After setting his axe down, Dirty Beaches' Alex Zhang Hungtai sticks a finger in his ear and wiggles it, blurting, "Fuck!" The feedback demons he's attempting to exorcise did little to deter paeans to empty roads and alienated guitar tones; effected via recorded bongos/kit beats with tide-pool-cool reverb that kept winding tight as a drum before exploding in string-crunching fury. Hungtai's more obvious link with show hub La Sera flashed with the neon of "True Blue," a make-out dream jammed with incoherent young-love drivel. Finally, Suicide has competition.
Heavy Hawaii was a revelation: if other bands with vocals like Brian Wilson's — who're influenced by Rivers Cuomo and circus music — hear HH, San Diego could be the next Seattle for amazing rock/pop absurdity. As it was, the chunky rhythms and marshmallow-fluffiness levitating the refrain "Now I know you want me bad" had hipsters in a near-swoon.
La Sera's shimmering harmonies were buried beneath blistering rat-a-tats and over-amped Les Paul tones for its first few songs; a dilemma that improved in time for on-point, Phil Spector–like original "Never Come Around" and a run through "Dedicated to the One I Love" that garnered the plums from previous versions and underscored the melody with love-struck bass lines.
Montreal-based No Joy took Art Fag's retro fest full circle, cranking distortion and volume to a level that would probably be stamped "Approved" by Sonic Youth and climaxing with a stunner that sounded vaguely like "Leader of the Pack" before packing its instruments and leaving echo and feedback to fight over the last word.
After setting his axe down, Dirty Beaches' Alex Zhang Hungtai sticks a finger in his ear and wiggles it, blurting, "Fuck!" The feedback demons he's attempting to exorcise did little to deter paeans to empty roads and alienated guitar tones; effected via recorded bongos/kit beats with tide-pool-cool reverb that kept winding tight as a drum before exploding in string-crunching fury. Hungtai's more obvious link with show hub La Sera flashed with the neon of "True Blue," a make-out dream jammed with incoherent young-love drivel. Finally, Suicide has competition.
Heavy Hawaii was a revelation: if other bands with vocals like Brian Wilson's — who're influenced by Rivers Cuomo and circus music — hear HH, San Diego could be the next Seattle for amazing rock/pop absurdity. As it was, the chunky rhythms and marshmallow-fluffiness levitating the refrain "Now I know you want me bad" had hipsters in a near-swoon.
La Sera's shimmering harmonies were buried beneath blistering rat-a-tats and over-amped Les Paul tones for its first few songs; a dilemma that improved in time for on-point, Phil Spector–like original "Never Come Around" and a run through "Dedicated to the One I Love" that garnered the plums from previous versions and underscored the melody with love-struck bass lines.
Montreal-based No Joy took Art Fag's retro fest full circle, cranking distortion and volume to a level that would probably be stamped "Approved" by Sonic Youth and climaxing with a stunner that sounded vaguely like "Leader of the Pack" before packing its instruments and leaving echo and feedback to fight over the last word.