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Sep 17, 2012Sic Alps isn't quite as flowing as its predecessor Napa Asylum, but it still does a fine job of balancing the band's increasing prowess and the sprawling, noisy mischief for which they've always been known.
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Sep 17, 2012The sloppiness comes with purpose, the production choices are specific, and off-kilter and off-key performances err closer to engaging erraticism than formless madness.
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Sep 17, 2012Sic Alps is an often fine, often frustrating listen which only succeeds when some flesh is applied to those skinny Californian bones.
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Sep 17, 2012While a lot of their peers have attempted (unsuccessfully, mostly) to beat down the doors of California's psychedelic myth, Sic Alps have taken their time and found their own way there; in doing so they've created one of the best records of the year.
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Sep 17, 2012Messy yet polished guitars surge through swathes of melodic white noise while the tracks are still able to maintain an impressive sharpness.
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Sep 11, 2012This fifth album is a relatively sedate affair.
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Oct 18, 2012This album is their least messy and most consistent, but it hasn't left singer/songwriter Mike Donovan's slacker charm behind.
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Sep 19, 2012It's a soft but sinister set of songs-- the Bay Area's answer to the Velvet Underground's self-titled record. Where Sic Alps were once wasted and wobbly, they are now stoned and serene.
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Sep 13, 2012Sic Alps towers above the rest of the ample retro garage acts today, in both scope and measure.
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Q MagazineSep 7, 2012You can't argue with the boldness of the move, but it's hard to know who really wants a sensible Sic Alps. [Oct 2012, p.110]
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Sep 7, 2012A couple of piano-led downers bring us to a close; bruised and bleeding, but breathlessly exhilarated.
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Sep 27, 2012Sic Alps, a taut and absorbing listen, appears to have a mission to take conventional beauty and make it something more interesting by fraying its corners and smearing it with a little dirt. There is nothing Sic Alps could have done to create a better, more delicious sweet and sour record.
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Sep 20, 2012Their most concise yet dense and appealing album since their first non-album, Description Of The Harbor.
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UncutSep 14, 2012This compellingly skewed mix of '60s neat, garage psych and country folk is business as (un)usual. [Oct 2012, p.86]
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Under The RadarSep 7, 2012This time out, there are strains of, say, Arthur-era Kinks, all crunchy clean guitars and sturdy vocal hooks. [Aug/Sep 2012, p.122]