NYS Music 202​2

Author: Eli Stein

  • Charlie Parr Gets Right Down To It in Rochester

    Charlie Parr walked onto the Arbor Loft stage, bundled up in a made-for-Minnesota-winters cardigan, minutes after opener Al Olender finished up her set. He sat down, settled in with his Mule resonator guitar and started to tune it. Or was he just playing?

    The Rochester crowd milled about, conversing, getting a set break drink. Parr kept picking away, and it became more and more evident this was some mighty fine playing that deserves an attentive ear. And after a little while he leaned into the mic and started singing, “Can you remember what it’s like / When all the world’s filled with light / Now do you have that in your sight / Then spread it around, do.”

    And Parr’s set started just like that, no welcome, no pretense, he just got right to it with “817 Oakland Avenue” off his excellent 2022 release Last of the Better Days Ahead. The crowd quickly quieted, the lights went down, and the show on Thursday, December 1st, had begun.

    charlie parr rochester

    About 90 minutes later, after the peppy “Jubilee,” he flatly announced that was the end of his set, “Do you mind if I do the encore now?” With that he left the crowd with a stirring a capella rendition of the gospel, “Ain’t No Grave Gonna a Hold My Body Down.” He opened unceremoniously with a long guitar exploration and closed with just his voice. In between those bookends, the set was filled with the lush combination of his deft finger picking and rich voice.

    Sometimes seeing an artist perform solo, even the great ones, you are left wondering what could be gained with a band or even just an accompanist. Not so with Charlie Parr. He sounded perfect all on his own. Through finger picks, slides, foot stomps and that ragged voice with unexpected range, there wasn’t empty space wanting for anything more. And modifications, like an “aggressive capo” on the mostly instrumental “Jaybird” got even more sound from that guitar.

    “You know you’re at a folk show when a guy talks awkwardly while tuning his guitars.” Parr said, while tuning his guitar. He tuned quickly though, and like the way he opened his show, his tuning turned to playing without pause or hesitation. The show kept moving, with engaging upbeat songs, even if they were depressing in nature. He provided “palette cleansers” with some traditional folk blues tunes, like Brownie McGhee’s “Sportin’ Life” and Blind Willie McTell‘s “Delia,” the closest he was getting to playing a seasonal holiday song (not very close at all.) His original “On Stealing a Sailboat” referenced Arlo Guthrie in style, a romping spoken word story. No, there was no question or doubt about this being a folk show, or an Honest Folk show for that matter, the promoter closing out the year in grand fashion. We look forward to what’s in store for 2023.

    The full house lent an attentive ear to opener Al Olender, a young singer-songwriter from the Hudson Valley making her third return trip through Rochester this year. She immediately connected with the crowd on catchy and clever “All I Do Is Watch TV,” finger picking and strumming her vintage electric guitar and emoting with her silky smooth vocals. Her friend Amanda Brooklyn came out to aid with sparse but well-placed harmonies. She cut through sad subject matter with engaging and humble humor, in her lyrics, with in-song jokes, and witty banter. She was admittedly nervous performing a cover of Roy Orbison’s “Blue Bayou,” (you wouldn’t have guessed it from her delivery) but had no hesitation baring all about her own experiences in a bad breakup on “Liar Liar.” Olender is a new voice to keep an eye out for.

    Charlie Parr – Arbor Loft, Rochester – December 1, 2022

    Setlist: 817 Oakland Avenue, Last of the Better Days Ahead, Everyday Opus, Sportin’ Life (Brownie McGhee), Don’t Send Your Child to War, Cheap Wine, 1922 Blues, Dog, Jaybird, Over the Red Cedar, On Stealing a Sailboat, Delia (Blind Willie McTell), Jubilee
    Encore: Ain’t No Grave Gonna Hold My Body Down

  • Five Must-See Shows in Rochester This December

    We’ve got five must-see music suggestions to end your year this December here in Rochester. From the 1st to the 31st, we’ve got you covered. So work off that holiday meal, take a load off your holiday shopping stress, and get down and groovy with these great shows coming to town. Get out and celebrate a full (relatively) unimpeded year of live music!

    rochester shows december
    Rochester

    December 1 – Charlie Parr at Arbor Loft

    Right off the bat we’ve got an incredible musician coming to town on the first of the month. You can’t really go wrong with an Honest Folk show, really you shouldn’t miss anyone they’re bringing in, but this show in particular is a bit extra as the kids say. As far as folk music goes, you’re not going to get much better than Charlie Parr these days. A scraggly looking Minnesotan, he’ll finger pick some blues tunes that’ll pierce your soul, up above the lit-up East End streets.

