There are two things that I try not to do on the Metroblog, and those two things are promote my friends and review shows. We’ve all gotta have boundaries, and those are what I’ve (somewhat arbitrarily) decided are mine. But, whatever. Boundaries are for suckers.

We don’t talk much about noisy rock in these parts because we are, by and large, not a hard rocking sort of bunch. Have you met us? We’re like fluffy bunnies. And I didn’t really want to be going to the Crocodile last night to see my beautiful friend Aleksandra scream and rage onstage–I wanted to be at Neumo’s basking in indie pop. But man, am I glad that friendship won out over Elefant–Scarlet Room blew me away. They were amazing.

In recent months they’ve added Aleksandra’s piano to the mix, using it to highlight her sultry voice and break through the distorted guitar sound. One of their newer songs, “Ladies and Gentlemen of the Cold-Blooded Jury,” has a creepy carnival melody that sounds exactly like what they call it–drama rock. I kept expecting someone with a top hat and a head wound to pop out from behind the drum kit.

Eloise Govedare both drums and writes all of the lyrics. The fact that there was a strong, gorgeous lady drumming in this rock band seemed to confuse all of the backwards baseball caps in the room. I like that this band centers around two girls, both of whom are intimidatingly powerful onstage.

Scarlet Room surprised the heck out of me. I kept turning around to mouth to my friends, “They’re so good!” They sounded like nothing I’ve ever heard, and I practically exploded from pride that this music was coming from someone I know. They’ve made a convert out of this indie pop girl.

But don’t take my word for it–listen for yourself:
From the Shadow (mp3)
Second Chance (mp3)