Scott McLennan
These young musicians clearly embrace their roots, but there is no denying that this is a forward-looking troupe, one that flashes no pretensions as it blows your mind.
Riddles are abound when Les Claypool comes to town.
WasFest is a very welcome addition to Boston’s arts landscape, invaluable because it invites artists to push themselves forward while they acknowledge their still powerful influences.
There was nothing sloppy about the band’s searching and probing: the members of Dead & Company were perfectly locked into each other, were enjoying the musical exchanges being made in the moment.
Bass-wielding provocateur Les Claypool is an expert at warping the seemingly conventional into carnivalesque oddity.
“Everyone involved was committed to doing something different and eclectic,” WasFest curator Don Was said. “It’s a mixed bag, and that’s what we wanted.”
Such Ferocious Beauty ranks among the best of the Cowboy Junkies’ work — you can feel the band challenging itself, thriving in the tumult it generates.
On Remedy, Gozu sharpens and refines the strengths in its earlier recordings as it infuses into these new songs a finesse that doesn’t undercut the power of the music’s brute force.
Neighbor is steeped in what could be considered rock ’n’ roll’s golden era — the ’70s. That is when bands could be — and were damn well expected to be— both technically dazzling and broadly appealing.
The late Billy Conway didn’t so much work to make a song sound great as, through his adroit drumming, illuminate the qualities in the tunes that made them great.
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