This past Tuesday night, Shaki Presents (http://www.myspace.com/shakipresents) featured two Thrill Jockey bands at Cafe Nine in New Haven. CT. Thrill Jockey is an independent rock label based out of Chicago probably best know for their 90s line-up of avant-garde Indie/jazz artisits including Tortoise, Trans Am and The Sea and Cake, and The Fiery Furnaces recently released their last LP on Thrill Jockey. The show was slated to commence at 9 P.M., and Bethany and I arrived at 10:15 to discover that there hadn't even been a proper soundcheck yet. This is truly my only complaint with Shaki Presents; Rick Omonte is brilliant for bringing up-and-coming Indie rock to New Haven, but shows start much later than posted, which can be more than a mere nuissance on a weeknight.
ARBOURETUM (http://www.myspace.com/arbouretum and http://arbouretum.blogspot.com), a four piece out of Baltimore, MD, had their groundings firmly in psychedelic rock yet mixed in a pleasing ensemble of folk-Americana and classic rock leanings into their sound. I was previously unfamiliar with their material but, upon speaking with the band after the set, realized that their set mostly comprised songs from 2007's "Rites of Uncovering" LP and new songs that they will be recording upon returning to the studio after this brief tour. The highlights of their ~45-minute set were the blistering psychedelia and classic rock alla CREAM in "Signposts and Instruments" and the catch pop sensibility of the closer. The set closed with a gem of a pop song that delighted the small but attentive audience.
PONTIAK (http://www.myspace.com/pontiak and http://pontiak.net), which consists of bearded brothers Lain, Van and Jennings Carney from Holtzclaw Road, VA, stormed immediately into the scorching set with an instrumental assault that took all in attendance aback. It was immediately apparent to all those unfamiliar with their music (including me) that this was going to be a heavy, pedal-dense ride through the belly of psychedelic rock. The second song featured a dual percussion assault, as lead guitarist Van sat down to a minimalist kit of bass, snare and ride with syncopated beats that grabbed everyone's attention who wasn't already smitten. After this aggressive introduction, the brothers decided to take it down a step with several blues-inspired tracks from 2007's "Sun on Sun" LP (recently re-released on Thrill Jockey). The title track, "Sun on Sun" featured a beautiful slide guitar introduction that morphed into a slow plod with organ and drum accents eventually resolving with phaser ablazin'. For me, the highlight of the set was closer "White Hands" with its chorale singing and staggered hi-hat chops.
I spoke with members of both bands after the set, who were very pleasant and understanding of the unfortunately small crowd on a weeknight in CT. Both bands continued their tour in Burlington, VT the following night to end the week on campus at Colby College in ME before going their separate ways. This year, both bands released a split recording of John Cale covers called "Kale" (Thrill Jockey, 2008) that I didn't see for sale as a CD at their merchandise table (it was available on vinyl) that it'd imagine is worth inspection. And, finally, I just wanted to again plug Shaki Presents/Rick Omonte for continually bringing excellent touring bands to the Elm City at minimal charge! Like his excellent Sunday night concert series SUNDAZED at BAR, there was no cover for this event. Suffice it to day, without Shaki, the local music scene would be sorely lacking!
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