HSY

There's something sinister going on in Toronto's musical underbelly, and HSY have summed it up quite succinctly with this five-track EP. Mixing a potent cocktail that's equal parts Jesus Lizard and the Jesus and Mary Chain, with Skinny Puppy's knack for tortured, raspy vocals, the quartet offer up a meaty sludge-fest of cacophonous noise that masks some serious hooks. Producer Dean Tzenos does a great job capturing their live energy without letting the individual pieces bleed together. The result is a hard-hitting effort that refuses to stay put, from the slow chug of "Slimeball" to the breakneck attack of "Waffles." HSY were birthed from the same environs that produced similarly minded groups Soupcans and Tzenos' Odonis Odonis, a scene that's slowly creeping out of the shadows and into the indie rock mainstream. If this EP is any indication of what's to come, these groups better start getting used to the bright glare of the spotlight.