Mi Ami

Watersports, the debut LP from San Francisco band Mi Ami — due out February 17 on Touch and Go/Quarterstick Records — is no day at the beach. Unless one of the aquatic activities implied in the title involves hanging out in a shark cage with a meat necklace and a waterproof Walkman loaded up with Can. Like that influential '70s kraut-rock band, Mi Ami hacks off hunks of classic funk and dub music and squeezes them through a noise-rock grinder, mixing in crazed, high-pitched vocals for flavor. (In fact, singer and guitarist Daniel Martin-McCormick — a regular-looking white dude — sounds so much like a Japanese girl that listeners new to the band may at first think they're hearing Deerhoof.) On the instrument side, wah-pedal bass and echoing guitar arpeggios from Adrian Belew's chordbook provide the lashing tentacles off Damon Palermo's ambling drums. Fortunately, the trio (rounded out by bassist Jacob Long) knows how to get in, rock out and then get out, avoiding the temptation to noodle on. At least, that's how Mi Ami sounds on record. Live at the Taproom, they could fill the space with awesome, head-spinning tuneage or, well, clear it.