Zen Guerrilla: Invisible Liftee Pad/Gap Tooth Clown

Zen Guerrilla's Gap Tooth Clown EP was one of the best releases of 1996. Now that it's been re-released with the 1995 EP Invisible "Liftee" Pad, it's one of the best releases of 1997 as well. In its six years of existence, Zen Guerrilla has gone from swirling psychedelic noise to R&B assault rock, staggering through lock grooves of noise riffs and fast blues progressions until they're a permanent part of your subconscious. The sound is all at once forceful and beautiful—sleazy enough to be go-go music, but pure and brutal enough to positively smoke any mosh pit in existence. All this is granted even greater depth by the arena-rock/acid-addled yells of vocalist Marcus. It's about time the band was picked up by high-profile indie label Alternative Tentacles; Zen Guerrilla is too phenomenal to stay a secret forever.