Local label Drugged Conscience hosts a super sparse (yet super tight) three-band showcase at Miami Chum Bucket next Saturday. And the guests of honor are Olympia, Washington's Broken Water, a new-ish trio founded in 2008 that's risen to the top of the Pacific Northwest's most recent wave of post-punk.
Despite hailing from such a seemingly isolated locale, the band's chops and its hometown's rich history of punk-related happenings (uh, Nirvana, anyone?) have got labels across the country throwing themselves at the threesome's feet -- most notably Night-People in Iowa City and Fan Death in Baltimore, two major players in the contemporary world of weird/other boutique releases.
Broken Water also made the cover of Maximumrocknroll, which is a statement of that publication's recently relaxed standards of punk purity. But it's also a nod to Broken Water's accessibility to a broad listening audience.
Comparable to fellow Olympia crew Gun Outfit, which played Churchill's last summer, Broken Water plays subtle rock music that relies on nuance and repeat listening to fully uncover the herky-jerky song structures of SST-style post-punk, the ethereal jangle of '90s shoegaze acts like Black Tambourine (or even the almighty Sonic Youth), and the occasional grunge bummer dirge designed to get heads not quite banging, but definitely bobbing.
Broken Water with Diet Cokeheads and Self & Other. Saturday, April 9. Miami Chum Bucket, 1545 NW 28th St., Miami. The show starts at 8 p.m. and cover costs $5. Visit miamichumbucket.com.
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