Hit Pick

General Populace simultaneously pays homage and pushes parameters in its exploration of the jazz genre. The act's performances are highlighted by Bec Mhalek's baritone sax and her unique slap-tongue technique, which peppers select songs with a percussive chirp and pop. Meanwhile, Dave Cieri's Hammond B-3 organ seems at times to take on the spirit and psychotic swirl of a possessed carousel, and bassist Mike Brown is known to break out the bow on his stand-up bass during the band's spastic, chaotic, atonal splurges. Providing the bottom end and much more, drummer Andrew Lindstrom uses everything from sticks and brushes to a bare-handed massage of the skins in his quest for a desired effect. On Tuesday, March 16, the quartet appears at Dulcinea's 100th Monkey, a space whose decor is as unique as its name. Strewn with multi-colored thrift-store lamps, coma-inducing sofas and abstract paintings that peer from periwinkle walls, the space has the feel of a good friend's living room -- if that friend was, say, Ken Kesey. Embodying the improvisational mix-and-match aesthetic of this beatnik paradise, General Populace should provide the perfect soundtrack.