Where did it come from—this indie rock convention that any remotely catchy tune must open with 20 seconds of sludge? Do they believe the remainder of the song will be taken more seriously (in the same way that the carnage that kicks off Saving Private Ryan obscures the fact that Spielberg remade E.T. as a WW2 film)? Or is it just to drive away any potential frat-related eavesdroppers? The world may never know.

Despite this, “Fallout” by Pidgeon, off the new From Gutter with Love, is still a Track You Should Be Listening To Right Now. Garage guitars churn behind really sweet twee-girl vocals that bounce around and push back against their content: “Did your heart wake up to someone else? / This morning mine did / I know I don’t belong.” Fans of Go Sailor! should be pleased; if you’re more mainstream, think Belly when they were practicing in the basement. (Alas, I’ve scoured the Web but failed to find a clip of “Fallout” anywhere. As always, you can request it here; otherwise, you can find more info and other tracks here and here.)