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.

Toilet Humor Forever

Hyper kid Neil P., formerly of Downtown Brown, has another project called SUMPP. He's been taking his ADHD out on crowds for decades, and it continues. If you'd like to get slapped in the face with it, check out his new vinyl release, Songs in the Key of SUMPP. https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/songs-in-the-key-of-sumpp-on-vinyl#/

If you're among the uninitiated, keep in mind that SUMPP just played a string of dates with Green Jellÿ, those poor saps who got sued by the makers of that gelatinous pseudo-food that masquerades as dessert here in America, and had to change their name. Maybe that gives you some idea of what Neil P. is all about. 

The Slackers at The Magic Bag

 Not only was this our first visit to the Magic Bag in Ferndale, to our surprise, it was a first for The Slackers as well.

First, we have to hand it to the venue and its staff. It is a small, intimate venue, much like The Blind Pig, but it's clean, looks sharp and well-maintained, and the staff do a good job collecting empties throughout the night. No sticky floors, here. Even the bathrooms were nice- clean, fully stocked, all the appliances worked and stall doors all closed. The crowd was polite, too, hardly a cellphone in sight save for a quick picture taken here and there. One thing that really caught our attention was the Magic Bag's approach to sound. Their sound engineer has a tablet that he carries with him as he walks around to make adjustments based on how things sound in the crowd, instead of just from the sound booth. It's great! We could ACTUALLY HEAR Vic's Roland VK-8! Not a lot of venues know what to do with keyboardists, usually leaving them almost entirely inaudible. We're looking at you especially, Masonic Temple and Cathedral. Anyway, it's probably one of the best sounding venues we've visited. No muddiness. Good balance. Whoever did sound that night has a really good ear. 

The Operators, formed in November of 2018 (according to their social media accounts), opened the show, coming to us from just across the neighborhood in Indiana. They're really tight and throw a few curveballs. Their bass player likes to dance. They've shed the power pop sounds that dominated the disappointing '90s and early '00s ska scene, and replaced it with a touch of reverb and dub. Midwest ska is heading in a good direction.

We've seen The Slackers many times over the last 24 years, and they consistently deliver. There's no fancy lightshow. They don't have props or banners. No costumes. Instead, they play a game of Mad-Libs improv that changes from tour to tour, incorporating current events and inside jokes with clever segues into their songs. It's seamless, funny, and the music is cheerful without being saccharine. There's a spring in their step, and an old world swagger. They improvise solos and keep you guessing with how they deliver the melodies from time to time. Yet they never miss. 

Trombonist Glen Pine's early solo peaked with a series of sharp elephant blasts spaced just right. He moved back into the song with such smoothness that the audience didn't seem to notice he was done, leaving Vic and Dave exchanging glances and shrugging with him, not sure why there wasn't more applause for such a cool turn of phrase as what he'd given. His later solos got better responses, but sometimes a crowd is just slow to catch up before the moment passes. Make no mistake, Glen hit the spot.

We don't know where bassist Marcus Geard was, but the Aggrolites' Jeff Roffredo covered for him, sans, "upright bass." Maybe one day, The Aggrolites and The Slackers will come here together. Can the usual local venues hold the crowd they'd draw together, though? 

Possibly the primary reason these guys can play around so much during the show is their drummer, Ara Babajian, who puts the steady in rocksteady. He and Agent Jay (guitarist Jayson Nugent) hold it down, forming a rhythm section with a sneaky way of tossing fills and frills where they best serve the songs, never sacrificing flow for technical showmanship- not that they don't have the chops- they just know where to place them, and know the art of restraint. Ara is one of the most underappreciated drummers still alive and playing, but not among Slackers fans. We know he's the secret sauce. But what's his secret sauce? It could be leftöver crack, but we may never know.

Mid-set, they played The Fool with Dave Hillyard singing, a fan favorite that drew a lot of interest after being featured on the Hellcat Records Give 'Em the Boot Vol. II compilation in 1999, while Dave was still playing in Dave Hillyard and the Rocksteady 7. The Slackers paid tribute to the late Greg Lee, the original singer on the track who was better known for his work with the band, Hepcat. Lee died recently, on 19 March of this year at the too-young age of 53. It was evident that Dave was still having a hard time with losing his friend. Even so, he put his best foot forward, messy suit and all, a fitting way to honor any musician's memory. 

