Max Cooper's Highbrow Techno, Briana Marela's Bedroomtronica, Hermitude
by Dave Segal
WEDNESDAY 5/27
HERMITUDE'S HEAVY DOWN-TEMPO SOUND FROM DOWN UNDER
Australian duo Hermitude (Elgusto and Luke Dubs) make a kind of dawdling dubstep that's surprisingly revelrous despite its slow tempos and ocean-floor bass frequencies. One trick to achieving this paradox is to deploy pitched-up vocals, because who doesn't get giddy over helium voice? The other tropes? Generously using handclaps and dropping in extreme high and low frequencies in alternating passages. Judging by their four-album catalog and the online live clips I've seen, these former hiphop bros will get your hump day bumpin'. With Pressha, Shtickykeys, Pat Nasty, and Altesse. Q Nightclub, 9 pm, $9.86, 21+.
THURSDAY 5/28
MAX COOPER'S HIGHBROW TECHNO HIGH JINKS
Go anywhere in British producer Max Cooper's catalog and you instantly sense you're in the presence of a masterly sound scientist. Using Ableton digital audio workstation, Cooper creates intricate rhythms alongside pointillistic, glitchy textures and poignant melodies. His tracks often split the difference between the classical recital hall and the sweaty underground techno club. Because he's such a skillful technician and arranger, Cooper never lets his music take on the antiseptic quality that afflicts many electronic musicians who eschew hardware. His 2014 debut album, Human, finds Cooper venturing into more accessible songwriting and utilizing conventionally beautiful female vocals while threading ingeniously twisted beats and abrasive tones into the track. Clearly, he doesn't want to be easily categorized, but we can categorically state that Cooper can dazzle you whether he's going for the head-scratchingly complex or the melodically familiar track-making methods. With Michael Manahan & Rob Noble and Kinjo & Miles Mercer. Re-bar, 9 pm, $15, 21+.
FRIDAY 5/29
ANGELIC UPSTART BRIANA MARELA'S INTIMATE ELECTRO-POP
Anyone who's been following Pacific Northwest electronic music and hiphop should know the work of Natasha Kmeto and Katie Kate. Both are hugely talented producers and vocalists who are altering conventional notions of divadom with their self-produced, inventive beats and textural soundscaping. They both ought to be stars by now, but the public can be slow to catch on. Less known at the moment is Briana Marela, a musician/vocalist who toils in the intimate, confessional mode of Jenn Ghetto's S and Jesy Fortino's Tiny Vipers—and does impressive Leonard Cohen and Tuxedomoon covers. Marela's angelic, supple voice caresses your ears, and her minimalist electronic tapestries suggest an appreciation for the starkest output of Laurie Anderson. Recently signed to the big indie label Jagjaguwar, Marela will release All Around Us August 21 and will tour with Jenny Hval this summer. With Natasha Kmeto, Katie Kate, Myani. Kremwerk, 9 pm, $10, 21+. 
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