The sound of music

Local bands liven up the hills

by Bob Gulla

Equal Rites

Providence might not be the melting pot of America, (too many Italians -- me being one, so don't get huffy -- taking up too much of the space, I think.) But the city does offer up a good array of tunes in little pockets of diverse and worthwhile activity. There's a folk crew and a world music crew, a reggae crew and some jazzers, an out crowd and an in crowd, a bunch of metal maniacs and some punks. There's math rock and indie rock and emo-core and hardcore. The following reviews constitute a small but vital cross-section of some Providence movers and groovers.

QAZ: Alternate Routes (Cats & Dogs Records)
Providence is about as well-known for its jazz as it is for its spectacular scenery, which is to say not very. It must be frustrating for first-rate talent like Danny Moretti and Greg Abate who most likely have to venture afield for some serious action.

But if you've ever been down to the Custom House on Saturday nights, you know you've found a cozy little jazz pocket all for yourself and a few close friends. A trio by the name of QAZ, (pronounced by the letters Q, A, and Z) -- Buzz Buzzerio, Ken Carpenter, and Peter Gresch -- sits in pretty regularly there, as a threesome or as a part of the "Jazzbeaux Sessions" that take place on most Saturdays, the latter of which qualifies as a full-on jam.

QAZ itself is an audacious group of instrumentalists, never afraid to peer into the shadowy corners of a long, dark melodic passage, always willing to explore an avenue, rhythmic or otherwise, when it opens up before them. On trumpet and flugelhorn, Buzzerio runs a tonal and stylistic gamut, while the rhythm section -- Carpenter on bass and Gresch on drums -- aren't afraid to strand Buzzerio without a cushion while they do their own thing. Not only do they find some interesting turf to explore, Buzzerio always seems to find his way back to the core melody. It's not easy stuff -- more Coltrane-, Mingus-, and Coleman-derived than Parker or Basie. But Alternate Routes challenges its listeners without giving way to discomfort or dissonance, equips songs like "Freedom Jazz Dance" and "Bolivia" with explosive power and accessible energy. Provocative and appropriately titled, QAZ might not do much on its own to grow the Providence jazz scene, but at least it's something for the city's own jazz isolates to claim as their own.

QAZ's next date at the Custom House falls on November 20.

Equal Rites: Lucia (Lion's Eye Productions)
Rising up as an offshoot of local reggae celebs the Mystic Jammers, Equal Rites delves deeply into a highly percussive groove-adelic sound, part Afro-dance, part Caribbean hipsway. Led by singer/guitarist Lon Plynton of the Jammers and supported by singer Keli Garrett, drummer Matt Nielbels, bassist Mibbit Threats, keyboardist Willie Myette, and percussionist Jackie Burnett, Equal Rites burns brightest and heats up most when they get their ensemble thing revving at full tilt. On "Lucia" or "When I Dream" the band conjures up the tropical nights of Trinidad when rum swizzles and an ocean breeze are the only things that'll cool off the performance of a great groove band. Plynton doesn't shy from mimicking a few guitar heroes, namely Carlos Santana on the stinging "Running Back" and Chic's Nile Rodgers on the boogie-oogie of "What Does It Matter."

A couple of acoustic numbers -- "On the Street" and "What Else" -- feature some nice guitar work on the part of guest John Booth, and they provide a nice breather from the ensemble's jazzy pushes, but the songs don't hold up well enough on repeated listens to warrant their presence. Still, a vital effort from a gritty, versatile, and worthwhile local outfit.

M-80 (self-released CD)
It's craziness, playing this kind of rollicking punk. I mean, it's not like it's popular commercially or anything, and it's certainly not gonna turn the heads of any major record labels. But that fact that those concerns don't phase Kingston's M-80 (not to be confused with the great apocalyptic punkers MX-80) a bit is just one of the great things about this rock-hard, anvil-heavy new disc. Punk rock isn't about outside concerns or grim commercial realities, it's about playing the music you can't get out of your head. It's about expressing yourself the way your gut insists you do with no compromise. If that means 6/4 beats, yeowling, fist-punching choruses, and chainsaw guitar chords, then that's what it means.

MX-80, a merger of local punk bands Arson Family and Racketball, supplies a lot of that and more on its self-titled debut, matching reputable outfits like Sick of It All, Pennywise, and Down By Law with their adrenaline gushes and skin-tight performances. What makes the disc even more impressive is that the band entered the studio one day and came out the same day, 10 hours later, with 10 songs ready to put on disc. If that sounds like a frantic pace -- anyone who's made a record knows it is -- you can be sure that the record emerging from that brief session is frantic, too. But it's also layered with power and passion. And that's the best you'll get from a punk band. I mean, really. When it comes to good-old-fashion punk, what else is there?

Erin McKeown: Monday Morning Cold (TVP Records)
It's hard to find identifiable voices in acoustic and folk music. Historically, the genre has been the voice of the people, songs and words that everyone can, in the ultimate democratic sense, relate to. Lately, a few performers have broken through and made folk music their own, at least briefly, like Ani DiFranco and Gillian Welch. But by and large the scene remains the domain of conventional singers and songwriters, which, by the way, is not the undesirable label everyone seems to insist it is.

Erin McKeown, a Brown undergrad originally from Virginia, steals a page from DiFranco's songbook by sing-speaking in colorful stream-of-consciousness, wrapping her words around her audience like curlicue ribbons of bold expression. Underneath it all is McKeown's funky but rather unorthodox guitar, part blues, part jazz, and part something she's just making up. Like she says, with tongue in cheek, on "Easy Baby," here: "It's all folk." Well, no, it's not really, Erin. Not when you mix a Hendrix riff on guitar, some gritty blues vocals, and some vintage '60s psychedelic spoken word bits that recall Kerouac. It may be for some "folks," but it sure ain't "folk" the way most people think of folk music. And that's a good thing. The production here lags -- a lot -- and McKeown would do well to hire a band, but for now, it's all her, and a unique "her" at that.

Erin McKeown will be at the Met Cafe on November 7.

Got some points of interest? Contact b_gulla@yahoo.com