Broca's Area 5/27/16 Arch Street Tavern Hartford

Celebrating a friend's birthday at Arch St. and took in some tunes. Broca's Area is regional groove group, female singer, drums, keys, and guitar. Pop and soul stylings were pulled off in a lounge groove. Nice cover of Jill Scott's "Living My Life Like it's Golden".

Electronhic 5/26/16 Best Video Hamden

Surreal to hang out in the video store of my youth and watch Bob Gorry and his band of merry improvisers ply their brand of improv jazz. The New Haven Improv Collective (NHIC) consist of Gorry and Jeff Cedrone on guitar, Chapman stick wielding bassist Brett Bottomley, sax and great bass recorder player Paul, and drummer. The songs start with a basic structure as a backdrop for the solos that telepathically careen off each other. "Scaly When Wet"  showcased Gorry on skronk solo that reminded me of Marc Ribot. In the light of the video store, I was able to get a good view of the Chapman stick. This 10 string bass rests on the sitting player's lap and shoulder, the strings are tapped to make their unique sound. If one brings their great bass recorder to a show, it behooves one to screw it together and play. A four piece wooden instrument that is combined to look like a bassoon, yields a low register sound that is nothing like the screechy plastic items that fourth graders murder Hot Cross Buns with. On this evening, the recorder was used to play an olde English Christmas carol. It was sad to be sitting near the Almadovar and Bogdanovich sections of this iconic video store that I haven't stepped foot in for years. It was like meeting an old friend at the supermarket, but instead of canned muzak, the sounds of Electronhic filled the air.

Kid Congo and the Pink Monkeybirds w/ The Tet Offensive 5/21/16 Cafe 9

Local opener Mr.Airplane Man was a female duo consisting of drums and guitar vocals. Decent songwriting and delivery gave them a Black Keys feel. They hail from RI, which I learned from the drummer at set break. She hesitated when pressed, to which I joked that she might be in a punk rock witness relocation program.
Next up was The Tet Offensive. Regional musicians consisting of a Nick Cave-alike singer who sang and prowled the area in front of the stage. On stage was a drummer (with a keep calm and love Poland shirt on) and an actual string quartet. Two violins, a viola, and a cello were the instruments. There would have been no room on stage for the singer without getting a bow (or elbow) to the face. These guys were great, even doing an Andrew Bird cover.
Kid Congo is a veteran of the LA punk scene of the 70s and 80s. I learn that he has played with the Gun Club, The Cramps, and Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. With a Latin Waitsian growl, KC was a sight to behold. Dressed in a Russian fur hat and bizarrely striped suit, KC and company plowed through a surf punk barrage. Their recent release La Arana is excellent.

Tashi Dorji, Marisa Anderson, Gary Higgins 5/3/16 Cafe 9

Gary Higgins is a CT native who had a brief brush with fame with his 1973 release Red Hash. A heroin habit ensued and Gary disappeared into New Hartford obscurity. Cue the freak-folk movement with the likes of Devendra Banhart unearthing gems like Higgins and Vashti Bunyan and coaxing them out of retirement. Higgins opened the evening with acoustic guitar and original songs delivered in a confident heartfelt style.
Portland guitarist Anderson was up next. She is a blues slide player who mined the riches of public domain. Great set list included: This Little Light of Mine, Johnny I Hardly Knew Ye, Keep Your Lamps Trimmed and Burning, Sinks and Rises (original composition on mini lap steel), ended with an excellent mashup of See That My Grave is Kept Clean with House Carpenter.
Tashi Dorji is a guitarist from North Carolina. I thought his style was rooted in "new age", but found it more in the improv jazz vein. He had a weird habit of playing with amp on then off giving a strange ebb and flow to his original compositions. When in the "on" mode he could chug like Hendrix on Machine Gun, while in the "off" mode I struggled to follow.

Clarence Penn and Penn Station 4/29/16 Firehouse 12

Billed as an evening of modern interpretations of Thelonious Monk music, CP and Penn Station were formidable re-workers. Drummer and leader CP, Manuel Valera on piano, Chad Lefkowicz-Brown on sax, and a newcomer on standup bass plowed through some Monk classics. Set list: Thelonious, Hackensack, In Walked Bud, Rhythm-naning, Ruby My Dear (with female vocalist), Evidence, and closed the set with Teo. CP gave some insights on Monk, he favored original composition over standards and improv solos were grounded in the song's melody, both were uncommon in jazz at the time. The song "In Walked Bud" was apparently a gift from Monk to the legendary pianist Bud Powell. Powell loved watching Monk play, and on a club date in Philadelphia, local police broke up the gig (which must be code for beating black people) , Powell stepped in to thwart the beating of Monk, and was rewarded with an extra beating of his own which left him unable to play and a traumatic brain injury. CP's rendition of the song was somber and fitting in light of the backstory. A drum-centered take on Monk makes total sense, Monk's crazy use of time signatures prove vital to the drummer. Valera was excellent as a modern day Thelonious.

The Residents present Shadowland 4/23/16 College St. Music Hall

The Residents, art rock pioneers famous for their tophat eyeball costumes brought their original brand of freakfest to College St. The evening started with the film Theory of Obscurity, a documentary of this traveling circus with interviews from fans like Les Claypool. The members of this band have successfully remained anonymous for their 40 year run, impressive. The second half of the evening was a live set, Shadowland, the third part of their  trilogy on death, life, and birth. The shrouded trio consisted of Randy, Chuck, and Bob on vocals, drum-synths, and guitar. They bill themselves as the world's best Residents cover band. Chuck and Bob had some weird alien masks that seemed like they were pinched from the movie Buckaroo Banzai. Randy wore a fat suit and a mask that looked different when he moved his head up and down. Randy prowled the stage with his patented sinister crab walk singing "hits" old and new. The music was interspersed with vocal snippets shown on a bizarre mushroom shaped video screen behind the band. The nearest kindred spirits in music are probably the Flaming Lips, whose shows have also taken on "happening" status. The Residents are worth googling, to view the scope and variety of their theatrical projects. I will say that I got hooked on this band in the 80s, when they appeared on David Sanborn's tv show Nightflight. On that show the disparate guests closed each show by performing together. On this particular evening, the Residents were paired with Conway Twitty and eyeballed their way through the classic "Take this Job and Shove It". YouTube that, I'm not kidding.

Z3 4/19/16 Pacific Standard Tavern

The good thing about the short, sweet set at Cafe 9 by the Boogarins, it allowed time to catch the end of Z3 at PST. Z3 is the trio of Tim Palmieri on guitar, Bill Carbone on drums, and Beau Sasser on keys, playing the music of Frank Zappa in a  hippie-electronica style. Entered the venue to the strains of Stinkfoot, some tunes I couldn't place ( which is something for a self-professed Zappa-Phile). The show ended with an exrendo jam of Wet Tshirt Thang. Tim is a New Haven troubadour, who also plays solo and in Kung Fu. I'm sure he could play the phone book, but don't tell him or next outing might be complete with The Phone Book Improv Project.