Dressed in menacing black and sporting enough scary tattoos to make Mötley Crüe envious, Imperative Reaction never fit the bookish stereotype that plagues many electronic acts. Formed in 1996 from the ashes of seminal laptop-rock act D.N.A., the Los Angeles-based outfit set the indie world ablaze with its sophomore effort, Eulogy for a Sick Child. Featuring distorto vocals, robotic synth lines, goth-knocking beats and ominous snippets of movie dialogue, Eulogy helped put the burgeoning genre on the map. A hard-touring American band that sounded like pure Eurotrash, IR became known as one of the few button-pushing groups that was as interesting on stage as it was in the studio. It took more than three years to concoct a follow-up, Ruined, which did away with a few dozen layers of fuzz and added even more throb to the trio's pulsating rhythms. With most of its recent tour dates scheduled in major cities, IR's area stop should provide a rare treat for KC's ebony-clad digikids.
