Faun at Detroit's Majestic Theater

The trees parted and from among their dappled shadows emerged the nible Faun we'd so long been calling to our midwestern home. Oliver Sa Tyr, Niel Mitra, Stephan Groth, Adaya, and Alex Schulz carried a faint air of petrichor and woodsmoke, moss and mist with them as they stepped close and embraced Detroit in a fertility ritual, playing Walpurgisnacht early in their set. It must be a potent magic in their song; singer Laura Fella stayed home to welcome her newborn. 

Each among them is a skilled multi-intrumentalist, collectively wielding bagpipes, a beautiful variety of flutes, hurdy-gurdy, an assortment of stringed instruments, and backed by the subtle, atmospheric touch of Niel Mitra's electronic stylings. It is challenging to envision electronic components fitting well with an acoustic, medieval, woodland folk, but Mitra has perfected his craft, giving backstory to the music, like wind that rustles the leaves, the soft crush of brush underfoot, the echoes of life. His is a quiet presence. 

Stephan Groth offered a sampling of the many sounds of a modern hurdy-gurdy, run through various effects, but retaining its oaky character, a tone which originates from the turning of a rosined wheel pressing lightly against the strings, akin to the bowing of a violin, but with a simple, mechanical charm.

Another more recent addition to Faun, accomplished solo artist Adaya focused her efforts on the woodwind section this gentle evening, though that is only a fraction of her musical capacity. Her website explains her background, saying:

"After all, she defined her career already as a child.

At the age of 11, Adaya wrote on of her first songs; a poem by her grandmother, which she set to music played at Juliette's deathbed (Gypsy Line from her most recent album New Land). Later on, Adaya was collaborating with several meieval music projects and her musical skills grew by playing the harp, bagpipes, flutes, bouzouki, next to the guitar, banjo, and a few more stringed instruments." 

Playing a standing drum kit and an array of other percussive accents, percussionist Alex Schulz (also of Oliver Sa Tyr's Folk Noir project) has only joined Faun in 2023, taking on the role left behind by Rudiger Maul, whose affiliation with Faun remains obscured to us at the time of this writing. We have been unable to clarify whether he's left the band, or is simply attending to the details of life for an unknown period, with an intent to return. While we hope he does, we are happy to say that Schulz upholds the standard set by Maul's long years with the band. 

A lighthearted Oliver Sa Tyr gave playful dialogue, embellishing songs with story and setting, sharing, in brief, the tale of a man stolen away by the faerie queen, and whose love waited, steadfast and loyal, for his return, making her way to where the fae world would overlap ours again, in the same spot of the forest where he'd disappeared those seven years before. So began Tamlin and the Fairy Queen. 

Fella's absence outlined the perimeter of their setlist, so that the beautiful, coupled female harmonies which largely define their sound will have to wait until another tour for us to hear them. We sincerely hope they will have been so delighted to discover the breadth and depth of love for their music that they return. They have a large catalogue of songs, and we can name none that sour our ears.They closed the night with Hymn to Pan, a song that is both boisterous and whispering, bouncing and hushed, passing like moods through a deer, sometimes full of frolic, sometimes still, and always with a haunting anticipation hanging in the air. We are already longing for their return.

August and Everything After

Foreign Royals will be alighting upon local concert halls in the coming weeks. While there's no expectation that one wear a hair shirt or kiss any rings (unless you're into that sort of thing), we all have the opportunity to be in the presence of kings in the near future. 

The Gizzard King

King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard returns to the Detroit Metropolitan Area this month, playing at the Aretha Franklin Ampitheater on Friday, 23 August. They appear to be bringing Geese with them. Doors are at 7:30pm. There appear to be very few tickets remaining, based on the quick glance we took at Ticketmaster just now. 

King Diamond

On Monday, 4 November, infamous Dane, King Diamond, is playing at the Cathedral Theatre within the Masonic Temple Theatre complex. Tickets went on sale this morning at 10am. Doors are at 6pm. We recommend leaving your grandmaaaaaaaa at home.

Opeth

We're very excited to learn that Opeth has finally announced the release of their new album, The Last Will and Testament, due out Friday, 11 October 2024. You can learn more about the concept album here on their website. In an email sent to fans, the release was described with the statement, "'The Last Will & Testament' is a concept album set in the post-World War I era, unfolding the story of a wealthy, conservative patriarch whose last will and testament reveals shocking family secrets..." 

