Show of the month

The Orange Ocean / Teletextile / Bridget and the Squares

Great Scott

Allston, MA

May 21, 2008

The Orange Ocean set the tone for the night early on this drizzly Wednesday evening. The instruments set up on the stage were all low and close to the floor, with seemingly nothing above waist level. The music followed suit, as singer/vocalist Daniel Burke stood at a massive electric piano at center stage and started comping out low-range blocky chords starting the triad of primarily keyboard-based bands.

The Orange Ocean seem as if they are inevitably going somewhere. Perhaps it was the weird Elton John-inspired bass note/chord combinations between Burke and bassist Stu Pynn or perhaps the anxious beat of Kurt Dyrli’s drums, but The Orange Ocean’s sound is that of a cresting wave that grows yet never seems to break. Burke flitted about from digital piano to a Wurlitzer electric piano set up perpendicular to the front-facing digital keyboard. Burke seemed much more comfortable seated at the Wurlitzer than standing at the digital piano.

Listeners familiar with the headlining act that thought they knew where this night was going found themselves quite wrong upon the appearance of the arty Teletextile. A gauntlet of instruments (keyboards, small-scale synthesizers, another Wurlitzer, a medium sized harp, a trumpet and a violin) turned the stage into some weird sort of laboratory maze, where the subjects move about and play with different noisemakers. The set started somewhat roughly, thanks to a persistent loop that would not be silenced. This led to an extended interstitial between songs that may have led to a mutiny if not for the buoyant presence of front-woman Pamela Martinez. She is comfortable onstage with good reason; her impressive voice wells up from her small frame, leading the audience to wonder if that huge voice is really coming from this mere mortal on the stage. Teletextile’s apparent reliance on pre-recorded tracks seemed somewhat overwrought; they merely need to provide a canvas for Martinez.

The ultimate set of the night came from Bridget and the Squares, although the diminutive Bridget informed the audience that this evenings Squares were actually more like Shills, filling in for the soon-to-be Squares. Bridget-and-the-Shills performed well after an odd mini-set by Bridget (real name: Laura Bridget Regan) away from her customary piano and playing acoustic guitar. Whatever instrument she plays, Regan’s charms lay in her voice which lays somewhere on the register between a sultry Fiona Apple and an elfin Regina Spektor. Regan shatters the “little girl” thing with the occasional lyrical expletive, which seemed a bit over the top at times. A night of full of keyboards and small women with impressive pipes was a change from the general Allston guitar-driven extravaganza, and a showcase of three different yet similar styles coming to mesh in one evening.

-Review and photo by C.D. Di Guardia

New England Metal and Hardcore Festival

The Palladium

Worcester, MA

April 25-27, 2008

This April marked the tenth anniversary of the New England Metal and Hardcore Festival, the country’s most successful metal fest. The weekend of April 25-27 was a blur of noise, bodies, alcohol and frightened eight-year-olds getting their first taste of metal courtesy of their enthusiastic parents who took the fact that it’s “all-ages” to heart.

The first night kicked off on Friday as NEMHF joined forces with Gigantour. Sharing the opener slots was Job For A Cowboy with their mauled-by-bear vocals and plenty of blast beats, and stoner/doom metal band High On Fire. Melodic death metal came courtesy of Children of Bodom who were probably the best looking band of the festival (speaking purely objectively). The dueling keyboard and guitar solos ended too soon but next was another Scandinavian band, In Flames. Their distinctive style of harmonized lead guitar melodies and screaming-to-soulful vocals inspired a few crowd members to defy gravity; thrashing and jumping through their peers. Last was Megadeth. Opting not to banter with the audience too much, frontman Dave Mustaine delivered classic songs like “Holy Wars” to a more than receptive audience (Worcester is not an easy audience to please). Though he looked like he couldn’t believe people were cheering for him every time he lifted his head, it’s obvious Megadeth was the pick of the night. Day One ended at 11 p.m. to a rousing two-song encore with Mustaine’s trademark snarls and intricate guitar solos.

On Saturday, the Palladium upstairs served as a second stage where MA hardcore/punk band Cockpunch lived up to their name with lyrics encouraging the inflicting of pain in groinal regions. On the main stage, another MA band The Acacia Strain got so into their set that they broke a guitar. As they paused to fix it, lead singer Vincent Bennett advised the audience not to care

about MySpace or being green! On the topic of chatty singers, Shadows Fall’s Brian Fair managed to tangle his dreads on everything and as he paused to free himself, he exclaimed how this was his seventh metal fest and how they lived, “just down the street.” Loyal to locals, the fans, of course, went crazy and knocked down half the people in the front rows. Poland’s Behemoth put the fear of Satan in the audience with their corpse-like paint, crashing drums, searing guitars, and demonic vocals. From Norway, Dimmu Borgir, the night’s headliners came onto a backdrop that to most of the all-ages audience read like, “My First Satanic Montage,” with their images of goats and sacrificial lady parts. Their symphonic yet heavy music highlighted by their costumes and stage show is something to see, especially if black metal KISS sounds at all intriguing.

