No doubt Texas combo Indian Jewelry makes intoxicating recordings: Relentlessly severe post-punk and menacing drone-rock are occasionally shot through with crosscutting electronic noise, tribal drumming, and No Wave horn skronk. The bands attention-grabbing compositions reference Suicide, the Velvet Underground, Throbbing Gristle, early Butthole Surfers, and Swans, among others. But to see them live is a life-altering experience: I recently witnessed them play a sub-street level record store in Philly, pitch-black save for a couple strobe lights that slow-motioned the two-guy, two-girl ensemble as they unleashed their primal, hypnotic noise-groove assault. It felt like being swallowed by a whale, in the best possible way. With Backward Masks, Psychic Ills.
Mon., July 13, 9:30 p.m., 2009
