The Thermals - A Pillar of Salt

The Portland-based Thermals have kicked up quite a fuss stateside with their scuzzy slacker-pop and defiantly anti-commercial, anti-conservative stance (though which indie band isn't?). A Pillar of Salt, taken from last year's album The Body, The Blood, The Machine, is built upon an elementary palette of power-chords and a childlike keys motif. The lyrical sentiment is one of frustration and determination, although it loses some of its meaning outside the concept album from which it comes. Still, devotees of American lo-fi and those who subscribe to the unkempt punk aesthetic will quite possibly enjoy what they hear. [Nick Mitchell]