Bent Knee / Bury Me Standing / Jaggery

Experience Boston’s best dark, experimental rock bands together. Come have your brains broken and your hearts stomped by Bent Knee’s avant indie rock, Jaggery’s dark wave, and Bury Me Standing’s gypsy dirge-core.

On the album Shiny Eyed Babies, the Boston art rock collective known as Bent Knee push themselves far beyond the conventional definition of “indie rock.” Drawing from a sonic palette edged by the touchstones of heavy psych, baroque pop, and avant-jazz, the ensemble craft compositions where melodies swell, collapse, and coalesce unexpectedly into anthemic crescendo. A musical family that works hard at their art, Bent Knee came into being in 2009 at Berklee. Shiny Eyed Babies is both raw and cerebral, and can be enjoyed simply floating on the surface, but those willing to plunge into its depths will find the hidden secrets that touch the spark of creativity.

A ragtag collective of virtuostic musicians led by Nate Greenslit (of HUMANWINE) and Vessela Stoyanova (of Goli), Bury Me Standing describes itself as gypsy dirge-core, a strange intertwining of Balkan folksong, art metal, and psychedelic avant-pop. The group’s songs meditate on wars within and without. Their core instrumentation is unique and includes digital marimba; found-object percussion; prepared upright bass; and haunting, Bulgarian-inflected vocals. Their formidable roster of collaborating musicians varies from show to show.

Jaggery found its footing in New York, writing and performing under different monikers until 2004 when the band began to take its current shape: singer-songwriter and pianist Singer Mali is flanked by a rotating lineup of musicians and instrumentation, including Daniel Schubmehl’s West African and jazz approach to the drum kit, Tony Leva’s often prepared upright bass, Rachel Jayson’s avant-classical viola, and Petaluma Vale’s glistening Celtic harp and backing vocals. Their live show is often as much a theatrical performance as an audio one.

Tickets: http://bit.ly/1FWn8V2