Local string wranglers Henry Birdsey and Zach Rowden form the duo known asTongue Depressor. Zach bowed a standup bass while Henry played some sort of bagpipe. I asked local scenester and instrument aficionado Adam Matlock for a ruling on the pipes and he thought North Umbrian Pipes. The pipes are perfectly suited for instrumental drone music. The bowed bass had swoops and scrapes, while the pipes could sustain a note indefinitely. They played one long song. Henry usually plays fiddle but must have gotten the pipes for Christmas.
NYC outfit Kayodot has been around for years. I remember seeing them in the back room at Bar in the early aughts. Led by bassist/ vocalist Toby Driver, the lineup seems to have evolved. Keyboard player also played clarinet and sax, fiddle player also played trumpet, guitar, and in your face prog drumming rounded out the quintet. The music was a muddy prog metal mix with Driver’s vocals often distorted. I previewed the recent release and it had some sections with aggro death metal vocals. Towards the end of the set, a bald, leather panted biker hops on stage to supply the growl. The problem with being a genre defying group is that the sound often gets lost in the schizophrenia.
