Oxes

If you've ever been to Baltimore, you'll know it's one messed up place and only a city that seethes with such a degree of unbalanced insanity could produce a band like Oxes. Unique from the get-go, from their line-up (two guitars and drums, no bass or vocals) to their monikers (one guitarist calls himself New York City) to their sense of humour and their sound. It's a bizarre sonic collision of Sonic Youth, Don Caballero, Shellac, Fugazi and later day Thought Industry, and it has me most excited. I'm even more excited by the fact that their moody and angular freeform guitar clatter isn't impinged upon by some caterwauling drunk in leather pants. Oxes have created an album that you'll be reading about in many an inane year-end top ten lists.