Stella Silbert 5/21/25 Brundage Community Branch Library, Hamden

 A lifetime of flipping. Records, books, ephemera, where did all start? I begged my mother to take me to the (at that time minuscule) Hamden public library. A cramped building from the 50s next to the police station had their shelves. I was amazed to be able to procure a 1000pg coffee table book on King Tut by just handing over my tattered library card. Did I read them? Sadly , no, but I did start a life of flipping. The person on the other end of the card pass was a family friend named Lou(ise) Brundage. Immortalized by this branch in the bank section of town, I was pleased to see that it was a building from the 50s next to a package store. The Hamden Library system is a great network of knowledge and interaction. Happy to see them host an experimental music series organized by a pair that go by the name Strategy of Lakes. The series supports “ a tacit network of experimental musicians working in New England, with a particular focus on New Haven and Hamden.” The May installment had Stella Silbert an “ improviser, curator, cook,  disorganizer of sounds, and an organizer of multi- sensory gatherings in western Massachusetts.” Stella got moving with two turntables and some contact microphones. The platters were bare so that metal discs rotated at 33 and 1/3. Stella applied mallets and scrapers and even a wire brush to elicit a wide variety of sounds. One passage sounded like someone dragging a metal trash can down the hall while another sounded like a hubcap rolling down the street. The sounds were hypnotic and varied, I notice one of the Lakes guys marveling at her technique. The second piece incorporated fellow artist Nat Baldwin. Stella put on an oversized red hoodie, Nat had a red shirt on. They moved toward the audience with a small speaker wired to the board and a microphone. They slid them on the carpet while tapping the mic giving off a tribal beat. Stella put the mic and a large dried bean in the hoodie pouch and jumped around. Multi- sensory gathering indeed, this had a whiff of performance art. The final piece had Stella putting a record on the platter. She scraped and tapped with a dried plant and a knitting needle and a spring pilfered from a flashlight. About twenty sonic voyagers strapped in for the set. Listening to some pre show banter, I realize that many attendees are also sound artists. At the Q and A, I ask Stella what record did she use? A friend gave her some old rock records, Grand Funk Railroad, she replied.  Looking around at this lot, I would pick no one for my softball team. Thankfully, we weren’t playing ball, we were experiencing sound in an old timey library….perfect.

Hamell On Trial 5/15/25 The Institute Library

 Let’s start with the Institute Library. A “subscription “ library founded in 1826, it is housed on the second and third floor of a building on lower Chapel street. A small inscription on the foyer cement is the only outward indication of its existence. Pass the inscription and up some early nineteenth century steps, you enter the inviting library. I’m early for the show so I get my own personal tour. Comfy chairs, study tables, and walls lined floor to ceiling with books show a gem that pre-dates the modern library system, its mission has always been to provide “mutual assistance in the attainment of useful knowledge”. A noble goal for a $60 per year membership fee, though non-members are free to use the space. The third floor houses an art gallery with works from local artists and a small listening room with stereo. The listening room has a decent (approx. 500) selection of jazz vinyl that are spun on Friday afternoons. A small clatch of jazzbos  descend with beverage of choice and macerate an artist, I notice that the saxophonist Joe Henderson was on the block for the next session. Back to the library floor for the WPKN sponsored Hamell OnTrial show.  Ed Hamell is a one man folk punk dervish who was positively reviewed in this blog for a December 2024 show at Best Video. At that show, he alluded to a collaboration with his son, Detroit Hamell, who is currently a film student at NYU. This evening had that collaboration titled “Driving All Night: How to Raise a Child, and Survive as a Broke-ass Musician”. Hamell and his wife separated when Detroit was small leading to an unorthodox co-parenting arrangement. As a touring solo musician, Detroits days and nights were filled with “car rides, dive bars, and Motel 6s” in support of his father. The show had poignant video clips with songs and profanity laced interludes from Hamell. Like a cross between Lenny Bruce and Ani Difranco, Hamell exposed a rich life with no money. Friendships, experiences on the road shape the young boys life and form a strong father son bond. The songs comically tackle subjects like cyber bullying, respect for the police, and coming clean about his colorful past while raising his child. Hamell has a way with words, many of them have four letters. Wade through the quips and realize parenting, the notion of family, and sheer survival on a musicians income reveal a compelling story.

