The Thermals

 The Thermals' third and most ambitious album, 2006's exuberant, underrated The Body, the Blood, the Machine, took a little more work than usual to complete. Drummer Jordan Hudson had left the band the year before, and Hutch Harris (vocals, guitar) and Kathy Hudson (bass) were looking to make their music a full-time gig after three years together. Luckily, Kathy Hudson, under the watch of producer Brendan Canty (Fugazi), deftly covered on drums as she and Harris recorded their dark, propulsive peek at a hyper-religious, fascist America of the future. The raw energy captured on this and previous albums comes out full force in the band's live performances. Tonight, the Bottleneck will feel like an old-school basement throwdown.