Long before Jack White cornered the market on garage-rock weirdos releasing copious amounts of collector-baiting vinyl, and long before Portland, Ore., was the epicenter for all things hip and handcrafted, there was Fred Cole. You can think of Cole — leader of legendary Portland band Dead Moon and the not-as-legendary but still pretty fucking amazing Zipper — as the Johnny Appleseed, Lewis & Clark and Flash Gordon of the American Underground: He was there first, he mapped the route and he will always save the day. His newest band Pierced Arrows, with wife/bassist Toddy and drummer Kelli Haliburton, picks up where Dead Moon left off, evolving Dead Moon’s patented off-kilter fuzz-punk just enough that you get the comfort of a sound you love wrapped in the thrill of something all together new — it’s still dark, twisted and strange, but it’s a different dark, twisted and strange. Bad Cop, Ghost Dance and Don’t also appear.
— Sean L. Maloney