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Brian Slattery |
Jun 24, 2021 9:12 am
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Mountain Movers at Cafe Nine in 2018.
“I Wanna See the Sun,” the first track from World What World, the new album from New Haven-based underground anchors The Mountain Movers, starts right where the band’s previous full-length release, Pink Skies, left off. There’s the powerful, elemental rhythm section of Ross Menze on drums and Rick Omonte on bass. There’s Dan Greene’s surging rhythm guide, his voice and elliptical lyrics serving as a guide through the band’s sonic landscape. And there’s Kryssi Battalene’s guitar, first prowling in the background, them roaring to the front in the song’s second half like a howling storm.
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Brian Slattery |
Jun 23, 2021 8:48 am
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Ionne.
“Rocket,” from New Havener Ionne’s For Those Who Remain, begins with a plaintive triad from a piano. A woman’s voice, clear, calm, and resolute, asks questions. “Why are we expecting someone else to save us? Why do we think that there’s someone else coming to save us?” she says. Other voices chime in, about social justice, racial equity, environmental repair. The beat accelerates; the music hurtles forward. Ionne floats over the top: “They all said we’d heal / On a rocket to paradise / I can’t help but feel / Like we’re running away,” he sings.
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Brian Slattery |
Jun 22, 2021 9:33 am
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Quan Grant.
A rock duo and a single singer with a message were among the offerings Monday afternoon at Bear’s in Fair Haven, as the barbecue joint, partnering with the social services organization Marrakech, participated in Make Music New Haven, an event tied to a statewide and national effort that brought dozens of bands out to make music across the city from midday into the night.
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Karen Ponzio |
Jun 22, 2021 9:32 am
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Briana Williams and Cliff Schloss.
As the sun began to set Monday evening, Make Music New Haven hosted an afterparty on the rooftop of the Arts Council building, with five acts and a DJ spinning tunes in celebration of another year of international Make Music Day.
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Brian Slattery |
Jun 21, 2021 8:44 am
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Kevin Monroe and Devotion.
Before Kevin Monroe and Devotion hit the stage Sunday afternoon on the Green, Rev. Kevin Ewing of Baobab Tree Studios (and formerly of Center Church on the Green) addressed the hundreds of people who had gathered to hear the music and the message. He pointed out that gospel music has been a part of the programming of the International Festival of Arts and Ideas for years, and this year was no different. He welcomed people who already knew gospel and people who were about to get their first taste.
“For those of you who don’t know what gospel is, sit back,” Ewing said. “You’re about to learn something.”
He then turned to the faithful. “Church folks know what to do,” he said. “I hope you brought your shouting shoes.”
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Brian Slattery |
Jun 21, 2021 8:38 am
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Ceschi.
Ceschi, Phat A$tronaut, and Siul Hughes stood together on the stage of the Space Ballroom Friday night, near the end of a triple bill that marked the reopening of the venue since Covid-19 shutdown restrictions were lifted. A packed house stood close to the stage in front of them.
“I was very hesitant” to put on the show, Ceschi (a.k.a. Julio Ramos) said. “I didn’t know if people wanted to do this. Obviously you do.”
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Thomas Breen |
Jun 18, 2021 3:38 pm
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Thomas Breen photos
Rohn Lawrence and Jay Rowe light up the stage.
Toad’s owner Brian Phelps (center) with SBA CT Director Marx, Rep. DeLauro, and Sen. Blumenthal.
For the first time in 15 months, musicians took the stage at Toad’s Place — with the promise of more tunes to come, thanks to a federal bailout slowly making its way to shuttered venues across the country.
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Karen Ponzio |
Jun 18, 2021 10:02 am
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Steve Vlazo Photo/Graphic design Andrea Sicco
Cover art for Ready For the Morning.
“I’ve been down underneath the ocean of sound, got bloodied in the battle of the blues. Yeah, sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, but I’m ready for the morning.” The unmistakable voice of Kelly Reilly shines through like a summer sunrise on her newest single, the ethereal rocker “Ready For the Morning,” released two weeks ago after a year of indelible changes. Now the legendary New Haven singer and lifetime fan of music and the local scene is ready to record again.
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Karen Ponzio |
Jun 16, 2021 8:37 am
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O.K. Company
“I’m looking for a little bit of trouble,” sings LaQruishia Gill on “You Got Me Up,” one of two new songs by the New Haven-based band O.K. Company, formerly known as The Let Loose and currently finding its way back into the music scene after quarantine with a new release titled A Mini EP and three live shows over the next two weeks.
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Brian Slattery |
Jun 14, 2021 8:50 am
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Schlesinger.
Best Video’s transformation into a steady outdoor club continued on Friday evening with sets by two bands with different angles on their music, but a common commitment to psychedelia and a mission to transform the space into something else.
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Brian Slattery |
Jun 11, 2021 8:33 am
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Amethyst Kiah has been making waves as a Black artist asserting her place in the world of folk music and reaching beyond it. Parsonsfield and Maggie Rose both use sonic experiments to bring new textures to well-honed songwriting skill. And Pokey LaFarge reaches into the thick American stew of carnival sideshows and revival tents to create modern carnivalesque nightmares. All four performers — and more — are part of CT Folk’s lineup for Folk at the Edge, a new concert series coming to Edgewood Park throughout the summer and early fall.
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Brian Slattery |
Jun 10, 2021 9:08 am
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Outside the thick humidity broke into a pounding thunderstorm over New Haven, but Wednesday evening inside the Holberton School at District New Haven on James Street, Chris Bousquet — a.k.a. American Elm — made it warm and inviting for a live and livestreamed performance that pulled in a lifetime of music, from days on the beach to departed friends.