Glen took the time to wish a Happy Anniversary to his (and the band's) longtime friends Dave King and Bridget Regan, two lucky musicians from Flogging Molly, who were there celebrating. Vic cracked jokes about eclipse conspiracies, and that scruffy, couch surfing, onion-breathed vagabond might have put one over on us had Disco Dave and Glen not come to the rescue and carefully reminded everyone that Victor Ruggiero is not a reliable news source. 

Chief among the benefits of seeing The Slackers live is their ability to turn around anybody's bad mood. Like every time we've seen them, by the end of the night, even the most self-conscious, reserved, sober people are swaying and singing along. This isn't due to begging or barking from the band, but a spontaneous response to the easygoing, friendly atmosphere they bring with them. It feels like a big group of friends hanging out together in their practice space. We're still smiling.

Espers

How does one introduce a band like Espers?

Their music is a secret, haunted folk, with harmonies delicate and precise. Some of our favorites from what music they've graciously shared with the world are Rosemary Lane, and Black Is the Color, but also not to be missed is their wonderful interpretation of Blue Öyster Cult's Flaming Telepaths. It's so perfectly nestled within the metaphorical branches of their album, The Weed Tree, that you wouldn't be alone in thinking that they deserve to be credited as the original authors.

Often described as psychedelic folk, Espers is possibly the most aptly named musical endeavor we've encountered. It's both a whisper and a vapor, ethereal in the sense that while listening, it's easy to imagine oneself whisked away to the land of fae, sitting in a faery ring, among leaf-dappled sunlight when a song faintly comes to one's attention, growing louder, but always remaining cloaked in a bit of mist and shadow that serve to keep the fae-folk players hidden just out of view. That a recording exists to remind you that it wasn't all a dream it is their enduring gift to us.

The members have moved on to other projects, with singer Meg Baird currently playing drums and singing lead vocals for Sub Pop group, Heron Oblivion, which she co-founded. Singer-songwriter Greg Weeks has his own project, about which we're still learning, whose music can be found on Bandcamp. Member Brooke Sietinsons has also contributed to The Valerie Project, which is comprised of members of Espers and Fern Knight.

The Valerie Project Bandcamp site describes their music as an effort to, "...combine their powers on the first project in a series of alternate film scores. Here they've re-scored Valerie and Her Week of Wonders, a 1970 Czech new-wave film, with all manner of wondrous instrumentation," not least being the crunchy cello and elven harp tones audible in their introductory track, presently the only one that allows a free, quick listen. 

All we can say in closing is that while we lament that Espers doesn't appear to be an active project at this time, the composite players' current projects reveal the depths of each of their musical wells, and we can console ourselves with what outgrowths have come from dividing such a fertile specimen. Please enjoy.

Fuzz Fest 9 Dates Announced

Las Drogas at The Blind Pig, 4 July 2019

 

While we were poking around here, we thought to check on the local music news, so we did a search for it, and saw that on 8 March, Fuzz Fest posted that they're looking to get some bigger bands for their 2024 main event. In order for them to hire the bigger bands, they need sponsors. You can contact them on the Faceblech at https://www.facebook.com/fuzzfestmichigan/

Personally, we'd like to see Hällas at this, but will they be able to make it happen?

Below their solicitation, they announced the dates, which are as follows:

22, 23, and 24 August

That's a Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.

EDIT: For some reason, Blogger is showing typos where they don't exist. We keep trying to correct, "then," to "them," and it shows as, "them," on our side, and where we have it saved to our PC, but it keeps showing as, "then," when we sign out and view the published site. Weird. Obnoxious.

EDIT 2: Seems to be fixed, now. :)

EDIT 3: The correction isn't showing on all devices. That's a peculiar glitch for the site to have.

Upcoming Events 2024

The Slackers

In a few days, we'll be seeing The Slackers at the Magic Bag. While we're bummed that they won't be at the Blind Pig, where we usually see them, it's been a few years, so it will be good to see their familiar faces. They've released a new album since we last saw them, too. Doors at 7pm. 

Bad Religion, Social Distortion

Social D has always been a good band, and they're even better live. We saw them a while back at one of the outdoor amphitheaters, and this time, they're playing the Masonic Temple Theatre. This will be our first time seeing Bad Religion, which has been on our bucket list since 1996. The Midwest has been neglected by a lot of acts for a long time, so we are thrilled to see so many good bands finally making their way here. Doors open at 6pm. 

