Adam's Pick of the Week: Pile - You're Better Than This

While 2012's Dripping showcased Pile's affinity for changing time signatures and somehow fitting a melody somewhere in their jagged soundscape, they've really pushed those particular envelopes on You're Better Than This. It's not an easy listen, but it's not supposed to be.

To me Pile sounds like a Rick Froberg or Ian MacKaye project filtered through years of bands that were heavily influenced by Froberg and MacKaye, taking the Drive Like Jehu/Hot Snakes frontman's vicious snarl and chopping it up with loud-quiet-loud bursts of guitar and drum swells that were employed by Fugazi and hundreds of bands that came after.

Pile's a band that defies simple categorization. Their nervy, unwinding catharsis is an odd contender for cult band de jour, but that's where the band has found themselves since Dripping. If 20-something indie-rock torch bearers carried binders, they'd all have Pile written on them with hearts right about now.