Quadratic equation rock performed by malfunctioning, sputtering appliances, For Fans of: Oxes, Bellini, Guerilla Toss .Like a Beefheart made for loft shows, Philadelphia-based fractal-rock quartet Palm’s sounds improvisational while being rooted in utter precision. On their debut, Trading Basics, guitar parts deconstruct themselves in real time; bass lines dart and duck; drums propel the action while also seeming to comment on it. Vocalist-guitarists Eve Alpert and Kasra Kurt’s vocal harmonies add more tension to this outfit’s heady mix. Palm are wrapping up a nationwide tour and are already preparing to head back into the studio and record album Number Two.
They Say: “For the most part, our music starts with a seed, and then we all come together and add our own elements to it,” says Alpert. “It’s important that we’re all doing something, that the song is all of our parts. A lot of times, we like when the rhythm section takes the foreground of a song. We like to deconstruct what a pop song could be, and we like to be pretty jagged in our sound.”
The lurching, churning “Garden” shows off Palm’s ability to create gorgeously realized chaos from ragged pieces.
The Fat Angel Sings 