by | Apr 7, 2022 8:53 am | Comments (1)
Brian Slattery Photos
Sounds and Scenarios.
At Stella Blues on Wednesday night, four bands — three of them based in Connecticut, supporting headliners Sounds and Scenarios from Boston — unleashed four sets of rock, ranging from heavy to thrashing to atmospheric, that all had one thing in common: a commitment to emotional directness and honesty.
by | Apr 6, 2022 1:03 pm | Comments (1)
Brian Slattery Photo
McDonald: Ready for the digital age.
With a new team and vision in place, Anthony McDonald begins his second year running New Haven’s historic Shubert Theatre with an eye fixed on the future as more people venture back out to public events.
by | Apr 5, 2022 8:58 am | Comments (1)
The colorful digital artwork on the walls brought sparks of light to the space at Never Ending Books. In one piece, swirls of darkness and fluorescence together ripped across an undulating landscape. In another, the dark forms of buildings, lit from within by explosions of brightness, melted into one another, suggesting vastness and a riotous amount of life. In still another, the forms of leaves and pale branches draped across the view of a passing stream. They and many others are part of visual artist and musician Shula Weinstein’s show “The Sun Rises on a Coastal Town,” running now at the State Street spot for the next few weeks.
Continue reading ‘Shula Weinstein Brings A Coastal Town To Life’
by | Apr 4, 2022 9:15 am | Comments (5)
Maya McFadden Photos
Monty Alexander performs alongside T.K Blue.
Arriving at the show with my folks.
My dad leaned over from the left and pointed to the stage, where Jamaican Jazz pianist Monty Alexander was holding down his piano keys on particular notes and chords to emphasize them.
“Jazz is made up of accents,” my dad informed me.
To my right side my I heard my stepmother hum the words to a Bob Marley tune.
by | Apr 4, 2022 9:04 am | Comments (1)
Courtesy Pure Noise Records
With two sold-out shows at Space Ballroom on May 20 and 21, and a new album on the way, Connecticut hardcore stalwarts With Honor might be entering a new era.
Continue reading ‘For Hardcore Band "With Honor," A New Era Dawns’
by | Apr 1, 2022 9:03 am | Comments (0)
Brian Slattery Photos
Wolf.
Laura Wolf, surrounded by a cello, a mixer, an interface, and an array of pedals, eyed the crowd who had come to Best Video Thursday night. “I’m not much of a stage talker, but you can ask me questions after the show.”
At the end of her set, a few musicians in the audience did just that, asking for a tour of her setup and swapping information about gear, because in the world of making music with acoustic instruments and effects, Wolf — who opened for Dave Scanlon — had figured a few things out.
Continue reading ‘At Best Video, Cello Mixer Layers Live Composition’
by | Mar 30, 2022 9:06 am | Comments (0)
Jonathan Milberger, Michael Larocca, Kaelen Ghandi.
“Eighteen years of doing it and we’re still doing it,” Bob Gorry, founder of the New Haven Improvisers Collective, said from the stage of Cafe Nine. “The pandemic stopped us for a bit, but we’re back.”
He was referring not only to the NHIC workshops that have begun again at Never Ending Books, but to the fact that, on Tuesday night, he was again hosting musicians, and performing himself, for a night of improvised music at the music-scene anchor on State and Crown.
Continue reading ‘18 Years In, Improvisers Collective Returns To The Stage After Pandemic Pause’
by | Mar 28, 2022 4:34 pm | Comments (3)
Maya McFadden Photo
New Haveners gathered to “Connect Da Love” through fashion and music Saturday night.
by | Mar 28, 2022 11:53 am | Comments (1)
Kimberly Wipfler Photo
Nisaa Monk Williams performs at Stetson.
Old-school jazz brought audience members of all ages to their feet dancing at the new Stetson Library Branch, during “A Celebration of Jazz,” put on in collaboration by the Shubert Theatre, Monk Youth Jazz, the Frederick A. DeLuca Foundation, and the New Haven Free Public Library.
