Tysk Tysk Task soak in the hops at Notch Brewery on Thursday, 8 June 2023.

Mae Flux & Friends and Jarsch sandwich the three-stack bill.

Tannins are organic compounds contained in a variety of plants, including hops used to make beer. When people describe a beer as “hoppy,” they’re usually talking about the tannin flavor.

So what do tannins taste like? Bitter. Astringent. Yum. Not necessarily a description that you’d expect to excite people. Humans are bizarre animals that have grown to like all sorts of tastes along the flavor spectrum.

The bitterness of hops is celebrated in different types of beers, but none have quite captured the imagination of the American public as much as IPAs. India Pale Ales. At some point IPAs, Double IPAs, Triple IPAs, Sextuple IPAs, Whatever-tuple IPAs established a chokehold on the craft beer market with bright branding. The boom rolls on, though you wonder if it’s peaked.

Along with the bitter taste, IPAs trend toward a higher alcohol percentage than, say, your average pilsner. Drink those hop bombs all night and you’re going to have a rough morning. Stick to one or two, and you’ll be fine.

Happily, Notch Brewery offers a diverse beer menu – lagers, kölsch, wheat beer, pale ale and more – that will offer a holiday from hoppiness and please any palate.

Unless you’re sober. In which case, you’re fucked.

Jarsch

The solo guitar slinger Jarsch opened with an acoustic set of postpunk folk. The songwriting trended toward the melancholy and packed good pop bite.

There was a world of influences percolating in the vocals, which had a kind of robust nasal delivery, in the tradition of Wayne Coyne, Gordon Gano, that dude from Modest Mouse, or even Alec Ounsworth from Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. Remember Clap You Hands Say Yeah?

Extra points for the seated sing-along-style closer.

Tysk Tysk Task

Lowell’s favorite neu-grunge rockers Tysk Tysk Task performed as a four-piece. That’s plus one from the version that performed at the Rock n Roll Rumble in April.

Rumor has it that the band will update its name to add another ‘Tysk,’ reflecting the fourth member. Tysk Tysk Tysk Task. [Editor’s note: still fact-checking this one] Much like Double or Triple IPAs, no one is quite sure what all the multiplication accomplishes. But it looks nice on a menu.

Frontwoman Samantha Hartsel runs a tight ship, leading the four-piece through its paces like a fresh filly on a grunge steeplechase course. Here a slow build, there a false finish, up & over an electric climax, through the feedback hollows. Tysk Tysk Task doesn’t reinvent any sonic wheels, but they’ve got a really good knack for stitching all the parts together into a satisfying whole.

Shout out to the five-string bass. Extra points for Hartsel’s guitar decor, which is gaining ground on the bedazzled brilliance of the lead guitar for Dirt Buyer.

Mae Flux & Friends

Mae Flux rolled deep with a cohort of musicians who each contributed a little bit of their own sound and songs to the night.

The Boston-based artist mixed together a stew that incorporated elements of jazz, and rock, and not-quite prog.

If you’re headed to the Hump Nights show at the Silhouette Lounge at the end of June, you got a preview of songs by two upcoming acts, Wailen Milfs and Nurse Joy.

Is it possible that Mae Flux & Friends, Wailen Milfs, and Nurse Joy are all the same band, scooped together like dice in a yahtzee cup, and rolled across the stage? Sure, lots of things are possible!