Cave Bears

Birthed by Nick Williams and Caroline Bren in 2005 as a Hadley, Massachusetts, punk-house "collective exercise in excess," Cave Bears are less warped trad-rock insurgents than Situational melee given gooseflesh, amplification, and a counterfeit license to ill: a mind-fuck cocktail of Culturcide anti-demagoguery, Box the Bunny-era Bunnybrains schizophrenia, and Vieuphoria-interlude Frogs bile. To get the full effect, it's essential to catch their live act, where the band feeds off the audience's collective vibe. -Village Voice Bren committed suicide in April 2020.