The event, held Saturday, showcased performances by the band Chill, featuring members of Thelonius Monk’s family and Monk Youth Jazz students.
Continue reading ‘Thelonious Monk's Legacy Jazzes Up Stetson’
by | Mar 28, 2022 9:24 am | Comments (3)
Photo courtesy of Fernando Pinto
Nirvana performing at The Moon on Whalley 1991, a show promoted by Pinto.
Karen Ostrom Photo
Fernando Pinto: From the Moon and Tune Inn to Cafe 9.
Music promoter Fernando Pinto entered Blue State Coffee on a sunny morning with a bag of flyers under his arm as he finished up his walk around the city to hang them up at his usual spots.
“I know all of them,” he said — though he is still finding more spots, even after 40 years of booking and promoting shows throughout New Haven. As he celebrates that anniversary, two shows in particular are on Pinto’s mind, and on those flyers he is posting.
by | Mar 28, 2022 9:14 am | Comments (2)
Karen Ponzio Photos
Nick Di Maria Quartet.
New Haven has always been hungry for jazz, and as the city continues to open back up to more opportunities to hear it live, musician Nick Di Maria has added yet another night to his already busy roster for music lovers to enjoy jazz while having dinner and drinks. Friday Night at Jack’s debuted this past weekend on the corner of College and Crown at Jack’s Bar and Steakhouse from 7 to 9 p.m. Di Maria was there with his quartet to play the first show, though this is far from his first time playing there.
by | Mar 22, 2022 9:02 am | Comments (1)
Sands.
“I’ve Got a Tiger by the Tail” begins with a cascading flourish from bass, drums, and guitar, and then is off like a skittering shot, the three instruments spiraling around one another at breakneck, and breathtaking, speed. Then “Faith” sinks into a lazy, easy swing, all sweet, smoky atmosphere. They’re two sides of the same coin, but also part of drummer Ryan Sands’s larger mission: to make music in which the technical accomplishment is apparent, but the emotional content is what really matters — expressions of joy, or wistfulness, that everyone can feel.
by | Mar 18, 2022 9:15 am | Comments (1)
Brian Slattery Photo
Kaleta and Super Yamba Band brought the legendary West African sound of Afrobeat to Cafe Nine on Thursday night, proving that the message of the revolutionary music lives on, and connects to the present moment, as much as ever.
Continue reading ‘Kaleta And Super Yamba Band Make The Music The Message’
by | Mar 16, 2022 9:06 am | Comments (0)
Brian Slattery Photo
Minus Points.
Minus Points had just finished another blistering song, an assault of distorted strings, drums, and emotions, when there was a request from the audience: “Can you do something laid back and chill right now?”
It was a joke; no one at Cafe Nine on Tuesday night was there to play or hear laid-back or chill. Instead, three new New Haven-based bands had come to turn it up loud, and they did.
by | Mar 15, 2022 8:53 am | Comments (1)
Margaret Milano Photo
The Ratz
“I’m slowly easing my way into a full-blown political record,” said vocalist/guitarist Jeffrey Thunders of The Ratz, who will be celebrating the release of the band’s latest, Found Dead, this Sunday afternoon at Cafe Nine with Cry Havoc, Midnight Creeps, and Murdervan.
Continue reading ‘The Ratz Are Ready To Release "Found Dead" Live At Cafe Nine’
by | Mar 14, 2022 9:17 am | Comments (1)
Colin Roberts Photos
Ministry at College Street.
The Industrial Strength Tour rolled through New Haven Friday night, boasting a trio of bands each with a career spanning approximately four decades. Ministry, Melvins and Corrosion Of Conformity are among some of the most influential and longest tenured in their respective heavy metal sub-genres, and in front of an engaged — and sometimes rowdy — audience at College Street Music Hall, they proved why.
Continue reading ‘Heavy Metal Heroes Play The Classics At College Street’
by | Mar 11, 2022 9:19 am | Comments (0)
Karen Ponzio Photos
The Alpaca Gnomes
Three bands took the stage at The State House on Thursday night for a raucous night of music and community, brought together by the newest booking duo in town, Elm Underground.
