Friday night at Annie's Social Club in San Fransisco, The Intelligence will headline a whopper of a line up featuring their newly-crowned In The Red label mates, Thee Oh Sees, along with Ty Segall. For nearly a decade the Seattle Band, The Intelligence have never laid a knee to the floor and have been continuously putting out some of the most unique tweaks of amalgamated genre-bending tunes in the entire underground strata. They were undoubtedly one of the faint embers that ignited the Glue Wave sound across the pond, giving such weirdo noise-beat brethren as Cheveu and Laurence Wasser an American reference point beyond No-Wave and Devo. Now with two new albums nearing the horizon, one on Born Bad titled Crepuscule with Pac-Man (just out now) and their new imminent In The Red release Fake Surfers, there's no sign of the Lars Finberg machine slowing down.
This past summer, The Intelligence released a split 12" EP on with Thee Oh Sees on Mt. St. Mtn. Records, cementing a collaboration and fully illustrates the two bands' brilliant symmetry. Where The Intelligence's music reflects modern toils in the post-modern framework of their edgy, angular waltz of anxiety that bellows with unfamiliar sounds from traditional instruments, Thee Oh Sees swipe at an updated form of twisted folk with amped-up spell-spinning harmonies that emanate an air of mystery, and come off at times both spooky and content. Thee Oh Sees just released their 8th studio album on In The Red Records this month, called Help and you can pick up a copy right here.
Ty Segall (also of the Traditional Fools, and now a full-time member of Sic Alps) opens the show with his blistering, strung-up chants that at times blast a sound that's reminiscent of an earlier John Dwyer outfit The Coachwhips, and at others conjure the deep scrapings of a discarded soul of a bedroom songwriter. You can pick up his debut on Castle Face here.
Get there early and drink as much as you can, this is going to be a great show.
Check out this video, courtesy of Cake Neck, of Thee Oh Sees messing around in the studio while recording their new album, Help.
