Green River Festival 6/25/22 Franklin County Fairgrounds Greenfield MA

 First time for me at the GRF new location after years at the sprawling expanse of the Community College in town. The setup was similar with two stages and many familiar food and vendor booths. The presence of many outbuildings and blacktop added a few degrees to the 90 degree day. Main stage started with Steve Poltz, a goofy man with an acoustic. He did one tune with many baseball references that I’m sure sailed over the head of many listeners. Matthew Fowler on stage 2, was a soft folkie that had the added benefit of two female clarinetist. Parsonfield I believe is a local outfit with more soft folk vibes. Next up was The Dip, a Seattle 7 piece, had a good R and B vibe like a bar band from back in the day. It was good to see a bunch of young white guys carrying the torch. Rayland Baxter was next. A hard touring troubadour with nice guitar chops, I notice his prominence among the young record buying public. Check Baxter on the Spotify “sounds like” section and you get Blitzentrapper and Langhorne Slim who have been positively reviewed in this blog. Baxter’s guitar work and signature trucker hat and high top Converse jammed for a good set. Brooklyn afrobeat collective Kaleta and the Super Yamba was next. Like Antibalas, KSY has an  African frontman surrounded by hipster afrobeat acolytes. These guys can play and the pale bean pole percussionist had an excellent solo. Main stage had Ripe, a jammy outfit that appears on many festival lists. Not sure why young people take the musical detritus from the 80s and 90s and incorporate it in their sound, but Ripe had the bright idea to cover Phil Collins “Sussudio”. I’m embarrassed to have had to look up the spelling on that one, maybe their parents put them in “time out” and forced them to listen to Phil (Collins not Lesh). Festival highlight was up next, Cha Wa. This multicultural group was from Nawlins and had the benefit of two Big Chief frontmen. A purple one and a teal one complete with full garb and head dress. They strutted and cowbelled their way through a rolling set with some originals and a nice All on a Mardi Gras Day. They stated that Cha Wa means “here they come”, which was apt and the horns and band put out a full danceable sound. Closing the day was regional group Lake Street Dive. I’ve seen this group perform many times at the Vibes festivals of yore, and they haven’t seemed to have evolved much. Frontwoman singer is capable and the band is solid, but they seem more suited for filler than closer. Nice cover of the Jackson’s I Want You Back and Bonnie Raitt’s Nick Of Time rounded out the evening.

Gregory Porter 6/19/22 New Haven Green

 Grammy award winning soul jazz singer Porter graces the green for a  juneteenth evening show. As part of the International Festival of Arts and Ideas, Porter’s baritone blend of socially conscious tunes engaged a solid crowd. The band was piano, standup bass, sax,drums, and organ. Porter is comfortable scatting, crooning, or covering soul nuggets. On this Father’s Day evening,we got a little Papa Was a Rolling Stone, My Girl, and some Stevie Wonder medley. Porter’s Take Me ToThe Alley and Water Under The Bridge were both excellent. Happy to see a racially diverse, attentive crowd take advantage of this free show.

Dopapod 6/18/22 Spaceland Ballroom

 Jam band Dopapod was slated to open for George Clinton at College Street Music Hall. George cancelled (hair snafu?, blown piston on the Mothership?), and Dopapod took the hippie circus to Spaceland. The configuration reminded me of jam greats of the early aughts. Dexterous drumming, muscular bass, active keyboards (notably a Moog), noodly guitar and vocals topped with a generous helping of sophomoric lyrics. The packed house was into it, with fans bobbing to the lyrics and clapping percussively at just the right time. Two full sets of music is standard in the jam scene, and Dopapod didn’t disappoint. Interplay between keys and guitar was the highlight. I usually like a band like this to end with a well crafted cover, which did not occur. Good show of old fashioned jam.

Kraftwerk 6/10/22 MassMoca North Adams MA

 In what world is it ok for a quartet of 70-somethings to don graph paper jumpsuits, plug in a mess of synthesizers, travel halfway around the world, and play a set of seminal techno in a converted gas mask factory, in 3D, on my birthday, with my family, in German no less…..uh, Kraftwerk’s world, that’s who. German electronic pioneers, Kraftwerk put the Tech in techno, the Sour in Krautrock starting in the 70s with the transatlantic smash Autobahn. The opening thrum of that tune caught a little Andy’s ear in 1974, affording the same allure and danger as the shark approaching sounds of Jaws. Move forward to 1981, in college, and the release of Computerworld. With its cheesy Tandy computer on the cover, this record was so different than the punk and disco offerings at the time, spouting things like “computers are the future”, and “protect your data”… yeah right. Dance and rave culture came next, Kraftwerk’s The Model was a club hit and was sampled and covered by a wide variety of acts. On this evening, in front of a sold out MassMoca crowd, the 2022 incarnation of Kraftwerk took the stage. Four guys behind glow in the dark podia of synths, it looked like final Jeopardy in an alternate reality. Behind them was a monster screen that spewed futuristic images when viewed with your 3D glasses, trains, spaceships, numbers, Tour de France riders and the like all popped out. While the music can be criticized as “samey”, there are no windmill guitar riffs or backflips off a stack of Marshall’s, the prophetic consistency through the years garner the allegiance and praise they deserve. Recent Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees, it was a rare treat to see this pillar of rock in a live setting.

