Crisis Arm is really loud. I saw them at a house show once. Everyone who didn’t wear earplugs seemed to be thrown into a stupor. The ones who did had trouble getting to the door. The sound guy broke down in tears. It was beautiful.
This homegrown fuzz outfit from Riverside County has been responsible for widening fault lines and caving in cochleas since 2009. Most of the members live and raise 10 cats together in Hemet, and share a strong love for anime and video games; RPG fans might trace their name to a weapon in the legendary Square title Chrono Trigger. The band’s humble beginnings eventually lead to underground acclaim with their 2014 LP Rend (via Mayfly Records): a collection of diffuse, lo-fi dreamscapes that merged sounds of My Bloody Valentine, loveliescrushing, and Spacemen 3. On stage, Crisis Arm roars with the strength of several fullstack amps, channeling their melancholic guitars through infinite muff and reverb pedals. In the past several years, Crisis Arm has played out DIY shows like the Blood Orange Infoshop (Riverside), dA Center For The Arts (Pomona), Dynamite Vinyl (Fresno), and White Oak Music and Arts (Van Nuys).
Crisis Arm will be touring California for the next few weeks with their other half, San Francisco punk/gaze project Airs. This Sunday, they’re playing a Part Time Punks show at The Echo with Creepers, a psychgaze band cofounded by members of Deafheaven, and veteran LA psych/post-punkers Dirt Dress ($8a/$10d). Listen below to "resemblance," the first song off Rend. – Ryan Mo