Holy Fuck/Indian Jewelry

Upbeat electronic riddims and dank drone confections may sound like a culture clash, but Holy Fuck and Indian Jewelry are experimentally in the same hemisphere. The former group is noisy without being noise, relying on two drummers and two synths jammed with enough layers and effects to put any of those lesser laptop bands to shame. Houston's Indian Jewelry is darkly asymmetric noise-psych with muddied, incomprehensible vocals; in other words, it's a poppier facsimile of stalwart acts such as Swans and Excepter. Both bands involve a rotating cast of musicians and are known for intense live performances full of rhythmic assaults and deconstructed arrangements; each act's recent release (Holy Fuck's Latin, Indian Jewelry's Totaled) display plenty of groove-making instead of just plain ol' noisemaking.