American Relay

Nick Sullivan gives the impression that he could master just about any style of music he puts his mind to. Of course, that's not always a plus: The history of popular music is littered with the corpses of chameleon-like virtuosos who never learned how to pick one genre and pour their hearts into it. Sullivan, though, has nothing to sweat. When he's not navigating the fret board in the cerebral post-rock outfit Pena, he's bashing out heavy blues in American Relay -- and he does both with soul to spare. Singer/guitarist Sullivan and drummer Alex Hebert stared playing together in 2003 and went through various lineups and genres before settling on the simplest, a two-man tsunami of distorted Delta blues, '60s British R&B and lead-footed garage rock that's not afraid to bow down before Led Zeppelin. An American Relay full-length is on its way this spring; in the meantime, the duo will crank it up on St. Patrick's Day, Friday, March 17, at the Carioca Cafe (better known to the bleary-eyed as Bar Bar), 2060 Champa Street. Get ready to behold the Hammered of the Gods.