Tues. Dec. 12

You want to make a statement? Call your first record (done back in 1980) "All Corpses Smell the Same" and watch the reaction. We've thought about and think: "Yeah, it's probably true." And, man, there's far too many corpses piling up, then and now. The Ex, a left-wing, Netherlands-based band that made that disc, are still at it more than a quarter-century down the road. There's a lot of personnel changes (even an Ex Orkest) along the way and music that's ranged from punk to rock to jazz to folk to rap to noise. (If you're a former member of The Ex you get to be an ex-Ex.)  We know they still play shows all over Holland and toured Italy in May with London sax player John Butcher, followed by a French tour with poet Anne-James Chaton. But who are they ex-actly and what do they sound like now? Our buddy and Phoenix music editor Matt Ashare did the work on that - he saw them play the Touch & Go festival in Chicago in September - and reports in this week's Phoenix that founding singer G.W. Sok and guitarist Andy Moor are still in the Ex fold and puts them in the very good company of post-punk bands the Fall and Pere Ubu. We can simply say that if you're inquisitive about what an ararcho band from years back sounds like today and have a yen for fractured rhythms and guitar bursts, go to the Middle East Downstairs, where they play with Aloha and DJ Rupture on Tuesday Dec. 12. Show starts at 9 p.m. Tickets: $10

472 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, 617-864-3278 mideastclub.com