Nice Nice

With a name that refers to an old Jackie Chan movie rather than a phrase from the dictionary of Winston Smith's Oceania, Nice Nice hails from Olympia, Washington, and offers up music that is as difficult to pin down as it is to guess what kind of music a band with a name like this might make. Jason Buehler and Mark Shirazi are clearly grounded in a kind of free-form improvisation, but not in a way that would be found fruitful by any jam or prog band. Instead, the music is at times a minimalist collection of ambient drones and tones, while at others it rages with nervy energy, reflecting the influence of Africa and the Middle East — like a post-indie-rock Cabaret Voltaire.