Ava Mendoza w/ Headroom 1/28/19 Cafe 9

Arrived at the 9 a little later than normal only to realize the evening's lineup had been jumbled. Unfortunately missed the entire set from solo guitarist Mendoza.  The website listing clearly had Ava as the headliner, but she went on first. A note to all establishments, please post a chalkboard with band names and times so as to not annoy your local blogger. I have seen Mendoza in the past and her angular chops reminded me of Marc Ribot. She has also guested on recordings by Sir Richard Bihop et. al.
I did get to see a full set by local fuzz warriors Headroom. The lineup has 3 guitars, bass and drums. Headroom is the brainchild of Kryssi Battalene ( sometimes DJ Kryssi B) who lays down dense layers of droney guitar with some spare vocals. Alexander aka David Shapiro is another axe-wielder. Rick Omonte, talent scout for the nearby State House, plays bass. Add another guitarist and drums and you have the makings for a noisy affair. The set started with their wordless, fuzz-drenched, shoegazey take on what sounds to be Wharf Rat. This band has chops and I urge their viewing and local support.

Multiplex 1/27/19 The State House, New Haven

Multiplex was an afternoon of regional jazz improvisers convening for a skronk fest. First up was New Haven Improv stalwarts Bob Gorry and Jeff Cedrone guitars, Adam Matlock on accordion, and Tom Hogan on drums. The quartet careened through their set, Cedrone squiggled and Gorry squaggled. Matlock, coming off a stint performing in Anthony Braxton's recent "opera", was a focal point. The accordion brings to mind the circus and Tom Waits, Matlock intervalled between speedy runs and slow screeches, his expression looked like a serial killer on Thorazine.
The second set was a young solo alto sax player named Chris Pitsiokos. The first tune unfolded like a Russian doll of sax improv with a layer of John Zorn giving way to a layer of Pharoah Sanders further unfolding to a juicy center of Roland Kirk. Pitsiokos was adept at the technique of circular breathing, the second tune was an avalanche of notes that had Chris playing for ten minutes without coming up for a breath. The dizzying pace and onslaught of noise was difficult to assess to just one musician. A frenetic staccato piece sounded like what I can only imagine to be what a pileated woodpecker connecting with ones eardrum would sound like, the woodpecker gave way to a repeated phrase of a car leaving a crime scene. Chris had this odd technique of snuffing out sound by moving the sax bell into his crossed knee.
The third group was local guru Joe Morris on guitar with Dan O'brien on clarinet and saxes. Morris, largely responsible for this outing spidered up and down the guitar neck while O'brien moved from clarinet to baritone sax...
 The final group was Damon Smith on double bass, Jeff Platz on guitar, Matt Crane on drums, and extra-terrestrial cornet player Stephen Haynes. Haynes used a variety of flower pots and pans to bend his sound. Happy to see this crew of like-minded jazzbos move this event from Real Art Ways to the local State House, a sandbox for musical outsiders to get together and wow with sound

Sun Parade w/ James Darling and The Nuclear Heartbreak 1/14/19 Cafe 9

JDATNH is a local power trio. Energetic guitar, bass, and drums with original songwriting. The band had a healthy local following in attendance. The sound was reminiscent of Green Day with sharp lyrics and a punk backdrop.
Sun Parade is a Northampton MA quintet. The sound pinged with a variety of influences. MGMT, Animal Collective and modern pop psych amalgam was a heady stew. Two guitar/vocalists, keys, bass, and drums were a tight knit group. The lead guys were complimentary, one was tall inked and gangly, the other was short spectacled and nerdy. They both had a falsetto delivery  which blended nicely with the psych noodlings.

Mdou Moctar/ Rob Noyes/ Major Stars 1/3/19 The State House

Caught the last frenzied tune of western Mass. psych outfit Major Stars. Crunching guitars, swirling hair, and sweat flew around the stage. Unfortunately earplugless, it was good to see this group's finale.
Rob Noyes is a monster 12-string picker from Cambridge who has been lauded in this blog before. Nerdy and seated, his approach to frenzied delivery comes in the form of speedy runs and note-heavy fills. His trance-like focus made me realize his disparate but logical pick for a second act. Rob told me once that he runs the warehouse for Forced Exposure, the now defunct zine that evolved into a punk, world, outsider music distributor in Boston. It would make sense that the FE people would be keen on Mdou Moctar.
It was a year and a half since my last viewing of MM. The capacity crowd was treated to Touareg music and dress ( the band wear robes and turbans with their faces obscured). On this evening, it was Moctar on lead guitar and vocals, rhythm guitar backing vocals, drums, and bass. The bass was new, and the player did not appear to be of the same ethnicity. The sound has evolved, the bass lent an almost EDM flavor to the music. Moctar, from the Saharan region of Niger, had to make his own guitar and learn in secret due to his religion. His lefty playing is trancey, bluesy, Hendrixy and yes frenzied. They sing in their native tongue, and songs seem to ebb and swell with Moctar's tempo. At my last viewing, an ecstatic patron hopped on stage and reverently bowed to the guitar master. I bristled at this act of adoration, thinking the fan must have scared the shit out of the wailing nomad. On this evening, for the final tune, Moctar hopped off stage and egged on the throng of undulating freaks and hipsters. I guess frenzy crosses cultural barriers.

