The Bad Plus and the Twinemen

"Prog" (Do the Math/Heads Up International) is the latest, and fifth, release by The Bad Plus who will be performing here in Fallon tomorrow night.

Over the last decade, the trio has carefully forged a reputation for being unclassifiable, for crossing borders between musical genres without stopping or looking back. The group consists of Ethan Iverson on piano, drummer David King and bassist, Reid Anderson.

The genre-defying ensemble has, on all their CDs, mixed original compositions with an idiosyncratic selection of covers-from Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" and Blondie's Heart of Glass" to Ornette Coleman's "Street Woman" and the theme from "Chariots of Fire."

Their sense of the world and sense of humor can be noted in the titles they give their own sprightly compositions: "The Empire Strikes Backwards," "Cheney Piñata," "Keep the Bugs Off Your Glass and the Bears Off Your Ass," and "Layin' a Strip for the Higher-Self State Line."

What unites all this is their superb musicianship and that is very much in evidence on their latest effort which, as the title of the CD suggests, pushes things forward. Whether it's Bert Bacharach's "This Guy's In Love With You," David Bowie's "Life on Mars," or gorgeous originals like "Giant," their playing and performances are an emotionally candid, and fully-engaged conversation, among themselves; one that we are lucky to eavesdrop on.

The Bad Plus will perform Saturday night in the Barkley Theatre at the Oats Park Art Center at 8 p.m. Doors and the Art Bar open at 7 p.m.. Tickets are available at Jeff's Copy Express, Postage Plus, ITT/NAS Fallon or by calling 423.1440.

Another interesting ensemble is The Twinemen whose latest release is "Twinetime" (Hi-N-Dry/Twinetime Music).

After the death of vocalist Mark Sandman, and the demise of the uniquely original group Morphine, The Twinemen rose from the ashes. Their motto - "Most artists are afraid to get out of the box. Twinemen are afraid to get in." - aptly describes the band's aesthetic approach.

Fronted by singer-songwriter Laurie Sargent, whose vocals are woven into Billy Conway's drums and Dana Colley's baritone sax, they forge a sound of their own: dark, spare, but moving forward with a steady beat.

It's an admixture of jazz, lounge-funk and rock focused through the lenses (and ears) of independent spirits, ones that do not hew closely to usual song structures. The sound is also hazy, murky (in a good, not obfuscative way), and the push-pull of the emotionally icy yet urgent vocals weaving through the wrecking ball of swinging sax lines makes for compelling listening.