    Show starts at 8pm and tickets are $30.

    December 3 – The Sadies at Skylark Lounge

    Rochester has been fortunate to be a longtime regular stop for Toronto’s The Sadies. Tragically they lost their founding member Dallas Good earlier this year. Though they are persevering, getting the band back on the road just recently with a tour of Europe. They’re blowing through town with a stop at the hole-in-the-wall Skylark Lounge, where they last played mere days before the pandemic shutdown. This will both rock and roll.

    Show starts at 10pm and tickets are $15/$20dos.

    December 15 – Angela Perley at Abilene Bar and Lounge

    You gotta love a venue with a well-curated show schedule. Danny Deutsch, who both owns and books Abilene, knows good music. So when he books a band multiple times, you should take notice. When he books a band multiple times in the same year, you better go see why. He’s got Angela Perley back at the joint after she played back this August. Time then to get out to see what her “cosmic swirl of alt-country, psychedelic rock, and amplified Americana” is all about.

    Show starts at 7:30 and tickets are $12/$15dos

    December 30 – Giant Panda Guerrilla Dub Squad at Water Street Music Hall

    Water Street Music Hall is closing out the year with an excellent one-two punch of live music. Rochester’s favorite roots rock reggae band Giant Panda Guerilla Dub Squad opens up the festive weekend with their homecoming blast. They’re bringing Notorious B.I.G. cover band The Frank White Experience and local groovers The Sideways along for the ride as well as other surprise guests. Both sides of the club will be open and rocking so don’t miss out on this night of music and revelry.

    Show starts at 8 and tickets are $25 presale.

    December 31 – Aqueous at Water Street Music Hall

    One night later, Buffalo jam mavens Aqueous return to Rochester for some more heady goodness. Aqueous has long found a second home here and never let us down. If you’re looking for a New Year’s Eve that stretches and elongates and parties on until 2022 is no longer visible in the rear view, Water Street is the place to be. The Funky Dawgz and The Pickle Mafia round out the evening but as with Giant Panda, there are sure to be more “friends” popping up on stage.

    Show starts at 7pm and tickets are $25.

    That’s it for this month, see you out at the shows and see you back here next year!

  • The First Ever Rochester Experimental Week Explores Musical Boundaries

    Back in October, for seven straight nights, in seven different venues around Rochester, over 90 different artists from near and very far, became a part of the first ever Rochester Experimental Week. The quasi-festival was put on by promoter Eclectic Overdrive, a relative newcomer to the area’s scene.

    Rochester Experimental Week
    Bonnie Kane and Tracy Lisk, photo by Raimund Selke-Fisher

    Each night was jam-packed with quick hit sets from an eclectic group of musicians. Experimental music is an expansive and open descriptor for music. As such, styles ranged widely, from heavy and in-your-face, to quiet and reserved. But everything left of left-of-center. It was incredible free-form and incredibly, all free of charge. And nearly every venue was able to maintain all ages shows, a free for all that was quite literally free for all.

    Rochester Experimental Week
    Nick Gianni & Reggie Sylvester, photo by Raimund Selke-Fisher

    The week filled some of the more unique music spaces around town, like the Bug Jar, UUU Art Collective, the Spirit Room, Rosen Krown and 75 Stutson. Some nights stretched all the way into the mornings, Saturday’s schedule finished at 4am! NYS Music was in attendance for night five, at the budding creative space and music venue Dutch, a small old church off of Main Street bordering the Neighborhood of the Arts.

    The centerpiece for the evening was Japanese percussionist Tatsuya Nakatani’s Gong Orchestra. Employing fifteen volunteer gong-ists from the area to follow his instructions and direction, Nakatani presented an exhilarating near-hour of non-stop gonging. Through bowing on the gongs’ edges and hitting them with various mallets, the Gong Orchestra pushed the gong’s sound to it’s limit. With every sound multiplied by fifteen it was about as loud and absorbing as un-amplified music can get. Any film makers out there looking for a soundtrack for their mysterious and eery project (thinking Midsommar, Dark etc), give Nakatani a ring, this sound is perfect.

