Events

[INDIE ROCK] A friend in New York City sent me a text the other day. It said “you have to go see Pile.” His reasoning; this Boston-based band is making moves. Pitchfork called the somewhere between metal-indie-and-pop band ”the overwhelming consensus pick in the Massachusetts indie scene for the next to blow.” And this may be true, especially on the heels of their March 2015 release, You’re Better Than This. By this point you might be asking the fully legitimate question: What does Pile sound like? One commenter on the band’s Bandcamp page had this to say: “Cut a hole in a lime and squeeze it in your eye—that’s fuckin Pile.” That’s actually, somehow, a pretty accurate statement. Some other accurate assessments include: “Spiders in my butt” and “The Pixies and Slint have a bastard child.”

In all seriousness, Pile so expertly combine the sublime with the manic that you’ll barely realize that you’ve thrown yourself into the mosh pit after one of their abrupt, angular transitions because you’ll still be numb from frontman Rick Maguire’s lulling lyrics and falsely comforting, twangy guitar licks. (See “Bump a Grape” from the band’s 2012 full-length, Dripping). Don’t be afraid of Pile, though: Their brash, post-stoner-rock riffage may knock you into outer space with a twirling, Hulk-like uppercut, but at least they’ll make sure that while you’re up there running out of oxygen, you’re too high to notice. Pile comes to Mohawk Place on Sunday, May 17 with Buffalo’s overwhelming consensus pick for the next to blow, JOHNS; this week’s Spotlight band, the Slums; and new comers Rosy.