Nektar 2/11/20 The Iron Horse Northampton

Welcome to this installment of the Prog Blog. Nektar is a second wave prog outfit from the UK. Second wave meaning they arrived in the early to mid 70s as the prog train was rolling. Prog gets a bad rap, sure there were the white bellbottoms, the inane lyrics (" mountains come out of the sky and....stand there"). I argue, that for every punchline, there is an equal and opposite upside. How many of us have had our musical consciousness formed by the bucolic pastoralism of Jethro Tull, the sourkrautrock motorik of Can, the sinister drone of King Crimson, the classical trappings of ELP, or the concept-laden behemoth known as The Pink Floyd. Nektar had no hits, they had no inflatable pigs flying over Giants stadium, their keyboards didn't shoot fire, they had no flautist in tights, but they had some touches of much that is prog. Reading their back story, it seemed that their lack of success could be attributed to poor marketing and across the pond translation of the 1973 record Remember The Future. So happy am I to report their resurfacing and landing in Northampton. As with last year's gray and grizzled crowd watching Nick Mason, this rapt crowd hung on every guitar solo. The group had three original members, drums and two guitars/vocals. Joined by another guitarist and keys they plowed through some of their compelling hitless catalog. Trippy video backdrop was tasteful, with one sequence paying homage to musicians ( influences) who have died. An added bonus was that the main vocalist sounded eerily like Robert Wyatt. They were promoting a new record, The Other Side from which an excellent encore I'm On Fire came from. Remember the Future, hmm, now that's a concept.

Roomful of Teeth w/ Dublin Guitar Quartet 2/1/20 Battell Chapel

Modern classical is a genre not commonly found in this blog. Sure I have reverence for Philip Glass, Steve Reich, and Terry Riley. Even my bike ride to the New Haven Green to see the Kronos Quartet do sound check was fascinating. This event put on by Yale's Institute of Sacred Music was a must see. Roomful of Teeth is an acapella octet from Massachusetts. Four women and four men, they were arranged horseshoe shaped from high to low in front of the altar in Yale's beautiful chapel. Their artistic director Brad Wells introduced the evening saying that it was the end of a two week mini tour and that it was sort of a homecoming since half the members are affiliated with Yale. The group's first piece was Vesper Sparrow billed as an " eclectic amalgamation of imaginary birdsong and my own interpretation of Sardinian overtone singing" as quoted by composer Missy Mazzoli. The second piece Psychedelics by William Brittelle came in three parts: Deep Blue ( You Beat Me), I Am The Watchtower, and My Apothecary Light. The interplay of the male and female voices was wild and the tune sounded like Frank Zappa pied-pipering the lollipop kids through the Short Forest (much respect to Billy the Mountain)
Next up was the Dublin Guitar Quartet. That's right four blokes from the old sod armed with acoustic guitars. While they didn't talk ( as to confirm their heritage) their names were a dead giveaway; Brian Bolger, Patrick Brunnock, Tomas O'Durcain, and Chien Buggle, glorybejesus! The Quartet started with a piece Aheym by Bryce Dessner ( another Yalie and founder of the indie-rock phenom The National). Aheym means Homeward in Yiddish and was dedicated to Dessner's grandmother. The guitars oozed a gypsy Eastern European feel. Their next piece was String Quartet No. 2 by Philip Glass. All of these musicians must pray at the altar of Glass and this piece sounded straight outta Koyanisqaatsi. After a brief intermission, both groups came out to perform a piece by Nico Muhly ( please google this guy) How Little You Are. Seven brief movements ( vignettes?, movemettes?) started with subtle guitar then we're layered with voices. The lyrics were " an extended meditation on the words of pioneer women in the nineteenth century". The mournful feel of pushing through the beauty of nature toward the unknown was evident. At one point the female voices did a wonderful wolves howling at the moon sequence. The chapel was packed and I always need to throw gratitude at Yale for opening an event like this for free. While this music isn't for everyone, it was fascinating to witness.