Demigods of the lo-fi underground, Neil Hagerty and Jennifer Herrema of Royal Trux have released a slew of weird records since 1988. Most infamously unfathomable is the double platter Twin Infinitives, which ranks as one of the most out-there avant-garage albums of the past decade. Cats and Dogs is Royal Trux's fourth and most accessible LP, but it's still pretty disorienting. At its groggy best,...

Virginia's Royal Trux mix bad Company biker blues, Southern rock, synthesized AM drivel and arty college experimentation like an underage bar goer mixes drinks: slamming 'em down till they come back up as regurgitated sonic swill. Combine that with a trailer-trash-chic image – skintight bell-bottoms, cowboy boots and whiskey-warped expressions – and you have an underclass shtick that has...

The last time I saw Royal Trux, they pulled into town in a road-worn van, unloaded a cheesy drum machine and a few guitars and amps and played a set so extreme, some of the alternophiles in the audience wondered aloud if it was even music. The group was the Trux nucleus of ex-Pussy Galore guitarist Neil Hagerty and voice-shredder supreme Jennifer Herrema. Hagerty played basic riffs and squalls of...