Caught the last frenzied tune of western Mass. psych outfit Major Stars. Crunching guitars, swirling hair, and sweat flew around the stage. Unfortunately earplugless, it was good to see this group's finale.
Rob Noyes is a monster 12-string picker from Cambridge who has been lauded in this blog before. Nerdy and seated, his approach to frenzied delivery comes in the form of speedy runs and note-heavy fills. His trance-like focus made me realize his disparate but logical pick for a second act. Rob told me once that he runs the warehouse for Forced Exposure, the now defunct zine that evolved into a punk, world, outsider music distributor in Boston. It would make sense that the FE people would be keen on Mdou Moctar.
It was a year and a half since my last viewing of MM. The capacity crowd was treated to Touareg music and dress ( the band wear robes and turbans with their faces obscured). On this evening, it was Moctar on lead guitar and vocals, rhythm guitar backing vocals, drums, and bass. The bass was new, and the player did not appear to be of the same ethnicity. The sound has evolved, the bass lent an almost EDM flavor to the music. Moctar, from the Saharan region of Niger, had to make his own guitar and learn in secret due to his religion. His lefty playing is trancey, bluesy, Hendrixy and yes frenzied. They sing in their native tongue, and songs seem to ebb and swell with Moctar's tempo. At my last viewing, an ecstatic patron hopped on stage and reverently bowed to the guitar master. I bristled at this act of adoration, thinking the fan must have scared the shit out of the wailing nomad. On this evening, for the final tune, Moctar hopped off stage and egged on the throng of undulating freaks and hipsters. I guess frenzy crosses cultural barriers.
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