CHRISTIANA
Fatigue Kills (High School
Champion) Rating: NNN Rating: NNN
Like a larva inside a sheet-metal cocoon, noisy local experimental indie rock outfit Christiana wrap swaths of feedbacking Sonic Youth-style guitars around sweet, angular melodies. With crunchy power and an ear for poppy hooks, Christiana are reminiscent of some of the cleverer post-punk bands that rose from the mid-90s muck — West Coast Smashing Pumpkins spinoff Catherine, or even some of the earlier, more distortion-heavy Sebadoh stuff. Several tunes on Fatigue Kills lack a coherent enough structure and verge on dull guitar wankery, but the band formerly known as Neck save their own by throwing in shit to surprise the listener, like the ethereal Beach Boys harmonies that creep in or a sudden complex drumbeat. Christiana launch Fatigue Kills at Sneaky Dee’s Saturday (August 24).