_{Yes, Oh Yes photo by Gunther Jose Frank}

Yes, Oh Yes, Blanket Truth; the Pica Beats
(Chop Suey) Like Don’t Stop Believin’ labelmates the Pharmacy, Bellingham’s Yes, Oh Yes are a band who dress up spare pop punk and ragged ballads with lo-fi synths and classic psych pop touches. But Yes, Oh Yes trade that band’s out-of-control house-party ruckus for softer, subtler songwriting. Jordan Morris’s vocals are perfectly strained and hoarse—part Oberst, part Strummer—and his songs are touching and catchy. Blanket Truth combine ukulele, Omnichord, occasional beatboxing (courtesy of Eli Dam, little bro of Akimbo drummer Nat), and Jon Manning’s falsetto vocals to achieve something like the Unicorns’ demented bedroom pop. The Pica Beats accent their sweet, twee songs with prerecorded percussion and live sitar; they’re looking for a permanent horn section. ERIC GRANDY

Also tonight: A band called Arsonists Get All the Girls are playing at Studio Seven (that’s them pictured above). Their name made me curious (because it’s a total lie), so I listened to a few songs via MySpace. They’re… not my cup of tea. They’re not my cup of anything. Not even a cup of urine. They’re blastblastblast drumming over maniacal guitar playing and cookie monster vocals and and out of place synthesizer and the songs cause a really weird physical reaction within me. After three minutes, I was pretty sure I had just been impregnated with satan’s baby. Or maybe it just made me gassy. Either way, I had to turn it off.