Street Sects + Terra Toma

Check out any Street Sects album artwork, and you’ll feel like you’ve plunged into the gritty, harsh world of a hardboiled crime novel, a genre famous for its unflinching realism and toughness. Adjectives that can well be applied to the music this duo from Austin, Texas creates, as well. Music is often described as escapism, but when Leo Ashline hollers, shrieks and proclaims hard truths over Shaun Ringsmuth’s pounding, pulsing rhythms, it’s the absolute opposite – it’s as if someone’s forcing your eyes wide open, Clockwork Orange-style, to stare at the ugliest and harshest realities this world has to offer.

Support: Terra Toma