Savages – Silence Yourself

CD $12.98

LP $18.98

Savages’ primal, post-punk-inspired sound demands your full attention. From the get-go, Silence Yourself is no warm-hearted embrace of a record — its first song is called “Shut Up,” and then there’s that title. But theirs isn’t an empty confrontation; the British band delivers in spades with songs that dive into your bloodstream and live in you before you know it. “I Am Here” declares itself as a bearing for what’s to come, as if frontwoman Jehnny Beth is grabbing your hand and coaxing you toward your own future. “I am here, no more fear, no more dark shadows, let it come,” she sings chillingly in a mid-range trill somewhere between Siouxsie, Jeff Buckley and Rush’s Geddy Lee. Her band works into a froth that leads to an inevitable conclusion of Ayse Hassan’s pulverizing bass and Fay Milton’s bashing drums while Beth and guitarist Gemma Thompson trade ghostly exchanges above. Silence Yourself isn’t entirely full-throttle though; as any good post-punk devotee knows, the trick is pairing those moments with eerie, atmospheric tunes, and that’s exactly what Savages do, allowing for songs like “Waiting for a Sign,” which summons a combination of apocalyptic sound from Thompson’s guitar and Beth’s banshee wail, while Hassan and Milton keep things anchored in a glacial groove. “Dead Nature” follows, full of empty, echoing dread; these two songs allow the record to reach a midpoint of hollowed-out intensity before ratcheting back up the energy, on songs like “She Will,” which starts as the friendliest and danciest song on the record, until they make that chorus into an uncompromising sexual tirade. “Hit Me” and “Husbands” round out the album by allowing the band to play with full abandon. In the latter, Beth takes the confines of marriage and makes them into a virtual prison, crying “husbands” in frightening, alien repetition. The album’s piano-led, cabaret-esque closer, “Marshall Dear,” speaks great promise of Savages, as Beth goes lower in register and more operatic and the band tempers its great noise-making capabilities. It’s a riveting debut record from start to finish. We knew it was gonna be good judging by the advance press and last year’s I Am Here live EP, but Silence Yourself still smashes expectations and leaves you sitting in smoke, begging for more.

Amoeba has entered into a partnership with L.A.’s Moheak Radio to provide the Amoeba Song of the Week every week for a recorded segment to air on Moheak’s online radio station.

This week it’s The XX’s “Sunset.” The sultry song from the English band’s second album, Coexist, is a prime example of the trio’s nighttime bliss. Romy Madley Croft and Oliver Sim trade hushed, romantic verses and dole out icy guitarwork while Jamie Smith lays down a minimalist beat. Sample or download the song here.

A bit about Amoeba’s Song of the Week: Every week we’ll provide a song hand-selected by our own staff to Moheak Radio for a recorded segment that will run four times a day (at around 8 a.m., 1 p.m., 5:45 p.m. and once overnight). Besides hearing what our expert staff is into, you’ll get the chance to win prizes from Amoeba Music. The giveaways will happen once a week with announcements at least once every four hours leading up to the giveaway, which will take place on Moheak’s Facebook page. Check it out, support local/online radio and win some prizes along the way.

Alice Russell wasn't messing around on a hot May 1 at Amoeba Hollywood, waltzing out as her band launched into To Dust's "Heartbreaker Pt. 2." She commanded the performance with a booming voice that soared over the music's elegant compositions, with a terrific mix that highlighted her voice without washing out her band's subtle backing arrangements.

Her band's all-in-black, buttoned-to-the-top motif may have been funny on such a hot day, but the Brits looked and sounded so cool that it made us feel less sweaty just to be around them. Russell grooved hard to the next song, ending with a roaring vocal breakdown as her band came in on crescendoed hits like they were playing for James Brown. They slowed things down for "Citizens," a sparer soul ballad in which Russell was accompanied by sampled, spectral harmonies. On the strutting electro-funk of "For a While," Russell and her band showcased their ability to organically include electronic elements into what are at their core traditional soul-funk songs. The band's breaks were breathtaking on this one, generating applause when they bore back into the song.

They slowed back down again for a song that began as a piano ballad and ended up a heavier power-ballad, with Russell pushing her voice to its deepest and then back up for spirited cries of "goodbye," before shifting once more into a kind of sudden new wave track that suggested a soul version of The Cure. In fact, their next song had quite a bit of that same creeping dread pouring into it. Despite Russell's effervescent nature, big voice and her band's pop-oriented tack, they're quite British at heart. Gothic soul is the most sense I can make of it. Russell might just be our next Alison Moyet of Yaz.

L.A.’s own Bleached will bring their grimy guitars and candy-coated melodies to Amoeba San Francisco next week for a performance May 6 at 6 p.m. Led by sisters Jessie and Jennifer Clavin (formerly of L.A. punk greats Mika Miko), their recently released debut album, Ride Your Heart, has been spinning circles around us for the past couple of weeks on the strength of punk party jams like “Next Stop” and radio-ready gold like “Dead in Your Head.” Pick it up, and check them out at Amoeba SF or back in L.A. May 8 at the Troubador with Ex Cops and Tijuana Panthers. I saw down with Jessie for a quick and dirty interview before their performance.

PST: It’s hard to believe your first album is finally out! We’ve been awaiting it for some time. Did you want to make sure you got it just right, found the right producer or had the songs developed to the point that you wanted?

Jessie: We knew we really wanted to work with Rob Barbato again, who produced our last two 7-inches. We started with some rough demos, and the songs really started to come to life as we started adding over dubs and Jens vocals.

PST: Some of the newer tunes are really pop-oriented, like “Dead in Your Head,” while others like “Next Stop” retain the punkiness of your earlier work. Has the approach to songwriting changed at all?

Drag City Imprint God? Releases White Fence, Scraper Reissues

The new Drag City imprint God? is new but already pretty awesome. Their second and third releases will be a reissue of Cali’s White Fence’s self-titled debut LP and S.F.’s Scraper’s debut 7”. White Fence aka Tim Presley is rad. His latest release Cyclops Reap is out now and is a nice and trim entry point for the psych-pop singer/songwriter, even if it’s a leftovers comp of sorts. For even more out-there bliss, check out all the rest of his albums, which ramble and sway in the wind in the best way possible. His first album is full of lo-fi delicious bon bons, 16 short songs that hide their hooks in reverb, and now you can have it July 16 from God? The same day, the label releases skate punks Scraper’s first release, a six-song EP with lo-fi, talky, grimy psych-punk with song titles like “Liquid Lips.” Yummy! Look for them both July 16.

Alela Diane Readies New LP ‘About Farewell’

Sometimes you need a good folk record, like eating really healthy food. Alela Diane’s About Farewell, out June 25 on her own label, Rusted Blue Records. I’m a sucker for the first song she’s released from it, called “The Way We Fall.” It’s really two great songs in one, starting with a looping, soulful ballad, painted with intriguing swaths of flute, acoustic guitar and sumptuous harmonies. Then it shifts for a less-orchestrated portion that could have come off as precious if the previous part hadn’t happened; in succession, it serves to peel back the layers and reveal Diane’s lovely lilt, which is soon accompanied by those flutes again. Try not to get the shivers. Diane lives in Portland, but she hails from Nevada City, Calif., so we’ll count her as one of us. Check out an interview Diane did with the Amoeblog a while back.