Tonight’s Pick: David Fischoff at the Red and the Black

If David Fischoff tends to look a little pasty, well, there’s a reason. Namely, he’s a guy who probably doesn’t see the light of day much—and the cold glare of a MacBook screen is a poor substitute for sun. Fischoff would rather seclude himself away in his basement apartment in Chicago or—according to his Web site—his bedroom closet, and play around with the expansive sound menagerie he pulled from the Chicago Public Library. Using that material, Fischoff explores the vast terrain of orchestral pop as a one-man, self-contained band. While the droning synths on his third album, The Crawl, tend to wander into Postal Service territory, he gives his compositions a pulse with drumming culled from hip-hop tracks. It should be interesting to see how Fischoff’s intricate orchestrations translate to the stage, assuming he can handle being above ground for that long.

Fischoff performs with the Known Unknowns, Lode Runner, and E. Joseph at 9:30 p.m. at the Red and the Black, 1212 H St. NE. $8. (202) 399-3201. ---Maggie Serota