    Rochester Experimental Week
    Nakatani Gong Orchestra, photo by Raimund Selke-Fisher

    Nakatani followed that up with a solo set, employing his unique kit, of course including a couple of gongs, and his unique playing. Unlike anything most have heard coming from a percussionist previously, and that was the core of the theme for the night, and week. The evening at Dutch also included a short set from Bonnie Kane (saxophone, flute, electronics) and Tracy Lisk (drums) improvising on what could best be described as avant-garde jazz. Another duo, Nick Gianni (saxophone, keys) and Reggie Sylvester (drums) similarly improvised around the outer edges of jazz with Sylvester interspersing some spoken word, with a vague running theme about the pandemic.

    Tatsuya Nakatani, photo by Raimund Selke-Fisher

    The week’s experiments were as much on stage as they were off. Rochester music lovers came out in strong support, ready to lend an open mind and open ears to widen their net of musical experiences. The question being asked wasn’t “What is experimental music?” it was simply “What is music?” It isn’t clear if Rochester was left with more questions or answers. Either way, Eclectic Overdrive will continue to give the artists a time and a place to run their various experiments. Next year’s Rochester Experimental Week II is already set and in the planning stages, see you in 2023, October 9-16!

  • Five Must-See Shows in Rochester This November

    The temps are cooling but the jams are just heating up and the longer nights just give us more time to rock out. Time to finish the first full “post-pandemic” year of live music strong. November is already well under way, but we still have some surefire live music picks and shows for you in Rochester.

    November 8 – Sarah Shook and the Disarmers @ Abilene Bar and Lounge

    First up is Sarah Shook, returning to Abilene for the first time since 2018, and after their show there this summer was postponed due to none other than that damn Covid. Touring behind their excellent 2022 release, Nightroamer, this North Carolina-based quintet muscles up honky tonk with a little rock and punk energy, or do they twang out their punk rock with a little honky tonk? Either way, you’re in for a barn-burning badass night of music.

    Show starts at 8pm and tickets are $20/$25 dos.

    November 12 – Lee Fields @ Photo City Music Hall

    Last seen in Rochester mesmerizing the Rochester International Jazz Fest crowd at Harro East in 2013, Lee Fields finally returns this week. One of the best soul singers around, he recorded his first single back in 1969 and put out his latest album just last week, Sentimental Fool, his first for the vaunted Daptone Records label. He is anything but past his prime though, expect high energy on stage and off, grooves to get you moving and a voice that’ll hit you right in the sweet spot.

    Show starts at 8p and tickets are $23.50.

    November 17 – Another Michael, String Machine @ Bug Jar

    A night of too-new-to-be-known indie music awaits. Two bands touring behind their 2022 releases are coming hungry to win your love. Another Michael is a tight Philadelphia-based band delivering hooky songs trending toward the folksier spectrum with breezy guitars and dreamy vocals. String Machine, a seven piece from the other side of Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh, brings a fuller sound, what they call maximalist indie rock. They’ll be playing from their latest, Hallelujah Hell Yeah, which is an album of album of joy, vulnerability, and forgiveness. Catch them both at the Bug Jar, with local openers, *ahem* Bugcatcher.

    Show starts at 9pm and tickets are $14-$18.

    November 19 – Amy Helm @ Hart Theater

    Another Covid-postponed show, Amy Helm was supposed to grace the Canalside Stage outside the JCC this summer. Now we get to enjoy her inside the intimate and acoustically-sound Hart Theater. An incredible voice singing her incredible songs, prepare to be melted and moved. The Woodstock native and daughter to the late-great Levon, Helm is an extra special treat to see live, an Americana treasure. Locals Jon Itkin and the Receivers will open the show.

    Show starts at 7p and tickets are $40-$70.

    November 25-28 – Bop Shop’s 40th Anniversary Jazz Festival

    Bop Shop Records has been celebrating their 40th anniversary all year, with the intention of hosting 40 shows in 2022. To see any music in this intimate environment among the stacks is a treat, but owner Tom Kohn has impeccable taste and brings in ridiculously good talent, so every show is pretty much cant-miss. Their busy November closes out with a 40th Anniversary Jazz Festival, four straight nights of high quality jazz to burn off those extra Thanksgiving calories.

    Getting things started on Black Friday is Three Shamans, featuring Phil Haynes, Ken Filiano & Herb Robertson.

    On Saturday, Joe Fiedler’s Open Sesame returns to take your Sesame Street favorites to places you never imagined.

