It is with great pleasure that I announce Any Given Tuesday's full-time residency here at SENBaltimore.com! After over a year of non-descript cookie-cutter code living on Google's Blogger, I get to pack the digital van and set up shop here at the newer, sexier, sleeker SENBaltimore.com. All of AGT's old posts will still be available at blawk359.blogspot.com, and the anygiventuesday.info URL will point to this new blog located here at http://www.senbaltimore.com/blogs/agt/index.shtml. With that announcement out of the way, let's get down to the good stuff:

Avec (www.avecmusic.net) are a Baltimore quartet with two full-length LPs and one EP under their belt. With assistance from producer/engineer J. Robbins (Jawbox, Burning Airlines), Avec released Lines (Civil Defense League/Doghouse Records) in September. Lines is a progressive effort which still packs an accessible punch, interchangeably using blasting riffs ("Hamartia") and guitar harmonies ("House") with experimental noise/drone ("Yavengia").

Along with song titles like "Hamartia" (a famous concept used in Greek tragedy as well as Aristotle's Poetics), "Bozarth" and "Albina Krobot", which I'm taking a guess and thinking are Greek-rooted surnames, Avec draw references to classic prog bands like Yes as well as modern bands such as Paramore (for the sassy and coquettish "In Character"), Glassjaw ("Dysplasia" employs a verse by singer Shawna Potter which is directly out of a song from Worship and Tribute), and Sleater-Kinney, as Potter's roaring vocals call out and trade off with her co-singer, Brooks Harlan.

Avec often dip into the screamo sound that is plagued with so much criticism. Funny how that criticism comes about, when screamo-labeled bands continue to sell so many records. Where some bands that fall into this category sound inauthentic and fabricated, Avec stand atop the pile of washed-up band's bones and break out headbanging, bombastic chugs and riffs, such as on "Man In Space", where a mid-tempo breakdown is complemented by mercurial vocals (the riff comes back to life faster and more aggressive on the bridge of "In Character"). The bass of Adam Yeargin holds its own on "Of A Certain Age". Yeargin's hook on the track leads to a simple but catchy chorus.

Atmospheric guitar leads on "Stellar" reach into the prog realm, but the creativity and vision really shows on "Yavengia" where progged-out drone, feedback and orchestral bells blend with the propelling drums of "Ageyeva".

Download "Dysplasia" before the jump and be sure to pick up the album if you like what you hear!