Strange medicine

There was once a time when people entertained the notion that an artist could “sell out.” This was accomplished by an artist doing such nefarious deeds as signing a contract with a major record label, allowing their music to appear on commercials and, worst of all, altering their musical style in a way that was not to a fan’s personal liking.

In no genre was this less true than in that small dusty section near the back of the record store labeled “experimental,” where a fair-weather indie fan fear tread lest he or she be crushed after accidentally knocking over the stack of unsold Merzbow records.

These days, the people who found it necessary to attack artists for promoting their music are now selling their Merzbow LPs for $100 a piece. While they weren’t looking, some of the most innovative and uncompromising noise artists have started applying their outsider music perspectives to a variety of genres.

This has been especially present in an emerging scene in Los Angeles centered around the all-ages venue The Smell. No Age, Abe Vigoda and Health are a few bands that frequent the venue and take heavy metal, tropicalia and dance music, respectively, in exciting new directions by applying unconventional instrumentation, tempo changes and the endless possibilities of the remix.

Of these three emerging groups, Health is the most exciting and diverse, and their upcoming show at the Wonder Ballroom with Of Montreal is not to be missed.

Their eponymous debut album, released last year, is a harrowing journey through the world of noise music and is a good summary of all its permutations up until that point. Critics have noted this to a fault, but the tracks are noticeably more brief and less pretentious than some of their less listenable peers.

The instrumentation is largely guitar, bass, vocals and a few more drums plugged into a few more pedals than your standard psychedelic band would be able to operate as efficiently. Despite their pounding rhythms and tendency to challenge rather than simply offend the listener, few would have guessed Health’s next step.

The idea of releasing a remix album consisting of no original material from the band itself, and featuring many of last year’s songs remixed more than once, even in the post-sellout world seems like a slap in the face to fans.

While the band itself has had little hand in the making of Health//Disco other than providing samples, some of which are hardly recognizable, the album succeeds on all levels.

Crystal Castles lend the band some brand-name indie heft on their haunting remake of “Crimewave,” but it’s Acid Girls’ two different yet essential takes on “Triceratops” that turn what could be viewed as laziness or novelty into a unique homage to Health’s influences.

One key to the success of Health, and other bands that rethink the experimental label, is the emergence of a subgenre called blog house, a genre that Health, along with Justice, may be defining at the moment.

It is defined as electronic music that features many signifiers of experimental music and is noisier and often more lo-fi than other forms of house music. It is also distributed on blogs, according to some.

The blogosphere has led Health to recent high-profile opening spots. In addition to the aforementioned Of Montreal, whom they will close out their tour with, Nine Inch Nails has also had the privilege of sharing the stage with them this year.

All in all, it has been a good year for Health, and hopefully their upcoming show will feature unreleased material that takes into account their electronic dance influences and continues their original fusion of spastic noise and drums, a marriage that should promptly be vaulted to ever more unpredictable heights.

Healthw/ Of MontrealRoseland TheaterNov. 20, 8 p.m.$17 at the doorAll ages