Bloodyminded

The music known as "power electronics" is basically experimental noise, aflame with industrial-strength testosterone, über-violent sociopathy, and bald men sporting black boots. At its best, all the headachy sine tones and distorted yelling about bondage and other sexy things becomes absurdly overblown and turns frothy -- just like the top of a lemon meringue pie.

In America, the reigning kings of the genre are Chicago's Bloodyminded, a project started in 1995 by one Mark Solotroff (who also runs the Bloodlust imprint). The band took off after an unforgettably chaotic performance at the 2005 No Fun Fest in New York. In addition to nearly flooding Brooklyn's Red Hook 'hood in blood and boiling water, Bloodyminded unleashed layers of squealing feedback, shrieking synths, body pileups, and red-faced howling about serial cruelty and the misery of existence. But while the horrors of humanity may be serious business when they're happening to you, they're almost always funny when somebody else is prancing onstage about them. If you love music, you belong on your knees, pleading for fan favorites like "Lake Street," "Genital Panic," and "Shockpit."