The best bands are the ones where playing “nail down the primary influence” is next to impossible. Take for example Wand, which is often tagged a “psychedelic rock band”, the problem being that doesn’t even begin to cover things.

Give the quartet’s latest record, Golem, a spin, and you will indeed hear traces of the sound that’s made Tame Impala the best thing to come out of Australia since the discovery of psilocybe subaeruginosa shrooms. And, yes, Wand does indeed rock like fuck on tracks like “Caveism”. But the great thing about Golem is that there’s so much more going on, with “Flesh Tour” jumping headfirst into a strain of electronica that’s about a million miles removed from anything happening in popular EDM, and “Planet Golem” doing its best to out-weird alt-nation lunatics the Butthole Surfers.

Catch Wand at the Cobalt on Saturday (April 11). If you arrive early enough, you might get some answers as to what’s on singer Cory Hanson’s iPod, seeing as how there’s nothing he likes better than a pre-gig run, and the False Creek seawall happens to be right near the club. Then again, nailing him down might be impossible, which would only be fitting.