Safe to assume any show with New Haven’s own The Mountain Movers as the opener, you want to attend. The twin guitar assault of Dan Greene and Kryssi Battalene with Rick Omonte on bass, and Ross Menze on drums. The band has wowed crowds with their hypnotic blend of mostly instrumental jams. Omonte fuels some krautrock grooves for the guitars to tangle over. Several under the radar releases are well received in the area. The Movers sound demands to be heard and I spy Ethan Miller, from tonight’s headline group, swaying in the back. The final tune has Greene and Battalene donning harmonica holders to add to their sound. Fiercely original local scenesters always put on a solid set.
Orcutt, Shelley, and Miller are an avant power trio of Santa impersonators. Bill Orcutt is an outsider guitarist who bubbled up from the Miami punk scene in the 80s. With his then partner Adris Hoyos on drums, they formed Harry Pussy to push the boundaries of noise. Hoyos had no training on drums, and Orcutt famously used a guitar that was down two strings. Instead of just restringing to join the world of six string slingers, Orcutt decided to live with the limitation brought on by his thrash. Bill is Santa number one with his long gray beard. Steve Shelley needs no introduction, As the drummer for Sonic Youth, he has kept time for the indie stalwarts through their myriad of punk and noise releases. With the demise of Thurston Moore (guitar) and Kim Gordon (bass) marriage, so went the demise of Sonic Youth. While I have seen both Thurston and Kim in their post SY lives, Shelley has remained largely underground. Ethan Miller is Santa number two, with his long gray beard, he takes bass duties for trio. I have seen Ethan fronting the excellent Bay Area outfit Howlin Rain. The trio barge through a brief but compelling set of instrumentals. Orcutt plucked and stabbed to great effect, at one point he seemed miffed that he hadn’t broken more strings forcing him to further adapt. Miller was very capable on bass, supporting the others with his motorik throb. Shelley, too, was in constant motion. Great evening of boundary pushing sounds.
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