WORLD-MUSIC LAUREATE ALAN BISHOP
More hardcore experimental-music persons might know Alan Bishop as a member of outer-space-based avant-garde ensemble Sun City Girls, or as cofounder of Seattle label Sublime Frequencies, which has exposed some of the most distinctive musical oddities this side of the Fourth World. With inspirations ranging from psychedelic rock, to free jazz, to found sound, Bishop's set will rivet with extrasensory sonic emissions. Tonight marks the release of Radio Moderna, his new tape (via local cassette label Alterity 101) composed of real-time improvisations for radio. With r millis and Noisepoetnobody. Josephine, 8 pm.
SAM FLAX'S RETROFIED SPACE POP
On "Fire Doesn't Burn Itself," the opening track from Age Waves (Burger Records), sharp art-pop dude Sam Flax wrangles in the weird. With groove-centric and well-executed retro moves, Flax invokes a sort of '80s electro-pop meets easy-morning glam/soft garage-rock vibe. His skewed pop should reel in more adventurous music fans, ones perhaps excited by the prospect of Paul McCartney's Ram reincarnated as interstellar funk. The folks at Cairo conduct curatorial magic yet again with this solid bill, also with San Francisco new-wave dreamers Part Time, Punishment's soothing synth freak-outs, and Mega Bog's haunted pop. Cairo, 8 pm.
BLISS OUT TO WHIRR'S NU GAZE
If you missed My Bloody Valentine, be sure to head over to the Vera Project tonight to satiate your ache for 'gaze in a more sonically blessed setting. Oakland-based doomgazers Whirr are indebted to the distorted majesty of '90s shoegaze, with former doom-metal guitarist Nick Bassett adding a touch of gloom to the band's catatonic pop swirl. As heavy as it is pretty, Whirr's euphoric doom is transfixed in nearly atonal coos and ringing guitars, all unwinding with slow-motion urgency. With soft female vocals buried deep in the fuzz, Whirr usher in a dream of sweeping sighscrapers intersecting with the beyond. Their latest, Around (Graveface Records), is their spaciest yet, often threatening to overflow into limitless post-rock grandiospheres. On tour with delightful chainsaw-gazers Nothing, and with even more forlorn wonder from Vibragun and Nostalgist, it should make for a night of never-ending sighs. Vera Project, 7:30 pm, $8 adv/$10 DOS.