    Sunday night is Joe Fonda & Bass of Operation. Fonda has graced the Bop Shop stage more than any other artist. The reason for that is, he’s really freaking good!

    Closing out the little festival on Monday is Michael Musillami Trio.

    All shows start at 8pm and are $20. There is also a special four-show pass for $55.

  • Danielle Ponder Gives Rochester a Whole Lotta Love at Water Street Music Hall

    Danielle Ponder returned to Rochester for her first show after her major label debut, Some of Us Are Brave. She was back after crisscrossing the country as Marcus Mumford’s opener along with numerous festival dates. But on this night, she was no opener and she needed no warmup, this night belonged to Danielle Ponder and no one else.

    danielle ponder rochester

    The agnostic daughter of a pastor reached back to her roots and preached from her pulpit to the sold out Water Street Music Hall. Instead of seeing God, with the help of some mushrooms, she had seen herself and her place amongst the trees and oceans and earth. Her speaking quickly turned into singing, her voice exponentially more powerful in song, “What a joy it is to be alive… I feel your love and it gives me power…” Her congregation responded not with Amen’s but melodic lalala’s. The power of music was in the house, and Ponder was delivering.

    danielle ponder rochester

    As always, in shows, in interviews, anytime anywhere, her love for her hometown was effusive. Off the bat she inserted a “Rochester NY!” into the opening song. She followed by explaining how Rochester was involved in a group effort to lift her up to the heights she’s reached in the past year. It prepared her to be a professional, impressing the industry bigwigs she’s been rubbing elbows with as of late. Later in the night, she noted humbly, that if she ever falls back down, she knows she can always come back home.

    But it wasn’t just about her homecoming. Nearly every song was dedicated to a group of people that resonates with her. “Some of Us Are Brave,” to black women all over the world. “Someone Like You,” to all the singles, including Ponder herself, who wondered why her DM’s weren’t more active then they were. On the contrary, “Only the Lonely” was dedicated to the people who stayed with someone too long. “Poor Man’s Pain” was dedicated to all the Public Defenders, of which she was one not too long ago. Now as she was following her passion of being a professional musician, “So Long” was dedicated to all the dreamers and artists that know their purpose. Her songs were deeply personal, but for everyone.

    danielle ponder rochester

    And for the old school fans, of which there were many, she reached back into her vault to pull out some old favorites. The bluesy “Working” appropriately reminisced her 9 to 5 days, while a cover of Laurny Hill’s “Doo-Wop (That Thing) got the whole place hopping, her friends and family pouring into the pit much to the chagrin of security.

    Ponder presented a couple of more cover in the encore. Though when she sang “Whole Lotta Love,” it wasn’t as much a Led Zeppelin song as it was a Danielle Ponder song with lyrics by Robert Plant (though even then some of those words belong to Willie Dixon). Likewise, when she sang “Creep” to close the show, it wasn’t a Radiohead cover, but a Ponder original, that just happened to be written by Thom Yorke. As a song that band has abandoned, it might as well belong to Ponder now anyway. Like one of her inspirations, Nina Simone, Ponder takes these songs and reinvents them for her own purpose, as she has reinvented herself.

    As her star begins to rise and explode, is Danielle Ponder at the Blue Cross Arena in Rochester in the not too distant future?

  • The Babe Rainbow Throws a Party at Photo City Music Hall

    The stage curtain was closed. Behind it, a party was being devised. Or more likely it wasn’t, but once it opened and revealed Australia’s The Babe Rainbow on stage, a party was started nonetheless.

    The band had just released their new album, The Organic Band, three days prior, so there was plenty worth celebrating. They appropriately opened their set with the album’s first track, “Inner Space,” though from there it was a healthy mix of new and old, actually skewing toward the old. But it didn’t really matter what was played, every last song exuded dance party vibes. There wasn’t a face without a smile or an ass without a shaking in the comfortably crowded venue. With all due respect to Disney, on Monday October 17, Photo City Music Hall in Rochester was the happiest place on Earth.

    The stage sat mere inches off the dance floor which provided ample opportunity for the band and crowd to converge in revelry. Early in the show, lead singer Angus Darling was off the stage dancing and singing from the crowd. “Good dance moves, let’s keep it up!” “Planet Junior” with Jack Crowther’s slinky guitar and unavoidable groove did indeed keep it up, as did “Supermoon,” which had drummer Miles Myjavec bouncing in his seat as he laid down another badass beat.

