After spending seven years in New Orleans immersed in the arts, Anthony Taylor has returned home and founded what has become one of the more creative bands in Colorado. Kongtoss (a reference to low grade Mardi Gras beads) could be described as somewhere between high-energy world music and heavy eclectic rock. “My favorite response so far”, says Taylor, “is that I sound like Billie Holiday if she were a crazy white boy”.

Completing the cast are Shaun Foy (guitar), Lane Argenbright (bass), and Shawn McGuire (drums). “We don’t have a rigid formula”, says Foy. “We’re not trying to con anyone, and our audiences appreciate that.”

A handful of recordings have surfaced, but the strength of Kongtoss is found most obviously in their live shows. They portray a kind of foreboding philosophy. An idea that the band might be running a psychological experiment, and if you don’t get in on the joke, bad things might happen. Something bigger seems to get involved when Kongtoss plays. Bigger than the band itself. It’s this intangibility that makes their shows so provocative.

In a musical landscape of homogenized rock and roll cheeseburger commercials, Kongtoss has picked up the flag for anyone still interested in something different. A lot of people are going to hate them. Just the way it should be.