Providence is home to forward-thinking Ivy League Brown University and cutting edge Rhode Island School Of Design. The music made by locals Arab on Radar at the turn of the millennium aptly combined the intellectualism and artistic daring of both schools in one noisy package. As primitive and rhythmically adventurous as Captain Beefheart, the band’s four full-lengths are a catalogue of fuzzed-out cacophony that set the stage for Providence’s ongoing prominence as the home of very loud, art-damaged bands. Splintering in 2002, the members continue on in The Chinese Stars and Athletic Automaton..