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Karen Ponzio |
Jun 7, 2021 9:18 am
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Dr. Tiffany Renee Jackson
A twice postponed Arts on Call performance got its chance to shine this past Saturday as renowned classical and jazz vocalist Dr. Tiffany Renée Jackson entertained and educated a grateful audience with a special Duke Ellington/Billy Strayhorn-centered program in a cozy shaded corner of Wooster Square Park.
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Karen Ponzio |
Jun 4, 2021 10:38 am
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DJ B the T Jr.
Cafe Nine brought back another beloved series to its in-person scheduling last night as Shake ‘N’ Vibrate — the DJ-led, all-vinyl dance party — helped New Haven ease back on to the dance floor.
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Brian Slattery |
Jun 3, 2021 8:40 am
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Kaitlyn Higgins
The Art of Breathing.
It’s a series of faces moving through an intense range of emotions. Maybe it’s the same person over a period of time. Maybe it’s multiple people in the same moment. Maybe the difference isn’t all that important. Kaitlyn Higgins’s The Art of Breathing is both a study in how to render emotions in paint and an expression of all those moments at once. It’s part of a series of paintings by Higgins that explore parallel senses of outward claustrophobia and inner turmoil. There are no easy answers, but in the accurate rendering of the situation, there’s communication and compassion.
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Brian Slattery |
Jun 2, 2021 8:31 am
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“Build Yourself an Ark,” written by David Sasso, eases into its waltz time with a easy swing, a flourish from a mandolin. But Sasso’s voice carries instructions: “Gather some gopherwood and build yourself an ark.” It’s an immediate reference to the story of Noah’s flood, but it’s brought into the present via a form of traditional music that Sasso gives a modern twist. “Take along your loved ones; they may not all want to go / Don’t worry about your husband; he already knows,” he sings.
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Brian Slattery |
May 31, 2021 9:10 am
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Beckford.
“Learn,” from New Haven-based musician Emil Beckford’s new album, Songs About Isolation, starts with a warm, arpeggiating synth line that instantly catches the ear. The beat that drops in behind it is as lush as it is danceable. It all gets stripped back again for Beckford to coo into the microphone: “Conversation, misinformation, I just want to enjoy some relaxation / But you keep begging and in my head don’t wanna let you down / I’m antisocial, you never no show, say staying locked in the house isn’t good for ya / Get off your chair and forget your cares we’re getting out of town / I’m stuck to you like static cling, and while I’d never shake you / I want to tell you what I think, but if I did you wouldn’t hear me now.”
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Brian Slattery |
May 28, 2021 8:43 am
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Spit-Take.
A dirty guitar chord echoed across the Best Video parking lot Thursday evening, summoning the crowd of a couple dozen to attention. The guitar came from Tim and Matt Rowe, opening for Spit-Take, continuing the cultural center’s practice of providing a stage for New Haven’s live music scene as the area emerges from the restrictions of the Covid-19 pandemic,
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Karen Ponzio |
May 27, 2021 12:26 pm
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Siul Hughes with DJ Collin In Kind
District Arts and Education turned their bi-weekly DAE Presents livestream into a live, on-site event Wednesday night as they invited a small number of guests in and added a food truck and outdoor musical entertainment — as a prelude to their indoor performance, that would be broadcast on Facebook Live.
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Karen Ponzio |
May 24, 2021 8:52 am
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Alexis Robbins, Cliff Schloss, and Dylan Olimpi McDonnell.
When Suzannah Holsenbeck and Robb Blocker were organizing a party for their children this year, they knew exactly where to turn to provide the entertainment: The International Festival of Arts and Ideas Arts On Call program.
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Karen Ponzio |
May 17, 2021 8:24 am
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Caribbean Vibe Steel Drum Band
Sunday afternoon offered a few hints of another city summer on the horizon: a short burst of rain followed by a sunny break in the sky, the sound of music blasting from open car windows, and two International Festival of Arts and Ideas programs coming together to celebrate.
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Karen Ponzio |
May 13, 2021 8:44 am
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Lys Guillorn.
Wednesday night gave beloved New Haven-based singer-songwriter Lys Guillorn a chance to perform live from Holberton School for District Arts and Education’s biweekly series, one that Guillorn herself mentioned that she has been watching since the livestream series began last year.
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Brian Slattery |
May 11, 2021 9:08 am
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The summery nighttime sound of crickets and frogs. A guitar enters with an elegant line that outlines a harmony that voices then rest upon. It’s a woman and a man singing together in soft harmonies. “We’ve all but lost our brightest days, our past we trust so we stay / In deepest dark we breath and move, it’s how we know to be safe.” A small string section answers. It’s soothing and sad, an examination of resignation and retreat, soaked with understanding and compassion.
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Brian Slattery |
May 10, 2021 9:01 am
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Thabisa’s band, augmented by members of the New Haven Symphony Orchestra, was in the full flower of the music it was making. Thabisa herself took a moment to pause in her singing and instead turn and dance intricate, powerful steps on the Edgewood Park stage set up for ArtWalk.
The people on the ground in front of her followed suit.
Friday night’s concert, uniting two institutions of New Haven’s music scene, kicked off the annual ArtWalk fest in Westville. It set the mood for Saturday’s events, a celebration of the ability of people to gather again, as the weather warmed, vaccinations continue, and masks were ubiquitous.
