Portland’s Tango Alpha Tango make Monterey debut at Pierce Ranch Vineyards.

Tango Alpha Tango’s version of “In My Time of Dying” moves with a hypnotic opium den rhythm as it unfolds into industrial psychedelic blues. Think Trent Reznor meets Entrance Band. While the traditional blues tune, which dates back to the ’20s, has been immortalized by the likes of Blind Willie Johnson, Bob Dylan and Led Zeppelin, Tango Alpha frontman singer/guitarist Nate Trueb never treads anywhere near familiar territory. The 8-minute-plus cover is a collage of electronic dissonance, featuring moments of tribal percussion, vocal effects and some gnarly guitar solos.

“It came out of nowhere,” Trueb explains.

When drummer Joey Harmon and bassist Mirabai Carter-Trueb join in, the vocals for “In My Time of Dying” seeped out of Trueb naturally. TAT began performing the tune live a few years back, then learned they could include it on their last record Black Cloud because no one owned the rights to the lyrics.

The accompanying originals, including “Mona Lisa’s Death,” have a more straightforward classic rock feel – with some pop elements – driven by well-above-average guitar skills.

Trueb describes TAT’s forthcoming release White Sugar, out March 19, as between raw rock and roll and pop.

White Sugar’s opening track, “I Gotta Girl,” hooks you with a crunchy guitar riff that could be out of the Dinosaur Jr. playbook, circa early ’90s. Trueb’s solo, a fusion of garage slop and technical rock and roll shredding, echos J. Mascis.

Trueb says the band flourishes live, when they are most creative.

“During our live show, we leave a lot of room for improvisation so we can see if something new could happen,” Trueb says.

Lillie Lemon opens.

TANGO ALPHA TANGO 8pm Friday, Jan. 29. Pierce Ranch Vineyards, 499 Wave St., Monterey. $10. 372-8900, www.piercevineyards.com