With an affinity for limited run releases on obscure labels in obscure formats (including cassettes), it hasn’t been easy keeping up with Sic Alps. Thankfully, Animal Disguise Records, has collected two years’ worth of 7″ singles, EPs, and cassettes onto one cd, A Long Way Around to a Shortcut (which itself is limited to 1000 copies). All of this would amount to a useless excercise in scarcity if it wasn’t for the fact that Sic Alps make quite a fine racket. With a bang, clatter, and hiss, this San Fran duo run ragged through early strains of psychedelic infused garage rock, with the occasional all noise, fuzzed out freak out thrown in for good measure. Like the current wave of lo-fi bands (TNV, Psychedelic Horseshit, and No Age), they utilize primitive production techniques as an extra instrument, adding a level of intimacy to their recordings that just can’t be attained through modern software. A Long Way Around to a Shortcut is rickety and jittery, and may even be unnerving at times (some of those noise experiments are guaranteed to clear a room in less than 10 seconds), but more importantly, it’s Rock ‘N’ Roll music like the way it’s supposed to be played: spontaneous, immediate, and threatening to careen wrecklessly out of control at any moment.
MP3: Sic Alps – Bells (With Tremolo and Distortion)
MP3: Sic Alps – Love Is Strange
YOUTUBE: Sic Alps – Bells (With Temololo and Distortion)
A Long Way Around to a Shortcut is out now on Animal Disguise Recordings.
