I approached Monday’s Western Meds show with a fair amount of trepidation. The group’s members — Rod Bryan, TJ Deeter, Casey Stuart, Charles Wyrick — all play or have played in some of my favorite bands, groups like the Boondogs, Ho-Hum and W/O, but while I celebrate the idea of experimental noise, witnessing an hour of it live ain’t exactly my top pick of things to do on a Monday night.

The Meds far, far exceeded my expectations. Experimental? Sure. But noise? Not even. The dudes kicked out deep, hypnotic grooves. Drum programmer Casey Stuart, a relatively new addition, dropped stuttering, chest-shaking beats that were as fresh and progressive as anything in hip-hop I’ve heard lately. On the turntables, TJ Deeter worked in blips and lyrical snippets that goaded the music along. Guitar whiz Charles Wyrick pulled synth-y skronk out of a Qchord, a weird cousin of the keytar, and Rod Bryan sat in the pocket on bass some and used it for melodic flourishes some.

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Local art whiz Cameron Holifield debuted his companion psychedelic video art last night, too. As awesome as Western Meds sounded, anything that’s groove-oriented and jam-y needs something to entertain the eye. Holifield’s work far and away filled that need. He told me he hopes to rig a keyboard to his projector, so in the future he’ll be able to “play” images along with the other dudes.

If you’re hosting a local art or fashion show, a cocktail party for people with relatively progressive musical tastes or you’re a rapper looking for some futuristic beats, take note of the Western Meds.

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