Hiroya Tsukamoto w/ Glen Roth 12/23/18 East Rock Concert Series

Local finger style guitar legend Glen Roth has been perfecting his style for decades. Usually a stalwart of farmers markets and pop up happenings, it's easy to let Glen fade into the background. With no vocals and an easy picking style, Glen's sound is tailor-made for his day job. That day job is busking the NYC underground. Glen belongs to a busking collective who are sanctioned to inhabit the veins and arteries that flow through the city. With that much practice under one's belt, you can imagine the ease to which this player runs up and down the guitar neck. On this evening, I jumped at the chance to see him in a strict performance setting. As an opener, in the holiday season, Glen could have easily Deck-The-Halled it through his set. Instead we got a true view of his wizardry. I urge all to Spotify his mammoth Ghostrain, also an amazing take on Aerosmith's Dream On. He closed with a harmonics-laden chestnut Morroccan Christmas.
Glen Roth is so good, he routinely finishes in the top ten of the international finger style guitar championship held annually in....... Kansas. Another finalist happens to be Hiroya. A Berklee grad from Kyoto, Hiroya relies on loops and a more percussive new agey approach. Excellent in his own right, Hiroya sang and hummed through his nature-centric set. One tune was written near a natural stone bridge in Utah, another paid homage to an inn keeper in Tennessee. He closed with the American standard Shenandoah, which was oddly beautiful when twisted through an Asian accent.

Bassoonarama 12/17/18 Sudler Hall Yale

How do you know when Christmas has arrived?  It's when Professor Frank Morelli and his cadre of merry bassoonsters have their holiday recital in Yale's Sudler Hall. The format is similar, they come out and play a few holiday tunes, and then splinter into solos or smaller groups. The theme was the "four Bs", Bach, Brahms, Beethoven, and Brazil. The Brazil component was interesting in that it highlighted the compositions of Mignone. The Italian Brazilian heritage came through in the music. One PDQ Bach offering, "Lip My Reeds", had the crew take off their reeds and quack in unison. The bassoon is a very expressive instrument, one student's solo made full use of the large range, from the low end percussive tones to the mournful high register. In one piece, the large contrabassoon, so large that it needed its own chair for stability, fleshed out the low bass notes. The oboe studio, three oboes and an English horn joined the crew for a rousing Hungarian dance. Ended the show with Feliz Navidad and Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.

Haakedepiccioto w/ Eric Hubel 12/9/18 Cafe 9

Eric Hubel's bio has him associated with Glen Branca, a minimalist composer in the style of Philip Glass or Terry Riley. Hubel played this unusual extended thumb piano which was attached to at least seven looping effect pedals and multiple iPods. Each "note" of the thumb piano was comprised of three metal tabs of increasing length. Strumming the notes made an exotic chord sound that was looped and layered with drum and percussion sounds. The thumb piano is usually small, handheld and is often played to color African music. Here, with an expanded size and electronic backbone, the music sounded like a harp or church organ. The percussion drove the sound with many tunes having the psychedelic kraut-rock feel. One song had decidedly Latin percussion which expanded the palate further. Once developing the songs loops, Hubel often picked up a mini 4-string electric guitar and maniacally thrashed at one note, these songs sounded like you were being chased by a swarm of insects or frozen in the climax of some Hitchcock film score. Once his set finished, it took him quite a while to untangle the nest of electronics and power cords..
Haakedepiccioto is the husband and wife duo of Alexander Haake and Danielle DePiccioto. Haake played bass in the second wave Berlin-based krautrock group Einstuzende Neubaten while US ex-pat DePiccioto is a minimalist composer. Haake was an imposing figure who looked like Josef Zawinul was trapped on a goth desert island with a cipher-based tattoo artist. He played guitar, laptop, and a tribal drum. Danielle played violin, zither, and hurdy-gurdy. Both sang simple lyrics, with Haake doing some Tuvan throat singing. Throughout the set, the laptop was programmed to play creepy wind noises. The duo describe themselves as modern day nomads, ditching their Berlin flat and wandering the world offering their brand of ominous music.