If they gave awards for song titles, I’d nominate Icebird for their “The Clap, The Burn, The End.” This garage trio from LA gives a down and dirty tour of the rock gutter on their debut LP. Led by the tall, thin, hairy and beardy Monahan brothers, Barry and Mike, who sandwich drummer Kate Wise. The Icebird sound is powered by note based noise and underground song structures. Forget chord patterns, this is more sinister and loose, like The Fall, Mudhoney and something obscure like... Flesheaters. Clearly they’re influenced by the outsider indie bands of the late 70s and early 80s, as well as protopunk like Stooges. On “The Starting Line,” a simple propulsive beat allows some room in the song, space for Barry to get a little weirded out with tortured vocals and a monotone bass line. Throughout, the guitars are abrasive and on the offense, the songs are unwelcoming and aggressive - the way underground rock used to be and should be again. This record is fairly lo-fi and appears to have minimal, if any overdubbings and studio effects, like it was basically recorded live in the studio. I think this is a great way to capture some energy and vibe, a good move for a debut, rather than let the studio monotony suck the life out. Many of the leads and guitar-bass interplay sound almost goth, like a garage version of Bauhaus (think of “In The Flat Field”), but faster and without the pretense. There’s a song here called “Birthday Party,” and that should be a clue as to part of their ancestry, although nowhere near as self-aware. This is gritty, underground noise. -- Sid Arthur
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