There’s been a drift (heh) toward beatless, or at least subliminally rhythmic, ambient electronic-music composition in Data Breaker’s coverage lately. What does it mean? Well, it could derive from the fact that I’m mellowing the fuck out after a lifetime of stressful music journalism and unrelenting deadlines (yo, this column is late). Or it could mean that we’re experiencing another (chill)wave of better-than-average music that eschews beats for atmospheric keyboard washes and beatific tone float. Perhaps it’s a combination of the two things. You figure it out; I’m past deadline and must stop this navel-gazing.
Anyway, Seattle, under the auspices of Gift Tapes, has the good fortune and sense this week to host European synth caresser SOS, Portland’s Pacific City Nightlife Vision Band (featuring Skaters’ Spencer Clark and members of Eat Skull), and local analog radiation generators Brother Raven. If you feel as if modern life is conspiring to grind you to dust, or if you just like excellent, spacey music, you need to hit this gig.
SOS coaxes out keyboard ambrosia that soars deep into the starry void; her alternate-reality Cosmos soundtracks would surely delight Mr. Sagan. SOS’s unhokey synth voyages alternately waver with tranquility and fibrillate with exquisite tension. In the latter mode, SOS’s productions recall the infernal, proto-industrial sound clouds of early Kluster. In the former style, she makes some of that new new-age that’s all the rage now—tempered by the compositional intricacies and tonal depth of Pauline Oliveros and Wendy Carlos—and it sounds like it will age well.
Pacific City Nightlife Vision Band are too new to have a reliable net presence, or I’m too dense to figure out their Last.fm page, so I’ve not heard their music, but their pedigree is renowned among drone and lo-fi aficionados (fact: Skaters ruled), so one anticipates high times from them. Brother Raven (Jason E. Anderson and Jamie Potter) seek escape from earthly bonds via translucent emanations that sigh, hiss, and gurgle out of analog synthesizers. They follow a path many a human of above-average intelligence has trod, but they do it with a meticulous skill that sets them above the common herd of studious studio boffins. Brother Raven’s music veritably freezes time and renovates your inner space, at a very reasonable price. 
SOS, Pacific City Nightlife Vision Band, Brother Raven perform Thurs Feb 18, 8 pm, all ages.
This article has been updated since its original publication.
