Skeleton Key

Skeleton Key should be heralded as an essential part of the glorious wave of mid-’90s rock innovation that includes contemporaries such as Enon, some better-publicized acts, and probably hundreds of others we’ll never hear about. A Lower East Side sensibility informs the band’s funk-laced groove, which is roughed up by the use of junk percussion. Pots, pans, hubcaps and miscellaneous metal objects combine with drums for a feeling of wobbly calamity. The last time the Pitch checked in with Skeleton Key was in January 2004, when leader (and Lounge Lizards alum) Erik Sanko had gotten his band’s career back on track (after almost five years in post-major-label limbo) with an all-new lineup, a fresh album on Ipecac, and another one in the works with producer Bryce Goggin at the helm. Well, the future album was never completed, the Ipecac relationship appears to be no more, and the band has yet again gone through a personnel shakeup. (It’s the same four guys who played here in August 2004.) But never fear. A brand-new EP will be waiting at the merch table, and the distinctive drum-‘n’-junk rhythms are still intact.