Last summer, I went to see the Nels Cline Singers play at Martyr's. I went in without ever hearing any of Cline's overwhelming catalog of solo work, but a friend gave me two pieces of advice beforehand.
1. Don't expect anything remotely resembling Wilco.
2. Do expect it to be really, really loud.
These proved to be sound pieces of advice. The sound reverberated through the room to that point where you start to wonder, "Is it okay that I can feel my own heart vibrating within my chest?" And you could clearly tell from various reactions around the room who the people were that were hearing something a bit different from their expectations. It's probably the same reaction you might get from someone who loved The Straight Story, and thus attends a screening of Mulholland Drive.
Personally, I thought the performance was a highly entertaining look at what Spinal Tap may have been aiming for during their Jazz odyssey phase. Especially if you replaced "Jazz" with something along the lines of "Avant-garde-noise-rock-kitchen-sink-jazz odyssey." I'm not sure how else I would categorize offerings like this:
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