San Francisco's Sic Alps have a really good thing going, and it's probably better off that everyone doesn't know about it. With an air of mystery about them and several excellent and elusive records in their wake, all it takes is one radiant blast of their softened abrasion to realize that this is one two-piece band that you can really take seriously. Not easily pinned down into a specific sound or genre, Sic Alps reiterate their freedom of form with each successive release and this week's Breaking Sounds is their newest 7" EP on Woodsist Records, which you should feverishly track down before it's too late. The three songs contained within suggest a repressed monster is waiting in the shadows, and yet they have the class to wine and dine your attention span with a creative range of underground vibrations that have the potential to brighten any nuclear winter. "Strawberry Guillotine" is just a term that seems too good to be true, yet the way it seductively shaves your face off is testament to the line the Sic Alps straddle as they crush and coddle with mind-scrambling precision, song after song. Here, they pull out the rough-edged Jesus And Mary Chain noise spree with slop-tastic results on the A-side, and descend into inner madness on the flip. "RATROQ" is a nightmarish ride through the frontal lobe and a serious trip through the Sic Alps instrumental depravity. It's one of those tracks that makes you think you heard something in the other room when you're at home alone. The last track, "The Drake" knocks it all back into shape and locks it all in a Troggs-style thunderball with no time for extraneous overdressing, and drives home a certain overdose of earth-pounding proto-punk that will leave you beat like an ugly rug. Pick up Sic Alps new single from Woodsist records, right HERE.
Here's a music video for Sic Alps' "Semi Streets" off their Pleasures and Treasures LP...
