Sic Alps
U.S. EZ is the fourth long-player in the Sic Alps canon (excluding the recent singles comp CD, A Long Way Around to a Shortcut), and their first for the Siltbreeze label. Fans of last year’s amazing Description of the Harbor LP will not be disappointed, especially if they want to hear Side A’s cosmic concrète creak, forged with the trebly, high-end neo-glam pop of Side B.
The duo of Mike Donovan and Matt Hartman outdo themselves here and it is the most fully realized Sic Alps release to date. U.S. EZ knows perfectly well what it means to be high and inside. It’s not just baseball jargon anymore. If you’ve been jonesin’ for an LP that calls to mind equal parts Bob Markley and Uli Trepte, then look no further, mein düden (und düdetten). U.S. EZ is the virtual brick of Berlin / Big Sur hash we’ve all been waiting to break into. The ominous death’s head fez has now been ensconced in a witchy naugahyde bonnet, thus levelling the playing field for both the psychedelically challenged and the itinerant avant garde.
Sic Alps have always sprechen zie good vibes and U.S. EZ is a solid thump on all fronts. A summer tour of the States and a European one in the fall are in the works. “San Francisco’s Sic Alps take a modern approach to the psychedelic sound, with reverb remaining a key ingredient, and effects a routine tool, but with a sound more organic than their ’60s predecessors, the final product something more roughly hewn and imperfect.” —FakeJazz.com