The first track so far released is titled §1, which is also the first track of the album. The section sign, §, in the title is cleverly employed, since it's used in legal documents to denote individual sections as would appear in a will, and which serves here to replace what, in classical music, would be the opus number, "Op."

Presumably in support of this release, Opeth returns to the Midwest this fall, with shows in Milwaukee, WI at The Rave/Eagles Club on Friday, 11 October, and another in nearby Cleveland, OH at The Agora Theater and Ballroom on Saturday, 12 October. We envy our Milwaukee neighbors that they have the honor of hosting Opeth on the release date, but we won't hold it against them. The rest of their tour dates are here.

Amyl and the Sniffers, Totally Tubular Festival

Both shows took place on consecutive weeknights, which translated into our missing the opening acts, so we apologize for having no ability to comment on their performances.

Amyl and the Sniffers

The Majestic hosted the Australian quartet comprised of singer Amy Taylor, drummer Bryce Wilson, guitarist Declan Martens, and bassist Gus Romer on Thursday, 25th July. We got to witness the spunky Amy give Detroit her affections, then take a high speed sprint through their songlist. They take their music seriously and respect their audience. Their stage show isn't flashy. It doesn't need to be. It suits their down-to-earth nature, which is what's so refreshing about Amy and her bandmates. What's clear to us is that they have more range than what they've so far offered, so we're very curious to see how they evolve as a band. 

Totally Tubular Festival

On Friday, 80s nostalgia set the tone for the night at Meadow Brook, with many people wearing their tackiest neons. It made for a fun atmosphere, carefree and unpretensious. Bow Wow Wow was better than we expected, and having just seen Adam Ant this spring, we were amused to discover just how much his original band contributed to his early sound. The percussion style perhaps most associated with Adam Ant obviously belongs to Bow Wow Wow's original drummer. 

Wang Chung also surprised us with how much better their music was than what their radio hits suggested. Their performance betrayed no shortcomings in their musicianship. If you like Wang Chung, see them while they're still touring. They remain committed to being a worthwhile expenditure of your time. 

The Thompson Twins' Tom Bailey's stage show had nice visual elements. LED light bars lit up to resemble an early digital EQ. He and his all-female backing band wore matching white outfits, echoing Robert Palmer's Addicted to Love music video, including looking and sounding like no one was playing live. The only evidence that at least one mic was live was that Bailey's singing was painfully flat. 

Modern English played well enough, though we personally could not get into their style, and singer Robbie Grey was likewise not in tune. Any childhood affection we may have ever had for their big hit was long ago worn away by its use in a McDonald's commercial. 

Thomas Dolby headlined, coming on last in his signature brown duster, solo. He opened with a montage of various 80s sounds, mostly recognizably New Order's Blue Monday. He's the consummate professional, and delivered exactly the synth performance one expects of him.

We must admit to our dismay at the absence of Detroit natives, The Romantics, who had to cancel due to an unexpected medical issue. Their inclusion in the bill was a large driver in our decision to attend, so it was an unhappy moment when we learned we wouldn't be watching them perform. We hope to see them in the future, and that whatever difficulty caused their absence passes without any complications. 

The real highlight of the show was Men Without Hats, inexplicably stuffed into the middle of the lineup. They wasted no time. Dessert before dinner, their set started with a bang- a quick jump into the Safety Dance that quickly had much of the audience cheering, dancing, and singing along. Energy was high, and their half hour set was filled with songs we were surprised to find ourselves enjoying. Singer Ivan Doroschuk is a skilled frontman, and the whole band was zipper tight. Fun fact- keyboardist Sahara Sloan is Ivan's niece. For us, we've largely regarded them as one-hit-wonders, but it turns out they have a good back catalogue, and a natural charisma that gets people on their feet without even asking. That is how it's done!  Theirs was the best set of the whole show. Imagine our delight when they snuck the Safety Dance in by way of a stealth intro to close their set. It's a catchy song, and absolutely no one was disappointed that they played it twice. 

Social Distortion and Bad Religion at the Masonic

The Masonic is total chaos during general admissions shows. Having ushers more strategically placed to keep people from blocking the aisles in the first place would go a long way toward preventing the nearly impenetrable mass of bodies that accumulated in every passageway. The lines outside were extremely long, and instead of wrapping them around the same block, they chose to have them split across streets, causing confusion and adding risk. This may have been due to there being two simultaneous shows that night, but it still could have been done better.