    While there are elements of surf in the music, though not much in there to inspire crowd surfing, but that didn’t stop one woman from cruising above the crowd during the loungy “Peace Blossom Boogy.” More appropriate to the vibe, a dance circle broke out during “Monky Disco,” individuals showing off their moves to the encouraging onlookers while Elliot O’Reilly facilitated with some brilliant bass work.

    The party was on stage, in the audience, and backstage. Tour mates seventies tuberide would frequently pop out onto the stage to join in the fun, throwing bananas or paper towels into the crowd (not in a natural-disaster-photo-op kind of way, but more of a this-is-the-most-festive-stuff-we-have-on-hand kind of way), and even, the more usual collaboration of playing together. On “Eureka,” announced as The Babe Rainbow theme song, the bass player and drummer came out to add percussion and extra stage energy, jumping all over the stage. There would be more percussion accompaniment added from members of Maybird as well during the encore performance of Blondie’s “Heart of Glass.”

    Local psychedelic band Maybird opened the show. They’ve been a bit quiet lately, even though they put out a new album earlier this year, a trippy song cycle based on Alice in Wonderland. Their set included a few selections from that, like the psych-disco “Lost in Wonderland” with it’s swelling keys, and the ethereal “I’ll Miss You When I Wake Up.” Maybird’s music improves as it thickens, each added layer adds exponential possibilities. For this set, the core trio of Josh and Adam Netsky and Overhand Sam were joined by Cian (sax) and Shane McCarthy (bass) from Mikaela Davis’s band, Sam Hirsh on keys and Greg Maslyn on percussion. They flexed their collective muscle immediately with the set-opening take on “Maybird,” the usual hectic ending going extra heavy and deep with the added power. The set continued to excite with more classic Maybird material like “Don’t Keep Me Around,” “Gonna Lose Your Mind,” and “Turning Into Water,” each benefiting and sounding spectacular with the extra contributions. We can only hope that a quiet 2022 begets a more active year ahead for the band.

    California trio seventies tuberide, also touring with a just out new album, played a slow motion punk grunge. Their tube was riding through a river drenched in reverb. Three-part harmonies, guitars, bass and drums all blended into one singular force. Their songs and band name are all intentionally listed in lower case, which perfectly matches their style. “favorite year love letter” and “skin, hair oil” typified their downbeat punk, while a pre-recorded track and sit-ins from Jack Crowther and Miles Myjavec added a little oomph to “completely dry.” Their short 20 minute set closed with Crowther continuing on in support of “sunday,” which had a nice slow and groovy “Walk On the Wild Side“-esque bass line.

    The Babe Rainbow at Photo City Music Hall was just about as much fun as could be had on a Monday night. Let’s do it again next week!

  • SLIFT Slays a Sold-Out Bug Jar

    A tick before midnight on Saturday October 15, brains splattered on the wall, a mix of sweat and beer wet the floor, as a stunned crowd shuffled out of the Bug Jar, eyes-glazed. Such was the aftermath from the headlining set from French trio SLIFT.

    slift

    Comprised of brothers Jean and Remi Fossat on guitar and bass, and high school friend Canek Flores on drums, SLIFT was rounding the home-stretch of their first ever North American tour. Their most recent release, Ummon, arrived just before the pandemic shutdowns. The set pulled exclusively from that material, though nearly 3 years old, it of course arrived to the sold-out Rochester audience farm fresh. Each note, each beat, every howl, served and consumed with reckless abandon.

    sliftslift

    After limb-loosening and ear-pleasing sets from local openers The Ginger Faye Bakers and Haishen, the trio took the stage. Jean dialed up an undulating drone from his electronics panel, which sped into an alien beam before the band exploded into “Ummon”. Guitar, drums and bass a raging ball of energy. The crowd responded in kind, jumping, fist pumping, bodies bouncing off bodies, feet stomping on feet, elbows jabbing chests. But there was no time for apologizing, just move or be moved.

    slift

    Digital patterns and images frenetically displayed behind the band. Like a sonic mood ring, they seemed to match the music’s energy. Reds and whites flashed during the heavier head-banging moments. When “It’s Coming” kicked into a more head-bobbing psychedelic groove, oranges and greys emerged. Mellower still, brought blues and yellows. A meaty “Century on a Satellite” > “Hyperion” mid-set had the band moving freely between high-energy metal, long bass-led grooves, electronics-heavy sections, and slow-developing climaxes. The colorful displays followed all along the way, yellows shifting to oranges intensifying into reds.

