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Sic Alps are a noise pop group from San Francisco and perennially lysergic musical outlet of Mike Donovan, who formed the band with Adam Stonehouse (The Hospitals) in 2004. Current incarnation includes Noel Von Harmonson (Comets on Fire), Douglas Armour and Tim Hellman. Ty Segall is an occasional, reoccurring figure in the live band and on recordings. Sic Alps' sound could be described as a combination of early nineties lo-fi and Bay Area's sixties psychedelia. Read more on Last.fm
Their most sonically diverse and sprawling set yet, “Napa Asylum” finds Sic Alps bringing a broad range of influences underneath the lo-fi/garage umbrella more successfully than any band since Royal Trux. It’s true that there’s nothing radically game-changing about the band’s approach here (the songs do sound a lot fuller, possibly because of new member Noel Von Harmonson), but the catchiest songs (“Zeppo Epp,” “Cement Surfboard,” “Ball of Fame”) prove that they haven’t lost their abilities as songwriters while the noisier numbers (especially “Trip Train”) prove that they also haven’t lost their determination to wed true grit to the garage canon.
All 22 songs here clock in at under four minutes and a couple even fit in under a minute, which does lead a lot of the album to seem almost tossed off. This can sort of put the listener into a lull and cause the record to drift towards background noise, but the band makes it seem like some sort of aesthetic/artistic decision – most obviously on side 3. That side is a somewhat listless collection of noisier tracks and little foundation in actual rock until “The First White Man to Touch California Soil” kicks in to wake you up, a furious and blistering two minutes and forty seconds of balls-to-the-wall RAWK that proves why lo-fi is all the rage these days.