JOEY SANTIAGO (PIXIES)

THE STORM AFTER THE CALM.

HIS JARRING GUITAR shrieks, grating leads and anti-solo eruptions were unlike anything else when he showed up as the Pixies’ lead guitarist on the late-’80s albums Come On Pilgrim and Surfer Rosa. Joey Santiago’s contribution was a key part of the group’s loud-quiet-loud dynamic, adding tension to calm moments that foretold the sonic cataclysm to come. “I wanted to be in a weird band, and I got really lucky when I hooked up with Charles,” he says, referring to Pixies frontman and co-guitarist Charles Thompson (a.k.a. Black Francis), whom he met in 1986 while the two attended the University of Massachusetts Amherst. From the start he made it clear he hated guitar solos — though, oddly, he cites Wes Montgomery, Brian May and Elliot

Easton among his heroes. His own playing draws more from the work of another source of inspiration: Jimi Hendrix. “It was all very emotional and intuitive,” he says of Hendrix’s guitar playing — and his own. “I rely on vibe now. I think it lends more immediacy to what I do.”

RECOMMENDED TRACK “VAMOS” (SURFER ROSA)

STEPHEN MALKMUS WILL always be most associated with the skewed, slacker indie-rock sound he spearheaded with Pavement in the 1990s. The seminal Californian art rockers were the lords of lo-fi, and their abrasive yet tuneful, abstract and ironic humor have cast a long shadow over alternative rock ever since. Central to the group’s sound and style was Malkmus’s dissonant chords, economical but vibrant melodies — often executed with alternate tunings — and oddball stylings that emphasized personality over skill. Their 1992 studio debut, Slanted and Enchanted, remains an alt-rock landmark, but Malkmus has continued his greatness apart from Pavement with his band the Jicks, as a solo artist and as a collaborator with acts like Silver Jews. His latest release, 2020’s Traditional Techniques, is another left turn, on which he combines 12-string guitar with non-Western instruments from the Balkans, Afghanistan, Nigeria and Persia. “I’m not saying it’s traditional music,” Malkmus explains, “but we do use some traditional instruments. And maybe we’re using them to come up with something new.” No surprise there.

RECOMMENDED TRACK “RATTLED BY THE RUSH” (WOWEE ZOWEE)