercy Theater. -- Dillon Riley

Basement: Facebook | Tumblaaaaaahh
Adventures: Facebook | Tumblaaaaah
LVL UP: Bandcamp | Facebook
Palehound: Bandcamp | Facebook

Today's Hotness: Whirr, Honey Radar, Lurve

>> Bay Area shoegaze goliath Whirr accomplished more than its name suggests with the 2012 debut full-length Pipe Dreams. Rather than embrace a controlled spin, the sextet charted a course for sweet oblivion, aided by metallic riffing, barely whispered vocals and destructive, tom-heavy drumming. The result was one of the best shoegaze albums of the year and, likely, the decade. Consequently, Pipe Dreams set the bar high for future efforts from Whirr, and everyone else for that matter, but with the recently issued Around EP that challenge has been roundly met. Released July 9 on Graveface Records -- a label that issued certain of the group's work pre-Pipe Dreams -- the EP presents four songs including the single "Swoon." The song's epic scope encompasses pummeling chords, serene, nearly-ambient drop outs and everything in between. After a cymbal-heavy crash of over-reverberated drums and what sounds like thirteen individual guitars playing one note, a rhythm guitar sets off a marvelous cycle of dripping-wet, almost water-colored structures. While still decidedly Whirr, the more sprawling, glassy and gothic tones of Around emphasize that Whirr is not interested in simply recreating Pipe Dreams; much credit should be parceled off for Whirr's drummer, whose dynamic performances often are what makes these four songs particularly dramatic. By hammering a harder edge on styles made prominent by legends such as My Bloody Valentine, Ride and Slowdive, Whirr have established a singularly beautiful sound with Around, one that thrives on pillowed delay, exploratory tempos and profoundly affecting chord changes. The EP is available for purchase from Graveface as an LP, CD, cassette or download right here. Stream "Swoon" via the Soundcloud embed below. Whirr plays Great Scott in Boston Aug. 15, with support from hotly-tipped Philadelphians Nothing and local noise-pop heroes Soccer Mom. The date is part of a tour that commenced Tuesday; full details on the Boston appearance are right here. -- Edward Charlton



>> Strolling through the world of underground DIY cassette releases seems similar to what this reviewer imagines an indie record store must have been like before the Internet [Oh, you young people smh -- Ed.]: crates of bands, tapes and labels, linked mostly by scene and bubbling up based on word of mouth. Many tapes of the contemporary era can only be obtained through stock sheets collected from bedroom imprints, and often only 100 copies are made before the work dissolves into the ether and collective memory of friends and devotees. And so the current cassette culture requires buy-in from both ends, of course, and perhaps that is why discovering a really stellar tape is such a uniquely rewarding experience nowadays. Which explains why we were stoked to receive in the mail Western Plum Musket by Honey Radar, a tape out now on Philadelphia's Tree Top Sorbet label. Honey Radar, a shadowy lo-fi concern from Indiana that appears to have been in operation for several years, trades in the sort "sudden epiphany rock" of contemporaries like Guided By Voices and Times New Viking. While the dashed-off production values and singer Jason Henn's strange word associations do evoke Bob Pollard or Syd Barrett, the breezier songwriting and softer singing come across as contemplative and wistful. Western Plum Musket, an EP of sorts, offers several very strong songs. The opening one-two-punch of "Roughing Up The Painter" [video] and "Mason Neck," highlight Honey Radar's quirky strengths. The former tune offers a prickly warble and wins over the listener with a charmingly out of tune bass pattern and automated frequency adjustments. It is "Mason Neck," however, that is the real treasure. A pretty, yet shambling, psychedelic strummer, the song sounds like a lost garage-folk 7" from the mid-'60s. The warm and crispy production gives the number a hint of a modern, updated sense, and the tumbling rhythms and wispy voice recall the twelve-string stunners of mid-period Lilys. The band works through a couple of short noise numbers on the cassette as well, which capture the spontaneity seemingly intrinsic to the format. The contrast between these experiments and Mary Plum Musket's more serene moments limns both with a flash of gratifying unpredictability, just the sort of magic one hopes to find on a cassette. Get your copy of the limited-edition Mary Plum Musket right here while you can, and stream the entire deal via the embed below. -- Edward Charlton



