Sic Alps

Broken wrists at the crossroads of pop and skree

By JOE BERNARDI

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"I never want no hassle, man," sings Sic Alps vocalist/guitarist Mike Donovan on "Who Has Time to Protest," and after listening to just a couple minutes of their fuzzy, bouncy garage-psych, I'd be pretty apt to believe him. The Alps are noisy, sure, but their pedigree contains absurdly dissonant acts, such as The Hospitals, in addition to equally revered pop groups like Coachwhips and Henry's Dress.

The intersection of those sounds is the idea of Sic Alps, and while crossbreeding waves of reverb and noise with psychedelic pop is something that's been done before, if someone's done it to greater effect within the past couple of years, they've done a damn good job of keeping it to themselves.

In the wake of last year's Description of the Harbor EP (and subsequent release of several EPs and singles that had come before it), the San Francisco-based Alps were preparing to embark on an April/May US tour when drummer Matt Hartman broke his arm in a bicycle accident. These days, Sic Alps consists only of Hartman and Donovan, so it was decided that a one-armed drummer wasn't going to cut it (Def Leppard they ain't), and they pushed the tour back a couple of months.

What did the setback change about the tour? "If anything," says Hartman, "it might have made the timing better, now that the new record is being released July 15th. Otherwise, all systems are normal. The wrist aches a little, but the drum skills are still there."

Hartman assures that U.S. EZ, released Tuesday on Siltbreeze records, will indeed be available on their tour and that it's "a close cousin to Description of the Harbor, at least in the production."

Coordinating a tour around a new release is probably easier for Sic Alps than Hartman makes it seem, considering the pair seem to be writing and recording like crazy. In addition to U.S. EZ, the band's touring on a new 7 inch (featuring a Throbbing Gristle cover) and plans to release "long overdue compilation tracks for two different labels and a 7 inch for Slumberland records" in the coming months. In spite of all that, Hartman claims Sic Alps will "be doing a lot of touring this year, so the studio production will be slowing."

The imposing pace of Sic Alps' releases belies the laid-back nature of their music and, it seems, their approach to music in general. Hartman says he's looking forward to "the usual suspects" of midsummer US tours, including "12-hour drives, seeing old friends and sweating up a storm in cramped un-air-conditioned dwellings." While the more weak-willed among us might consider that experience something of a hassle, my guess is that Sic Alps will take it in the middle of their cacophonously catchy stride.

SIC ALPS

WITH REPORTS, HEATHEN SHAME

AND BLACK CLOUDS

MONDAY 07.21.08

ABBEY LOUNGE

3 BEACON ST., INMAN SQ.,

CAMBRIDGE

9PM/21+/$8

ABBEYLOUNGE.COM

SICALPS.COM