Sunday introduced more obscure genres of metal, most notably Viking metal starting with T_r. After three days of increasingly wide men, the long hair and muscled bare chests of T_r were glorious (speaking pure objectively). Turisas marched on with their red and black painted faces and their costumes of loincloths and fur. The combined enthusiasm of the group with the notable inclusion of a violin and an accordion player delivered a forceful punch of Viking merriment. Ensiferum’s music veered away from the more folk-sounding previous two to a harder, galloping rhythm encouraging the audience to hold their drinks up high. The first headliner Meshuggah was a pure wall of noise, falling wave over wave as the audience abandoned all silly merriment for a more serious and intense show. Their aggressive vocals and experimental drumming paired with a solid metal background encouraged earplugs. Following them was Ministry whose set included an onstage fence (per their industrial image), blinding strobe lights and epilepsy-inducing neon lights. Their pumping beats, screeching guitars and machine-gun drumming paired with the light show were hypnotizing.

After three days of metal, the New England Metal and Hardcore Festival came to a tinnitus-inducing end. But if ten years is anything to go by, the country’s biggest, most successful metal and hardcore festival will be back.

-Review by Leyla Hamedi; photos by Elliot Wish

Powerglove

Middle East Upstairs

Cambridge, MA

March 29, 2008

Arlington’s Powerglove have dubbed their sound “video game metal.” However, the frantic drums, heavy bottom end and lighting fast guitar work have more in common with Metallica, Megadeth and Slayer than Super Mario Brothers. Named after the infamous Nintendo device, the band’s set list is a nostalgia trip for gaming fans of the 1980s and 90s. Adapted to the metal medium are themes from Super Mario Brothers, Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, the Mega-Man series, the Final Fantasy series and, of course, Tetris. Playing to a sold-out crowd at the Middle East Upstairs with concert-goers wedged tightly next to each other in the shoe box small venue, Powerglove put on a spirited, energetic performance, offering nearly note perfect reproductions of their recorded work and driving the crowd to an immense frenzy by the conclusion of their set. The group’s musical rasion d’etre perfectly translated to their appearance and stage presence: oversized novelty costumes ripped straight from the Super Mario Bros. rogue gallery, several members sporting the long locks of metal, all the right rock star poses thrown in all the right places and lots of gamer geek in-jokes between songs. Individual performances are hard to discern in Powerglove because the group’s great strength is as a unit. Guitarists Alex Berkson and Chris Marchiel perfectly balanced reckless thrashing with disciplined fret work, showing both countless hours of practice to obtain their present tightness and countless hours of gaming to get those melodies and jingles permanently etched into their psyche. Meanwhile, bassist Nick Avila and drummer Bassil Silver-Hajo act as a good rhythm section, keeping the beat, propelling the songs to their necessary speeds and kicking things up a notch when needed. Joining the performance sporadically was local self-proclaimed gothic/fetish/alt model Lilith Astaroth, who danced on stage and passed out toy swords to the front row. By the end of the group’s brief supporting set, the small crowd was chanting the band’s name and demanding more music. With the group about to embark on a summer long national tour that will eventually take them to the west coast, that’s as good of an affirmation to trudge forward and conquer as any gaming hero would do.

-Review and photo by Anthony Saggese

Kenny Garrett

The Regattabar

Cambridge, MA

April 24, 2008

Alto saxophonist Kenny Garrett has been known for his ecstatic playing since he began working with Miles Davis’ groups in the 1980s. Since then, he’s grown into a player who is capable of captivating an entire room with his rich sound and exciting playing. His recent show at Cambridge’s Regattabar found him experimenting with a mixture of new and old. Playing with Corey Henry on Hammond B3 organ, Lenny Stallworth on electric bass and Tim Smith on drums, the late show found Garrett experimenting with deep soul-jazz grooves and funk-fusion with mixed results.

Early songs featured Garrett running his sax through a variety of effects to create a sound that was rich in new sounds but lacking in soul. His technique shined through the wash of computer effects, but Garrett’s unique tone was lost, leaving the music without a leading voice. An early number featured synthesized wave sounds to create a pulsing mix that built and built with hints of Asian and Middle Eastern melodies oddly interspersed with `80’s funk.

A solo sax transition was intriguing, as Garrett used the echoes of clacking keys to create funky synthesized rhythms. But the following “Wayne’s Thang,” featuring a splitter effect that made Garrett’s sound pinched and nasal, was the concert’s low point, save for a raucous solo that drummer Tim Smith seemed to have been waiting for all night long. Thankfully, Garrett then turned off the effects and broke into “Charlie Brown Goes to South Africa.” The tune built off of a chill but funky groove fueled by Stallworth and Smith, and featured a blazing B3 solo from Henry that was rich in blaring chords and sparkling high speed runs across the keyboard. This gave way to a joyous solo from Garrett, filled with crying bent notes and altissimo Hallelujahs, which built and built and would not quit. Henry then got another opportunity to shine with a solo organ exploration that took the bar to church and drew cries from the audience. This was old school soul jazz, with Henry hearkening to the spirit of Jimmy Smith, cutting his Leslie loose and drawing out all the collective sounds a B3 can make. When the band came in together, Garrett accompanied on Fender Rhodes, taking a backseat to the workings of the group. A smooth bass solo from Stallworth was fun, but ran a little long. Garrett’s keyboard solo was decent but paled in comparison when he picked up the saxophone again.

The night closed with an encore of Garrett’s trademark “Happy People,” a catchy soul-jazz riff that had the entire house clapping and singing along. Henry again took over. His interactions with Garrett created an exuberant conversation that closed the night out right, with keyboards blaring and Garrett calling out through his sax to an audience that applauded long and hard.

-Review and photo by Warren Allen