I first heard of Speedy Ortiz last year when I was at The Boston Phoenix (goodnight, sweet prince…). The Northhampton four-piece was featured in the paper’s annual round-up of the 50 best new bands for each state, but if there’s one state/band that’s essential to nail perfectly it’s the commonwealth that the Phoenix called home. It was true, Speedy Ortiz was certainly the best up-and-coming band in MA in 2012, and now with their new single they’ve moved up to being one of the best and most exciting upcoming bands of 2013, period.

If the first track off the new single, “Ka-Prow,” started as a steady rock song that peaked into moments of caustic distortion, its B-side, “Hexxy” is appropriately inverted. The whole song is burning feedback, heavy drums, and torture-porn references, with the tension being lifted only occasionally by Sadie Dupuis’s charging vocals. All of which is practically addicting in its catchiness — something that owes a lot to Dupuis as a front-woman who can sound bitter, funny, vulnerable and really fucking angry all in under two-and-a-half minutes. Listen.

Speedy Oritz’s “Ka-Prow!” 7” is due out 4/30 via Inflated. The band has signed with Carpark Records and their first full-length, Major Arcana, will be released 7/9.