Kevin Bronson on May 30th, 2016

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When we first heard Vs Colour live last year, a friend whispered “This is the least same-ol’-same-ol’ band you will see around here.” And indeed, at first blush the disparate musical elements of the L.A. underground faves are like unmatched socks, and maybe frayed at that. There are the jazzy riffs over the funky bass in an unvarnished bricolage narrated by singer Joe Bates’ unsteady but entirely believable wounded art-rocker voice. Just when you think you might have figured out a song structure, Vs Colour gets soft, or freaks out, or plays some chord you swear you’ve never heard before. Bates and his bandmates — guitarist Alex Belmonte, drummer Ivan Wayman and bassist Wolf Woodcock — do it all in punk-as-hell fashion, leaving you to pick out the pretty parts when they’re not making an unholy racket. Last year they released their seven-track album “9-9-D9,” which includes “Golden Years” (a wink at a late rock icon, we imagine), and they’ve been showcasing some new tunes during this month’s residency at the Hi Hat.

||| Stream: “Golden Years” and “Fear Down by the River”

||| Live: Vs Colour wind up their residency at the Hi Hat tonight, joined by QunQ, Western Scene and WRMS.