Doctor Nerve

About

Also known as: Dr. Nerve

Doctor Nerve is the brainchild of New York guitarist and composer Nick Didkovsky, who built the group into one of the more genuinely odd corners of progressive and avant rock. The music sits somewhere between heavy metal, jazz, and contemporary composition, full of sharp tempo shifts, dissonant harmonies, and complex rhythms that sound chaotic but are actually worked out to the last note. Didkovsky even composes using algorithmic computer programs he developed himself, including a Java music API called JMSL. The band has been active since the early 1980s, releasing records on Cuneiform and Didkovsky's own Punos Music label. Key releases include Armed Observation, SKIN, and the collaboration with the Sirius String Quartet on Ereia. Influences range from Fred Frith and Frank Zappa to Iannis Xenakis and Motörhead, which tells you a lot about where Doctor Nerve sits on the musical map.