WHERE DID GOTH-HOUSE STAR TRUST'S EDGE GO?
Toronto producer Trust (aka Robert Alfons) turned in one of the most interesting goth-house artifacts with 2012's TRST. When it came out, a friend who's a minimal-synth fanatic raved about it incessantly and played it hundreds of times. Clearly, something special was going on with Trust's midnight-blue melodies, efficiently propulsive rhythms, and Alfons and the now-departed Maya Postepski's elegantly tormented, Knife-like singing. But with this year's Joyland, Trust descended into cheesy and saccharine synth pop. This lighter, tamer approach just sounds spineless. But new Seattle duo Crater are definitely worth your time. Their well-crafted and occasionally noisy electronic rock is going to make them a major force in this city's music scene. Also seek out DJAO's recent remix of "Crater Head," which is a gorgeous, hall-of-mirrors hybrid of shoegaze and footwork. Neumos, 8 pm, $15 adv, 21+.
SLOVENIAN HARD-TECHNO MASTER UMEK LIGHTENS UP
Umek is probably Slovenia's top techno DJ/producer. In the 1990s and early '00s, his output was rock-hard and remorseless (1997's Audio is a nasty beast). Umek's recent style has shifted to a more crowd-pleasing, fluffier brand of dance music. I'm not saying Umek's "sold out"; he still keeps things pretty bangin' and stark, but the vibe is less mechanistic/inhuman and more fun-loving. With Tom Flynn and Sean Majors. Q Nightclub, 9 pm, $15 adv, 21+.
ASCEND TO GAREK JON DRUSS'S CELESTIAL DIN
Tonight is the record-release party for Garek Jon Druss's Music for the Celestial Din LP on the great Seattle label Debacle. It's Druss's crowning achievement in a distinguished career, a 17-minute drone and percussion piece that verges on the grave majesty of Popol Vuh's most solemnly beautiful work. You can cop the record—which boasts remixes by Pete Swanson and Ben Chisholm—for $10 at the show. With Crypts member Nick Bartoletti, Total Life and M. Evans. Kremwerk, 9 pm, $5, 21+.
FINK DITCHES FUNKY SAMPLES FOR FOLKY SOUL
English musician/DJ Fink emerged on Ninja Tune when it was perhaps the top source for down-tempo, funky music. His 2000 debut LP, Fresh Produce, was one of the last great triphop records, a witty conglomeration of spoken-word samples, funky breaks, and luxuriously laid-back atmospheres. With 2006's Biscuits for Breakfast, Fink embraced a more song-oriented MO, pushing his decent, coffeehouse-soul voice to the fore, strumming an acoustic guitar, and really getting into rim shots. It's a similar trajectory to Jamie Lidell, although Lidell does the neo-soul-man shtick with more bravado. On the new Hard Believer, Fink continues to stray from his sampledelic Ninja Tune roots, but the album is a good, slow-burning folk-soul opus. (Clearly, this column's theme is artists going off on questionable tangents.) Crocodile, 8 pm, $15 adv, all ages. 
