It's a rite of passage in this town for arts geeks to slag On the Boards for doing too much or too little of their preferred art (or failing to book their acts). While OtB remains overdue in staging a lights-out concert of electroacoustic music, I'm heartened that their Northwest New Works festival showcases avant sounds in tandem with adventurous movement and dance.

Here's what appeals to my ears: Foot in Mouth (Mainstage, April 4 and 5) features Ivory Smith and Eryn Young, two singers who create astonishing electronically frazzled soundscapes with their voices and a couple of guitar pedals. Between acts, Sheri Cohen (outside OtB, April 4 and 5) exploits the sound of her sylphlike dance with a live mixed-and-sampled soundtrack of her own movements. Ellen Fullman, chiefly known for her Long String Instrument, unveils a video-and-sound installation created in collaboration with VIA and John Dixon (Studio Theater, April 11 and 12). Avant pianist and gig organizer Gust Burns (Mainstage, April 11 and 12) has written Secession Etudes, a series of short studies for small improvising ensemble, while Joshua Kohl of the Degenerate Art Ensemble has composed a score for the Three Tangos of Alethea Adsitt (Mainstage, April 11 and 12). Eyvind Kang contributes music to Maureen Whiting's The Continuous Humiliating Process of Being Human/Rats (Studio Theater, April 18 and 19) while Corrie Befort and Tom Baker (Mainstage, April 18 and 19) reprise their collaboration from last year's Composer/ Choreographer 6. Their Fold Upon Fold includes an enticing cascade of bamboo sticks that still haunts my ears. CHRISTOPHER DeLAURENTI

Northwest New Works Festival runs Fri and Sat April 4-19 at 7:30 pm in the Studio Theater and 9 pm on the Mainstage (On the Boards, 100 W Roy St, 217-9888), $8/$12/$15.

chris@delaurenti.net