The Messthetics and James Brandon Lewis

The Messthetics and James Brandon Lewis: Deface the Currency

by Kevin Poindexter
April 3, 2026

The distance between the underground rock scene and the genre-bending free jazz movement of the 1960s is shorter than it appears. On their second full-length collaboration, Deface the Currency, The Messthetics and James Brandon Lewis have managed to erase that distance by uniting the post-punk precision of the jny: Washington D.C hardcore scene with the high-octane energy of Detroit's revolutionary rock heritage. They then forge a powerful bond between “New Thing" avant-garde legends Pharoah Sanders and Sonny Sharrock with the high-energy intensity ...