Tuesday Happenings

Image of Sonic Boom/Spectrum from Myspace.

Sonic Boom still manages to travel as Spectrum despite years of firing band members and getting busted on tour for drug possession. The droney feedback experiments that punctuate the end of Spectrum's live show might be the highlight, but old Spacemen 3 material has started making its way into the set, which makes seeing at least one Spectrum gig a must for college radio fogeys. Middle East Upstairs, 472 Mass. Ave., Cambridge, 8 p.m. $10.

Hip Hop

The man who once wisely observed that "wearing biker shorts is like choking on your nuts" has a new album out, and it is replete with the vitriol that fans expect from Del the Funky Homosapien. Performing with Mike Reim, Bukue One, Serendipity Project, and The Dunnas. Middle East Downstairs, 472 Mass. Ave., Cambridge, 8 p.m. $22.

Jazz

Drummer Bob Moses plays jazz in a reflective mode, influenced by his esoteric spiritual beliefs. Moses might be better known for his skills as a composer than for his prowess behind the set, but he approaches jazz along a variety of valences and has a remarkable stage presence. Performing with the Alexie Tsiganov Quartet. The Beehive, 541 Tremont St., 9 p.m. No cover.

Whistling

Remember a couple of years ago when whistling supposedly replaced being sarcastic as the thing to do in Boston? Get ready for the resurgence. The insufferably Swedish Peter Bjorn and John return to the Hub with that whistling song and whatever else they have recorded. Paradise Rock Club, 967 Comm. Ave., 7 p.m. $20.

Movies

An OG of the French literary avant garde, Alain Robbe-Grillet, died last year. He was screenwriter (we use the term loosely) of Alain Resnais's film Last Year at Marienbad, the locus classicus of every perfume ad from the 1980s. Harvard Film Archive, Carpenter Center, 24 Quincy St., Cambridge, 7 p.m. Free.