Psychotica: Psychotica

Psychotica is the over-the-top New York sextet that won an opening slot on this year's all-male Lollapalooza line-up, despite the fact that only a handful of people had ever actually heard the band's music. Led by proudly androgynous freak Patrick Briggs—he's like that dope in Marilyn Manson, but without the bizarro-land cult following—Psychotica put out its first-ever album after the high-profile tour was over, and that may not have been a bad idea: If fans had heard the record before the pre-concert hype kicked in, they probably wouldn't have given a damn about Psychotica or its deliriously odd visual performances. The music is unapologetically raided from David Bowie (for the androgyny and similar vocal delivery), Pink Floyd (for the spaciness of the arrangements) and many, many more. And while you have to respect Briggs for fighting to bring danger and theatrics to rock, the album itself is derivative and shrill, and not nearly as extreme as it wants to be.