    When a band calls out their last song, it’s always welcome when that song goes for 15 minutes. A show-closing “Lions, Tigers and Bears” delivered on all fronts. Remi’s incredible bass playing reached a fever pitch, carrying a his brother through frenetic guitar solos and spacey electronics noodling. Flores’ drums built up to one final explosion and the whole ordeal collapsed gloriously. Then one last we’re-not-quite-done-yet droning exploration extended the evening until it all fizzled out for real. At just over an hour it wasn’t enough to sate the packed house, but pleas for an encore went unrewarded. Zut alors!

  • Shakey Graves and The Ballroom Thieves Provide Early Fall Colors at Point of the Bluff Vineyards

    It was officially Fall, and unofficially, Fall weather had also arrived. But for Point of the Bluff Vineyards in Hammondsport, NY on the shore of Keuka Lake, there is still time left for outdoor music. So it was Saturday, September 24 when they invited Shakey Graves and The Ballroom Thieves to perform.

    The show got started with some rapid fire questioning from The Ballroom Thieves’ Martin Earley, “You guys wanna party? Do you have your wine? Should we start?” And start they did, just as they do on their new album, with the gently rocking “Worldender,” which included some nifty alternating “oh”s from Earley and bassist Caitlin Peters, creating an acoustically derived digital-sounding effect. They followed with another one off of Clouds, the short and punchy “In the Morning.”

    The Ballroom Thieves weren’t just sporting a new album though. Last summer founding member Devin Mauch left the band and this summer Peters and Earley got married. In fact, this show was only their second as husband and wife. The lineup was rounded out by drummer and keys player Kevin Kennedy O’Connell, from not-too-far-off Rome, NY.

    The trio found lots of space to explore, mixing up their sound with regularity during their 45 minute set. “Pendulum” and “Bees” saw Peters switching to cello and O’Connell switching to keys for a couple of finger-picked folk beauties. O’Connell left the stage completely for a spell of duo tunes, a cover of Jackson Frank’s “Blues Run the Game,” and “Borderline,” accentuating the couple’s stellar harmonies as they lovingly gazed into each other’s eyes. Then they closed on a trio of grittier rocking with the bluesy “Fistfight” and punchy “Wolf.”

    Shakey Graves entered the stage solo, already plucking out some notes on his guitar, holding a glass of wine wearing a dapper brown suit. He climbed up on a riser at the back of the stage and started banging out a rhythm with foot pedals on a cajon and cymbal, playing “Nobody’s Fool.” Before “Square One,” Graves explained how he always wished he could tour the country playing music, and it happened. But then he found that he was traveling too much so he wished he could just pause it for a bit, and unfortunately for the world, that happened too. He said he was sorry though. Then he wished he could drink wine at the top of a hill overlooking a lake and play a show, and poof here he was.

    The rest of his quintet arrive on stage, in matching suits, for “The Donor Blues.” Graves added a lot of emphasis to his music, through hand motions and asides sprinkled throughout the set. When he sang, “I got my gall from the boys back east” he added, “That’s you…” pointing out to the crowd. In “Business Lunch” and “Ready Or Not” his hands kept busy acting out various lines.

    Like The Ballroom Thieves, Graves kept the set moving with good variety. “Family and Genus” tied together with “Kids These Days” through a short burst of hectic rock, while the latter kept it up with some hard rocking energy behind solid drumming. But then Graves was alone on the stage again, sitting on the riser and picking out a long intro to “Was Here” followed by “Pansy Waltz.”

    When the band came back, they were all taking shots from a small jar of brown liquor handed up from someone in the audience. The band crowded around one mic to sing and clap their way through “Unlucky Sin,” their appropriate we’re-under-a-tent “church moment.” And that zoomed up to the off-kilter “Counting Sheep” which burst into an extended anthemic two-guitar outro. On the show-closing “Dearly Departed” the crowd was encouraged to clap along, and eventually would take over the singing duties in full, lifting the tent in voice and making Graves’ dreams come true.

