Sic Alps at Emo's [Show Preview]

SF Weekly

Sic Alps w/ Cave, The Young, OMGWTFBBQ at Emo\’s
Thursday, March 3
Emos (603 Red River St)
$7, 9pm, indoors
[info] | [tickets]

Sic Alps’ latest album, Napa Asylum, is a favorite ‘round these parts. The San Francisco trio is perfectly adept at blasting out nuggets of raw power or psych-damaged folk sketches—the breadth of their sound is what places them a cut above many of their garage-rock peers. They’re putting these tunes front and center on a headlining American tour, which makes its way to Emo’s tonight.

Nearly a decade old, Sic Alps have traveled extensively and released four albums alongside dozens of singles and cassettes. The group is built around lead singer Mike Donovan and his laconic voice, which might not sound like much on first listen, but it delivers hook after hook with a subtle sneer that’s infectious. His band has recently earned praise from indie figureheads like Sonic Youth and Yo La Tengo, two groups that perfectly encapsulate the disparate nature of the Sic Alps sound.

Supporting them is Cave, a wildly inventive Chicago mostly-instrumental outfit. Their distorto-jazz-punk draws from so many sources that it’ll leave you pumping your fist, shaking your hips, and scratching your head by set’s end. Austin’s The Young also like mid-song tempo changes, but it’s decidedly more straightforward. Their dark post-punk was hot enough to earn them a spot on last year’s Casual Victim Pile. Opening the night is the mysterious OMGWTFBBQ—they have one of the most Google-proof names around. But it’s still a hell of a bill, and a perfect dress rehearsal for the loud, feedback-laden madness that is the rapidly-approaching South By Southwest.

Sic Alps: [official]
Cave: [myspace]
The Young: [official]