THE JESUS LIZARD

After breaking up last year, The Jesus Lizard has issued its swan song, featuring tracks previously included on various singles as well as unreleased studio and live cuts from bootlegs that the band tracked down. The Jesus Lizard came from a dingy side of Chicago and more than likely spent a great deal of time in the alley that separates Chicago’s traditional gritty blues from the no-wave, post-punk, performance-art crowd. Somehow the band comfortably bridges that gap. Combining solid rhythms with jaw-dropping guitar playing and spastic vocals, the band tears through every second of Bang. From tales of a homosexual gangster man tied up on my floor in “Glamorous” to the desperate repeated chorus of I can’t swim! on a live version of “Seasick,” frontman David Yow howls garbled stories at the listener. While sometimes frightening, it’s the aural equivalent of a car crash: disturbing and a bit inhuman but unabashedly intriguing.