Italiano

The Beatings are an indie/punk band out of Boston, here with a great follow-up to their first EP, 6Hz. They're most often compared to the Pixies, in that they do similar-sounding Hüsker Dü/Superchunk-inspired rock with alternating male/female shrieky vocals. Both the Pixies and the Beatings have an experimental side, only they manifest it in different ways. The Pixies had no problem derailing a song off somewhere into the cosmos, while the Beatings tend to do odd, more contained tracks. The odder tracks on this album involve a glockenspiel, odd ambient sounds, and a porn soundtrack overlayed with a recording of someone giving birth. Plenty of bombast and urgency exist here, as if some of these recordings were made just as a bandmember or three were about to launch off into the deep end into pure, shrieky, distorted noise. Song dynamics play a big part of the album, with tempo changes along with a wall of guitar crashing down upon a formerly softer track. A fine album is this one, building on the promise of the 6Hz EP. Plus, you've gotta like any band that includes multiple alternate album covers in the packaging.