If you’re familiar with the 1960s visual art concept “Drop Art,” then the band name Ultimate Painting ought to serve as a bit of a tell as to what sort of music the group makes. “The Ultimate Painting” — from which this English quartet gets its name — was a work created in 1966 by artists living in the rural Colorado hippie commune Drop City. Indeed, Ultimate Painting makes groovy and mellow rock ’n’ roll of a generally psychedelic ilk, but the tunes on this year’s Dusk are far from vapid stoner jams. Songs like “A Portrait of Jason,” “Lead the Way” and “Who Is Your Next Target?” are melodically enchanting and lushly arranged, and they have as much in common with tracks by French electronic pop wizards Air as with songs by flower-power icons like The Byrds and the Dead. It’s guitar pop, really, pleasant and laid-back and intricate. New York’s EZTV and local champs Promised Land Sound will open Saturday’s show. D. PATRICK RODGERS
Ultimate Painting w/EZTV & Promised Land Sound
