Indian Jewelry, with Balaclavas, Wicked Poseur and A Thousand Cranes

Courtesy Nowwearefree.com

Indian Jewelry ponder some dubious MapQuest directions.

Details

Friday, April 18, at the Mink, 3718 Main. Call 713-522-9985 for more info.

Related Content

• Invasive Exotics
  May 13, 2010
• The Gnarly Musical Ingredients That Make Up Skinny Puppy
  December 1, 2009
• Tonight: Enlist In the Kunst Fascion at Persuasion Art Opening
  January 15, 2010
• Indian Jewelry: Free Gold
  August 28, 2008
• Solid State: Houston's SXSW Class of '10
  March 11, 2010

More About

• Erika Thrasher
• Cabaret Voltaire

Disregarding their phantasmagorical live show, Houston noise-dance collective Indian Jewelry — a garishly theatrical troupe of misfit musicians whose members and alumni go by colorful pseu­do­nyms (or are they?) like "Erika Thrasher" and "Ken Consumer" — are perhaps best appreciated through a pair of squelchy, secondhand computer speakers that may or may not have shorted out a long time ago. Somehow the image of technology gone to seed fits with I.J.'s high-concept primitivism, which has cycled through numerous lineups and handles (Electric Fuck All, Benzene Lotion Rash) since forming from the remnants of Swarm of Angels in the early 2000s. Predicting the tenor of any one I.J. show is the ultimate exercise in futility, but online previews of next month's Free Gold (We Are Free) offer a clue or two: the swirling "Swans" could well be a tribute to the NYC noise gods of the same name, while the sinister, hypnotic "Temporary Famine Ship" edges closer to the proto-industrial territory staked out long ago by Killing Joke and Cabaret Voltaire. Helping send I.J. off on their monthlong CD release tour are three local bands with equally dark visions: the austere, crypt-like electronics of Balaclavas, chain-rattling post-punk of Wicked Poseur and opium-clouded drone of A Thousand Cranes.