Although Identical Tentacles, Joan and the Rivers’ 2016 EP, has just three songs, it makes a strong case for the band as one of San Jose’s most inspired group of weirdo rockers. These guys got lost somewhere between the garage and the bar, sending dirty howls through the dead-end streets of the suburbs like a midnight transmission from KFJC. Part Rocket From the Crypt, part Doctor Demento, Joan and the Rivers don’t seem to care much about the rules of genre or taste. If you need a break from the condominium complex muzak that has taken over much of San Jose, this is for you.

Joan & The Rivers
Fri, 9pm, Free
Caravan Lounge, San Jose

Taking cues from the likes of San Francisco shoegaze-death-metal act Deafheaven and noodly-progsters Porcupine Tree, this Seattle-based outfit meld pummelling growls and triumphant major-key sludge with clean vocals and mathy guitar lines on their latest album, An Outsider. They are currently on tour with Rat King. Also from the Pacific Northwest, Rat King owe a bit more to fuzzy grooves of Black Sabbath. Their new record, Garbage Island, tumbles forward, propelled by loping drums and so much overdrive, you’ll feel compelled to check your record player’s cartridge for lint. Yes: like any good stoner metal album, Garbage Island is available on vinyl.

Rhine & Rat King
Fri, 10pm, Free
The Caravan, San Jose

This San Francisco quintet crafts sweeping tracks full of jangly, upbeat guitars, circus pomp and glittering synth flourishes. Ditching their former moniker Foreign, the band rebranded last fall. Now, after six months of recording in a basement, they just released their self-titled EP—a four song set of emotionally resonant Y2K psychedelia reminiscent of Grandaddy’s The Sophtware Slump and The Flaming Lips’ The Soft Bulletin. They’ll be joined by two fellow San Francisco bands: The Liners, who play soulful, brooding tunes and The HA, who self-identify as a “beach funk Americana” outfit.

Moral High Horses
Sat, 10pm, Free
Caravan Lounge, San Jose

The Cassette Vision and Super Cassette Vision—contemporaries of the Atari 2600 and predecessors to the Nintendo Entertainment System—may seem like relics today. But for those born in the late ’70s and early ’80s, these now-obsolete gaming systems may carry a certain nostalgic heft.

Case in point: Berkeley indie rockers Super Cassette are now preparing to release their second two-song single on floppy disk. The physical copies contain two MP3s, a series of ASCII artworks, liner notes, and a “secret thank you” message to anyone who actually manages to get the floppy disc into some sort of computer.

“We made 100 copies of the first run,” says Max Gerlock, Super Cassette’s singer and primary songwriter. “It’s not that likely that even one of those people will pop it in a computer at any point, so I wanted to make sure that anybody who did take that time would see it as worthwhile.”

The physical copy also comes with a download code for higher quality MP3s of the songs, since at 1.44MB the floppy can hardly fit even one standard MP3 file.

“Each song we had to compress to 16kb per second to get them on there,” Max says.

“Colorblind,” the first track, opens with coiling layers of delay and sounds a bit like Microcastle era Deerhunter. The band cite both Radiohead and The Strokes as influences, and there are bits of both in the mix, even if they don’t necessarily sound like either.

But on “Sober,” the single’s second track, the band’s deeper influence begins to show: “Koji Kondo,” says Nick, Super Cassette’s guitarist and Max’s twin brother, “the composer for Mario and Zelda.”

The guitar melody on “Sober” is immediately reminiscent of ’90s anime and classic 8-bit soundtracks. Like the best of both genres, it exudes a feeling of near invincibility. It’s a melody that could carry you beyond the harshest adversity—even if you’ve already died on that part 80 times and you’re about to give up.

Super Cassette begin their first U.S. tour in San Jose at the Caravan the same night as the release of their second floppy disc single, Crooked Teeth/Bootstraps.

Super Cassette
Mar 30, 9pm, Free
Caravan Lounge, San Jose

Kill the Messenger aren’t a mere Bay Area band. They’re from Daly City dammit, and they want you to know it. “Gotta rep the hood,” jokes drummer Danny Haddad on a four-way conference call, which includes bassist David Scanlon, guitarist and vocalist James Conelly, and lead vocalist-guitarist Adam Rupp, the latter of whom gets disconnected almost immediately.

“We don’t want to just say we’re another band from San Francisco.”

Neighborhood shout-outs aside, the band’s newish 10-song album, From The Ashes, is a fearsome display of guitar heroics and chunky riffs—and, what’s more, in a genre not known for yuks, a dash of humor.

Take “Exodus” which examines the pitfalls of working out and at one point proclaims, “I am so hungry!”

“That song’s about losing your gains,” says Haddad. “Like, you don’t want to lose your gains.” Then there’s the UrbanDictionary-approved “Speak Now Or Forever Hold Your Feelz.” You’d be forgiven for thinking this was self-aware hipster metal. “A lot of our stuff can be satirical,” says Haddad, citing mock-epic “Curse Of Broseidon,” whose precision tempo and layered intricacy are anything but jokey. “But a lot of it can be touchy subjects.”

An example would be “Words Like Guns,” which the drummer penned. “I don’t want to get too deep into it but everybody has some past relationship that’s gone horribly awry and that’s what that song’s about.”

Kill The Messenger blends aspects of ’90s Swedish melodic death-metal with strains of modern American metalcore. Occasionally, the band goes beyond the realm of metal and its myriad subgenres entirely. “Speak Now” features a flamenco guitar-inspired interlude with congas. The album’s 12-minute-plus finale, “Phoenix,” is bathed in electronics and soaring strings.