The sound team actually turned up the volume for the one piano solo in the Social Distortion set, but otherwise maintained their aversion to keyed instruments (evidenced by the total absence of piano in the mix during the Nick Cave show we saw there a few years ago, and the recent English Beat performance which featured TWO keyboard players, NEITHER of whom was at all audible, among other examples). Hint: If you're a touring act and can afford it, bring your own sound techs. 

Nevertheless, though the long lines cost us the ability to watch Mike Ness' son's band and some of Social Distortion's set, both headliners gave solid performances that made it worth our troubles. This was our second time seeing Social Distortion, and we have no regrets. Mike Ness has preserved his voice well. They're no slouches, and they respect their audience. Their brand of gritty, roots rock just never goes out of style. They're just the sort of band whose sound is so classic that you don't even have to be in the mood for it. It just sounds good. They don't fuss with fancy lighting, and they don't waste time. Even if you're only a casual fan, or just like rock and have a chance to see them, go. 

Bad Religion did a mix of new and old songs, among them 21st Century Digital Boy, with its lyrics, "I don't know how to read but I got a lot of toys," now more relevant than ever. If you've found your way to our obscure blog, you've probably spent enough time online to read about the declining US literacy rate, and we don't have to point out the coinciding rise in internet use and digital gaming to make the point. It's plainly observable, and was sufficiently predictable that singer Greg Graffin was able to paint this picture well before the 21st century arrived. After so much time, the possible interpretations to Bad Religion's lyrics have only proliferated, and the power of their live performance really drove home a lot of later-life reflections. Unrelatedly, Jay Bentley has mastered the effect of moving like he's riding a small, invisible bull, which probably accounts for the cowboy hat. Mike Dimkich also dressed the part, presumably because it's his bull, and he just lets Jay ride it. In the encore, they also surprised us with their spot-on finale, Thin Lizzy's The Boys Are Back in Town, which caught us off guard and hit us right in the funny bone so hard that we lost it. Our composure didn't find us again until somewhere in the merch line.

We Just Want to Celebrate

Today we'd like to wish local funk, soul, and progressive Motown guitarist, Ray Monette a happy birthday! Ray turns 78 today!

Ray has been a huge part of Detroit musical history, playing in Rare Earth alongside countless bands like Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, Earth, Wind and Fire, The Eagles, and appearing on Phil Collins' 2010 album, Going Back, with the remaining members of the Motown collective. Ray got his start with Motown after announcing to his parents at age 13 that his plan was to become a professional guitar player. It's not many kids who decide their career path at that age end up following through with it, and it's an especially small few who make successful careers in music. 

Over the years, he watched a young Stevie Wonder hanging around the studio as he was taken under the wings of the older musicians there. He was also present downtown in Detroit at the moment the riots broke out. George Clinton asked him to join Parliament Funkadelic, but Ray was happy playing in Rare Earth at the time and wasn't keen on wearing diapers onstage as Clinton's troop was fond of doing then. 

We hope Ray still has some songs left in him, but either way, we just want to celebrate everything he's done for fusing funk, rock, and soul in the '70s. We have always been drawn to genre crossing innovations, and Ray's work is a great, early example of what's possible. Thank you, and enjoy a great birthday, Ray Monette!

Reggae from Saint-Etienne

 In the late '00s, when our Myspace account still worked, we had the good fortune to come across French reggae band, Dub inc, not long after they released their 2008 album, Afrikya. While we were in the mood following seeing The Slackers recently, we remembered the CD and went on a short internet search for an update. 

It turns out that they're doing a summer tour in Europe. The most recent album release we could find is from January 2022, according to their website. It looks like they've stayed busy, and finally got into touring the US a couple years ago. When we corresponded on Myspace, they were asking about moving into the US market, so we're very happy to see they succeeded! 

Shhh, Don't Say His Name

The base of Michigan's Keewenaw Peninsula has historically been home to copper mines, but it's also a goldmine of local talent and Scandinavian humor. Da Yoopers have a whole album of Songs for Fart Lovers, and Jeff Daniels made Escanaba in da Moonlight out of some long running gags and regional quirks he's noticed in the time he's spent enjoying himself there. Where there are Yoopers, there is always mischief. 

So what do they have up their sleeves that's counterintuitive, but upon reflection seems obvious?

As longtime Caribbean music fans, we have become fond of this earworm that should be familiar to Black Uhuru listeners. Sauna season is coming to an end, so we think it's safe to play this song from Conga Se Menne.