Trupa Trupa are a four-piece rock band that hails from Gdansk, Poland, a charming city on the Baltic Sea that has been pulled in different directions over centuries. For instance, under periods of German rule it was known as Danzig. Trupa Trupa’s third album, Headache (put out by the UK-based label Blue Tapes and X-Ray Records) is, in its own way, also pulled in different directions by competing influences.

Throughout Headache surges an impulse to obfuscate the accessible and make the bitter palatable. The group cites Sonic Youth, Slint, and Swans as being among their influences. It’s easy enough to hear the sense abrasiveness they share with the early incarnations of those three bands, but Headache’s volatility is more subtle and introverted. They use unconventional sounds, chord progressions, and structures, to dismantle expectations. And just when you think you’ve got the hang of what they are doing, there’s “Sacrifice”, a drowsy, jangling reverbed gem that, for the most part, is left intentionally untarnished.

Ian F. King, www.stereosubversion.com