Two bands...

...with a higher capacity to cause insanity, though each with a different approach.

Can - The psychedelic avant-garde jazz-infused German krautrock legends used repetitive polyrhythmic beats to create songs like infectious worms that got inside you and melted your Earthly awareness from the inside. Here's the eighteen and a half minute opus from their debut, Tago Mago (1971), "Halleluhwah."

Can - Halleluhwah (Download)


The Jesus Lizard - No need for prog-rock instrumentation; these dudes took the classic four-man rock lineup and turned it into a living pulsating mass of sonic insanity. They prefer the method of ripping your mind out of you and dragging it down the street until it's beaten senseless. They became legends of the late 80s/early 90s noise rock scene (and favorites of Kurt Cobain) with the help of producer Steve Albini as they brought together driving yet occasionally off-centered midtempo drum beats, menacing bass lines, and manic guitar playing to create a blinding aural windstorm for David Yow to helplessly wail through. At some points on the album he sounds like he's actually stuck in your speaker--think a very soured rabid Isaac Brock sitting in with the guys from Tool in 1991. It's almost scary at a couple points--not scary like black metal but scary like "Interstellar Overdrive" with Syd Barrett sometimes is, or like hearing those old recordings of Charlie Manson playing guitar.
Here are the first three tracks from their second album, Goat (1991). Though the rest of the album is not any worse I just wanted to make a distinction between their eerie repetitive build-up songs like "Then Comes Dudley," and the more crazy stuff.

The Jesus Lizard - Then Comes Dudley (Download)

The Jesus Lizard - Mouth Breather (Download)

The Jesus Lizard - Nub (Download)