Joan of Arc

Joan of Arc may be one of the most pretentious bands in existence, but it also puts on a kick-ass live show. The group doesn’t come off its throne above the city of Chicago often, but when it does, it almost always ends up snagging a few converts along the way. Nearly every one of its songs relies heavily on noodling guitars that eventually collapse into epic power chords before completely falling apart into a noisy mess, while singer Tim Kinsella makes the postmodern rounds, tapping into the psyche of Gertrude Stein or Samuel Beckett at any given moment to deliver lyrics that don’t make a lick of sense. As long as you can get past all of that, Joan of Arc is an incredible live band that will definitely leave you asking for more — even if you don’t know exactly what you want more of.