Des Moines, yet another place where Bugs Bunny took a wrong turn on his way to Pismo Beach, is the home of Holy White Hounds, a genre-defying alt-rock band that flouts definition including that of genre-defying alt-rock band. Founded in 2005, this fearsome foursome plays angular rock with a refreshing newness and differentness powered by aggressive guitar beneath plaintive melodies. Holy White Hounds sounds like nothing else you've heard playing under the broad-minded indie-quirk umbrella without totally succumbing to the weight of the weird.

Holy White Hounds plays with Buffalo Sex Change and Diluted on Thursday, July 28, at Bug Jar, 219 Monroe Avenue. 7 p.m. $9.41. bugjar.com; holywhitehounds.com.