Rotting Christ, along with having one of the most recognizable and controversial names in modern music, is one of the earliest and best known of the Greek Black Metal movement. After starting out as a very raw Grindcore band and releasing a number of demos starting in 1988 they switched to a clearly Satanic Black Metal sound influenced by the concurrent Norwegian scene with their third demo “Satanas Tedeum”. They quickly established a sound particular to Greece with early albums such as 1993s “Thy Mighty Contract” and 1996s “Triachy of the Lost Lovers”. Combining the raw sound of early 90s second wave Black Metal with Gothic atmospheres and most recently Greek folk touches this band has many works worth spending time with. Always revolving around two brothers Sakis and Themis Tolis, they have consistently produced albums of quality including the most recent Κατά τον δαίμονα εαυτού in 2013.

Hear it: Too Evil to Have a Human Name with Bill, Sundays 7-9 p.m.

I was hanging out with Big Chocolate at Warped Tour and we watched their live set. It was the first time I had heard of the band, and let me tell you, this band can jam! With a blend of funk, soul, and rock, it all forms into a pop song like you’ve never heard before.

Sonic Youth, one of the few no-wave bands to break into anything even resembling mainstream culture, has done a lot more than simply cover “Superstar” by the Carpenters. Starting in 1981 with noisy guitars and chanted vocals, over the years they have incorporated elements of hardcore, drone, free-jazz, and more traditional rock, though they’ve retained the same sense of independence and strangeness throughout. Bass player, Kim Gordon, and guitarist, Thurston Moore, got married in 1984 which was super cute. Sonic Youth uses alternate tunings, bringing 20+ guitars to each show, to play such killer songs as “Xpressway to Yr Skull”, “Pipeline/Kill Time”, “New Hampshire”. Despite their idiosyncratic methods, Sonic Youth managed to stay on Geffen Records for around 18 years before leaving for Matador in 2008. After breaking up in 2011, due to issues in the marriage between Thurston and Kim, the members of Sonic Youth still have some pretty cool bands that you should check out: Lee Ranaldo & the Dust, Body/Head, Chelsea Light Moving (now just called Thurston Moore), and Spectre Folk.