Brainiac

About

Brainiac was an experimental indie rock band during the 1990s known for its jarringly spastic style. The Dayton, Ohio-based group formed in 1992, originally combining jittery aggression with oddball instrumentation to form a herky-jerky form of synthpunk. Following Smack Bunny Baby, its 1993 debut LP, Brainiac continued to explore the strange and peculiar sides of noise rock and post punk on subsequent albums, perhaps best embodied by the band's 1994 sophomore offering, Bonsai Superstar. By the mid-1990s, the group was starting to emerge from the underground, riding the strengths of its eccentricities to major label interest and tours with The Breeders, Beck and The Jesus Lizard. In 1997, during pre-production for what was to become Brainiac's major label debut, lead singer Tim Taylor was killed in a car accident, suddenly putting a stop to the band's unique take on experimental and sinister indie rock.