pure SHIFTER is a Minneapolis band blending eclectic influences into an energetic and off-kilter mix. Their music filters snarkily intellectual indie/punk ethos through a modern electronic/dance prism. The resulting songs cycle through acerbic disco think-pieces, oblique bangers, and earnestly reflective psych-pop grooves.
pS’s founder and core songwriter, career nobody John Genz (vocals, programming, guitar), has been playing and home recording for several years, quietly reshaping his set from Mountain Goats influenced guitar demos into wide-screen electro-punk tooth-rattlers.
In 2019 Genz was joined by Doug Deitchler (Beasthead) whose work with arrangements, keyboards, and vocal manipulations focused and solidified the group’s sound, while drummer and cat-enthusiast Mitch Miller (Stolyette) energized their kinetic live shows.
With great effort, pURe sHIFTER have accepted the late-capitalist imperative to understand all interpersonal relationships as forms of marketing. Despite this, cultural production continues to find ways of challenging accepted power dynamics, opening up unmarshalled spaces where sound, art, and movement can still produce real feeling and connection. Pure Shifter is the soundtrack to this tension.
