Daniel Bachman w/ Ava Mendoza 6/28/17 Bar

Thankfully, caught the whole set for opener Mendoza. Solo electric guitar and vocals. Mendoza had the choppy style of Marc Ribot. The vocals were smoky and low, and the song structure made it difficult to tell if they were ancient or postmodern. Mendoza has played with Sir Richard Bishop, savant axeman of The Sun City Girls, which is pretty impressive credentials. Closed with an excellent cover of Leadbelly's Goodnight Irene.
Daniel Bachman has been reviewed in this blog before. Acoustic, finger style, primitive guitar and some deft lap slide is Bachman's game. Unfortunately, the background din at Bar made it difficult for Bachman to ply his trade. I got close so as to not miss the sound. Unlike Xiu Xiu or E that have played over the noise in this room, Bachman can't really turn up to 11. It is amazing that the chatty clubbers had no idea what they missed right in front of them. Bachman's tunes are open and airy, reminding me of John Fahey or Glenn Jones. The final song had Bachman's pal on drone file folder harmonium while Daniel laid down some desolate picking that was reminiscent of Ry Cooder's soundtrack to the movie Paris, Texas.

Rusted Root w/ The Wailers 6/24/17 New Haven Green

Closing show of the pretty lackluster Arts and Ideas Festival. It rained early in the day, which is par for the A/I course, but the sun came out and dried up nicely for showtime. The Wailers are the current incarnation of Bob Marley's legendary backing band. Primarily young Rastas on stage, I couldn't get a straight answer from my reggae-centric friends as to the lineage from the famed group ( it could have been fronted by Marley's paperboy). The lineage didn't matter because the access to the hits was the reason for listening. Buffalo Soldier, One Love, Getup Standup, I Shot The Sheriff, the list went on and we knew them all. Good sound and capable singing ( even the I-threes were represented) made for a thoroughly enjoyable listen. Closed the show with a rousing Jamming and Exodus.
Rusted Root had a hit at the beginning of the jam era (mid90s). They have been riding that hit for decades and it has gotten a little stale. The hit's chorus has a jam-marchable moment of "send me on my way". A friend said that for the longest time he thought it was "simian the whale", which almost seemed like a better lyric. You can't blame RR's charismatic frontman Michael Glabicki for riding the one-hit wonder train, it would be weird if he showed up as a salesperson at Best Buy.

Walker Lukens w/ Rudeyna 6/21/17 Bar

Local art rockers Rudeyna are an interesting crew of scenesters blending pop, prog, and performance art for a heady blend of jams. Keys, guitar, bass, drums, and a Lebanese female singer. This group loves the stop-start time jumps of Zappa, with the frontwoman offering glimpses of Diamanda Galas. The complex tunes had the singer frantically jumping from lyrics to screeching to a beautiful hippie orgasmo-scat. High energy songs buoyed by an excellent rhythm section were a treat.
Walker Lukens was a nerdy white-boy soul singer from Austin TX. His group, the Side-arms were an indie leaning outfit that was a perfect backdrop for his neo-soul. WL danced around (in white sport coat) as if he was just signed to Motown. Good selection of original numbers showed flares of doo-wop and hiphop. Keys, bass, guitar, drums, with WL on keys, acoustic, and dancing.

Brandon Seabrook - Die Trommel Fatale Firehouse 12. 6/2/17

Guitarist Seabrook had quite the amalgam of players to accompany his controlled improv. The group was very symmetrical; two drummers, two standup bassists, a cellist, Seabrook on guitar and bandleader, and electronics/voice made a formidable racket. The drummers seemed to play complimentary, while the bassists veered off in opposite directions. The female cellist was at the center of the maelstrom with Seabrook on one side conducting with nods and hand gestures that looked as if he was in a constant state of being tayzed. The young man in pigtails on electronics/voice made an array of noises from growls and yelps to epileptic operatic warbles. Challenging music like this is better when viewed live, the visual cues and musical interplay make more sense. The second set got no explanation of  what Die Trommel Fatale meant, the music was cerebral, so maybe Brandon thought we all were clued in.

