The Livers

The Livers have managed to invent something brand-new: a four-person rock band with just two members. Multi-instrumentalists Scott Freeman and Luke Roulston augment their live sound by playing electric guitars in front of a prerecorded video of Freeman on drums and Roulston on bass. Through the magic of painstaking video editing and green-screen wizardry, all four band members have the ability to interact with one another. This setup is both spectacularly effective and logistically bewildering, but without competent songwriting and playing prowess, the Livers would be little more than an interesting live art project. Amazingly, the music is even better than the presentation. The Livers' sound lands somewhere between the Pixies and the Melvins, with a combination of crunchy riffs, catchy lyrics and intimidatingly heavy drum hits.