Daniel Bachman w/ Ava Mendoza 6/28/17 Bar

Thankfully, caught the whole set for opener Mendoza. Solo electric guitar and vocals. Mendoza had the choppy style of Marc Ribot. The vocals were smoky and low, and the song structure made it difficult to tell if they were ancient or postmodern. Mendoza has played with Sir Richard Bishop, savant axeman of The Sun City Girls, which is pretty impressive credentials. Closed with an excellent cover of Leadbelly's Goodnight Irene.
Daniel Bachman has been reviewed in this blog before. Acoustic, finger style, primitive guitar and some deft lap slide is Bachman's game. Unfortunately, the background din at Bar made it difficult for Bachman to ply his trade. I got close so as to not miss the sound. Unlike Xiu Xiu or E that have played over the noise in this room, Bachman can't really turn up to 11. It is amazing that the chatty clubbers had no idea what they missed right in front of them. Bachman's tunes are open and airy, reminding me of John Fahey or Glenn Jones. The final song had Bachman's pal on drone file folder harmonium while Daniel laid down some desolate picking that was reminiscent of Ry Cooder's soundtrack to the movie Paris, Texas.

Rusted Root w/ The Wailers 6/24/17 New Haven Green

Closing show of the pretty lackluster Arts and Ideas Festival. It rained early in the day, which is par for the A/I course, but the sun came out and dried up nicely for showtime. The Wailers are the current incarnation of Bob Marley's legendary backing band. Primarily young Rastas on stage, I couldn't get a straight answer from my reggae-centric friends as to the lineage from the famed group ( it could have been fronted by Marley's paperboy). The lineage didn't matter because the access to the hits was the reason for listening. Buffalo Soldier, One Love, Getup Standup, I Shot The Sheriff, the list went on and we knew them all. Good sound and capable singing ( even the I-threes were represented) made for a thoroughly enjoyable listen. Closed the show with a rousing Jamming and Exodus.
Rusted Root had a hit at the beginning of the jam era (mid90s). They have been riding that hit for decades and it has gotten a little stale. The hit's chorus has a jam-marchable moment of "send me on my way". A friend said that for the longest time he thought it was "simian the whale", which almost seemed like a better lyric. You can't blame RR's charismatic frontman Michael Glabicki for riding the one-hit wonder train, it would be weird if he showed up as a salesperson at Best Buy.

Walker Lukens w/ Rudeyna 6/21/17 Bar

Local art rockers Rudeyna are an interesting crew of scenesters blending pop, prog, and performance art for a heady blend of jams. Keys, guitar, bass, drums, and a Lebanese female singer. This group loves the stop-start time jumps of Zappa, with the frontwoman offering glimpses of Diamanda Galas. The complex tunes had the singer frantically jumping from lyrics to screeching to a beautiful hippie orgasmo-scat. High energy songs buoyed by an excellent rhythm section were a treat.
Walker Lukens was a nerdy white-boy soul singer from Austin TX. His group, the Side-arms were an indie leaning outfit that was a perfect backdrop for his neo-soul. WL danced around (in white sport coat) as if he was just signed to Motown. Good selection of original numbers showed flares of doo-wop and hiphop. Keys, bass, guitar, drums, with WL on keys, acoustic, and dancing.

Brandon Seabrook - Die Trommel Fatale Firehouse 12. 6/2/17

Guitarist Seabrook had quite the amalgam of players to accompany his controlled improv. The group was very symmetrical; two drummers, two standup bassists, a cellist, Seabrook on guitar and bandleader, and electronics/voice made a formidable racket. The drummers seemed to play complimentary, while the bassists veered off in opposite directions. The female cellist was at the center of the maelstrom with Seabrook on one side conducting with nods and hand gestures that looked as if he was in a constant state of being tayzed. The young man in pigtails on electronics/voice made an array of noises from growls and yelps to epileptic operatic warbles. Challenging music like this is better when viewed live, the visual cues and musical interplay make more sense. The second set got no explanation of  what Die Trommel Fatale meant, the music was cerebral, so maybe Brandon thought we all were clued in.