Longtime rock music fans have a tendency toward jadedness. After ten or more years of record collecting, concert attending and fanzine reading new bands can start to all sound the same. In their hit song “Cut Your Hair” Pavement’s Stephen Malkmus sang, “bands start up each and every day/I saw another one just the other day, a special new band…I don’t remember a line, I don’t remember a word,” perfectly illustrating the creep of ennui so common in the music scene.

Malkmus’ Portland, Ore. neighbors in Wild Flag break through this malaise with an infectious style and swagger that’s hard to deny. Our resident music critic Jim DeRogatis gave their debut album four out of four stars calling it “not only one of the year’s strongest albums, but one of the strongest and most promising debuts in recent memory.” The band builds up from ’70s guitar rock like Television and adds elements of Motown girl groups, math rock and garage punk to build memorable pop songs.

Of course the music world had high expectations from the moment Wild Flag was announced due to its members’ collective pedigree- Sleater-Kinney, Helium, The Minders, Quasi, Elliott Smith, Bright Eyes, Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks are among their past musical projects. Add to that the unexpected success of Carrie Brownstein’s sketch comedy IFC show, Portlandia, and there was a lot of anticipation around Wild Flag.

When the band stopped by WBEZ studios for a live Sound Opinions session, they delivered on the raw promise of their enthusiastic live shows. Each hook was crisply excecuted, each fill pounded with precision. Enjoy these videos of one of our most exciting sessions to date.