KCSC Presents Hot Local Music

Standout entries on KCSC’s new compilation of local underground music come from two longstanding Chico bands. On the dark, piano-driven “Train Station,” Royal Crown’s Becky Anker’s soaring voice is chilling as she sings of burning train stations and difficult goodbyes: “we had forgotten/ life is a parting/ however rotten”. And on “Siam Brass Knuckles,” The Americas spastically flail, stop, start, croon and scream together so frantically for over five minutes, that it’s gloriously exhausting. The surprises are the new bands: Electric Pie Band opens with the jangly, quick-tempoed “Medusa’s Spell,” with great bitter lyrics—“Put your teeth away, ’cause I’ve already been bit!”—but best of all is Bleego’s “The Konami Code.” Like a Nine Inch Nails/Devo sandwich, Bleego’s instrumental collage runs from hyper-quick electro-rave to disco punk to ambient cool-down and back to a sudden sonic crescendo. Other notables include Shabby Car with the jumpy pop of “My Bag” and Deerpen’s emotive “Make Believe,” with Rett Matthews giving it up Bono-like, singing, “Make believers/ One by one,” till it feels like he really means it.