14 Jun 2008 at Georgetown Music Festival

True: I’ve really been into the whole “stoner rock” thing ever since I saw Black Mountain at SXSW. But psychedelic rockers Hypatia Lake were great, building intensity with sonically challenging evolving layers throughout their midday set. It was hard to pick out a specific player or aspect of the band because they play so well together. Rolling bass lines, squelching guitars, and simple yet forceful drumming pushed the band along like a locomotive.

Turns out Hypatia Lake is the name of a fictional town that all of the bands songs revolve around and while I didn’t know this at the time, I indeed felt transported while they were playing. I was a bit mesmerized by the conic confusion they put out, never having the same person sing throughout a song as well as alternating guitar lines back and forth across the stage. Even their more dirge-y songs fit perfectly within their set and didn’t derail the performance. 

In short: Hypatia Lake rocked. I welcome their time-warp method of noise transportation any time.