An Evening With Geordie Greep

Leaving a band that critics had just decided was the most important thing happening, and then immediately making a record of lounge-lizard jazz-rock about deeply unpleasant men, is the kind of move that either ends a career or defines one. The songs are long, virtuosic, and delivered in a voice that is doing a character rather than confessing. Live it requires a large band and the players are extraordinary; the arrangements shift meter constantly and nobody looks worried. The audience skews young, obsessive, and argumentative about it online. A converted bowling alley in Ventura is a considerably smaller room than this material usually gets. Music at 8:00 PM on East Thompson Boulevard, a Friday. Artists this divisive produce the most reliable word of mouth there is, because nobody leaves without an opinion.