Philly’s Purling Hiss has lived up to their name since their inception: layers of high-pass tape residue are knitted together to provide the undercurrent for serious pop hooks and thick drone waves throughout their catalogue. Initially a catch-all name for the bedroom recordings of one Mike Polizze, the Hiss became a full-fledged touring unit in the past two years, acquiring bassist Kiel Everett and drummer Mike Sneeringer and quickly issuing a string of LPs, an EP, and, most recently, their “Lolita” single on Weathervane (recorded in a Shaking Through session by the War on Drugs’ Adam Ganduciel). Fans of popular releases like 2010’s Public Service Announcement and the 2011 EP Lounge Lizards will be struck by “Lolita”’s relatively hi-fi production. Where Mike & co. once scraped through strummier tunes that recalled Beck’s One Foot in the Grave-era offerings into buzzy soundscapes or ran ramshackle psych rock through an Ariel Pink fisheye lens, “Lolita” shakes off the haze that always threatened to smother the catchiest riffage of Purling Hiss’ earlier work. The song seems to posit an alternate universe where the best early Mudhoney and Nirvana rippers received a more-Steve-Albini-than-Jack-Endico treatment, a dream partly-realized in our universe only years after punk “broke”. Make sure you keep this one on repeat for awhile so you can shout along when Purling Hiss bring their heavy to Smashachussets for HomeGrown 4! (Photo by G.W. Miller III)

HOMEGROWN 4: BOSTON HASSLE FEST is happening on November 2nd and 3rd @ the Cambridge Elks Lodge @ 55 Bishop Allen Drive, Central Sq., Cambridge, MA.
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