The term "Krautrock" refers to Europe's response to American music in the early late 20th Century; typically academic composers got jealous of us, 'cause you know how we rock so hard and are awesome, and they sought to develop (or just incidentally developed) a style of music stripped of any strains of jazz or blues or folk or whatever. It was mechanical, drony, synth heavy, and every bit as trippy as the stuff Americans were doing with their jazz and blues and folk roots. But just like all genres of music, it evolved and mingled with other styles, like when it met disco at a party in Detroit and nine months later techno was born.

There is this band called CAVE from Chicago that is starting to gain a reputation for reconciling 'krautrock' with more American threads of sound: the drums switch from jazzed-out perma-fill to steady motorik, underneath stormy post-punk guitar/bass, and synthlines that would be equally at home on a Doors record as a Dan Deacon one. The band is a tight, psychedelic unit that'll make you want to think and not think at the same time, so do check to them at The Vault tonight (702 Main St., 8pm, $5?), with fellow space cadets Running, Pang, and Gut Pole for a mind-bending good time.