Zs are coming to town, and here’s why you should care

New York-based experimental rock/jazz trio Zs are currently on the road, and they’ll stop by Boston’s Studio Soto for a show on Wednesday night.

Over the course of its decade-long existence, Zs has cycled through ten lineups with saxophonist and composer Sam Hillmer as the only consistent member. That constant rearrangement of personnel reflects the band’s many, oft-contradictory but consistently fascinating musical directions. Zs’ most recent release, the four-disc box set Score – The Complete Sextet Works 2002-2007, pulls together an overview of every disparate musical angle the group managed to touch upon during its first five years. Everything from minimalist ambient and noise pieces to free-jazz madness, rhythmically complex math rock, eerie choral chanting and what approaches conventional post-rock can be found somewhere on Score, which draws from studio recordings, outtakes and live performances to capture the many sides of a weirdly beautiful and totally engrossing band.

The current live lineup consists of Hillmer on sax, Patrick Higgins on guitar and Greg Fox on percussion. If footage from their August show at Brooklyn’s 285 Kent is anything to go by, Boston should be in for a hell of a performance on Wednesday night. Local ‘drums and drone’ duo TAPS will open, and doors are at 7:30. More info and ticket information here.

For the experimentally- or generally open-minded, this is not one to miss.