Grampall Jookabox

Grampall Jookabox

Details

Grampal Jookabox is scheduled to perform at Monday, November 10.

The Trunk Space

Related Content

• A "Black" Bands Primer: In Celebration of Black Joe Lewis and the Honeybears
  November 9, 2011
• Prediction: Will Kelly Clarkson Nail the Super Bowl XVLI National Anthem?
  February 3, 2012
• Bevin O'Neill, What Are You Listening To?
  December 22, 2011
• They Might Be Giants at The Marquee Theatre, 1/29/12
  January 30, 2012
• Celebrate National Novel Writing Month with Five Musician/Novelists
  November 1, 2011

More About

• Grampall Jookabox
• Sonic Youth
• Aimee Brown
• Indianapolis
• Black Sabbath

Like this Story?

Sign up for the Music Newsletter: Keep your thumb on the local music scene with music features, additional online music listings and show picks. We'll also send special ticket offers and music promotions available only to our Music Newsletter subscribers.

Privacy Policy Cancel Continue

When it comes to avant-garde rock bands, there are usually two distinct routes: noisy cathartic (Sonic Youth, Dead C) and dissonant/drone-y ominous (Spiritualized, This Heat). Then there are the bands that go to a third extreme, exuding a smug "Gosh, aren't we just so zany and quirky?" attitude. Few bands seem to be willing to push the envelope with a sense of humor and a memorable melody. That's why the latest platter by Grampall Jookabox, Ropechain, is so gratifying — it sounds bracingly original yet oddly approachable. The medium of Indianapolis dwellers David "Moose" Adamson and Aimee Brown, Grampall Jookabox don't lend themselves to glib descriptive phrases. A crickets-at-night beat and played-backward mantra-like female choir sounding like Madagascar or Bollywood pop drives "Black Girls." "Let's Go Mad Together" is a send-up of Us vs. Them paranoia and synth-pop (with a killer old-style Black Sabbath riff), while "Strike Me Down" is hip-hop with T. Rex-style vocals for a spaghetti Western, complete with whistling and lonely twang. GJ possess a spirited sense of psychedelic wonder and possibility (with a smidgen of dub, too).