Palberta

Formed at Bard College by Anina Ivry-Block, Lily Konigsberg, and Nina Ryser in the early 2010s, the lo-fi noise rock trio Palberta produces brief, erratic tracks whose playful unpredictability echoes post-punk acts such as LiLiPUT and the Raincoats as well as the no wave movement. The group cultivated an audience by relentlessly playing DIY spaces and issuing cassettes and vinyl through OSR Tapes and Feeding Tube Records before gaining broader notice with the 20-track Wharf Cat release Bye Bye Berta in 2017; on their 2021 album Palberta5000 the band incorporated more overt pop elements while preserving their core spontaneity.

All three members rotate instruments and deliver childlike vocal harmonies that swing without warning from gentle crooning to piercing shrieks, an approach that suggests an art-damaged descendant of the Roches. After digitally self-releasing My Pal Berta in 2013, they drew interest from OSR Tapes, the label home of the comparably idiosyncratic Blanche Blanche Blanche; the imprint put out My Pal Berta and Shitheads in the Ditch on cassette in 2014, while Feeding Tube handled vinyl editions of both titles plus the Special Worship split EP with (New England) Patriots.

During 2015 Datura Sound issued the Live on the Spot cassette captured at Brooklyn’s Silent Barn, JMC Aggregate released the Hot on the Beach tape (later pressed on vinyl by Feeding Tube), and Underdog Pop Records issued the Chips for Dinner split cassette shared with No One and the Somebodies. Wharf Cat brought out the ambitious Bye Bye Berta in February 2017, prompting Rolling Stone to list Palberta among its “10 New Artists You Need to Know”; later that year the label also issued a vinyl version of Chips for Dinner. Roach Goin’ Down, another expansive collection of unpredictable art-punk, appeared in 2018.

The band stayed busy on the road, supporting the reunited Bikini Kill in 2019, and pursued separate endeavors: Konigsberg issued solo work and performed with Eyes of Love and the duo Lily & Horn Horse, while Ryser released solo albums and joined Ivry-Block in Shimmer. Palberta returned in 2021 with Palberta5000, whose longer, more repetitive songs retained the trio’s characteristic energy.