Wednesday, March 14   12:00 a.m.
The Tap Room at Six   (117 W 4th St)

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  ALOKE - Nameless
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It is a stunning moment walking into an Aloke show. It might be at any number of New York nightlife haunts. Or in the basement of a Chinatown pizza parlor. Or at the end of the night at a hidden Brooklyn art gallery.

There are the three members on the stage, bodies and instruments moving in musical forms -- waves of guitar, bass and drums washing over an audience that moves simultaneously with concentrated gazes, cultishly enraptured by the power of the band. The intensity is infectious. Bystanders at the bar cease incidental conversations. Fans shout remembered lyrics. Their music is that powerful -- it conjures noise from the silent and movement from the still.

They are a band of such visceral intensity that it is only natural that their debut album was recorded live, in front of an audience and straight to tape. Faults are laid bare, but they are eclipsed by the moments of raw power and genuine energy that recording studios so often fail to capture. The audible imperfections of the live atmosphere -- the false starts, the sounds of an excited crowd -- are the manifestations of the openness of the music. There is no holding back -- and there's no need to. The songs of "One Day We Will Kill You" are propulsive and rhythmic -- moving between dense punk rock energy and melodic refrains. But even when the band quiets down, there seems to be some menacing threat lurking in the open spaces and around every corner -- a welcome and exciting sense of danger.

Over the past year and a half the band has performed relentlessly across the New York club scene, establishing a devout following in the process. The Village Voice noted of Aloke that "they shovel out creepy, loud, grueling beauty" and we couldn't have put it any better. "One Day We Will Kill You" is the first document of a band who have managed to put their immense desire and determination to disc.