Dave Segal sits down with absurdist musical project The Beats, Man:

Provocative as they are, the Beats, Man have genuine commercial potential. Many of their songs are naturally catchy, danceable, and funny. But their diversity might hinder them. Sometimes to reach a certain level, you have to stick to one formula.

"We have individualistic stylistic things in our songs," Baldwin notes. "That's where a lot of the diversity of the record comes from. Tim's songs are always more complex than mine. He's got the more Animal Collective thing. I gravitate toward way simpler structures— repetitive things with heavier beats, usually."

Eric Grandy discusses the bridging of styles in Moderat:

Their new album, Moderat, better realizes the potential sketched out in their previous work, not of a quarrelsome soundclash, but of a seamlessly integrated sound. Because, really, as tempting as it is to pigeonhole each act— Apparat as the swoony, ambient electro popster and Modeselektor as the glitchy electro-hop humorists— they have far more in common than they do in conflict. Apparat knows his way around a hard beat and a tweaked sample, Modeselektor are just as accomplished at producing lush analog ambience or a pop vocal turn, and both have several tracks that combine the above elements to make for music as heady on the headphones as it is on the dance floor.

Dave Segal distills the works of NOMO:

The new Invisible Cities (Ubiquity) further expands on NOMO's idiosyncrasies. The opening title track soars into the humid world-jazz processionals that marked Don Cherry's best '70s work. NOMO's cover of Moondog's "Bumbo" captures the sui generis composer's unruly rhythmic bustle and melodic eccentricity. "Crescent" subtly paraphrases John Coltrane's "A Love Supreme" and adds serene flute accompaniment and restrained hand claps; it's a paradoxically chilled party jam.

Grant Brissey profiles the veteran musicians behind Obits:

Considering he's the man behind such powerful and esteemed rock outfits as Drive Like Jehu, Hot Snakes, and his current group, Obits, Rick Froberg is decidedly modest. Of his latest band's formation, he says, "We just sort of dicked around for a while until we thought we had something that was good enough to play."

The "we" in this case is Froberg minus longtime collaborator John Reis, the other creative force behind Jehu and Hot Snakes. For Obits, Froberg is joined by Sohrab Habibion (formerly of Washington, D.C., pop-rockers Edsel), who proves a suitable counterpart on guitar, as well as drummer Scott Gursky (of Shortstack) and bassist Greg Simpson.

Previews of the Curious Mystery along with other musical performances this week in Up & Coming:

Seattle K Records signees the Curious Mystery are the quartet of Shana Cleveland, Nicolas Gonzalez, Faustine B. Hudson, and Bradford Button. Tonight the foursome celebrate the release of their debut full-length, Rotting Slowly. It is an aptly titled album, sluggishly paced, full of cowboy-junkie country, psychedelic instrumental drones, and Beach House—style slowcore, all combined in songs that regularly ramble past the five-minute mark, whether they demand the length or not, often not building momentum so much as gradually drifting to rest.

Databreaker on Dave Pezzner's electronic productions for this month's Broken Disco:

Dave Pezzner— who's also playing MUTEK this year— recently has been branching out on his own after building a sterling reputation (with Bob Hansen) as half of left-field Seattle house duo Jacob London. Solo, Pezzner plies a slightly more serious brand of tech-house than he does in JL, while maintaining that group's slyly irresistible wiggle-ability. With acclaimed 12s on Freerange and Om and the stomp of approval from top-tier DJs like Steve Bug, Laurent Garnier, and Peter Kruder, Pezzner is on his way to a fruitful solo career. (Bonus symmetry: Pezzner has remixed Lusine's "Two Dots" for a soon-coming Ghostly release.)

Larry Mizell Jr hypes local hiphop group Scribes, performing at this weekend's 206 Stand Up:

All eyes on the dude Scribes, by far one of the brightest and hardest-working talents of Seattle hiphop's next generation. His album Sleepwalk flew under the radar of a lot of the older gods, but the kids didn't miss a beat (or rhyme), packing out his shows, such as the 206 Stand Up showcase series he's been curating at the Vera Project. So don't snooze on Saturday, May 16, and get to the fourth edition of 206 Stand Up, which is also the CD-release party for his latest, the optimistically titled Summer-time Sampler. There you'll also catch Fatal Lucciauno, Camila, Shankbone, and homegrown B-boy crew BYC.

Underage reviews the record release show for Flexions' debut album, Leisure Time:

Flexions fuse the sinister guitar play of Seattle music mainstay Devin Welch with the bassy low end of artist/photographer Robin Stein, weaving weirdly at a leisurely pace over the pulse of their attacking drum machine. The band heroically trekked through a set comprising their entire discography, leaving the crowd sloppy, sweaty, and stoked at 2:00 a.m. Two years later, another warehouse, and Flexions are still conjuring an inexplicably awesome groove.

Christopher DeLaurenti breaks down the Seattle community orchestra scene:

Like professional (i.e., salaried) bands such as the Seattle Symphony, community orchestras play the warhorses we know and love- symphonies by Beethoven and Tchaikovsky, Mozart concertos, etc. - but with a wider range of results. Some local groups, especially Orchestra Seattle, Seattle Philharmonic Orchestra, and Philharmonia Northwest can, on a good night, rival just about any orchestra anywhere. Others, like the Lake Union Civic Orchestra (LUCO) and the Puget Sound Symphony Orchestra (PSSO), usually sound scrappier, sometimes trading in precision for a palpably exhilarating (or frustrating) feeling of risk. At one LUCO concert a couple years ago, I wasn't surprised when a few bum notes in the Poco Allegretto of Brahms's Symphony No. 3 were quickly redeemed by a world-class horn solo. If you want to hear classical music's big hits sound fresh, dangerous, and possibly transcendent, go hear a community orchestra.

Michaelangelo Matos gives DJ Koze's newest single a listen:

Now, Koze is stepping back up with this hotly anticipated 12-inch. Both tracks are superb, but more importantly, they consolidate the best aspects of his last few years' work. "Mrs. Bojangels" pumps with the woozy intensity of last year's "I Want to Sleep," only with phased, trebly percussion at its center rather than a hypnotic bass drum, and its edge-of-seat strings dissolving are reminiscent of the brilliant Koze remix of Matthew Dear that opens Reincarnations. "Dr. Fuck," meanwhile, works simultaneously as a piss-take of Koze's own sound (random percussion sputters, groaning bass drops, alien keyboard plinks) and of the deep-house piety his work instinctively reacts against.

Also this week: Party Crasher goes retro, Poster of the Week, and the Stranger's complete, searchable Music Calendar Listings.