w/Anna Oxygen, the Badger King, Bobby Birdman, Panther
Vera Project, 1916 Fourth Ave, 956-VERA.

Sat Nov 2, 8 pm, $5.

One wonders why so many poster artists seem afraid of empty space--perhaps because it implies silence in an advertisement for noise. But really, sometimes abundantly crammed text and clip art signal not abundance but a kind of hyperactive insecurity that is just too much.

Andy Abero of 33rpm Design gets empty space. His posters are more about composition than cacophony, even when cacophony is the effect he's after. This particular poster makes the most of the distorted slant of a keyboard (dictating the angle of much of the text) and allows the unruly adapter cord to become its own element. The brown paper it's printed on says "essential." The image says "electronica." The poster says "pop, but unusual."

Much of Abero's current work is music-related, with posters and album art for the Vera Project, the Slender Means Society, EMP, and the Showbox. Really, you should take a look at 33rpm's website (www.33rpmdesign.com) and see how talented he is; my personal favorite is a black Drew Victor & Passing Friends poster, with its echoes of Russian constructivism and Saul Bass' Hitchcock titles--but echoes that have bounced back and forth in the canyon until they become something entirely new. EMILY HALL