Heads On Sticks

Last year’s Hopscotch offered a double dose of sweet victory for Raleigh’s David Mueller. Birds of Avalon, in which Mueller plays bass, was the whispered-about-among-friends “oh my God you have to see these guys” act of the festival. Mueller’s own Heads On Sticks played a well-received show that set them on the path toward releasing their next full-length on the excellent Grip Tapes label. This year, having been making music as Heads On Sticks for nearly twice as long, Mueller is poised for even better things.

Heads On Sticks carries the spirit of the ’90s best psychedelic rarities-to-be—bands like Bent Leg Fatima, Kid Silver and Mink Lungs, who made music that always opted for genuine weird over affected-palatable-weird. They managed to forge their own vision of what “catchy” should sound like. Here, improbably clever songs are forged of squelchy analog sounds, compressed digital drums and contrasts of melodic clarity and competition. Sometimes, it recalls the ramshackle universe-recorded-in-a-bedroom style of The Elephant 6 Collective; other times, it seems to recall all of your favorite songs at the same time.

Heads On Sticks’ most recent release, last year’s Brutish and Short EP, makes an amazing case for Mueller’s willingness to delve headlong into an idea, thrash around until something compelling shakes loose, and then discover pockets of disarming focus and clarity. The entire extant Heads On Sticks discography is available for free via Bandcamp. In other words, you now have no excuse for missing out when all the cool kids start making their way over to catch this amazing Heads On Sticks that, oh my god, you just have to see. —Matt LeMay