Doesn’t take long to figure out why your Austin Music Minute maven puts Crooked Bangs on the list of AMM favorites. Simply listen at top volume. Relentless. Ruthless. And every single shade of dark, from the subtlest nuance to the abyss staring back at you. Front woman/bassist Leda Ginestra directs you to the tenebrous debris with inscrutable delivery, as guitarist Samantha Wendel and drummer Phillip Gonzalez further fuel the frenetic pace. Critics tend to (over)use “post-punk” in cases like this, but the feeling here is more punk noir; brooding, nihilistic, and always that pulsating urgency building momentum to crash through the barricade.
Show no mercy. Crooked Bangs plays their last show of the year tomorrow night at Beerland, 711 1/2 Red River, the perfect spot to see them. They share the bill with Oklahoma City coldwave/industrial band Black Magnet, El Paso garage punks Nalgadas, and avant garde doom outfit Deep Cross. Doors at 8 p.m., music starts at 9 p.m. Very recommended.
-Photo courtesy of the artist.
