GAVIN FROOME
Vancouver producer Gavin Froome's 2001 disc Post + Beam (Nordic Trax) oozed frictionless house music with wan sprinklings of "soul" and beats like the door knocks of tentative gentlemen callers. You can eat off these productions; innocuous is the operative word. Froome's certainly good at what he does, but his stuff really is the dance-world equivalent of "lite jazz." While many big-ballin' DJs love the cat, I think St. Germain does this shtick much better. Froome's new disc, Underground Heroes, homages his house-music influences, and shows much more vigor and diversity than his other albums. SeeSound Lounge, 115 Blanchard St, 374-3733, 11 pm-2 am, 21+, $5.
SATURDAY JANUARY 15
STEVE FISK, FOSCIL, SUN VOW, GREG JASPAN
I've been into Steve Fisk since his early days in Zen instrumental combo Pell Mell. The producer extraordinaire (Nirvana, Beat Happening, Screaming Trees, etc.) issued the strangest (and my favorite) record in Sub Pop's long history, 2001's 999 Levels of Undo. The album sounds like a proverbial mad scientist unleashing years of pent-up creativity in a phenomenal counterpoint to all the trad rock bands over which he had to patiently sweat to make rent. Undo is one of those sui-generis discs--abstract breakbeat surrealism doesn't even come close to defining it--that defies time's ravages. Let's hope tonight Fisk busts out something similarly inspirational. Visuals by Killing Frenzy. Lower Level (CHAC), 1621 12th Ave, 9 pm-2 am, 21+, $7.
WEDNESDAY JANUARY 19
SON OF ROSE
Looking like Matthew Dear's Asian brother, sport-jacketed Son of Rose (Kamran Sadeghi) unassumingly coaxed a beguiling stream of 0s and 1s from his laptop at a recent Lower Level gig. It was fantastic in all senses of the word and lifted me out of my typical holiday grouchiness (can we ban all carols forever, please?). Seattle's Son of Rose operates in the heady, abstract arena normally dominated by severe-looking Germans who use lots of Rausches and Klangs in their track titles. Our guy has burst on the scene with an arsenal of inventive, beautiful microsound compositions that shows astounding potential. Pay close attention. Living:Room, 4301 Fremont Ave, www.living-roomseattle.org, 7 pm-11 pm, 21+, free.
