Freak Scene #107: Deep Trees, Barstool Visionaries, Tom Guerra
This week's newsletter focuses on artists releasing music one track at a time
This week’s Freak Scene is devoted to local musicians who have released singles recently. We spend a lot of time here on albums and EPs, but plenty of artists are putting out their music one song at a time, including Northampton’s Deep Trees and the Connecticut acts Barstool Visionaries and Tom Guerra.
Deep Trees, ‘Turn Out the Light’
Whatever else this region is known for musically — indie-rock, folk, noise, jam bands, metal, take your pick — club-ready electro-pop rarely enters the conversation. Yet that’s where Summer Redko has found her groove. A web designer now who has also worked as a studio sound engineer and written songs for TV and films, Redko’s musical persona these days is Deep Trees, and her latest single is irrepressible.
“Turn Out the Light” is stuffed full of horns and layers of vocals that glitter like a sequined jumpsuit. A muscular drumbeat and a roving bassline maneuver the track through a skanking ska guitar part on the verse and vocals that zoom upward in a fountain of sparks on the chorus. The whole thing slides smoothly into a breakdown midway through, and then ramps up again into the joyous intensity at the heart of the song.
The track follows last summer’s single “Extraordinary,” where Redko did everything herself. On “Turn Out the Light,” she calls in collaborators: Luca Giachi on bass, Nik Hughs on drums, Victor Mejia on horns and doo-wop vocals from Christopher Weeks.
Barstool Visionaries, ‘February’
It’s usually a good sign for a music scene when it seems like everybody plays in everybody else’s bands — or maybe it’s just that Tom Boudreau has assembled an all-star cast of rippers from other groups in the Barstool Visionaries. (Maybe it’s both!) Boudreau, a.k.a. Tom Bonehead, runs Bonehead Studio in Chester, where he records musicians from Connecticut and around the northeast when he’s not working on Barstool tracks like “February,” his band’s latest.
Recorded live on Valentine’s Day, “February” is a skillful evocation of the mid-winter doldrums, where fantasizing about an escape to sunnier climes helps take the edge of weather that’s cold, mostly gray and, this year anyway, plenty snowy. The track has a smoldering roots-rock feel, thanks to Boudreau’s weathered voice and rhythm guitar, backed by warm, overdriven lead guitar licks from John Lindberg and lush piano from Mark Mirando. Bobo Lavorgna on bass and Rich Suarez on drums hold it all together.
As for their bona fides, Lindberg has played with James Velvet, Mirando with Ringo Starr, Suarez with the Manchurians and Reale Wolfe, and Lavorgna with, well, just about everybody: the Killingworth bassist regularly contributes to 16 different groups, including the Bargain and Jake & the Family Jewels (I’ve known him for decades, since my sister and his son were classmates in high school).
Tom Guerra, ‘Meet Me Down the Alley’ and ‘Chi Chi Chu’
Hartford guitarist Tom Guerra turns his attention to Minneapolis on his latest single, a cover of the Paul Westerberg loss-of-innocence track “Meet Me Down the Alley.” Westerberg’s version, from his 2003 album Come Feel Me Tremble, is just him with an acoustic guitar. Guerra dresses it up a little bit with piano from Morgan Fisher of Mott the Hoople and, as the song builds, Kenny Aaronson on bass and Mike Kosacek on drums.
“I chose to record this based on things going on there as well as where my mindset is at these days,” Guerra said by email when he sent me the song two weeks ago.
“Meet Me Down the Alley” contrasts with on Guerra’s previous release, which he acknowledges is a departure from the blues-rock he tends to gravitate toward. Released in January, “Chi Chi Chu” has a Tex-Mex flavor with a cha-cha rhythm. The lovelorn song features soulful backing vocals from the great Christine Ohlman, and double-duty from Aaronson who played bass and the bright trumpet parts. (That’s Kosacek on drums.)
Upcoming Concerts
The full concert calendar is available here.
New songs at the the Iron Horse in Northampton include Western Mass. native Jax Hollow April 7 (tickets), a late-night show with Caramia + the Breakdown and Northbound April 18 (tickets), the Reverend Peyton's Big Damn Band May 6 (tickets), Western Mass. singer Frank Manzi May 23 (tickets) and harpist and songwriter Mikaela Davis July 15 (tickets).
The Parlor Room in Northampton presents pop singer-songwriter Mary Fahl Sept. 25 (tickets).
At the Drake in Amherst, indie-pop singer Maris performs April 23 (tickets). Queerquore Collaborative presents HIRS Collective, Commitment, Film and Gender, Deathless Forever and ABBATIA May 2 (tickets) in an event "to gather together and affirm, nourish and resource our collective humanity." Boston band Eddie Japan play with the Fawns and the Glad Machine May 30 (tickets).
The Brothers Osborne play June 11 at Tree House Brewing in South Deerfield (tickets).
Toronto punk band Pup play June 21 at District Music Hall in Norwalk (tickets), and Cat Power is there July 24 on a tour marking the 20th anniversary of her album The Greatest (tickets).
H.R. from the hardcore punk pioneers Bad Brains plays April 10 at Cafe Nine in New Haven (tickets). Jenny Owen Youngs is there May 15 (tickets).
That’s all for this week. Thank you for reading! If you like what you’ve seen, please share. Also, I’m always open to submissions. You can send music for coverage consideration to erdanton at gmail or reply to this email. Check out these guidelines first.
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