Indian Jewelry

I’ll be as up-front as I can as to the reason why I’ve neglected to put Indian Jewelry, or Swarm of Angels, or NTX + Electric, or NTX + Erika Thrasher, or Nikki Texas up here: I have no freakin’ idea how to describe ‘em. All these bands (they’ve also gone by the names Corpses of Waco, Turquoise Diamonds, or The Perpetual War Party Band, apparently) are basically the same free-flowing crew of people, as far as I can tell — the whole mess is headed up by ex-Japanic frontman Tex Kerschen, and he and vocalist/guitarist/synth player Erika Thrasher seem to be pretty much the only uniting threads throughout.

So, since I’m finally writing this, that must mean I’ve come up with a way to talk about IJ/etc.’s music, right? Um, not really. The best I can do is describe it as a mess of feedback noise, bizarre synths, dark, threatening atmosphere a la Motherhead Bug, Suicide-/VU-esque “detached” vocals, and sharp-edged guitars. What it is, really, is the creepiest, most unsettling dance music (yes, dance music) you’ll ever run across. Take one listen to this crew’s debut CD (as NTX + Electric, pre- the change to Indian Jewelry), We Are The Wild Beast, if you don’t believe me — it’s dark, disturbing, possibly even headache-inducing, and still frighteningly rhythmic. It makes me think, actually, of the cooler end of the more bizarre stuff I used to hear (and play) back when I was a KTRU DJ, during the station’s infamous “Noise Period.” There’re bits of Skinny Puppy-type industrial noise floating around in there, tribal-sounding drumming, some broken David Bowie glam-rock, oddly understated Morphine-ish saxophones, and yes, even some truly beautiful rock moments (“Looking At You,” for one).

If the above doesn’t sound appealing to you, well, that’s your call. I’m not generally a fan of weirdness for weirdness’ sake, though, and I can’t help but find the Indian Jewelry somehow fascinating. It’s weird, yes, but it almost feels like it’s weird with a plan, which makes it a hell of a lot cooler. They’ve got a bunch of stuff out, primarily on their own GirlGang Records and Tapes, including a split 7″ with The Sugarbeats, another all-them 7″ called in love with loving, their latest full-length CD release, Invasive Exotics (released on Monitor Recs, actually), the Swarm of Angels Plessure EP, the NTX CDEP Lil Electrodes, two NTX/Erika Thrasher 7″s, and a new CD-R compilation that collects all of the “old” stuff in one place as Sangles Redux. And, uh, there might be more stuff I don’t know about — with all the names, it’s a little hard to keep track, y’know? At any rate, buy whatever you can of it, listen to it, and check ‘em out live when you get a chance.

Tex and Erika moved out for a year or three to the Hell-A area, by the by, splitting their time between here & there, but we just got word that they’re now officially back in town, ditching the grimy shine of Cali for, uh, the plain-ol’ grime of H-town. Good to have y’all back.

• Yr. Weekend, Pt. 2: Main St. Block Party + Something Fierce + CounterCrawl + Indian Jewelry + More
• Also Saturday: All Dread Set @ Cardoza Fine Art
• Yr. Weekend, Pt. 3: Via Colori + Katz Coffee Porter Party + Indian Jewelry + Folk-Punk + More
• Yr. Weekend, Pt. 2: Lords of the Universe + Illegal Wiretaps + Bang Bangz + Featherface + Chimaira + More
• Tonight: Tex Kerschen Reads From New Book Tidal Economics
• The Wild Moccasins
• Yr. Weekend, Pt. 1: Art Institute + Fitz Birthday + Sunrise and Ammunition + Bike to Party + Venomous Maximus + More
• Balaclavas
• The Literary Greats
• Scale The Summit
• Muhammad Ali
• Houston in Austin: Hometown Folks Playing SXSW 2011
• Yr. Weekend: Indian Jewelry + Balaclavas + football, etc. + Benefit for Joey + Adelaine + Chuck Berry + More
• Yr. Weekend, Pt. 2: Indian Jewelry + Roky Moon & BOLT Do-Over + Girls Rock Camp + Temporary Insanity II + Jesse Dayton + More
• Houston Punk Poster Art Lives On, Online