Wilco w/ Built To Spill 8/27/22 Westville Music Bowl

 Beautiful summer night for this great double bill. Built To Spill has been around since the 90s. It is the brainchild of guitar hero Doug Martsch. Martsch seems to kneel at the altar of J. Mascis and northwest grunge. Songs revolved around searing solos augmented by an effects table. Joined onstage by a young woman on bass and drummer. I read that the band is from Boise and made pilgrimages to Seattle. The bass was emblazoned with the message “apathy kills”. I’m not familiar with their “hits”, but give them props for staying consistent, and carrying the torch of this ancient genre.

Seems like just yesterday I attended an Uncle Tupelo show at Toads, it was actually 1982. Jeff Tweedy’s first band arguably put Americana on the map which was equal parts Johnny Cash and Dead Kennedys. A lifetime of music ensued, UT disbanded, Wilco was formed and an independent outlet for the musings of Tweedy has been ebbing and flowing ever since. This evening celebrated their recent release Cruel Country, a reference to the current dischord in the US. A truly career spanning set list was fed to the near capacity crowd. Oldies like Handshake Drugs, and I Am Trying To Break Your Heart through mid-period gems like Impossible Germany and California Stars with a smattering of the new record. Closed with a rousing I Got You (at the end of the century) and a rare reading of Kicking Television ( first performance since 2014). Tweedy sings and plays guitar, John Stirratt plays bass, Pat Sansone sings and plays guitar, Nels Cline brings otherworldly avant- guitar noodlouts, with keys, and drums this band packs a lot of sound. Always the smartass, Tweedy joked that he learned his crowd management skills at Yale under the tutelage of Professor David Lee Roth. Wilco has no hits, no significant radio airplay. What they do have is a rabid fan base. Wilco’s popularity is like a snowball rolling downhill ever since that Toads show.

Thundercat 8/16/22 College Street Music Hall

 Thundercat is the alter ego of Grammy winning bass virtuoso Stephen Bruner. He has recorded with the likes of Ariana Grande, Kamasi Washington, and regularly collaborates with Flying Lotus. Quite the C.V., is what got me to show and packed house. The setup was Thundercat on 6 string bass and effects, drums, and keys/organ. Thundercat has an unsettling falsetto that often got lost in the sound. The crowd was into it and seemed to know the words to most songs. The drummer had one gear, fast and loud, which was problematic on the slower croony parts. Most songs devolved into speedy bass run workouts that got boring after a while. At one point, a young fan handed Thundercat a drawing, which he gushed over and dedicated a song to the artist. Not to be outdone, a young woman hopped on stage, hugged Thundercat for an awkwardly long time, proclaimed she was a singer and grabbed the mic. Security had all it could do to delicately shoo her off. I know I’m old, but on several occasions Thundercat asked the crowd; “Y’all know_____ (famous youtuber), or Y’all know _______ (recently deceased comedian), or Y’all like Manga? I can safely say No to all these questions, which put me in the minority in the crowd. Thundercat is definitely a talented bass player, bubbling with creativity, but the show left me longing for more Stanley Clarke and less Kendrick Lamar sideman.

Matmos w/ Jeff Carey 8/10/22 Statehouse

 Wow. Where to begin. I guess at the beginning. Entered the show at the start of Maryland-based Jeff Carey’s set. Carey is a solo electronic artist/ engineer who built his electro-noise “ instrument”. The instrument was a table that had a joystick, an Akai light up square keypad, and what looked like a push button phone pad. These were all connected to a computer that offered a real time feedback looping thing. His left hand used the keypads, while his right hand bent the “notes” with the joystick. The table had a single leg that Jeff straddled as if he was riding some futuristic electronic mechanical bull. In addition, Jeff designed two banks of piercing, pulsating, LED lights that eplileptically sputtered behind him that were also connected to the sound. The lights were so harsh it made it difficult to look straight at him. After his set, I chatted with Jeff about his truly original art. After my eye roll-inducing comment about his ability to play Minecraft and music simultaneously, we talked about the lighting, and how if I watched with my eyes closed, it lent a surreal trippy quality to the show.

Matmos, an electro-acoustic duo from Baltimore, have been occupying the fringes since the late 90s. MC Martin Schmidt was the lead man and audience engager, while Drew Daniel was the multi-laptop operating knob twiddler. Let’s start with the name, we learned that Matmos spelled backward sounds like a person with a drawl saying “sometime”. The set started with Martin speaking on the ills of plastic, he then produces a large plastic pill, a capsule, and begins to play it, pulling it apart and tapping it, while Drew looped and augmented the sound. The next “tune” started with Martin speaking on the ills of bad music, he then produces a vinyl album by the 70s soft rock purveyors Bread. I was more than happy to egg the crowd into a “Fuck Bread” chant. Martin proceeds to smash the record and then starts playing the shards by thumb pianoing them off his table under a contact mic. The next piece had them handing out two dozen egg shaker rattles to audience members (I was “lucky” enough to be a recipient), we then went back to our place in the crowd and were instructed to shake as we saw fit in response to the beats. The duo had hand held looping devices then snaked through the crowd recording shaker snippets as they passed by us. Next up was an experience in “six channel” sound with an excellent video backdrop and some recorded spoken word from a female polish electronic artist. The final tune, and premise of their new record, was their take on the works of Polish composer Boguslaw Schaeffer. Schaeffer, who died in 2019, left a body of work in the experimental classical realm. Fanboys Matmos were able to obtain the rights to his music (Drew said “who would have thought that the Polish government would pay two faggots from the US to interpret his music?) The result was a fascinating piece that had Martin on slide acoustic treated guitar and Drew on beats. A pastoral video backdrop gave off a Philip Glass vibe. At the end, Martin called out audience members and said “they were on the team” as if we were being picked to play in some futuristic kickball game….. on Mars.