    Ballroom Thieves Setlist: Worldender, In the Morning, Pendulum, Bees, Blues Run the Game (Jackson C. Frank cover), Borderline, Fistfight, Anybody Else, Wolf

    Shakey Graves Setlist: Nobody’s Fool, Square One, The Donor Blues, Business Lunch, Ready Or Not, Family and Genus > Kids These Days, Was Here, Pansy Waltz, Unlucky Sin, Counting Sheep, Century City, Dearly Departed E: Late July

  • Dawes and Bahamas Pair Perfectly at Point of the Bluff Vineyards

    Dawes and Bahamas joined forces for a late summer tour that was first billed as a set of Bahamas with Dawes backing, followed by a set of Dawes joined by Bahamas, aka Afie Jurvanen. Turns out the billing, even as cool as it looked on paper, didn’t quite do justice in preparing for what unfurled in person.

    On a sunny afternoon, pleasantly in the mid-70s, overlooking a sparkling Keuka Lake down the grape filled slopes of Point of the Bluff Vineyards on Saturday, September 17, this pairing was a match made in Finger Lakes heaven.

    dawes bahamas

    It didn’t take long for the magical show’s prestige to be revealed. The five men of Dawes on stage with Bahamas, launched into Dawes’ “Someone Else’s Cafe.” Jurvanen stepped up to take the first guitar solo. Griffin Goldsmith took a drum solo, then all three guitarists, Jurvanen, with Dawes’ Taylor Goldsmith and Trevor Menear locked into a grooving jam that fizzled into the next song, Bahamas’ “Own Alone.” The end of that song had Lee Pardini extending the action into Dawes’ “Doomscroller Tries to Relax.”

    Let’s pause here to point out that “Someone Else’s Cafe” and “Doomscroller” appear on Dawes’ just out new album, where they are played together as a suite. Pretty remarkable that they split the two with their tour mates’ song, and that they were willing to tour their new material for the first time sharing the stage in this unique fashion in the first place.

    The show continued similarly, Dawes and Bahamas swapping songs seamlessly, in a way that didn’t feel like two bands at all, just one stellar band with two incredible songwriters. Jurvanen sang backup and harmonies for Goldsmith and Goldsmith the same for Jurvanen, their voices blending and complementing like they were working toward this sound exclusively for years.

    Those on stage were having as good a time as the near-capacity crowd under the tent. They showed mutual love through cute lyrical changes, Bahamas singing, “I feel lucky to be here with Dawes today” in “Everything to Everyone,” and Goldsmith replying “I want Bahamas to make the days move easy” a few songs later in “If I Wanted Someone.” Goldsmith’s guitar solo there worked its way expertly right into the next Bahamas song, “I Got You” of course.

    dawes bahamas

    They also both couldn’t help but mention the early 3pm show time. Goldsmith complimenting the audience, “You guys don’t give a shit how early it is, you came to party. I respect that.” Jurvanen while having a bit of fun plinking out a guitar solo remarked, “Morning person, night person… I’m an afternoon person. This is perfect.”

    After 70 minutes of fun, jams and sharing incredible songs, they came back out to do it some more. To start the second set, Jurvanen arrive alone to (surprise!) sing a Dawes song, “Just My Luck,” solo. Midway through Goldsmith came out to join in, but (surprise! surprise!) he was singing Bahamas’ “Half Your Love,” the two songs mashing up with ease. They followed that up with a new song they wrote together, “Folk Singer,” that hilariously poked fun at each other and themselves.

    The second set’s energetic highlight came with a rare-for-this-show one-two punch from Dawes, as their new song “Come in Waves” jammed its way brilliantly into their early hit “When My Time Comes.” The crowd singing along all the way, got a solo turn for the last chorus.

    The show was billed as Dawes and Bahamas, as the graphic behind the stage reminded us throughout the afternoon. But it was clear from the get-go, and crystal clear by show’s end, this wasn’t just two bands swapping songs. The lines were fully blurred. The “and” was inaccurate. This wasn’t Dawes AND Bahamas, this was simply Dawhamas. They weren’t a pairing of wine and cheese, but simply a fine blended wine itself. A reverse of Dylan and the Band. The two main songwriters evening the playing field by going one for one, not unlike Bob Weir and Jerry Garcia would do in the Grateful Dead. And if this is how good they sound midway through one short tour, we can only hope it isn’t just a one time thing.

