Deerhunter w/ Mary Lattimore 2/23/19 College St. Music Hall

LA-based harpist Lattimore is an in-demand or maybe indie-indemand harp player who has backed many rock bands. Mary also has quite a pedigree of soundtrack scores. Coming from the baroque freak folk Philly scene with bands like Espers and collaborations with Meg Baird, Mary has put the harp front and center. Unfortunately missed her brief set on this evening.
Deerhunter is an indie-psych-pop outfit from Atlanta. Led by enigmatic frontman Bradford Cox, DH has been struggling to be heard since the mid-aughts. The band was Cox on vocals/guitar, keys/sax, drums, bass, and lead guitar. The drummer had a metal edge, which gave an arena sound. The band reminded me of Spoon, Grizzly Bear, and Animal Collective. Pop nuggets often devolved into loud psych workouts. Many tunes were pulled from their recent release "Why Hasn't Everything Already Disappeared?". Ended the show with their "hit", "He Would Have Laughed", which culminated in a frenzied light show noise-out that was great. Cox had this odd button on his mic which transformed his voice into a devilly rasp. At the encore, Cox came out to thank New Haven and Yale for gracing the world the most recent Supreme Court Justice Schlitz Kavanaugh. Using the devil rasp and a loop pedal, Cox chanted "I Went To Yale" and "I Like Beer" (Kavanaugh tag lines for the un-initiated) into a beelzebub MAGA rally, chilling.

Lily and Madeleine 2/18/19 Cafe 9

L and M are sisters from Indianapolis who now reside in hipster Mecca Brooklyn. The group was a quartet with the sisters on keys, guitar and vocals joined by a young woman on cello and lead guitar, and a female drummer. The songs were lush angsty pop for the most part, but veered into psych and even some disco at times. The cello was electric but the sound was decidedly cellish, which shaded the intensely personal lyrics. L and M said their forthcoming release was produced by the Nashville duo that worked on the Grammy nominated Kacey Musgraves album. I don't have to confess that pop music is not my thing ( I thought Cardi B was a rum drink with Red Bull!), but an interesting interview with the psilocybin chomping pop country crossover star Musgraves  made me open to the genre. L and M's vocals were the center point of their sound, most tunes started with one or the other solo then moved to beautiful harmony vocals. While listening, I was struck by the obvious genetic homologous nature of these two sibling singers. The sisters just came off a stint at CBS this Morning and you get a sense that they are bound for larger things.

Bill Frisell Solo Fairfield Theater Company 2/15/19

Thanks to a friend for gifting a pair of tickets to see jazz guitar master Frisell. Unbelievably, this is my first encounter with FTC. An intimate seated venue with excellent views was a perfect place to see Bill. The Frisell catalog is long and varied, Spotify him and you are just as likely to get a skronk workout with the likes of Wadada Leo Smith and Andrew Cyrille or a dreamy jazz cover of the surf nugget Pipeline. Frisell came of age in the 80s-90s Downtown Scene with luminaries like John Zorn and The Lounge Lizards. Bill looks like a nerdy, shy, grandpa armed with a simple electric guitar, some effects and loop pedals, and an unexplained cache of beanie baby moose. A true musical omnivore, the show unfolded like Frisell's Great American Songbook Armoire. I mean this in the sense that the songs are pulled from a drawer, laid on the bed, stretched, teased, sped up, slowed down, and presented in a Frisellian new context. Setlist included: Moon River, Ruby My Dear, Come On In My Kitchen (I think), Lush Life, My Funny Valentine. An excellent version of the Bond theme, You Only Live Twice made great use of the loop pedal. Half the fun of this show was trying to figure out the tune, Bill's shyness prevented him from speaking a word the whole evening. Ended the set with What The World Needs Now and encored with the Shenandoah-Somewhere Over The Rainbow medley.

Steve Gunn w/ Meg Baird, and Alexander 1/30/19 State House New Haven

Alexander, aka David Shapiro, was positively reviewed in the last blog post. Local musician showed different talents on this evening. Simple acoustic guitar instrumentals morphed into psych-tinged folk. Alexander played some banjo too. One tune was about a friend who moved to California, while another he had the audience envision Kath Bloom (legendary local fractured folkie with whom Alexander plays with) accompanying on recorder. Chatting with him between sets, I was struck by how positive and humble he is.
Meg Baird, from Philly, also played solo acoustic. Her vocal style reminded me of female Brit-folk like Sandy Denny or Linda Thompson. She had this great habit of sliding into notes for added vocal effect. Awesome cover of Neil Young by way of Emmylou Harris "Wrecking Ball". Meg played in the band Espers and Heron Oblivion as well as duetting with harpist Mary Lattimore that exhibits a more experimental and rocking vibe. Meg stayed on stage to play keys and sing backup for Steve.
I love Steve Gunn. He played instrumental music with his pal drummer John Trucsinski when opening for Kim Gordon last year. On this outing, Steve on guitars, James Elkington on guitar and pedal steel, Meg, drums and bass. Steve sang some fractured melodies mostly off his excellent new release, The Unseen In Between. Vagabond, New Moon, New Familiar were all great. Luciano, the song about a neighbor's cat was a favorite.

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.