Indian Jewelry

• Genre: Noise Rock
• Hometown: Houston

About

Indian Jewelry are classic Lone Star State freaks. Following in the tradition of fellow Texans Rusted Shut, the Butthole Surfers and the Red Krayola, the Houston-bred trio melts garage punk, electronic weirdness, noise rock and psychedelia into a fuzzy goop pulsating with sinister intent. Their live shows -- maniacally flickering strobes coupled with gut-rupturing beats and piercing wails -- are particularly intense. At the same time Indian Jewelry possesses a love for post-industrial dance grooves and media-savvy performance art (more Psychic TV than Throbbing Gristle) more common to underground rock bands from the coasts. Fronted by the gorgeous Erika Thrasher, the group resembles those indie rock models in American Apparel advertisements. Maybe that's why they eventually relocated to Los Angeles, where the urban tendencies in the group's sound have only been further accentuated. On Free Gold!, released in 2008 on the We Are Free label, Indian Jewelry tempered its usual sonic assault with shades of shoegaze, electro-folk and exotic pop. You could call the album "fashion noise." Of course, it will still sound like plain old noise to 95% of the world's population.

- Justin Farrar