Dr. Sunshine's X-Ray Machine, March 18 at the Lion's Lair

Five years ago, the music made by Dr. Sunshine's X-Ray Machine probably would have been called "post-rock," mainly because it comprises ethereal introductions and gradual builds to a swirling intensity in sound. Even though the band has songs with titles like "Particles" and "Postcards From the Atomic Lighthouse" and there...

By Tom Murphy

March 15, 2011

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Five years ago, the music made by Dr. Sunshine's X-Ray Machine probably would have been called "post-rock," mainly because it comprises ethereal introductions and gradual builds to a swirling intensity in sound. Even though the band has songs with titles like "Particles" and "Postcards From the Atomic Lighthouse" and there are strands of prog rock in its song structures, Dr. Sunshine (due at the Lion's Lair on Friday, March 18) is steeped in modern psychedelia. If Smashing Pumpkins had taken the sound it had on Gish in a completely different direction and picked up a few tricks from Sky Cries Mary and the bluesier end of Tristeza, it might have sounded something like this. While many of the Doctor's peers only embrace the Syd Barrett side of Pink Floyd, this quintet learned a few things about atmosphere from pre-Final Cut-era Floyd.

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Tom Murphy is a writer, visual artist and musician from Aurora, Colorado. He was a prolific music writer for Westword and a documenter of the Denver music scene.

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Twitter: @simianthinker