Concert reviews/photos: Nels Cline @ Johnny Brenda's

You can feel good about your city when people of different ages crowd into a venue to see a remarkably weird, cerebral jazz artist perform instrumental music. At Nels Cline's show last night, Johnny Brenda's was packed to the rafters with people in awe of the experimental guitarist and his almost-alien sound. With him on stage were bass guitarist Trevor Roy Dunn, drummer Scott Amendola and percussionist Cyro Baptista, all of whom showcased their serious chops during the 2 hour+ show.

Cline assumed a strict posture as he strummed, plucked and chewed (that's what it looked like from where I was standing) his guitar. Even if his sound seemed to be unravelling and on the verge of chaos, he exercised complete control over it. 

So what if a toe-tapping melody was often elusive — what the quartet created was evocative and boundary-pushing in a way that strictly regimented songs aren't. As the tension built in a composition to an almost unbearable point, the Brazilian musician Baptista would pull out a bizarre instrument and play it at just the right moment to add some levity, whether it was a dreamcatcher with bells, a jumble of sticks, plastic cups or a whistle. And just as quickly as the tone had changed, the song would subtly make a chameleon-like change and become something else. There was no telling how the evening would go. You were just along for the ride.