POP MUSIC REVIEW : Weighty Noun-Rock From Tar, Jawbox

Forget grunge, forget alternative, forget post-neo-punk. What’s sweeping the nation’s college radio stations and record-company wish lists is the loud, new sound coming from what are sometimes known as “noun bands,” the new wave of aggressive, technically accomplished groups, named after common objects, that have been dominating the indy-rock circuit for the last year. At Bogart’s Friday, Tar and Jawbox noun-rocked all night long.

Like the bands with which it is often lumped, namely Helmet and Surgery, Chicago noun-rock quartet Tar had an astonishingly full, dense sound, seemingly less built on heavy riffing than on a heavy repeated gestural thing. The two guitars and a bass took up more space than you may have thought possible; the singer barked trenchant ironies: awesome drone. When Tar finally did change chords, often in a thick, textured unison, it had the force of revelation.

Co-headliners Jawbox--not to be confused with Hammerbox, Pleasurebox or Jawbreaker--played a set of way-distanced, punk-rock-based noun-rock. The Washington band’s groove sounded a little like early X’s might have if that band had been more influenced by the Kinks instead of Patsy Cline, unison guitar riffs made beautiful and terrible by repetition, less ultra-masculine than moody and nuanced.