Continue reading ‘Elm Underground Begins With Three Bands At State House’
by | Mar 7, 2022 9:16 am | Comments (0)
Bad History Month.
As in the days before the pandemic, on Saturday night, perplexed pedestrians carrying leftovers from nearby restaurants stood outside Never Ending Books on State Street, drawn closer by the raucous music spilling out of it, stopped by the incongruity of a storefront that looked like a bookstore, but sounded like a punk club. They didn’t have to stop; all were welcome to a two-band bill that is the latest in a string of events reestablishing the spot, now under the management of Volume Two, the Never Ending Books Collective, as a hub for adventurous, energetic music.
Continue reading ‘Two Bands Bring Noise Rock Back To State Street's Neverending Books’
by | Mar 1, 2022 8:45 am | Comments (0)
Moshyura.
“Look out your door,” Moshyura says at the beginning of “Shepard / Bastion,” the first song off his expansive album The Mad King. His guitar, aided by a cajón, lays down a calm groove that he gets to croon over. But it’s all a prelude. Halfway through the song the groove kicks into a higher gear, the guitar starts pumping, and Moshyura slips into bar after bar. Near the end, he croons the hook: “I’m a shepherd, nobody gonna steal my flock.”
by | Feb 28, 2022 8:35 am | Comments (1)
A walk along the water with your dog on a lovely late summer day: does anything sound better than that right now? The fun and vibrant new single by the New Haven-based band Big Sigh captures that vibe both visually and musically in “Dog Boy,” a meditation with a chorus — “we walk around and he goes wild listening to Arcade Fire” — that catches after one listen.
Continue reading ‘On New EP, Big Sigh Breaks Out Of Hibernation’
by | Feb 24, 2022 9:27 am | Comments (0)
Brian Slattery Photos
Alyssa.
As the news Wednesday night filled with reports of war, two vital musicians — Shanell Alyssa and Riki Stevens — brought a deep sense of peace to the Cafe Nine stage at State and Crown.
Continue reading ‘Shanell Alyssa And Riki Stevens Bring The Healing To Cafe 9’
by | Feb 22, 2022 9:09 am | Comments (0)
Falconeer Productions Photo
Brian Ember
“In my aspiration to be famous the one thing I’m looking forward to the most is press junkets,” said Brian Ember (a.k.a. Brian Robinson. More about that later). “I want to do them so bad. Please put me in front of a scrim and just let me talk, please, for the love of God.”
by | Feb 21, 2022 2:53 pm | Comments (0)
Kimberly Wipfler Photo
"Bunny Is A Rider" singer Caroline Polachek at CSMH Sunday
Viral avant-pop darling and Grammy nominee Caroline Polachek took a stop between shows opening for Dua Lipa Sunday evening to headline in her home state of Connecticut. Polachek’s “one-off” concert at College Street Music Hall marks the first time the 36-year-old artist has performed as a solo act in the state where she grew up.
by | Feb 14, 2022 8:36 am | Comments (0)
Casey Wheeler Photography
Sven Gamsky onstage at CSMH.
Singer-songwriter Still Woozy (a.k.a. Sven Eric Gamsky) reminded the audience at College Street Music Hall Friday night just how nice it is to experience live music together at a concert. The collective dancing and singing of the packed crowd offered a sense of pre-pandemic nostalgia, if only for a moment.
Continue reading ‘Still Woozy's Laid-Back Sound Propels A Party @CSMH’
by | Feb 11, 2022 10:12 am | Comments (0)
Karen Ponzio Photo
He Was A God
“Are you sick and tired?” screamed Ben Curns of the band He Was A God, with his arms raised to the audience. They answered in a chorus that turned up the volume of an already thunderous and thoroughly entertaining atmosphere at Cafe Nine last night where three bands, each one distinctly different from the other but similar in approach, delivered a Thursday full of hot and heavy sounds.