Wellington throat, turntable and drum trio The All Seeing Hand is embarking on its annual traverse of Aotearoa this month. Included are two stops in Otago.
The band, which I've previously likened to the sound made by Transformers in the Michael Bay films of the same name, is easily one of this country's most unusual musical acts, a perfectly complete musical anomaly in sound and style.
Crafting an immersive, shamanistic and bodily noise, the band fuses the seemingly disparate musical elements of DJ Alphabethead's battle-influenced turntable work, the punishing punk drumming of B. Michael Knight, and the grunts, barks, and Mongolian throat singing of Jonny Marks into a gateway of machine and emotion without peer.
Already well known for their live performances in indie circles, this year's tour is the first time audiences outside Wellington will experience the accompanying visual universe of Lady Lazer Light.
Lady Lazer Light uses a mix of visual and experiential media to transform performance spaces into ''hallucinatory events''.
Mixing light design, psychedelic imagery and culture collage, much like last year's nightmare-inducing ''blob'' costume the band performed in, Lady Lazer Light pushes the bludgeoning musical experience even further.
''We work really well with Lady Lazer Light,'' Marks said via email the night before the band launched its tour.
''Our ideas and hers often coincide, so it is easy to give her freedom to do what she wants and know that it will bring something that enhances the music. Having the music inhabit her visual worlds brings a stronger sense of narrative, completeness and ritual to the performance.''
Also along for the tour is devastating Wellington avant-bard Seth Frightening, who in March released the fantastic album But We Love Our Brothers and Sisters.
Frightening's soaring unholy hymnal textures and gorgeously plaintive guitar coalesce stunningly, his new album ''a deathly ode to the failings of love, the reality of being nothing and alone forever dead in space''.
''He is a dear friend and a pleasure to tour with,'' Marks says of Frightening.
''In terms of the gigs, it is a great contrast to our bombast; having his intimate style bring people in and open their ears makes the night as a whole feel like a more complete journey.
"His ability to conjure whole stories from a few lines is amazing; and watching him reinterpret his songs and bring them to the now is one of the pleasures of being on tour and seeing him play each night.''
As for the rest of 2015, ''we haven't got anything set in stone after this tour'', Marks reports.
''We have to finish recording and get the album together, and we need to return to Australia before the year is out. We'll keep exploring the sonic avenues that pop up as we play and try and find new ways of being together.''
The shows
• The All Seeing Hand New Zealand Tour 2015, The Deluge with Seth Frightening and visuals by Lady Lazer Light: Thursday, July 16, Sherwood, Queenstown with Little Massive.
Friday, July 17, Chick's Hotel, Port Chalmers, with Astro Children and the Shifting Sands, $10 on the door from 8.30pm.
The Chick's Hotel Magic Bus leaves Countdown Central at 8.30, University of Otago library at 8.35, returning to town after the show.