Jake Blount Edgewood Park 8/7/22

 Afternoon show put on by CT Folk at the usually sketchy, but pleasant on this day, Edgewood Park. Jake Blount is a young string band aficionado who I seem to recall being a student or protege of The Carolina Chocolate Drops. I came early to hear Blount give a talk on the history of African American string band music. Blount, from Virginia, spoke on the smash of cultures as Africans were put on slave ships traveling with Europeans across the Atlantic. This melting pot set the stage for some of the string band and Appalachian music that makes the foundation for blues, rock, and rhythm and blues. Blount, who plays fiddle, banjo, and guitar, spoke about the banjo reaching a wide audience because they could be purchased from the Sears catalog. Blount took a break after his talk then returned for a nice set of tunes, originals and traditionals. I think I heard Elizabeth Cotten’s Bollweavil Blues. Blount told a story of being asked to share the stage withTaj Mahal at the recent Newport Folk in a tribute to Pete Seeger. Nice concert, in the shade, on this 90 degree day.

Oneida w/ More Klementines 8/5/22 Statehouse

 Caught the full set from More Klementines, a trio with guitar, drums, and guitar/lap something. Sheets of sound, drones and pedal inflected noise invaded the space. One guitarman switched over to some sort of a lap steel although he did not use a slide. I’m calling it a lap-zither for lack of a better term. Post rock sound with thundering active drummer. Lapzither thought it would be a good idea to “sing” the last tune.

Oneida have been positively reviewed in this blog before. Brooklyn denizens that are the grandpapppies of  the independent music scene bubbling from that borough. Been around since the late 90s forging an original mix of punk, prog, and krautrock. Held down by extraordinary drummer Kid Millions, this guys furious pace drives the outing. Rhythm guitar/vocals, lead guitar, moog operator, and lead singer who played keys, bass, and sang. The moog dude didn’t move the entire evening, he may have been made of cardboard. Lead singer had the punky synth pop vocal thing going, he appeared to be in a trance for a good rendition of Cockfight. If I google correctly, lead guy on guitar goes by the name Hanoi Jane, which is ironic cuz his fills were… bombs… of sound. More punk and less prog than I remember, played to an entirely underwhelming crowd of 50, for a Friday night.

Newport Jazz Festival 7/30/22 Fort Adams Newport

 Opted for the Saturday lineup of this storied festival. As mentioned previously, Newport Jazz recently shed its KennyGisms ( that’s Kenny G isms, as opposed to G sperm). Made it through the gauntlet in time to catch a few tunes by drummer Makaya McCraven a young lion with an excellent band. MM is a prolific artist and producer, who NPR has called the vitality of jazz. Next up is British sax phenom Shabaka Hutchings and his group The Sons of Kemet. Hutchings, Theon Cross on tuba, and two drummers brought the frenetic racket. Hutchings is in many groups that range from rave, groove, and straight jazz. SH wore a butchers apron which was apt as he carved his solos. Had to be hot playing tuba on a high 80s sunny day. Axeman Cory Wong played next. Drums, Funky Bass, trumpet, trombone, saxes, and organ made for a funky outing. Wong is an excellent picker and was quick to point out that this is the one festival where the artist has the better view, as he gazed out on Newport bay. Bassist Esperanza Spaulding came next. She glitchily warbled through one tune and didn’t let the audience in on why the stop/starts. Covered Bowie’s Wild Is The Wind. Hutchings guested on some tasteful clarinet. Second stage had Joe Lovano Trio that should have had the legendary Jack DeJohnette on drums. Jack had Covid and missed the show. Google Lovano and then look for the muppet sax player, separated at birth. On to the inside the fort stage for singer Cecile Mclorin Salvant. Great voice, stage presence, and outfits on this young woman. Did a Kurt Weill tune, a Diane Reeves cover, and a song by Gregory Porter, excellent set. Final group on the main stage was Cory Wong and the Fearless Flyers. Wong on guitar, a dude from Wulfpeck on baritone guitar, bass, and Nate Smith on drums. After an incoherent drunken rant from a former manager, the group choogled through a good closing set. Speedy Reeling In The Years was the highlight