Sterilize Stereo

 Ă‚“Annie McGee” by Sterilize Stereo, from Bugs and Daymares:

Stephanie Kersley, keyboardist and mandolin player for Sterilize Stereo, is my next-door neighbor. Her apartment will soon be vacant, though, because her band is piling into a school bus (purchased supercheap from a guy in Chicago) and heading to Portland, Oregon, to live together and continue making music. That's too bad, because no one else around sounds quite like Sterilize Stereo, which makes a cabaret-storming fusion of Captain Beefheart, gypsy music and Soul Coughing. The guitar player apes Richard Thompson, despite never having heard of the British master (I asked), and the hammy frontman — Kersley's brother, Jake — really can sing, which is kind of a rare thing on the local scene. Eat it up, Northwest. This weekend's shows are Sterilize's last area performances. The band is joined by fellow unknown local act Adamant Eve (sparse, riffy grunge rock) and equally low-profile but really good St. Louis Southern rock band Red Water Revival. It's off-the-radar stuff, but worth checking out.