Wednesday at Pat's in the Flats was a voluminous four-band bill paved for Sic Alps, those heady West Coast masters of reverb-cracked bubblegum gunk, which, to paraphrase a superlative referring to the Clash in '78, is the only sound that matters anymore. Spewing hooks worthy of a crud-burnished No Dice-era Badfinger, this San Francisco two-piece relied entirely on power chord jangle-slop sing-alongs, swathed in murky distortion and ponderous drumming (the tambourine hooked to the kick drum added immense swagger). The native ethos of Quicksilver Messenger Service-like '60s ballroom psychedelia surfaced in its tunes, with the jamming condensed to barely two-minute drugstore punk raids, mapped along the Cadillac express. The guitarist and drummer (both of whom sang) not only switched instruments, but also tackled several at once, with the drummer playing both guitar and keyboard behind his kit. The setup was loud and excessive, with amps stacked to the ceiling and effects pedals stomped on until one broke and momentum fizzled. After several technical blunders, Sic Alps regrouped with great agitation, closing with an epic centered on the descending-doom riff of Pink Floyd's "Interstellar Overdrive," while the guitarist rolled around, slamming his instrument on the ground and eventually kicking over the mic stand.

The highlight of the evening was local power trio the New Lou Reeds, who smoked everyone and almost gave Sic Alps a run for their grimy. While the band commenced with a string of brash proto-metal yelpers that would've made its heroes Dead Moon proud, guitarist Stephe DK worked in some double-stopped acid-blooze leads that slalomed into celestial-sunshine freakouts backed with motorik grooves. A far cry from the garage-y bar filth they're usually associated with, the New Lou Reeds have melded into one of the most uniquely energetic psych-sludge outfits around. It's no wonder Julian Cope worships this band. Opening and closing the bill were Thee Scarcity of Tanks and its drumming coterie, Scheibel & Laughlin Duo. The former was uniformly cankerous rock, except for one dub-flavored showstopper called "Healthy Living, Bug Melter," while the latter brought cymbal-pelting, dueling-whirlwind percussion of the extreme Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robot variety. — Steve Newton

hey, maybe we'll actually play again sometime, who knows?