Monsters from Mars is an underground rock band from California, formed in 2001. Originally an instrumental surf rock trio, the band has since grown in size and influences. Stylistically, the band's current sound incorporates elements of surf rock, garage rock, horror, progressive rock, new wave, experimental electronic music, punk rock, and new trends in underground music. Sonically, the band's sound comes from its heavy use of spring reverb, tremolo-picked guitar leads, tube equipment, Farfisa organ, synthesizers, baritone guitar, theremin, tape delay effects, and occasional saxophone and prog rock drum solo. The band's live show is distinguished by its high energy performances, use of theatrics, fog and colored light ambiance, and proclivity for inducing dancing among audience members.
Monsters from Mars is perhaps best known for its instrumental rendition of the Britney Spears hit, Toxic. Also notable are its connections to the character, Bob Stencil.
Discography
Full-Lengths
Play Some Originals and Some Surf Guitar Classics and Obscurities (Tired Machine, 2002)
Rock music is a broad genre of popular music that originated as "rock and roll" in the United States in the early 1950s, and developed into a range of different styles in the 1960s and later, particularly in the United States and the United Kingdom. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, a style which drew heavily from the genres of blues, rhythm and blues, and from country music. Rock music also drew strongly from a number of other genres such as electric blues and folk, and incorporated influences from jazz, classical and other musical styles. Musically, rock has centered on the electric guitar, usually as part of a rock group with electric bass, drums, and one or more singers. Usually, rock is song-based music with a 4/4 time signature using a verse–chorus form, but the genre has become extremely diverse. Like pop music, lyrics often stress romantic love but also address a wide variety of other themes that are frequently social or political.
Post-rock is a form of experimental rock characterized by a focus on exploring textures and timbre over traditional rock song structures, chords, or riffs. Post-rock artists are often instrumental, typically combining rock instrumentation with electronics. The genre emerged within the indie and underground music scene of the 1980s and early 1990s. However, due to its abandonment of rock conventions, it often bears little resemblance musically to contemporary indie rock, borrowing instead from diverse sources including ambient music, electronica, jazz, krautrock, dub, and minimalist classical.
Instrumental rock is rock music that emphasizes musical instruments and features very little or no singing. Examples of instrumental rock can be found in practically every subgenre of rock, often from musicians who specialize in the style. Instrumental rock was most popular from the mid-1950s to mid-1960s, with artists such as Bill Doggett Combo, The Fireballs, The Shadows, The Ventures, Johnny and the Hurricanes and The Spotnicks. Surf music had many instrumental songs. Many instrumental hits came from the R&B world. Funk and disco produced several instrumental hit singles during the 1970s. The Allman Brothers Band feature several instrumentals. Jeff Beck also recorded two instrumental albums in the 1970s. Progressive rock and art rock performers of the 1960s and 1970s did many virtuosic instrumental performances.
Surf music is a subgenre of rock music associated with surf culture, particularly as found in Southern California. It was especially popular from 1962 to 1964 in two major forms. The first is instrumental surf, distinguished by reverb-drenched electric guitars played to evoke the sound of crashing waves, largely pioneered by Dick Dale and the Del-Tones. The second is vocal surf, which took elements of the original surf sound and added vocal harmonies, a movement led by the Beach Boys.
Space rock is a rock music genre characterized by loose and lengthy song structures centered on instrumental textures that typically produce a hypnotic, otherworldly sound. It may feature distorted and reverberation-laden guitars, minimal drumming, languid vocals, synthesizers and lyrical themes of outer space and science fiction.
Shadowy Men on a Shadowy Planet are a Juno Award-winning Canadian instrumental rock band, formed in 1984. They remain best known for the track "Having an Average Weekend", which was used as the theme to the Canadian sketch comedy TV show The Kids in the Hall. Although commonly classified as a surf rock band they rejected the label, going so far as to release a track called "We're Not a Fucking Surf Band", although they also later released a compilation box set titled Oh, I Guess We Were a Fucking Surf Band After All.
