TONE Festival / RAWL, Naomi McCarroll-Butler Unguent

This year’s TONE festival opens on June 2 at Tibet Street Records with a night of instrumental dynamism. “In the rarefied, underground world of experimental free improvisation,” writes the Washington Post of TONE’s first headliner, “saxophonist Jack Wright is King.” Wright performs with longtime collaborator Evan Lipson (bassist), Ben Bennett (drummer and noteworthy YouTuber), and Zach Darrup (guitarist). The ensemble explores more widely the pointed and pixelated qualities of Wright’s work, characterized by dense seismic passages contrasted with more subtle exhalations of sound. The concert also features the mercurial artistry of local multi-instrumentalist Naomi McCarroll Butler, and Unguent whose raw minimalist electronics ruminate and recalibrate in countless layered permutations.