Tonight’s Pick: Gestures at Fort Reno

If the band Gestures were an actual physical gesture, it wouldn’t be a come-hither motion, a wave goodbye, or a middle-finger-fuck-you. It’d be one big old shrug that says, “I don’t know what the hell is going on.” The electricity-free, Washington, D.C.–based sextet features two drummers and four horn players—including trombone, flute, clarinet, and tuba—and the musical result sounds like the sloppiest marching-band practice ever recorded to tape. Whether it’s an act of improvisation by an accomplished group of classically trained musicians or an attempt at Slits-esque geniusness by a bunch of n00bs who just bought whatever instruments they could find at the thrift store remains to be seen. But Gestures has an undeniable (if goofy) charm, one that is sorely needed in a music scene in which artistic experimentation has seemingly given way to dime-a-dozen pop bands. Gestures performs with Bellman Barker and the Moderate at 7:15 at Fort Reno Park, 3950 Chesapeake St. NW. Free. (202) 355-6356. —Matthew Borlik