San Francisco Alternative Music Festival
Wed/12-Sun/16, various locations

HOW DOES ONE describe the music of bassist Adam Lane, which – to quote the San Francisco Alternative Music Festival guide – incorporates "an eclectic blend of expressive horns, strings, shrieking spoken word segments, pinging electronics, and the occasional vacuum cleaner"? The task is by no means simplified when his compositional influences are added to the mix: Mingus, Ellington, Stockhausen, Melt Banana, new Japanese punk, and '50s sci-fi sound tracks. Which is why, somewhere along the line, someone took a look at a ball of sound, joined in some cases only by the adventurous spirits of those who make it, threw in the towel, and called it "new music." The handle is faceless and opaque, not to mention misleading – which might explain how the bustling Bay Area scene can make its mark internationally but not attract the notice that it deserves around town. The S.F. Alt Festival brings together nearly two dozen musicians from all points of the globe who pour out torrents of music that surprise, soothe, irritate, outrage, delight, and challenge your notion of what music is. It's serendipitous that this year – when the powerful forces that control the world politically and economically are trying unsuccessfully to maintain a grip on the world order that lines their pockets – popular music, and the business structure that capitalizes on it, is running up onto the rocks. Musically, those same forces offer little but the shackles of 4/4 time and 12-bar architecture. If you want to escape and run on the wild side, the music you'll find at the festival will take you there, forcing you to make sense of improvised melodies, collapsible tempos, ominous rumbles, and other unnamable surprises. The experience can be exhilarating, and the lineup is loaded with internationally prominent musicians like Fred Frith, Sudhu Tewar, Alex Cline, Vinnie Golia, and John Butcher, along with locally prominent players like Gino Robair, Myles Boisen, and John Shiurba (a Bay Guardian staffer). Lane plays opening night with woodwind player Golia and drummer Vijay Anderson. Try something new for a change. Various times, various San Francisco and Oakland locations. Tickets $12, festival pass $50. See www.sfalt.org for complete schedule. (J.H. Tompkins)