>> In our online pseudoworld of limitless (and increasingly meaningless) genre fusions, vertiginous taste-making and purportedly new approaches to making the heart of rock and roll beat, sometimes you just want the straight stuff with a capital R. Brooklyn's Lurve are happy to oblige with "Wires," one of two numbers the band posted to its Bandcamp earlier this year. "Wires" is a driving, tightly realized and deftly disguised power-pop song that erupts with a basement-show exuberance, one that makes the song seem significantly shorter than its four-minute-ish runtime. After some distorted opening guitar chords, "Wires" presents its best side –- a thirty-second breakdown of punky guitar figures that interrupt each softly sung verse. Eventually the song latches onto a fixed-note groove that delivers it to a squalling end. The smeared noise, sudden minor chords, and rough-hewn production try, but fail, to mask somne keen pop songcraft. And speaking of "smeared," this song is remarkably evocative of Canadian power-pop juggernaut Sloan's overlooked 1992 grunge-noise statement Smeared, and songs like "I Am The Cancer," or even contemporaries Superdrag, and their crushing early tune "Senorita." Sure, the underground remains subject to Eric Bachmann's prescient mid-'90s lament, but Lurve hit upon a memorable pop formulation that they can hopefully continue to shape into their own. "Wires" and "Simple Syrup" show much promise, and we are optimistic that Lurve's planned full-length -- recorded by Roomrunner's Dan Frome and slated for release this month on Cincinnati's Broken Circles Records -- will follow suit in offering up something fresh via that which is already tried and true. Stream both tunes via the Bandcamp embed below. -- Edward Charlton

Review: Sloan | The Double Cross

[We welcome back to these digital pages long-time contributor and friend of the blog Jay Kumar. When Mr. Kumar is not doing tons of stuff that basically makes the rest of us look like lazy asses, he hosts the consistently terrific Completely Conspicuous podcast. Subscribe here. -- Ed.]

Twenty years is a long time to do anything, let alone do it at a consistently high level. But quality is exactly what relatively unheralded Canadian power pop veterans Sloan has delivered album by album since 1991. Over two decades, the band has endured major label flirtations, serious shifts in musical plate tectonics, low record sales, a brief breakup and constant touring. On its new album The Double Cross (out this week on Yep Roc), Sloan serves up another impeccable collection of songs that could comfortably fit in any of the last four decades.

The band has always featured songs written and sung by all four members and The Double Cross is no exception. Album opener "Follow the Leader," penned by bassist Chris Murphy, is an uptempo number that segues into "The Answer Was You," a song from guitarist Jay Ferguson, who writes perfect 1970s AM radio ditties. Guitarist Patrick Pentland contributes catchy riff-rockers, including the standouts "Unkind" and "It's Plain to See." In addition to his powerhouse drumming, Andrew Scott continually contributes interesting slabs of psych-rock to Sloan albums, providing a nice counterpoint to the Beatles and Kiss-influenced offerings of his bandmates. Scott’s "Traces" and "She's Slowin' Down Again" are two more top-notch numbers. The album is full of songs that should be all over the radio, but won’t be.

Like 1999's Between The Bridges and 2006's Never Hear The End of It, the songs here fade into each other, and like those albums, The Double Cross is over quickly, leaving the listener wanting more. And really, that's all you can ask for. -- Jay Kumar

Sloan: Internerds | Facebook | YouTube | Twitter

And Then This Happened: Sloan, Magneta Lane, Scarce | TT's 12.03.09

[Sloan with Magneta Lane and Scarce at TT the Bear's Place, Cambridge, MA 12/3/2009; Photos by Michael Piantigini]

Scarce: MySpace | Facebook | Twitter | Documentary | at TT's in 1993 | Joyce Raskin's "Achin To Be" memoir
Magneta Lane: Intertubes | MySpace | Facebook
Sloan: Intertubes | MySpace | Facebook