Amyl and the Sniffers 

For a while during the pandemic, we followed Justin Hawkins on YouTube, and have him to thank for introducing us to Amyl and the Sniffers. We're going to see them when they play the Majestic on Thursday, 25 July. We don't really know too much about them, but man, she is the REAL DEAL. There are a lot of frontmen and women who put up some sort of toughguy façade, and that serves its purpose, generating interest among their corresponding fan demographic. That's fine, but we're not interested in that. 

There's just something special about people who are just unfiltered, unvarnished, pure pigment. Just when we thought punk had nothing left to say, we heard her and her sniffing friends. They're coarse but tight. Amy is untamed but not macho. We can't wait.

Faun

What a shocker!!!!! For years, Faun has been doing 2 or 3 shows on the opposite coasts in the US, leaving everyone in the middle hanging. Imagine our surprise when we got an email invite to the presale for their fall appearance! They're playing The Majestic (why there???) on Friday, 4 October with doors at 7pm. We wouldn't be surprised if this show sold out and ended up being moved to a larger (better) venue. A full US tour has been a long time coming, and we're still pinching ourselves. 

Who's the Fool?

While staying up too late, we were listening to music on YouTube when Those Other Fools by Damn Craters came up in our feed. Feeling adventurous, we clicked. We're still digesting it, but wanted to give it a mention. We were only the 51st people to hear it (on YouTube, anyway) since they just released it at midnight today, April Fool's Day 2024. At first, we winced and expected to cringe, thinking it was more generic, stoner doom sludge, but it took some turns and went off somewhere else in the woods. 

If the video embed doesn't work try:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qioHzbIfEYE

Updates and Downbeats

 Since our last entry, we've seen several shows, and have already bought tickets to several more. 

Adam Ant, The English Beat

This past weekend at the Masonic Cathedral Theater, we went to see The English Beat, who was opening for Adam Ant. They aren't the tightest band, but the English Beat put together a fun show with traditional stage lighting and the no-frills, straightforward singing and skanking that feels appropriate for classic punk and ska acts of their time. They sing well. They sound good. Their transition into Mirror in the Bathroom was seamless and unexpected, coming off the tail end of Ranking Full Stop. Smoothly going from a major to a minor takes effort, but you'd never know that given how swiftly they shifted. 

Adam Ant has an amazing amount of energy, and not just for his age. He's as fast and fluid as musicians in their 20s today, and that's just plain cool. His band plays like a windup carousel- all the parts move like they're connected, because they are. He sang like his monitor was failing, but his playing and overall entertainment value was worth seeing.

The crowd was RUDE. Good grief! We ended up leaving in the middle of Adam Ant's set just to get away from the weed, the incessant, loud talking, and the MANY people scrolling social media all around us. It's an unfortunate reality that people do some amount of phone staring at all shows, but 1 in every 3 or 4 people for extended periods of the show? That's getting out of hand. 

Ministry with Gary Numan

Ministry with Gary Numan in Royal Oak last month was the best Ministry performance we've seen yet. Buck Satan must have been in a good mood, and the crowd somehow forgot it was a Wednesday night. Their current light show has intensified to the point of being almost disorienting, which works very well for breaking one out of the weekday blur. It seems someone in the band has seen Heilung recently. Gary Numan put on a good show, but of that portion of the show we saw very little, what with a group of giants appearing to block our view. Such is life. We were disappointed that he did not play Down in the Park or Are Friends Electric?, and were also surprised to hear that his newer material sounds a lot like 90s era NIN. It's almost like Trent Reznor gave him permission to take ownership of unreleased b-sides.

It was a sold out show, and felt like it, too. Crowd participation was high, and the feedback loop between Ministry and the audience was an upward spiral that somehow gave everyone more energy than what we came in carrying. 

Blue Öyster Cult

This was our first time seeing them live, and we're grateful that they're still able to play their instruments. They played the Royal Oak Music Theatre in February 2024, a much better venue (in our opnion) than the other Michigan shows they'd been playing the last few years. They seemed to be sticking to their safe radio hits, but given their ages- Eric Bloom is 79 and Buck Dharma is 76- we can't fault them for playing the material they know best. Absent from the setlist were most of our favorites, like Take Me Away, Vengeance (The Pact), Nosferatu, Veteran of the Psychic Wars, Sole Survivor, and Flaming Telepaths, among others. We hope they'll continue to perform, because we'd really like to see these songs done live by their authors, and NOT by hologram.

