Sound Advice: Let’s keep James Franco out of it, OK?

A homecoming: On my exit from the sold-out Tycho show at Harlow’s Restaurant & Nightclub on Saturday, ever-friendly local-music guy Eddie Jorgensen stopped me to hand over a 2004 CD compilation from his now-defunct label, The Americans Are Coming. He directed me to track three, a song by Tycho titled “Overlook.” Given the venue’s overflowing crowd and the warm smiles the band offered back to the crowd, it’s no secret this was a hometown show. But few might surmise it’s taken Tycho founder Scott Hansen a decade to chisel it into a project worthy of a sold-out U.S. tour and staple on the festival circuit. “Overlook” is a demo, a bedroom epiphany in the Tycho oeuvre. It’s like opening a time capsule to find the rough sketches the artist probably hopes are too buried to resurface, but that gives it charm.

Tycho is now a four-piece, boasting two members of other Sacramento bands, Zac Brown of Dusty Brown and I’m Dirty Too, and Joe Davencens from Doombird and Golden Cadillacs. Despite Hansen calling San Francisco home for most of his career, it’s Sacramento that’s supported his expansion into the realm of popular indie music. On Saturday, he gave back, letting Dusty Brown open to a packed room for once, its gritty Moog compositions that delve into ’90s trip-hop serving as an exemplary compliment to Tycho’s ambient motorik propulsion. As Tycho glided through its records, playing a large portion of its recently released Awake LP (available via Ghostly International), it was clear Sacramento was happy to dole out the royal treatment for its golden son.

A jazz tour de force: Ross Hammond continues to legitimize the Sacramento jazz scene with each release. While digging back through his amassed catalog will yield nothing but blissful free-jazz excursions, it’s the latest project, Ross Hammond’s Humanity Suite, that has elevated this local aficionado into the genre’s proper format. Humanity Suite is Hammond’s first ever vinyl record. It’s designed like a vintage Blue Note Records sleeve and was recorded live at the Crocker Art Museum by the incomparable Chris Woodhouse, who never fails when it comes to live-tracking bands. Hammond is accompanied by Catherine Sikora on tenor saxophone, Kerry Kashiwagi on bass, Dax Compise on drums, Clifford Childers as the auxiliary man, and Vinny Golia on soprano sax and bass clarinet. Hammond has never faltered in his output, but Humanity Suite is his tour de force. An energy exists within the two suites that feels like the culmination of years of intense study. Over the years, Hammond has earned the respect of talented peers, and they’ve now joined him on Humanity Suite to reward him with his finest album to date.

Winning the rap game: The Texas-born rapper Riff Raff lives for the spectacle that purveys his fame. His primary intent is blindsiding listeners with off-the-cuff wit, inviting them into his out-of-the-ordinary existence, and bending pop culture to his lexical whims, either by appropriating it to his vision of the “rap game” or by a well-positioned tattoo. He is an island, and not only that, he is an island with its own national holiday that requires a celebration 365 days out of the year. Riff Raff has earned the right to say that James Franco doesn’t have as much style as him without a hint of arrogance, because Franco looked to him as a source of inspiration when creating his character for Harmony Korine’s Spring Breakers.

On May 12, the rapper’s tour van was parked outside of Ace of Spades, painted in loud neon and covered with an absurd image of the rapper that depicted him holding a baby in one hand and a Siberian husky puppy in the other. Do not attempt to make sense of Riff Raff’s world. While the allure may be that off-the-cuff wit, his performance denied fans the personality in favor of him tearing through his cuts while go-go dancers paraded around with cardboard cutouts of the artist’s head, the aforementioned husky, and Katy Perry in a blue wig. While Perry’s head made an appearance, oddly Riff Raff didn’t perform “Peppermint Tint,” the track in which he declares himself the “rap game Katy Perry.”

The entire show was a spectacle, but it also lacked all interest in connecting with the audience. He never took a moment to engage beyond the announcement of performing an unreleased song from his grossly delayed Neon Icon record. He gave us Riff Raff, but nothing worth quoting beyond a scripted performance. Sure, he humbled himself among the audience to sign T-shirts at the merch table—but only if you were also holding $30.