Jon Langford's 4 Lost Souls 10/19/17 Cafe 9

Veteran Welsh-man-upon-Chi-town Langford had a stint at the 9 with his new group that grew out of a recording in Muscle Shoals. Langford saw cult success in the 80s and 90s with his group The Mekons as well as the Waco Brothers and Pine Valley Cosmonauts. The amazing Bloodshot Records is also closely associated with Langford. Jon on guitar, Dan Szymanski on guitar, bass, drums, and two African American female backup singers gave a full sound. Sounding like a country Joe Strummer, and looking like Brian Doyle Murray, Langford marched this group through mostly tunes from the new record. Show highlight was a stomper called Natchez Trace. Reminisced with Langford after the show as to whether the Mekons played the 9 or The (infamous) Grotto back in the day.

Myra Melford's Snowy Egret 10/14/17 Firehouse 12

Another barn-burner at the Firehouse, as Melford's group was staying in town to sharpen their chops and record at the fabulous F-12 recording studio. Melford on piano and bandleader wore a red leather jacket with dangly earrings and cool glasses. Maybe in her fifties, she looked like a librarian at a school of the future. She plinked and plunked looking like one of those bobbing flamingoes whose beak kept getting wet. Song structure changes and titles were her responsibility, as she let her supporting cast solo the heck out of the evening. Ron Miles on cornet oozed downtown cool. With his jacket and tie, he looked like a cross between Don Cherry and Malcolm X. He made great use of plunger mute on top of a straight mute, that's right double mute. Liberty Ellman was on guitar. I have seen him with Henry Threadgill' s group and he added a Marc Ribot flavor to the set. Tyshawn Sorey was on drums. In, around, and all over the standard kit. TS looked like Rosie Greer with drumsticks rather than knitting needles. He pummeled the kit as if to insure no one nodding off in the back. Scraped cymbals and nimble stick work was a real treat. The highlight was electric bassist Stomu Takeishi. ST looked to be of indeterminate gender. He had girly hair and wore what seemed to be a hospital johnnie. Shoeless on stage, ST tore it up, with bizarre facial gestures and sounds to complete the effect. If he recently escaped from a hospital, it was the "hospital of chops". Song titles like Attic, and The Other Side of Air made for a thoroughly enjoyable set.

Pigpen Theater Company w/ David Luning 10/4/17 Barwe

End of an era as Manic Productions bids farewell to it's Wednesday night free concert series in the back room of Bar. I got a little nostalgic at all the shows that I have been present in this room for. It seems that Bar will continue to have music, just not lined up by Manic's Mark.
David Luning was a singer-songwriter who reminded me of a low energy Langhorne Slim. Maybe it was the trademark hat, or the folkie drawl. Luning did a nice Springsteen cover.
PPTCo. is still a seven piece outfit ( reviewed in this blog 8/24/16). Multiple singers and instrument changes were backed by nice vocal harmonies. It seems that some of the cast has changed, but the sound was similar. Campy version of You're So Vain by Carly Simon was the highlight.

Mdou Moctar w/ The Mountain Movers 9/26/17 Lyric Hall

First time seeing a show at New Haven's historic Lyric Hall in the Westville section. You enter the venue from Whalley Ave into a large sitting room, snake through a creepy hallway to a decidedly European room with a bar, another creepy hallway and into the intimate stage room. There was a balcony, but it was unclear if it was VIP or general admission. Local psych purveyors The Mountain Movers warmed up the crowd. Two guitars, bass, and drums filled the hall with sound. The young lady on lead guitar has been positively reviewed in this blog in her other incarnation, Headroom. Sparse vocals with loud guitar shards is the MM m.o. The crowd seemed at capacity and eagerly awaited Mdou Moctar. The group was a trio with Moctar on lead guitar and vocals,  rhythm guitar, and drums. The trio are from Nigeria and wore the traditional Touareg garb. The drummers face was completely obscured. Moctar is the real deal. Nimble playing of trance African rhythms, it looked like he was tickling the guitar. Shades of blues and Hendrix topped with vocals in their native tongue was intoxicating. I was close enough to notice that Moctar had awful teeth for a man that wasn't 30, Bedouin dentists must be few and far between. The trio whipped the crowd into a frenzy,  one revel ler hopped on stage and started throwing money around in a cringeworthy show of adulation. Moctar took it in stride, I even saw the fan give him a hug after the show. This was a fantastic show in a surreal venue.

Frode Gjerstad Trio with Steve Swell 9/22/17 Firehouse 12

Norwegian free jazz trio has FG on alto sax, Paal Nilssen Love on drums, and Jon Rune Strom on bass were joined by American Steve Swell on trombone. After a hilarious story by Swell which chronicled his time with the trio touring the states going from Waffle House to Denny's while nightly plying their brand of Nordic free jazz, before launching into a maelstrom of sound. FG had a Lester Youngian emboucher with a side of Dizzy Gillespie cheek puff. It appeared that Gjerstad's left brain was melting and came out the sax in a torrent of sound. PNL has played with Miles and other jazz luminaries and played in the vein of Scandinavian greats like Han Bennink. JRS was younger than the rest, but held his own with an active, percussive style. Swell was genuinely happy to play with these guys, and brought a jousting complexity to the sound. Swell was able to make wind and weather sounds through breathing and use of a plunger mute. I got a chuckle thinking about this troupe ordering Moons Over Mi-hammy at Denny's, and the waitresses at these joints having no idea the nature of their night job.

The Pixies 9/19/17 College St. Music Hall

The Pixies have been around since the 90s. Frontman singer and guitarist Frank Black, bassist Kim Deal, lead guitar, and drums comprised the quartet. Near capacity crowd at College St. was an unusual cross section of ages. Many fans were in their 40s and 50s, but there also was a cadre of 20 year olds. Did they stumble on their parents CDs? Are there new hits in the mix? Being around as long as they have, the Pixies had some charitable hits, This Monkey's Gone to Heaven, Where is My Mind?, cheeky cover of Here Comes My Man and Neil Young's Winterlong from the fabulous first Bridge School Benefit. Black's screech veered from punk insistence to angry dad with a couple of beers in him while Deal is the real deal. The Pixies seem to be comfortable in their position of rock royalty and occasional touring.

Kath Bloom, Rob Noyes, Alexander 8/20/17 Slade-Ely House

The Slade-Ely House on Trumbull St. in New Haven is an old home converted to a gallery and impromptu performance space. Maybe 30 people in attendance for this folding chair show. First up is local guitarist Alexander. Confident picking on his six string acoustic sometimes veered into new age territory. Next was 12-string acoustic maestro Rob Noyes.  The 12-string in Noyes words is a "beast", but his technique of thumb pick and strum was amazing. I heard Noyes hyped on the WFMU show Shrunken Planet, and he did not disappoint. Speedy, effortless tunes fell out of this beast.
Local freak folk legend Kath Bloom was the headliner. Bloom was joined onstage with another guitarist and a young woman on percussion and backing vocals which gave off a coffeehouse, talent show vibe. Bloom's childlike, homeless woman vocal delivery reminded me of Daniel Johnston. At one point, when the sound was being worked on (by Bloom's partner, Loren Connors), Bloom retreated to her backpack where she produced a pint of Jack Daniels to swig. One tune was written in the Grove St. Cemetery, another commented on her child's battle with schizophrenia.