Xiu Xiu 10/23/23 Spaceland

 Missed local noiseniks Mountain Movers doing the opening for this one. Xiu Xiu is a trio that specializes in noise, industrial, angst ridden post punk. Jamie Stewart on guitar, percussion and vocals with Angela Seo on keys, percussion and vocals and Dave Kendrick on drums. Let’s start with Kendrick, pale and lanky, his brightly patterned shirt matched his ferocity on the drums. Seo was inked and sculpted, her tank top emblazoned with “cease fire” which ,while topical was ironic given the aural assault unleashed by her playing. Stewart was fascinating to watch, his manic yelps could sound like Chris Isaak being tortured or some Pere Ubu or Devo-esque basement rager. Between songs he went to a Nalgene and gargled with some tan liquid as if to congratulate or motivate his vocal chords. They each had a cymbal, which when maniacally struck by all had a cartoony vibe. One song had Seo singing “it won’t be” over and over which pulsed into this rhythmic mush. It seemed that Stewart inhabited multiple personalities on stage. One sequence had him prattling like a petulant teen and then moving to an operatic bombast. This band is experimental, their catalog includes renderings of the Twin Peaks reboot and I did locate Laura’s Theme at one point. Let’s face it, this crew should be playing at the surreal bar in TP. Their recent release has ten songs about tragedy with five about people they know, and five imaginary songs, an attempt to process grief. Between songs, the crowd was deathly quiet except for one free-birding wingnut who was quickly shushed by the hipster majority. Stewart gets on the mic and urges the crowd to “be nice, and respect the opinions of others”. Kind of telling that he stuck up for the outsider, he has spent his life as the outsider. These three were definitely on the spectrum, in a good way. After the encore, Stewart waved to the crowd like a third grader out the back window of the bus, sweet.

Les Claypool’s Flying Frog Brigade 10/21/23 Oakdale Wallingford

 Always a treat to hear bass savant Claypool and his collection of like- minded freaks airing their formative musical laundry on the line. Billed as “the hunt for green October tour”, the band wowed the capacity audience on this Saturday night. Band consisted of Claypool, Sean (Ono) Lennon guitar, Harry Waters keys, Skerik saxophones, Mike Dillon percussion (mainly marimba), and Paulo Baldi drums. There can be no opening act, as Claypool has reached a point in his career where greedy control of the entire evening is necessary. Let’s jump in, first set starts with the sadly topical cover When Johnny Comes Marching Home, David Makalaster (pt 1 and 2), One Step Beyond (Prince Buster or Madness cover, depending on your age) and ended with Cricket and The Genie from the Claypool-Lennon Delirium sessions. Being sired by John Lennon and Yoko Ono has some obvious pluses. Sean is an odd duck, skilled guitarist with whiffs of rock and avant garde royalty, his upbringing must have been a swirl of weed, paparazzi, limos, and absentee famous parents cut short by tragedy. At one point he pulled out the Frampton vocal treater. Set two starts with a Skerik-less full reading of the entire Pink Floyd Animals record. Many an hour has been spent poring over this late 70s masterpiece and the band didn’t disappoint. Waters is also music royalty, being the Hammond organ playing son of Floyd founder Roger, his Brit-lilt hit the vocal sweet spot for this section. Set two barreled on with some selections from Claypool’s vast back catalog, Precipitation, Calling Kyle, and Highball With The Devil allowed all players to shine. Dillon has been part of this troupe for a while and seemed like he got a marimba for his birthday and didn’t want to give it up. I don’t know much of drummer Baldi, but the vetting to be timekeeper for this funk-metal-prog behemoth must have been intense. Set two ends with One Better that includes a tasty Rappers Delight tease. The encore was fabulous, starting with a propulsive cover of The English Beat’s Mirror in The Bathroom into Whamola and ended with the Willy Wonka staple Pure Imagination for which Claypool scored one of the many reincarnations. Must be nice to be the village weirdo, attract other village weirdos, making a living onstage being…….an assemblage of village weirdos.