The Atlantics are an Australian surf rock band founded in 1961. Initially, the band lineup consisted of drummer Peter Hood, bassist Bosco Bosanac, Theo Penglis on lead and rhythm guitar, and guitarist Eddy Matzenik. Matzenik was replaced by Jim Skaithitis while the band was still in its earliest stages. The band's claim to fame was as Australia's most successful of the genre. Most well known for their classic hit, "Bombora", their later recordings such as "Come On" are examples of 1960s garage rock. They were the first Australian rock band to write their own hits. In 2000 the group reformed with three of the original members, and continue to release new material and perform in concert. In 2013 the group celebrated the 50th Anniversary of their first album, Bombora and the eponymous single that was their first to chart. A European tour was organised to mark the occasion.
The Ventures are an American instrumental rock band, formed in 1958 in Tacoma, Washington, by Don Wilson and Bob Bogle. The band, a quartet for most of its existence, helped to popularize the electric guitar in the United States and across the world during the 1960s. While their popularity in the United States waned in the 1970s, the group remains especially revered in Japan, where they tour regularly to this day. The classic lineup of the band consisted of Wilson, Bogle, Nokie Edwards, and Mel Taylor (drums).
American rock has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, rhythm and blues, and country music, and also drew on folk music, jazz, blues, and classical music. American rock music was further influenced by the British Invasion of the American pop charts from 1964 and resulted in the development of psychedelic rock.
Los Straitjackets is an American instrumental rock band that formed in Nashville, Tennessee, United States, in 1988. Originally comprising guitarists Danny Amis, Eddie Angel and drummer L. J. "Jimmy" Lester under the name The Straitjackets, the band split up soon after forming, but reunited as Los Straitjackets in 1994 with the addition of bassist E. Scott Esbeck. Esbeck left the band in 1998 and was replaced by Pete Curry. The current lineup also features Greg Townson on guitar and Chris Sprague on drums.
Doremi Fasol Latido is the third studio album by English space rock band Hawkwind. It was recorded at Rockfield Studios and released in 1972. It reached No. 14 on the UK album charts.
Lost Sounds was a rock band from Memphis, Tennessee. Starting in March 1999, the band was made up of Rich Crook on drums, Patrick Jordan on bass, Jay Reatard on synth, guitar and vocals, and Alicja Trout on synth, guitar and vocals. The band, originally working within the garage rock genre, had a collection of analog keyboards Trout had used in her previous band The Clears. The bizarre combination of new wave synths and mangled guitars showed a dark wave influence as well. The band frequently dealt with dark, apocalyptic themes ranging from the Book of Revelation to the Columbine High School shootings (Blackcoats/Whitefear). The band's last show was in May 2005 in Stuttgart, Germany. Rich Crook currently writes and records music in the band Lover! Former band members have to formed Sweet Knives as a self described reboot of Lost Sounds sans the late Jay Reatard.
The Hylozoists are a Canadian instrumental rock supergroup formed in 2001 in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. The band's name is derived from hylozoism and was started as a side project of record producer and multi-instrumentalist Paul Aucoin.
The Octopus Project is an American indietronica band based in Austin, Texas, active since 1999. Their sound blends pop and experimental elements, and is a combination of digital and electronic sounds and noises and analog equipment. The band's music is mostly instrumental.
The Pharmacy is a psychedelic/indie rock band from Seattle, Washington, consisting of three members: Scott Yoder, Brendhan Bowers, and Stefan Rubicz. They also have been known to record with a wide array of other instruments including strings, horns, and many different types of synthesizers/keyboards. They occasionally play live with bassist Aaron Khawaja.
Car Stereo Wars are a pop band formed in Melbourne, Australia in 2000.
Green Echo is an instrumental band from Lisbon, Portugal, crossing over various genres such as dub, world music, progressive music, experimental music.
Alicja Trout is a Memphis-based American rock guitarist, singer, songwriter and artist.
Tic Tac Totally was an independent record label run by Matt Clark in Chicago, Illinois. He also runs the "Dumb Audio" zine. Since forming in 2006 Tic Tac Totally has released over 50 records.
So Cow is an Irish band. It was started as the recording project of Brian Kelly in 2005 in Seoul, South Korea. The group evolved into a three piece band with Jonny White on bass and Peter O'Shea on drums for 2014's The Long Con, released on Goner Records, as well as 2012's Out Of Season split album with Squarehead.
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