Girls, Guns, and Glory w/ The Palomino Brothers 5/24/17 Bar

Local rockers The Palomino Brothers played original songs. Lead singer had some swagger, his dance style reminded me of Peewee Herman or Martin Short.
G,G, and G has been reviewed in this blog before. Basically an outlaw country outfit, they were welcoming the return of their newlywed bassist. Nice amount of twang. Lead singer/rhythm guitar, lead guitar (also pedal steel), drums and bass (sometimes standup for a rockabilly feel). Singer frontman had a high lonesome weariness to his vocals that suited these tunes well. Highlights were Lonesome Train, Lonesome Track, cover of Rose of Tacloban and a nod to Chuck Berry with Johnny B. Goode.

Wreckmeister Harmonies w/ Thalia Zedek 5/17/17 Bar

Landed at Bar at the end of  hot day to a 20 minute version of Mungo Jerry's "In The Summertime" by New Haven troubadour and Kung Fu jam-master of ceremonies Tim Palmieri. The garage doors were open and it just felt like summer.
Thalia Zedek was reviewed recently in this blog when she came to Bar with her group E. Critically acclaimed punker from the eighties in bands like Come and some solo projects, Zedek has been honing her craft for decades. I had a funny interaction with her about playing at New Haven's famed Grotto back in the day. I noticed her guitar had one sticker FCK NZS, which probably meant Fuck Nazis that could have any number of significances. Zedek's mournful vocals and punchy solo guitar was a different animal than the ear-splitting Z. Jump stop closer was excellent.
The bio on Wreckmeister Harmonies was fascinating. Noise-drone collective whose members swell to 30, enjoys playing in unusual venues (tunnels, shipyards) that naturally amplify their noisy squall. On this evening there were two musicians. A young Asian female on keys, viola, and wordless vocals and a grizzled gray-bearded guitarist with laptop. The noise penetrated my 32 decibel rated earplug cocoon. The sound was almost acid new age probably because of the viola and vocals. Pre-show, the grizzly man passed by in a cloud of pot smoke which must have grounded him in the noisy fray. When he sang, he used words but the vocals low like Nick Cave, or the guy from Tindersticks. I had to laugh because the thought of a high, biker Santa mumbling at me while I was under twilight anesthesia was funny. There was nothing funny about WM's music, they were all business.

The Meat Puppets w/ Mike Watt 5/13/17 Spaceland

Mike Watt is the ferocious bass player from the seminal LA punk band The Minutemen. Masters of two minute shards of hardcore, The Minutemen along with The Germs, Black Flag, and The Circle Jerks are an integral part of the punk lexicon. Tragedy struck The Minutemen with the death of guitarist and founder D. Boon. Watt was left to poke his bass into whatever punk amalgam would have him. Sonic (and Ciccone) Youth, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Jane's Addiction,  and Nirvana all crossed paths with this versatile bassist. Watt's current touring group was a trio with guitar and drums. The bass is way out front with acrobatic fills and runs. Watt looked like a grizzled Lewis Black with unintelligible yelps above the fray. Even if one could understand the lyrics, one might not "understand" the lyrics because Watt has invented his own language or "spiel" to accompany his songs. The liner notes to 1995's Ball Hog or Tugboat came with a mini translation "dictionary" to help one decipher lyrical content. Watt closed his set with a Blue Oyster Cult song.
The Meat Puppets are the same relative vintage as Mike Watt. Hailing from Arizona, The Meat Puppets must have been birthed from a tequila-laden saguaro given their penchant for Western swing crossed with face-melting psychedelia. Brothers Curt and Cris Kirkwood on guitar and bass came with drummer and rhythm guitar. It was all about the brothers, bassist Cris looked like Moses while Curt resembled Jesus. It would be fun to watch these brothers have a "Leggo my eggo" moment. The genre-jumping was jarring, it was hard to parse get along little doggie whistling with maggot brain guitar fuzz workouts. No matter, this was truly an original bill of original musicians that played music that was...original.