The Heartless Bastards 5/14/23 Spaceland Ballroom

 Pulling their moniker from an errant trivia answer regarding Tom Petty’s backing band, The Heartless Bastards showed out some blues based rock and roll. Fronted by chief songwriter and singer Erika Wennerstrom, this six piece group choogled with purpose. Erika was joined by lead guitar, bass, female backing vocals, keys/rhythm guitar, and drums. Starting in Ohio and relocating to Texas, the group caught the eye of Black Keys impresario Pat Carney who channeled them to the apt Fat Possum label. Wennerstrom’s booming alto commanded attention and was the star of the show. Decent crowd was supportive, but it would have been nice for some inter song banter. Most of  the set came from the recent A Beautiful Life record that veered closer towards pop in spots. Excellent cover of Warren Zevon’s Lawyers, Guns, and Money was a show highlight.

Damon and Naomi 5/12/23 Best Video

 Damon Krukowski and Naomi Yang are musical and life partners based in Cambridge MA. They were two thirds of the literate dream pop outfit Galaxie 500. In that band, Damon played drums, Naomi played bass, and Dean Wareham played guitar. Wareham would go on to form the  mildly successful indie rock group Luna that has been positively reviewed in this blog before. On this evening, Damon strummed a 12 string acoustic and Naomi alternated between keys and bass. They both sang and continued with the literate dream pop mode. Several tunes came from their recent release A Sky Record. The setlist included How Do I Say Goodbye, The Robot Speaks, How Long, Sailing By, Between The Wars, Season Without Time. The theme of the evening was “almost pretty” which could be a compliment or a dis. The pair spent the day slogging up the Merritt from Philly and decided that Connecticut was almost pretty. The songs were hushed and beautiful with the video store providing perfect acoustics. The show was a Fernando Pinto production and he has moved his East Rock Concert series from the Mactivity Gym space to Best Video. They played an excellent cover of Tim Buckley’s Song To The Siren, Damon noted that Buckley played the song on the final episode of The Monkees. Show highlight was Turn of the Century, a tune from 1998 that was literal.

Erik Friedlander’s The Throw 5/5/23 Firehouse 12

Jazz cello is somewhat of a unicorn. If there was a heap of jazz cellists, Erik Friedlander would be at the top of it. He brought his quartet to the Firehouse. Uri  Caine on piano, Mark Helias on standup bass, and Ches Smith on drums rounded out the group for this excellent set of music. I’m not sure if it is the richness of the cello tone, the omnivorous stylings of the compositions, or the fact that Friedlander is the son of legendary photographer Lee Friedlander ( whose snaps from the 60s and 70s chronicled the American condition with an emphasis on music during that period). With the exception of the younger Smith, these three are pillars of the downtown scene releasing some of the best records that you never heard. The cello allows for a chameleonic quality to the music, the groove based Tan Helmet gave way to the lyrical passages of Little Daily Miracles then on to the free jazz passages of Darse. Erik was definitely driving the trane , to the point of stopping and restarting one tune that didn’t hit his ear correctly. If I told you to conjure an image of Caine, you might get close. Ill- fitting polo, pleated haggar slacks and a haircut better suited to Richard Carpenter, Caine seemed to shun vanity and chose virtuosity. The piano runs could sound downright MikePosty or breathe fire as on the excellent Revelation. Helias added glue, dressed in black with a smooth shaven head, he looked as if a punk Mr. Clean was invited to the festivities. I have seen Smith in many incarnations, he is an in demand drummer for this type of music and I am sure appreciated the opportunity to play with this crew. Jumping time signatures, scraping his cymbals, Smith fit right in with this group. Erik could bow or pluck with one passage sounding Asian and another bowed duet with Helias exuded a mournful sound. Many who come to the Firehouse give me the “I don’t get it” in response to the music. To them, I say catch an Erik Friedlander show. His barrage of styles offers a gateway drug to jazz. Planned lyrical music detours into the realm of free improv, affording the listener a roadmap as to how they might get “it”. Encored with a strict reading of the Oscar Pettiford tune, fittingly titled Cello Again.