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Thursday, November 1, 2012

What's going on / Music Friday To-Do: Iwrestledabearonce

Posted by Robert Bell on Thu, Nov 1, 2012 at 10:32 AM

Iwrestledabearonce plays at Downtown Music Hall Friday.

Iwrestledabearonce plays at Downtown Music Hall Friday.

IWRESTLEDABEARONCE
5:30 p.m. Downtown Music Hall. $17.

Iwrestledabearonce takes gnarly metalcore, glitch-y synth pop and an avant-rock element or two (Henry Cow, say, or maybe Zappa at his knottiest) and tosses it all in a blender with about 5,000 mg of Adderall. The resulting concoction is a Gen-Y head-scratcher that sounds like nothing else anywhere ever.

The band's latest album, "Ruining it for Everyone," is shot through with machinegun riffs and even machinegun-ier drumbeats, not unlike a good many of their math-metal peers. But there's quite a bit more going on with Iwrestledabearonce. The band has a pronounced ambient electro-pop influence, with beautiful female vocals soaring throughout and mixing in with the throat-shredding screams, weedly-weedly-wee guitars and prog-metal craziness.

The closest comparison I can come up with is if Lady GaGa hired The Dillinger Escape Plan as her touring band. If that sounds like your jam, these guys and girl have your fix. You might want to order tickets ahead of time, because the band has a substantial following and this show will likely sell out.

Also playing are Oceano, Vanna, Within the Ruins, The Plot in You and Surrounded by Monsters.

Tags: Iwrestledabearonce, Oceano, Vanna, Within the Ruins, The Plot in You