Rx Bandits/Dredg

Progressive rock isn't just for your dope-smoking, ponytail-wearing, uninvited-to-most-family-functions uncle anymore. A new batch of musicians — younger and with better hair, but still smoking dope — are proving that "prog" doesn't always equal "needlessly indulgent." The California bands Rx Bandits and Dredg are at the head of that pack: Each has cultivated fervent fanbases through progressively more, well, progressive albums. Rx Bandits' newest, Mandala, is its first without a horn section, and Dredg's latest, The Pariah, the Parrot, the Delusion, plays itself out almost like a musical over its eighteen tracks, complete with moody interludes. With the two acts rotating the closing spot each night, you're guaranteed over two hours of solid jams — and probably your fair share of solid jamming.