Chris DeLine

Pop quiz: Name a band from Los Angeles that has connections with a Nobel Prize winner, St. Louis Park, and Trent Reznor. Give up? The answer is eclectic California rock quartet Autolux. The band formed in 2000 when Carla Azar and Eugene Goreshter met while writing the score for Accidental Death of an Anarchist, a play written by Nobel Prize winner Dario Fo. By March of 2001, Autolux had rounded out into its present lineup and released the self-produced Demonstration EP. While the band was performing in support of the EP, they were “discovered” by T-Bone Burnett and signed to his DMZ label. (Burnett had founded DMZ with a pair of brothers from St. Louis Park known for writing and directing such modern cinema cult classics as The Big Lebowski, Raising Arizona, and Fargo—Joel and Ethan Coen.) Autolux would go on to release their first full-length in 2004, Future Perfect, which was met with critical acclaim and led to a variety of high-profile tours and performances over the next year and a half. They played with acts such as the White Stripes and Beck—and, later, were personally asked by Trent Reznor to open for Nine Inch Nails. In addition to touring, the band are in the process of recording their second full-length, tentatively titled Transit, which is set to be released sometime later this year. Also performing will be L.A.’s Mini Mansions and locals First Communion Afterparty. 18+.

[This critics’ pick was originally published by City Pages.]