Fet Milokan 5/13/25 Yale Divinity School

 Fet Milokan is a fully immersive experience. Ritual sounds and dances come from African nanchon ( spirit nations) by way of Haitian ancestral practices. The proceedings were driven by mother and daughter team Manbo Maude and Sosyete Nago. Twelve singers and dancers with three drummers moved through the ceremony. Call and response in their native tongue was fortified by the conga backdrop. The first section had the group singing in front of makeshift altar. A small table with a sequined wrap had candles and trinkets was oddly placed in front of the adult beverage table. I mean it would be all sorts of wrong for this crew to proselytize in front of a bottle of Captain Morgan. Seems the placement was intentional as one guy danced around with a handle of something. A crowd of about 60 sat in circular formation. The costumes were colorful with some women wearing headgear and chunky jewelry. They moved from the altar to a shiny monolith in the center of the circle. They danced slow, fast, with, and without each other all the while the tribal congas punctuating the performance. I take any opportunity to see different Yale buildings. Thankfully, I entered the Div School at the complete wrong end, enabling me to amble through a maze of offices, sitting rooms and libraries lavishly appointed with beautiful furniture and the occasional Steinway. At an intermission of sorts, the daughter explains the term Ayibobo which makes frequent appearances in the songs. “I see you, I appreciate you, and I acknowledge the spiritual forces at work in our lives”, seems like the perfect sentiment for this ceremony.

John Moreland 5/9/25 Space Ballroom

 Singer songwriter Moreland graced the stage on a Friday at Space. An imposing figure at 350lbs with a completely inked up shaved head, the songs were heartfelt nuggets that blended folk and blues. Armed with just an acoustic guitar and a well worn voice, Moreland rambled through his catalog. Songs of love and loss, addiction and alienation were all expertly delivered. The setlist went like this: The More You Say, the Less it Means, I Need You to Tell Me Who I Am, Cherokee, Oh Julia, Old Wounds,  Losing Sleep Tonight,  Break My Heart Sweetly,  Blacklist, God’s Medicine, Heart’s Too Heavy,  Will The Heavens Catch Us? , and Lies I Chose to Believe. Moreland’s work owes credit to Steve Earle and Townes Van Zandt. Like Steve and Townes, it seems John had a checkered past with addiction. Lines like “she needs to kill what’s killing her” and “ I should  deal with my demons, but I’m dodging them instead” are sung by a man who has seen it. Moreland hails from Bixby Oklahoma, his Midwest drawl was a special sauce for some tunes. Seems that John had a previous life as a troubled young man in a hardcore band, with one of his current songs throwing shade at Danbury CT and that time in his life. Given his appearance, it’s easy to believe that Moreland has struggled with acceptance and alienation, his recent recording The Visitor highlighting these themes. Sometimes life works out as Moreland was lovingly accepted by the near capacity crowd.

Weird Music Night 5/8/25 Slade-Ely House

 Weird Music Night, you might think I was spitballing my headstone epitaph, but no it’s an actual thing. With a Master of Ceremonies named Pervert Savant, a night of “music” that was definitely weird ensued. The Ely Center for Contemporary Art is an unobtrusive gem on Trumbull street. A rambling structure set amongst lawyers and therapist offices, the house has a large foyer, round ante room with separate rooms at 2,4, and 7 o’clock. The show started with A I Pacino, a beat poet cyborg with a demonic Al Pacino mask with glowing red eyes. The dimly lit round room was perfect for John O’Donnell aka A I to “ merge satire, simulation, and sincerity at the intersection of artificial intelligence and iconic celebrity”. A I had the mask perched on top of his head while he spit word salads, ranging from simple side to deluxe Cobb, that appeared to be coming from the mask when he dipped his head. Topics from 90 s situational comedy to whether he believes in the moon landing were tackled,  all with a backdrop of the looming techno-apocalypse. At the 2 o’clock room, The Regal Drug takes flight. A duo with trumpet and synths, these guys layered cool drone passages. The trumpet was passed through an effects mic that moved into untrumpet territory. The synth guy appears at many of the more outsider events around town. They had an eerie colorful backlighting that enhanced a cinematic effect. Merch and free wine and beer were located in the 4 o’clock room. In the 7 o’clock room, Broken Robots do their thing. Another duo with sax and a guy named Jack Daniel on computer and voice. Broken Robots” channel chaos into communion, searching for the profound in the profane, the sacred in the stupid, and the ecstatic in the everyday. Part punk jazz sermon, part theatrical seance”. Daniel had two bud vases on his card table, one with a dead rose another with a healthy one. He moved them back and forth in a demented ouija skit. He started sobbing into his microphone while looping and distorting. I helped O’Donnell ( who is also A I and Pervert Savant) move a podium to make room for more Robots viewers. I told him I’m a fan of Weird Music, his reply “I know, that’s why you’re here”.

