Upstairs at the record store Dissonant Plane, Colin Andrew
Sheffield crouches behind a turntable. Touching a few buttons on
his ancient sampler, a quiet murmur trickles out. Frosted with tiny LP
pops, the humble, almost reluctant drone diverges, slowly calving into
a stratified polyphony: a counterpoint where layers, not pinpointed
notes, slide and heave against each other. Crystalline crackles
and a wheezing, flutelike HVAC trill and swerve. In the distance, other
textures loom and creak as if thawing at an impossibly high altitude.
Later, sounds meteorically tumble into a breathtaking avalanche of
shimmers and hums. When it ends, everyone in the audience stays silent,
perhaps savoring or hoping for a phantom echo.
Afterward, the usually reclusive Sheffield mentions he’s part of a
triple bill sponsored by Wall of Sound (Fri Sept 11, Rendezvous, 2322
Second Ave, 10 pm, $5–$15 sliding scale) with Bay
Area–based artist Jim Haynes and Rob Millis.
Heeding the most poetic and concise artist statement I have yet to
read—“I rust things”—Haynes collages radio static,
crumbling leaves, and other audible entropies into delicate sonic
surfaces. This Seattle appearance also marks the opening of an exhibit
at Wall of Sound (Sept 12–Oct 31, 315 E Pine St, 441-9880, free)
of his bruised and mottled photographs. Millis, the other half of
Climax Golden Twins (full disclosure: I performed with Millis in
the Seattle Phonographers Union tentet in mid-2007), remains impishly
unpredictable; going solo, he might strum obscure folk tunes on a
guitar or cue up field recordings from his travels to Nepal and
Southeast Asia.
Earlier that night, Jherek Bischoff follows the classical
tradition of the composer’s birthday concert (Fri Sept 11, Town Hall, 8
pm, $5–$15 sliding scale). To celebrate the big three-oh,
Bischoff has assembled a 40-piece orchestra, a cadre of singers, and
guest musicians, including the amazing singer/violinist Carla
Kihlstedt and conductor Joshua Kohl, co-mastermind of
Degenerate Art Ensemble. There’s even a piece for ukulele and 30
glockenspiels; whimsy aside, it suggests that Bischoff typifies how
the new generation of composers feel fluent in multiple genres, making
orchestral music, playing in pop groups (Bischoff’s bass anchors the
Dead Science), penning film-score cues, and otherwise thwarting and
fucking with the very notion of genre itself.
Further south, the manically fun Reptet open up for Pojama
People (Fri Sept 11, the Mix, 6006 12th Ave S, 7 pm, $15).
Devoted to the music of Frank Zappa, Pojama People team up with
beloved ex-Zappa singer Ike Willis for “Willie the Pimp,” the
proggy “Zoot Allures,” and other favorites. Reptet hop around the
history of jazz with abandon, a fitting complement to the zany yet
intricate flow of Zappa’s music.
