SLOW MUSIC'S SUPER-REFINED CHAMBER JAZZ
(Triple Door) Holy shit, Robert Fripp’s going to be playing two dates in Seattle! But don’t expect selections from Evening Star or Exposure or a medley of greatest non-hits by King Crimson (who are reunited, by the way). The British guitar innovator’s here as part of the ensemble Slow Music, an odd conglomeration of rock vets including R.E.M. guitarist Peter Buck, percussionist Bill Rieflin (Swans, R.E.M.), drummer Matt Chamberlain (Critters Buggin, Pearl Jam), and bassist Fred Chalenor (Hughscore). As Slow Music, they create a kind of intimate ambient sound that hints at ECM-ish chamber jazz abstraction. It’s super-refined and minimal, demanding utmost focus to appreciate the minute, elegant contours and subtle gestures. So stifle your shouts for “21st Century Schizoid Man”; ain’t gonna happen. DAVE SEGAL
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EXPLORE THE PSYCHEDELIC ECOSPHERE WITH HOLY WAVE, GOAT AND MIDDAY VEIL
(Neumos) We have Goat well covered in Sound Check and Suggests, and we’ve established in these pages that Seattle’s Midday Veil rank high in the region’s psychedelic-music ecosphere, so let’s focus on Holy Wave. The Austin, Texas, group flow through the standard psych-rock motions with a heavy-lidded competency. On their 2014 album Relax, they sound like earnest students of the form; the record’s a mellow mixture of song tropes explored in depth and with some success by bands like Brian Jonestown Massacre and Tame Impala. Holy Wave’s repertoire includes some guitar jangle, some reverbed and Leslie-speakered vocals, some opiated song structures, some elegant, massed-guitar rave-ups à la Ride. It’s solid stuff. DAVE SEGAL
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Check out Sound Check's coverage of Goat here »
TINARIWEN'S NOMADIC DESERT ROCK
(Benaroya Hall) This is the origin story of Tinariwen’s founder, named Ibrahim Ag Alhabib, via Wikipedia: “As a child he saw a western film in which a cowboy played a guitar. Ag Alhabib built his own guitar out of a tin can, a stick and bicycle brake wire.” That's some rock-and-roll shit, right there. A group of Tuareg musicians hailing from Mali, Tinariwen play a low-slung, droning take on what we in the West would call psych, allowing their grooves to ululate and distend in the humidity of their playing, as guitars, flutes, fiddles and hand drums wind slowly around each other. It's ominous-sounding at times, celebratory at others, but never anything less than riveting. KYLE FLECK
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And here's all our recommended music events—tonight, tomorrow, this weekend, and beyond!
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