SXSW Records

Woodgrain

This local quartet's instrumental space jams seem custom-made for the dude-rock stables of ATX's Australian Cattle God Records: a thick finish of prog-metal courtesy of bass and double synth, drummer Russell McCallister leveling each track with octopuslike grace, and song titles like "Poop Girl." Woodgrain's 12-song debut is short and sweet, not interested in wasting time with pesky guitar solos. In fact, on "Mexican Coke," "Hitman," and "Selsun" you hardly miss them, too busy following the foursome down the rabbit hole of odd time signatures and antsy rhythms. The tail end of The Bronze gets repetitive, leaving the music more trancelike than spastic, but as a debut it's equal parts future electro weirdness and old-school metal ideals. They even put a spaceman centaur on the cover, so you know they're for real. (Thu., 10:40pm, Headhunters.)