Savage Republic's appearance tonight is essential for anyone seeking post-punk that is as politically committed as it is sonically inventive. One of America's greatest bands you've probably not heard, this SoCal ensemble reissued their excellent quadrilogy (Tragic Figures, Ceremony, Jamahiriya and Customs) as a boxed set in 2001 through their own Mobilization label; it remains a bold manifesto of uncompromising sound art. (Their latest, 1938 on Neurot Recordings, shows little slippage in quality.) In Savage Republic's deft hands, radiant spaghetti Western, majestic Arabic melodic flourishes, turbid surf rock, rugged ragas, rusted dub and steely, bookish punk coalesce into a potent sonic missile.
Fri., May 30, 9 p.m., 2008
