Ben Greenberg's riffs are so virtuosic, they prompt the young ax-dude to toss a Steve Vai quip as he transmits dizzying sonic waves from his Bed-Stuy roof .

Jokes notwithstanding, the tat-covered, mop-topped Greenberg geeks out and slays in his myriad projects including longtime experimental pioneers Zs, the recently defunct noize-punk Pygmy Shrews, and the Men, for whom he'll now be playing bass. But as of late, the bulk of Greenberg's playing has been as the lone member of Hubble, a minimalist one-man show of cataclysmic fret-hopping grandeur. The recent Hubble Drums (Northern Spy) is a shred epic—three massive, equilibrium destroying jams drenched in glorious delay and loopage action.

Sound of the City talked to Greenberg via email about Zs' duo show at Crossing Brooklyn Ferry and Hubble.

How and when did you think up the idea of Hubble?

Over the summer of 2010, I started to realize I wanted to make something more specifically guitar-based without other instruments involved. I began climbing up to the roof of my house in Bed-Stuy and playing guitar all day, every day. After a week or so, I started recording myself and focusing my playing. I don't remember when I started doing the militant stereophony, but I do remember seeing Rob Lowe roll up to a Lichens show on a bike with his modular synth in a messenger bag and thinking to myself, "I gotta ditch these guitar amps and start going direct!"

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Greg Fox.

XPRMNTL <3 FSTVL: Greg Fox / Metal Tongues / Hubble
Roulette
Friday, February 17

Better than: Trying to listen to music over a beer line.

The recently relocated Roulette (it's now on Atlantic Avenue, a few blocks from BAM) provides one of the city's perpetual needs: a small, accessible concert hall for avant-garde jazz, experimental music, and other not-particularly-poppy stuff that's sometimes nice to hear without the din of a drinking crowd. There's a small bar, but the focus is on the monastically plain auditorium, the former Y.W.C.A. Memorial Hall. (There's even a proper stage!) Tickets are cheap and seating is general admission.

The five-night XPRMNTL <3 FSTVL brought a cluster of vital musicians more accustomed to Northside DIY spots into the warm bosom of Roulette's respectful and unpretentious listening environs. After a long G-train ride from the noise-lined streets of Williamsburg, Atlantic Avenue feels somewhat uptown—or, at least, far away.

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