Skin Graft Records
Chicago's Skin Graft Records manipulates the psyche with an extensive catalogue of indie rock, No Wave, noise, and more that careened right off the paths of normalcy years ago.
Arab on Radar
You want melody? Get the hell out of here. You want high-frequency whine, sandpapery grind, paranoid squawk, a nonsensical post-apocalyptic horror show vaguely organized into syncopated rhythms -- in short, would you like to approximate the experience of having broken glass rubbed in your ears? Ah, then this is the place to be.
Soak the Saddle
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1999
Yahweh or the Highway
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2001
Brise-Glace
Chicago noise outfit Brise-Glace is in the expectations-confounding business. Their stark musical canvases built from improvisation and found sounds walk a brilliant line between music and industrial noise, shocking and surprising you time after time.
When in Vanitas...
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1994
Cheer-Accident
This veteran Chicago almost-instrumental band creates majestic, nearly unclassifiable sound collages built from just about everything the band members can get their hands on. Remarkably proud, beautifully strange music that's utterly unlike anything you're likely to hear.
Salad Days
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2000
Colossamite
Abstract noise, hardcore punk, and jazz collide in the clamorous, paranoid world of Colossamite. This music feels like the score to a crime scene: shadowy, urban, dangerous, and terrifically damaged.
Economy of Motion
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1998
The Denison Kimball Trio
This screwball modern jazz trio is actually the guitar-and-percussion duo of Duane Denison (The Jesus Lizard) and James Kimball (Mule). They do occasionally invite some friends in to help them create their enjoyably lazy, decidedly eccentric compositions.
Walls In The City
The Flying Luttenbachers
Chicago's Flying Luttenbachers are not a troupe of circus performers. They are not fun for the whole family. They make dark, twisted, confounding music that combines elements of free jazz, punk rock, and black metal into a whirling storm.
...The Truth is a Fucking Lie...
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1999
Lake Of Dracula
A No Wave supergroup! Why didn't someone else think of it before? Members of the Scissor Girls, the Flying Luttenbachers, and U.S. Maple revel in the joy of making noise, coming across sort of like a more-deranged noise-rock version of the Cramps.
Lake Of Dracula
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1997
Quintron
Straight from New Orleans' infamous Ninth Ward, Quintron holds court from behind his mighty Hammond organ or at the side of his pioneering "Drum Buddy," wielding melody and rhythm with delightful aplomb. It's fuzzy, funky, and completely irresistible. If Quintron doesn't get your hips shakin', phone the doctor immediately because you're probably dead.
These Hands of Mine
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1998
Drum Buddy Demonstration Record Vol. 1
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2001
Ruins
The Ruins are utterly insane. Whenever I hear them, I think I'm going to have a heart attack. That's their job, I suppose. To be insane and give me -- and you, and all of us -- heart attacks. For those unaware, the Ruins are a veteran Japanese avant-garde outfit which makes rhythmically mind-boggling, prog-derived noise using heavily processed drums, bass, and nonsense vocals that sound like squirrels having sex. Check 'em out if you've got a strong constitution.
Refusal Fossil
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1998
Shakuhachi Surprise
Chicago power merchants Mount Shasta team up with Tokyo No Wave psychopaths Space Streaklings to produce incredibly heavy, densely layered guitar and effects laden music for...mental patients? You definitely have to be a little warped to get into this: it's the sound of advanced schizophrenia.
Space Streakings Sighted Over Mount Shasta
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1996
