INTERVIEWSTHE INCREDIBLE STRING BAND

Mentally wipe away the Faerie Tale cutesiness and these British freak-folk progenitors are revealed as uncompromising visionaries. A twisting, turning epic like the 13-minute "A Very Cellular Song," from 1968's masterpiece The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter, wove together strands that few bands would even try and grasp again until Animal Collective came along. Cycling vocal rounds, non-rock instrumentation, and amoebic song-structures elicit wonder, while the joy comes from the ISB's obvious belief that that the only rule worth following is this: Do what thou wilt.

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