    Dawes – Point of Bluff Vineyards – September 17, 2022

    Set 1: Someone Else’s Cafe > Own Alone > Doomscroller Tries to Relax > All the Time, Still Feel Like A Kid, Everything to Everyone, Everything is Permanent, Way With Words, If I Wanted Someone > I Got You Babe, Somewhere Along the Way, Opening Act
    Set 2: Just My Luck / Half Your Love, Folk Singer, Caught Me Thinking, Comes in Waves > When My Time Comes, Trick to Happy, Roll With the Punches, Lost In the Light, Things Happen
    Encore: Up With the Jones, All Your Favorite Bands

  • A Blast at the Bug Jar: L’Eclair, Spaceface and Drippers

    Swiss instrumental quintet L’Eclair, Memphis rockers Spaceface, and Rochester’s own Drippers took the Bug Jar audience on a made-for-Saturday journey this past Tuesday.

    Mike Turzanski’s Drippers set the night in motion. A mid-set multi-movement piece proved to be a highlight. Dual synths laid down eerie sounds matched with a haunting bass and drums backdrop. The electronics went into hyperdrive as the guitar took over. It spilled into a new wave segment and then ramped back up to something resembling prog-rock. As the groove got thicker, so did the smoke. A smoke machine sat on stage throughout the night and was used liberally but timely by all bands. Later in the set, a dual guitar ripper featured some hang-on-if-you-can bass work while a punk rave up gave the drummer’s star time to shine bright. The smoke had cleared but the journey was just getting started. Takeoff was imminent.

    Spaceface, led by Jake Ingalls, formerly of the Flaming Lips, brought their own style of party-ready psychedelic rock. After a quick band huddle, they launched into “Happens All the Time,” it’s crunchy guitar disco rock got limbs moving throughout the room. “Rain Passing Through” amped up the dance grooves and it wasn’t long until bodies were fully in motion.

    With a full-body workout underway, it was only appropriate to throw in some 3rd grade gym class references. Ingalls reminisced at the awkwardness of climbing ropes and changing in front of your classmates. It all began to make sense when he busted out a rainbow-colored parachute and tossed it out in the crowd. We all grabbed a hold and started to wave it up and down, following along to Coach Ingalls’ instructions. As the band ripped through a funky jam the crowd ran under the parachute according to their color or other various experiences. When it was asked for those who were at the Bug Jar for the first time, no one moved. A crowd of regulars!

    The smoke machine was igniting throughout the set, and so were the tunes. Guitarist Eric Martin occasionally busted out a snow machine, filling the room with fake snow, which as it lingered, mixing with the smoke and lights, resembled the upside-down from Stranger Things, appropriately enough with the Bug Jar’s upside-down apartment. A tripped-out cover of The Verve’s “Bittersweet Melody” was truly unique. Katie Pierce laid down a fat bass line under Daniel Quinlan’s intricate beats on “Cowboy Lightning,” everything pinging back and forth off the walls for an immersive sound. The energy was also pinging around the room, a full-on dance party had exploded. We had ignition.

    L’Eclair closed the night, guiding the ship through the cosmos with their Francophonic funk. As the music was instrumental, the French was implied, though those who witnessed soundcheck got a good dose as they called out instructions to their sound engineer. L’Eclair translates to “flash of lightning,” brilliant sparks appropriately emanated off the stage.

    The Swiss quintet immediately set the crowd on course for more body moving. Fat intergalactic grooves were accompanied by keyboard laser beams and spacey guitar moans. Wild polyrhythms went in and out of step with jaunty synths.

    Shorter flights gave way to extended jams. One built and built, a fiery engine, then dropped out all at once, floating in a zero-gravity groove. The drummer sparked the engine for another burn with oontz-oontz raving rhythms and cosmic beams shooting out from the synthesizers. A magnificent cacophony burst forth before melting down to a spectacular drum solo, complete, of course, with more sci-fi-infused synths.

    The grounded dance-party of Spaceface took flight with L’Eclair, the band and crowd bouncing in lockstep, the ground pulling downward less and less as the night grew shorter, until the music felt like it had suspended the crowd in mid-air. The jams grew more electrified, more extended, stretching into the outer reaches. With no vocal mic on stage, banter was kept to an absolute minimum. Non-stop instrumental goodness filled the void between and within. Bursts of smoke provided a physical presence to the ethereal aura emerging along the waves of sound.

    An encore is never a sure thing at the Bug Jar, and when one is granted is generally pretty quick. L’Eclair was coaxed out for two encores, each one a lengthy electronic funk out. One last burn to get us back home. Re-entry was a bit rough, Wednesday already underway as we departed the ship.