Maurice Louca w/ Stefan Christensen and Friends 5/27/22 Cafe 9

 Local lefty axe wielder Stefan took the stage with Alexander (aka Dave Shapiro), and a drummer/ circuit bender. These guys are all part of the local avant psych collective that includes Headroom and The Mountain Movers. Shapiro also spends time stocking the shelves at local record emporium Redscroll. The boys sent the crowd covering their ears and heading toward the exit with an air raid level feedback assault. Noise and drone were deafening, even the headliner who was parked in front of me, got his drink and went outside. The squall was attenuated by the circuit bender, who had an upright box filled with lights and wires, it looked as if he was playing Battleship on a Lite-Brite. “Song” number two was a fluid jammer that had Shapiro moving to bass and Christensen talk singing some parts. The effect was True Story-era David Byrne mashed with a Weasel Walter style guitar freakout which pulled patrons back from the smoking section.

Louca is a Cairo based “sound collagist”. He appeared on stage with a guitar and table with a couple of laptops and several sound boxes. He started with light repetitive guitar work that had a distinct North African feel. Moving to the electronics emitted some squelchy sequences. Couldn’t help but think this music was perfect for some documentary or even horror film. The noises were varied, one sounded like a Good Humor truck being run over by a steamroller, another sequence sounded like a bagpiper being pushed off a cliff, two horror films in the making I guess. At one point, Louca switched to a lap slide setup (lap-oud maybe?), and seemed very accomplished with the slide. Louca also plays in the globetrotting Dwarves of East Aghouza with Sun City Girl Alan Bishop and Sam Shalabi. The set rolled like a dream, careening from one set of noise to quieter passages. Unlike anything I’ve seen before, which is a box seldom checked.

Elephant Stone 5/20/22 Cafe 9

 Montreal psych pop outfit Elephant Stone makes a stop in New Haven. Led by Rishi Dhir on bass, vocals and sitar, this Canadian quartet were the real deal. Garage, psychedelic, paisley underground, this is an under-appreciated genre that conjures moptop coeds frugging to the jangly beat. Dhir, assisted by keys/synths, guitar and drums brought a lot of sound. Retro yet modern, Dhir’s soaring vocals were a treat. The group played a few songs from their recent pandemic inspired EP ( sung in French) a song cycle about a guy who thinks quarantine still has too much human contact and takes a rocket to the moon. The Electric Prunes, The Seeds, The Amboy Dukes ( fronted by current right wing nutjob Ted Nugent), were prevalent in the ES sound. The sitar is an amazing instrument and it is rare to get an up close viewing. Dhir had a small platform where he sat cross legged, while feverishly plucking. The sitar stance almost looked like a yoga pose. Should have been a larger crowd to appreciate this excellent international act.

Low Cut Connie 5/18/22 Spaceland Ballroom

 Low Cut Connie is the brainchild of Philly ex-teacher Adam Weiner. Adam proclaimed that he “loves all of you motherfuckers” then launched into a sweaty set of straight up rock and roll. Weiner plays piano, you heard right, piano. He tours with this beat up honky tonk piano that I noticed had handles and straps so as to load into the van and stages. It is instrument and prop, Weiner plays in, on, and around the thing, rolling around on top or humping the sides, the piano is in the band. Weiner looks like an inner city Jerry Lee Lewis as he sweats and dives through the set. He is joined by guitar, bass, drums, percussion, and two scantily clad female backup singers ( one played fiddle and rhythm guitar). The music is high energy, with one song teasing Shotgun and then Bang a Gong. The ladies were a sight, writhing and shimmying to compliment Adam, it gave some songs an almost Meatloafian veneer. I’m noticing that musicians are so grateful to be back in front of a live audience, this guy thrives on the personal contact, high fiving anyone who got near him. Good crowd, with an element of fans who knew the word to every song. In the bio of LCC, it seems that he has a superfan in Elton John and Obama.