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.recommended