Brent Amaker and the Rodeo pushing limits of Western sound

If you’ve driven past Neumos on Capitol Hill lately, you can’t help but notice the mural covering the entire building. It’s just the latest eye-catcher from Seattle’s most unconventional country infused outfit Brent Amaker and the Rodeo.

These are not your usual cowboys. Amaker and company have made a name for themselves with their unique, monotone outfits and visually stunning videos to their genre-breaking twang that draws as much inspiration from David Bowie and Devo as it does from country icons like Johnny Cash.

The result is a rollicking, twisted take on country that defies any real labeling. And the band’s sound continues to evolve on their newly released “Year of the Dragon.” The fourth LP from the Seattle outfit came out this week, and is getting plenty of props from the likes of MTV Hive, American Songwriter and even the Wall Street Journal (who knew the Wall Street Journal follows music?)

“For this LP, we’ve pushed the limits of our Western sound about as far as we can. We’re not your average cowboy band. There is a whole lot more of me mixed into this one, and we didn’t limit ourselves to our usual bag of tricks,” Amaker said this week.

The band kicks off a Western states swing with an album release show Saturday night at Neumos before heading south. You can stream the full album at Soundcloud