Blowing Steam

Tues., March 22

Burgon/Dunn

Wed., March 23

Lately I keep running into people I haven't seen in years. The occasion demands the "So, what have you been up to lately?" query, to which I have scant little to say beyond reciting a litany of concerts attended. Admittedly, too much of my life is spent playing new-music guinea pig, but press releases are deceiving by design. Often the only way to determine if a show is trash or destined for the year's top ten lists is to show up on opening night.

Two press kits made it to me recently for artists I can't vouch for beyond saying I buy their p.r., more or less. Enough, anyway, to make sure my ass is in a seat when the curtain goes up just in case (I hate to get Kurt Andersen's sloppy seconds). For readers game for a bit of adventure, I turn your kind eyes toward two shows at off-the-grid spaces.

First up is the New York debut of the Reflex Ensemble at the Project Room inside the Chelsea Art Museum. The ensemble is the creation of Israeli-born composer Keren Rosenbaum. Her sonic language is not easily digested, but she maintains a visual playfulness and sense of humor in its presentation that eases the gap. For instance, in their sampler DVD, all the performers are outfitted in orange jumpsuits; a modern dancer adds movement and percussive tapping. No radical ideas in that, and it's maybe even a little clichéd at this point, but what strikes me is that Rosenbaum isn't complacent. She's pushing at new ways of presenting composed sound, which I appreciate. Maybe she's still figuring things out, but observing that process provides a much more interesting night at the theater than a mechanical virtuoso whipping off another Tchaikovsky concerto.

The next night at the ISSUE Project room, the duo of Shelley Burgon (harp) and Trevor Dunn (bass) free their instruments from the orchestral fringe and combine timbres to interesting effect. For good measure, neither player shies away from minor instrument abuse-scraping and pounding as much as bowing and plucking. More than Joanna Newsom or Zeena Parkins, Shelley's aggressive harp playing has me a bit smitten. The duo performs both composed and improvised pieces that, taken collectively, might conjure visions of a music box drowned, dropped and left to rust. Open it up, though, and the off-key tinkling still enchants.

The Project Room at Chelsea Art Museum, 556 W. 22nd St. (betw. 11th & 12th Aves.), 212-255-8166; $20, 8.

ISSUE Project Room, 619 E. 6th St. (betw. Aves. B & C), www.issueprojectroom.org; $10, 8.