Guillermo E. Brown at Contradiction Dance Saturday, May 2

He’s worked with legendary free-jazz artists like David S. Ware and Anthony Braxton and behind contemporary hip-hoppers DJ Spooky and El-P. Drummer Guillermo E. Brown has grown up with a foot in both musical spheres (his grandfather was a jazz drummer in D.C., and he came of age during rap’s first wave in the mid-’80s), and his own music works to meld them. His latest release, Shuffle Mode, features an ensemble of reeds, keyboards, laptop, electronic effects, and drums, with Brown pulling double duty as a talk-singing MC. The resulting hybrid is intensely polyrhythmic, heavily processed without loss of spontaneity, and identifiable with nobody but Brown himself.

BROWN PERFORMS AT 8 P.M. AT CONTRADICTION DANCE, 7014 WESTMORELAND AVE., TAKOMA PARK. $15. (240) 450-2420.