The shrike-like tanager was formally described in 1823 by the German naturalist Hinrich Lichtenstein under the binomial name Tanagra fasciata.

[2][3] The species is now the only member of the genus Neothraupis that was introduced in 1936 by the Austrian ornithologist Carl Eduard Hellmayr.

[4][5] The genus name combines the Ancient Greek neos meaning "new" and thraupis, the word for an unknown small bird, perhaps some form of finch.

[5] The plumage of the shrike-like tanager is remarkably similar to that of several species of shrikes in the genus Lanius, but these Corvoidea are quite distantly related songbirds.

It has a total length of about 16 cm (6+1⁄4 in) and weighs 29–32 g. It is a bird native to the interior of south-central South America at elevations of 550–1,100 m (1,800–3,610 ft).