Baptist Generals

Baptist Generals

No Silver/No Gold (Sub Pop) It's hard not to giggle at the end of "Ay Distress," the opening track from the Baptist Generals' Sub Pop debut. After a haunting performance of the slow, spare tune, someone's cell phone rings in the garage/studio. The spell broken and a perfect take ruined, singer Chris Flemmons goes ape shit, hitting things and swearing emphatically. His bandmates try to calm him, but he will not be subdued. This moment perfectly articulates the Baptist Generals' volatile approach: Just when you're vulnerable to a music that speaks to the rawest part of you, it gets aggressive and makes you damned uncomfortable. The men in this Denton fourpiece craft a purely organic sound -- best described as Southern-fried indie rock -- that's confrontational at times (Jeff Helland makes the guitarrón one of the most intimidating instruments ever on "Alcohol") and wearily hopeful at others. For example, on "Feds on the Highway," Flemmons implores, "Don't hold inside your heart the things that trouble you." Throughout the album, the listener is taken from one emotional extreme to the other, from calming serenity to raging aggression, much like spending an evening with your most dramatic drinking buddy and watching him go from cheery to belligerent to weepy, and finally, barely conscious. It's a wild ride. (Red Eyed Fly, Saturday, March 15, 10pm)