The Pheromoans
Bar-Rock (Monofonus Press) This locally labeled UK quintet specializes in difficult listening that demands engagement on its own warped terms. Proffering eerie, pitch-shifted vocals against a disorienting backdrop of sparse guitar/keyboard interplay, the Pheromoans reside in the vicinity of avant-punk and denuded psychedelia. Opener “Let’s Meet Our Captains” scrawls a jagged line in the sand with its noisy, broken conclusion that will turn off all but the stoutest curiosity seekers. And yet, as with all cult movements worth their salt, your brain will adjust with repeated exposure. By the time “Finsbury Sound” rolls around, the seemingly slapdash veneer of Bar-Rock takes on an air of twisted majesty. 
This article appears in November 18 • 2011.
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Greg Beets was born in Lubbock on the day Richard Nixon was elected president. He has covered music for the Chronicle since 1992, writing about everyone from Roky Erickson to Yanni. Beets has also written for Billboard,Uncut, Blurt, Elmore, and Pop Culture Press. Before his digestive tract cried uncle, he co-published Hey! Hey! Buffet!, an award-winning fanzine about all-you-can-eat buffets.
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