We would also like to share our appreciation for Richie Castellano, who has been playing with them since 2004. That guy is a powerhouse musician. He played keyboard, bass, and guitar, each with equal skill. He's also a talented singer with a great voice, and he really puts his all into the performance. He looks comfortable on stage, and genuinely loves what he's playing. They struck gold finding him.

They dressed the part and their voices still sound good. It was a solid rock show. We will be back.

Detroit Symphony Orchestra

In February 2024, we attended the DSO's performance of Elgar and Scheherazade in Orchestra Hall, led by Jader Bignamini,. They played Overture to a Midsummer Night's Dream, Op. 21 by Felix Mendelssohn, followed by Sir Edward Elgar's Concerto for Cello and Orchestra in E minor, Op. 85, I. Adagio, II. Lento, III. Adagio, and IV. Allegro, with Alisa Weilerstein on cello. 

After the intermission, they played the focal piece by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Scheherazade, Op. 35, I. Largo e maestodo - Allegro non troppo (The sea and Sinbad's ship), II. Lento - Allegro molto (The tale of Prince Kalendar), III. Andantino quasi allegretto (The young prince and the princess), and IV. Allegro molto (The festival at Bagdad, The sea, The ship goes to pieces on a rock).

Bignamini joined the DSO during the pandemic, and they sound like they have bonded well since his arrival. Bignamini possesses a youthful sense of humor and added a dash of mischief, with the DSO in peak form. The audience was respectful, quiet, and everyone was in good spirits. Watching Weilerstein, she moves as if she's dancing, and her dramatic flourish matches her confident and furious style. 

First violinist and Concertmaster Robyn Bollinger gave an incredible solo delivery in Scheherazade, teasing and weaving and telling a story, building to touch and extend a single high note with silken clarity, like singing crystal, lifting the piece and the mood to an impossible emotional crest. She leaves no room to question her role as Concertmaster.

The DSO never disappoints.

Loreena McKennitt

It's been decades since she's visited the region, so we were lucky to see her at the Michigan Theater in Ann Arbor. Her voice has changed, but it retains its flavor and clarity. The hushed, simple elegance of her stage show is the very complement to her music that one hopes to find. Her manner is casual and classy. She told us a very good story of a curio she bought from a street vendor on a visit to Ireland, and shared her thoughts on how quickly the world is changing. It felt good to be taken out of our own time for just a little while. Her storytelling skills are just as entertaining as her music, and we left having had some good laughs. She's welcome to return, and hopefully she will.

We should add that her backing band is a treasure in their own right, and we are happy to have purchased a copy of one of their albums from the merch table.

Claudio Simonetti's Goblin

October of 2023 brought a lot of horror themed events, and we caught this one at the Redford Theatre. It was a treat getting to watch the composer and his band perform the score live with the movie playing behind them.

Peter Gabriel

This was our first time seeing him in concert, and it was a spellbinding experience, and for us, perfectly timed. There was a full moon on the night we saw him, which made the lunar imagery on his large, circular LED screen an especially satisfying coincidence. They began by playing in a circle around a mock campfire as the huge moon loomed in the sky above them. The visual presentation is, to date, the most sophisticated, beautiful application of the current technology we have seen at any show. EVER. He is a gracious host, and sprinkled favorites among newer material, and his new songs are themselves rich, honest, and reflective. We'd never heard them before, and they still dazzled us. He took time to recognize all of his supporting staff, even dressing them in orange so that the audience could see all the people whose efforts make his show what it is. He featured art throughout the show, naming the artists whose work he displayed. He credited his team, and no detail was overlooked. It's abundantly apparent that he is meticulous in his planning and execution, and in his efforts to show reverence for his team, other creators, and his audience. Everyone playing gave a world class performance. It's the most conscientious musical experience we have ever witnessed. It's unlikely we'll see anything on this level of careful splendor ever again.