“It’s not anything to do with genre but having everything be deliberate,” says Conelly, a classically trained musician. “I know this is a whole-tone scale, it’s going to fit in this particular chord structure.” Scanlon is more blunt: “We wanted to pull the best out of ourselves instead of pumping out the same song over and over.”

At times, Kill The Messenger achieve cinematic scope. In its final third, “For Death And Glory” features the pre-recorded chaos of a pitched battle scene. “Basically all that Viking metal is just badass,” says Scanlon. “That song called out for the Norse gods.”

On a DIY budget, programmed sequences lend a certain studio gloss. “[Otherwise] we’d have to hire a keyboard player and so many other people when we play live,” says Conelly. “Logistically it made a lot more sense to do backing tracks.” Scanlon adds, jokingly: “Plus, we couldn’t hire another person who would put up with the four of us.”

The embellishments never get in the way of the aggression. The combination of dirty and clean vocals create an added dimension to the song structures. “I do the more growly stuff, since I have a deep voice,” says Conelly. The clean vocals are courtesy of Rupp and Haddad, the latter often harmonizing while stomping speedy double-bass parts—pushing his lungs to the limit. “It’s not an ideal situation, I can tell you,” he says. “Especially when I’m about to keel over from exhaustion.”

When it comes to making money from their music, it’s good thing the boys in KTM have day jobs: Conelly is a software engineer, Haddad is a web developer, Scanlon is in real estate and Rupp works as a barista.

“Our biggest goal right now is to get the album in more people’s ears,” Haddad says. The band’s demo has been sent out to labels all over the world. In the meantime, there’s talk of a mini tour with A Human Costume, who shares the bill at the upcoming show at The Caravan Lounge.

Until then, Kill The Messenger just enjoy savoring small moments, like the time Conelly recalls, when a couple fans wanted their copies of From The Ashes signed at a show. “That was trippy.”

Kill The Messenger plays on Jan 29, 10pm, Free at The Caravan Lounge, San Jose.

Talking to guitarist Ricky Dover, Jr., is a study in contrasts. On the phone from Nashville where he and the rest of his blues-glam trio, The Tip, call home, he’s all Southern gentleman. On stage, the Knoxville native is an axe-mangling fool. With a shaggy mane and mirror shades, he’s the epitome of rock excess—louche, lithe and leather-clad.

And the same goes for each of the 11 songs on The Tip’s self-titled album. “This music is about the fun of playing live,” he says. “We recorded pretty much all live. No overdubs, no click tracks.”

Before Dover even met the Carl brothers—Benny (lead vocals/harmonica/rhythm guitar) and Dixie (drums)—he was jamming with fishing buddies in a cover band. “We just wanted to play what we liked, no pop-country shit, no Luke Bryan, none of that.”

One time, backstage at popular Nashville club The 5 Spot, Dover saw a sartorially accomplished guy setting up amps. “I was standing there and we just saw each other and I was like ‘Hey man, cool hair.’ It was an instant connection from that point on,” he says with a laugh.

Judging by the group’s G&R-inspired fashion sense, The Tip might have stepped off Los Angeles’ Sunset Strip circa 1989. But far from glam metal, the band’s swaggering sound toggles between high-octane rock and grimy blues. A third of the songs on The Tip feature Benny blowing a mean Hohner—a bold return for the oft-overlooked instrument.

Besides the fact that the band’s home base can be “kind of clique-y music-wise,” Dover says the real challenge is that it’s crawling with an intimidating level of talent. “On an average night in Nashville you’ll find someone downtown just killing it,” he says. “So having such high caliber musicians on every street corner can be discouraging. But at the same time it inspires musicians to stand out more.” Or at least it inspires the latest crop of rockers. “There’s a lot of new bands we like to play with now, like Hotel War and Feedback Revival and Blackfoot Gypsies.”

Though The Tip certainly aren’t inventing a new sound, they still play their scuzzed-up pool bar stomp like they’re just discovering it for the very first time. Conviction like that can’t be faked, and that level of passion is infectious, even in the most bone-basic riffs, like the three descending power chords of the first single, “Welcome To The Night.”

Literally half the songs on the record—including “Welcome”—“Outta Control,” “Ride Tonight,” “Favorite Sin” “Double Fistin’” and “More, More, More,” are paeans to partying.

While the songs come off as no-nonsense, stripped-down rock & roll, there is some theory underlying the riffage.

The mostly self-taught Dover acquired the bulk of his guitar chops in bands in Nashville and during a stint in Atlanta. However, he rounded out his education at Middle Tennessee State, which has a music program popular with locals.

“It really helped when I learned the Nashville Numbers system,” he says, referring to a methodology for writing music based upon basic chord progressions. “We learned whole songs by shouting out numbers like: ‘1, 4, 5 … ready? Go!’” he says. “Honestly, knowing the language helped in songwriting, because you learn what makes a good song.”

The technique is great for musicians who like playing fast and loose, as changes to songs can be made quickly and improvised on the fly. That’s perfect for The Tip—a band that is currently doing everything themselves. They don’t have a record deal and are self-funding their current tour, but they don’t mind.

“Right now we just want to get out there and play,” Dover says. He takes the view that if the group keeps rocking hard enough, success will follow. “We give 150 percent every night—that’s the first thing you have to show people.”

The Tip play the Caravan Lounge in San Jose on Jan. 21 at 8pm.