FIM 5/4/25 Neverending Books

 Nice afternoon for a double dip. After the dervish offering by Takaat, I made it across town to the dirty bookstore for a 6pm start of FIM.  For those keeping score at home, FIM is Free Improvised Music, a loose cabal of noiseniks that gather for a freakout session at NEB. From a packed house at 3Sheets, to an intimate 20 person affair,I stayed for the first two sets. The first had Luke Rovinsky on guitar and someone named Flose on electronics. Luke, along with bassist Caleb Duval, are lead wranglers for FIM. Rovinsky scraped and stabbed to give a high decibel racket. Flose had a striking resemblance to Daryl from The Office. He had a card table set up with effects boxes and assorted widgets to coax his sound. Alligator clips were snapped on to a variety of hand tools. Wire brushes, spackle knives all yielded different effects when fed through the boxes. Earplugs were necessary for this set.

Second set had Sandy Ewen on prepared guitar, Kaelen  Ghandi on sax, and a standup bass player whose name I didn’t catch. Ewen emptied her purse onto a chair. Keys, spatulas, screwdrivers, and scrapers were used on her guitar strings. She played with guitar in her lap which enabled a percussive sound. Ghandi squeaked and squalled, and is a frequent collaborator of the FIM. The bass player tried to keep the others grounded to no avail. The FIM brings challenging music, often with international guests.

Takaat w/ The Mountain Movers 5/4/25 Three Sheets

 Three Sheets occupies the address that formerly housed Rudy’s. That’s right, Rudy’s, immortalized in the Steely Dan song Black Cow. While it’s been at least 20 years since my last visit, not much has changed. The microscopic bathroom may be an extra foot below sea level given the sheer volume of urine going out. An odd afternoon show put on by Shaki Presents, was not to be missed. Since 2008, the Mountain Movers have been a pillar of the New Haven psychedelic scene. Dan Greene and Kryssi Battalene on guitars, Rick Omonte on bass, and Ross Menze on drums. I enter the bar with the Movers set underway. The twin guitar crunch fuels the spacey jams, with Greene kneeling into a Hendrixian feedback squall. Battalene has grown up throughout my frequent viewings, early on she may have skateboarded to the show. Her other group Headroom is also must view local music. Omonte is DJ Shaki, a local promoter who has been a conduit of world music for New Haven for years. He is an expert on psychedelic cumbia and often does DJ events. Great set from these local scenesters that closed with a looped harmonica sequence.

Takaat is the backing band of the Niger guitarist Mdou Moctar. The word Takaat means “noise” in the Tuareg language Tamashek. The trio is Ahmoudou Madassane on guitar, Mikey Coltun on bass, and Souleymane Ibrahim on drums. The music is propulsive desert blues crossed with a punk bite. The hypnotic guitar swirl, the muscular bass riffs, and the frenetic drumming wow the capacity crowd at Three sheets. Drummer and guitar are dressed in their native robes and turbans that emphasize the exotic nature of what’s on stage. Spotify says that Takaat follows “in the independent music culture that birthed hardcore basement shows, bedroom tape labels, and generator- powered pick-up wedding bands”. Every now and then you view some music and realize you are witnessing  something special,  that was Takaat.

New Orthodox w/ An Historic 4/30/25 Cafe 9

 Caught the whole set from An Historic, one of the many incarnations of local musician Adam Matlock. On Discogs, I notice that Adam performs and records with at least 20 different aliases. I recently sung the praises of Dr Caterwaul’s Cadre of Clairvoyant Claptraps, a loose knit group of local musicians fronted by Adam. With An Historic, it is just Adam with his accordion. He bills this as a set of  “songs”. He has a booming voice and a way with words. These seem like show tunes executed by man and accordion. He attacks these songs with the same voracity he applies to his more avant garde musings.

New Orthodox is  the  outlet of NY state multi-instrumentalist Nicholas Merz. The sound is minimalist sonic repetition that gives way to lyrical passages. The bio states that Merz gives off Scott Walker vibes. He plays one long form piece starting with drones coaxed from a pedal steel. Looping the drone, he rises and takes a stab at spoken word type poetry, he hops off stage and dances around while crooning in a Walkeresque style. This guy seems to be right at home in the Twin Peaks bar, he has this odd tic where his mouth is open constantly as if he is starting to yawn or waiting for some popcorn to be tossed from across the room. When his “song”is over, he seems genuinely appreciative to the applause from the 20 or so attendees. Weird music.