Mr. Bungle

YEARS. YEARS have passed while we begged for Mr. Bungle to resume touring. Just ten days after the horror show at Pine Knob, we filed into the Fillmore Detroit to see them for the first time. His contrarian streak unsoftened by the passage of time, Patton (we presume) chose to play songs almost exclusively from The Raging Wrath of the Easter Bunny, the relatively obscure, 1986 thrash album. Granted, this tour was timed to coincide with their 2020 rerelease of said thrash album, so we suppose it's to be expected. We're sure fans of that period of their sound were very pleased. We really hope that they revisit the rest of their catalogue, though, and plan another tour around that material. There's simply nothing else like it, and for Christ's sake, we'd like to hear it live before it's too late.

Patton was sick and looked angry. Scott Ian was all smiles, like he's living his best life, and we hope he is. Buzz wasn't there. Next time, maybe? Can we get a whole Bungle and not just this rabid rabbit bunglehole?

Alice Cooper, Rob Zombie, Ministry

Pine Knob was inundated with zombies this September of 2023, and we had to leave early to avoid being eaten. We swear, it had nothing to do with wimping out over the rain. 

This bill was more than a little counterintuitive. For years, Al Jourgensen had beef with Rob Zombie over Rob's hairstyle and general aesthetic, expressing that he felt that Zombie was trying to brand himself after Jourgensen's image. Knowing this, we raised our eyebrows and marveled at how age and time often bring maturity. We would say we're pleased that they've buried the hatchet, but they might need that thing with all the undead that got past the fence. 

Ministry kept things simple. We've seen Alice a few times in the past, and it's always worth the money and time. While we can't claim to be big fans of Rob Zombie, he's a good frontman, and seems to appease the brain-hungry vermin that follow in his wake. Does that make them the grateful undead?

It was apparently such a popular tour that they're doing it again this year:

Culture Club, Howard Jones, Berlin

We can't say we're huge fans, but there's something about 80s synthpop that is just catchy enough to have become part of the soundtrack to a certain stage of life, so it seemed natural to see the creators while we still can. Boy George has a mastery of the stage that suggests he was born there. Howard Jones was the primary reason we were at the show, and he, too, has kept his edges sharp, cutting a neat set. Unfortunately, we can't remember whether it was Berlin or Howard Jones who had adopted a member of Kajagoogoo, but it was a real delight to hear a live rendition of Too Shy. Berlin was one of those bands whose songs we knew, but whose name we had never noticed, so the whole show had unexpected nuggets of enjoyment for us. It was just the right tone for an early August day in 2023.

Tori Amos

Meadowbrook hosted Ms. Amos in July 2023. The weather was perfect, many people had their seats upgraded, and everyone was polite. She played old favorites without making us wait for the encore, and mixed them in with her newer material smoothly, rewarding fans from every era of her career without preference. It was not apparent that she'd sustained a very recent ankle injury until she stood; her excellence was unblemished.

Santana and Earth, Wind and Fire

In July of 2022 we saw Santana with Earth, Wind, and Fire, a very tasteful pairing. EWF put on a busy show full of flashy costumes and an impressive athleticism among their current members. Even without a crowd, they are their own party, and it looks like fun. They faithfully played what we all wanted to hear, without so much as a hint of distraction. They sound like they just wrote those songs, and they can't wait for us to hear them. Of course, we can't help but recall that Mr. Santana collapsed on stage due to the extreme heat, abruptly ending his set. We are very thankful that he didn't die at this show, as many of us worried while we watched medical personnel gather around him. 

Opeth and Mastodon

Opeth and Mastodon played the Masonic Temple Theater in May of 2022, and we didn't miss it. 

Khemmis was a reasonable choice for opening the show. It should be said, however, that if you're going to play a song with a somewhat lengthy acoustic intro, you should have a live person playing the part. It was awkward watching them stand there waiting to launch the rest of the song while the recording came through the PA. Surely, there's someone else in your merry company who can play that part for you. 

Opeth took care to draft a setlist that departed from their previous performance here in Detroit, maintaining their potency and concentration. A little goes a long way, and we were still buzzing with the tingle of their magic for weeks after. 

Mastodon is going in a direction we like better, and we're curious to see how they continue to evolve. They always have an engaging visual presentation and are one of the most well-rehearsed groups touring today. 

Why don't we have more to say about this show? Because we forgot to make an entry about it for too long, that's why.