Freak Scene #63: Bunnies Go Wild on 'Horror Spectrum'
Plus, "Udugirl" Janelle Burdell has a new track, and the Parlor Room Collective's Uplifting Queer Voices programming is only just getting started.
A Guide to Music in Western Mass. (and sometimes Connecticut)
This week in Freak Scene, Bunnies are back with their first new album in seven years, Janelle Burdell shows us why she’s known as “Udugirl,” and though it’s been going for the better part of a year already, the Parlor Room Collective is really just getting started with its Uplifting Queer Voices programming.
In their press material, Bunnies refer to themselves as a prog band, which rings true. Yet Bunnies aren’t prog in the sense of groups like Yes or Emerson, Lake & Palmer, avatars of ’70s prog-rock who put on self-serious displays of instrumental pomp with classical pretensions. Rather, the Northampton foursome has more of a scuzz-prog aesthetic: their music is psychedelic and grotty, with an unpredictable edge. Horror Spectrum, Bunnies’ first album in seven years, sounds like something you’d hear in a fraying tent at the edge of a demented carnival on a stormy afternoon in the off season.
Ranging in length from just under 2 minutes to nearly 23 minutes, the songs pinwheel freely through shifting meters and swirling musical textures. Opener “Homunculus” starts with a woozy synth sound and abrasive guitar before singer and guitarist Jeremy Dubs begins talk-singing lyrics with the gleeful, unhinged tone of a motivational speaker who’s fingering a switchblade behind his back. Later, drummer Matt Newman’s clattering rhythm on “Vile Child” anchors blaring synths from Jack Science and scabrous guitar from Dubs, while Rebecca Macomber’s bassline chases the beat.
Weighty guitars brood on “Igor the Gory” as double-tracked vocals — one of them helium-high – power through the chop, while gnashing synths and stinging guitar licks give “That Evil Ghoul” an acid-test feel accentuated by the stuttering rhythm and a jumble of vocals. All of it feels like a warm-up for the closing track, the sprawling 22-minute psych-rock workout “Realm at the End of the Horror Spectrum.” With squalls of guitar and synths that hover on the edge of oppressive, the track has a manic, triumphal feel, as though it’s building toward some dramatic climax — a feeling accentuated by wordless vocals and meandering, free-jazz trumpet from Macomber that lends a sitar-like, late-’60s experimentalism to the proceedings.
The experimental vibe aside, the songs on Horror Spectrum are tightly played and deceptively focused. There’s an open, sometimes anarchic feel to these tracks, but nothing seems left to chance — Bunnies know what they’re doing and where they’re going, and if the journey is sometimes circuitous, there’s no beating the scenery.
Uplifting Queer Voices Kicks Off Pride Weekend May 1
With the Hampshire Pride Parade set for May 3, the Parlor Room Collective is getting a head start when the Iron Horse presents Eph See, Grumpy and Raavi in concert next Thursday, May 1, as part of the Uplifting Queer Voices series (tickets).
Uplifting Queer Voices took shape soon after the Iron Horse reopened last May, thanks to a year-long $50,000 grant from the Live Music Society for LGBTQI+ and BIPOC programming, says Leo Harrison, whose work at the Parlor Room Collective includes a lot of development coordination.
“Due to the funding, we’ve been able to really expand our offerings” to be inclusive of the LGBTQI+ community, Harrison says, with events including a monthly queer open mic and paying artists who perform in concert a guaranteed amount, rather than a percentage of the ticket sales.
Much of the collective’s focus so far has been on Northampton and Western Massachusetts, so talent booker Risa Tapanes wanted to look further afield for acts for the Pride Weekend Kickoff event. Raavi and Eph See have Boston roots (Tapanes went to Northeastern with Eph See), while Grumpy came up in New York City.
“They all are pretty distinct and in their own lane,” Tapanes says. “All three of them are guitar-driven, in different ways,” from Grumpy’s indie-rock leanings to Raavi’s folkier approach to Eph See’s pop explorations.
Though the Music in Action grant expires in June, the Parlor Room Collective hopes to line up community support to continue the Uplifting Queer Voices program.
“We are mindful of the current state of things, especially for queer folks in the U.S.,” Tapanes says. “People have been hesitant to be out and proud, but hopefully we can reiterate that the Iron Horse, the Parlor Room and Northampton in general is a safe space for queer people, their allies and the community.”
Janelle Burdell Marks Earth Day With ‘River’
The fact that she often records as Udugirl should be a hint: Janelle Burdell has a fondness for the jug-like hand-percussion instrument that is an important part of Igbo musical culture in Nigeria, where it has historically been played by women. The Udu is the foundation of “River,” an Earth Day release from Burdell, who teaches drums and percussion at the Institute for the Musical Arts in Goshen. She has also worked with the likes of Aretha Franklin, the Grateful Dead’s Mickey Hart, Tupac Shakur and Cris Williamson.
“River” is the second in a series of singles that Burdell has planned over the coming months as part of what she calls a “newer bigger project” that emphasizes the Udu. On “River,” Burdell lays down a hypnotic rhythm that highlights the water-vessel origins of the instrument, with sounds that evoke the resonance of drops of water falling into a hollow container, with resonant pops and the flat, hard sound of hands making contact with the clay sides of the Udu. Kathy Billie adds an emotive piano part, and Burdell’s IMA colleague Dave Chalfant adds bass.
Burdell’s first single from the new project, the polyrhythmic “Dragon Drum” came out last November. Both come from an album she’s calling Udu U Luv? for which she hasn’t yet set a release date.
“Each song is really geared and focused towards a different genre and audience,” Burdell says by email. “The collection will stand as the greatest exploration of the udu drum playing pitches in pop song formats.”
Upcoming Concerts
Just a reminder: Splendid Torch, the successor to the Western Mass. bluegrass-ish band Mamma’s Marmalade, perform May 9 at the Drake (tickets), with High Tea. It’s an album release show for Splendid Torch’s very good upcoming release ICON, which singer/fiddle player/guitarist Lily Sexton told me all about for an upcoming Freak Scene.
Tree House Brewing in South Deerfield has a bunch of new shows: Lukas Nelson July 28 (tickets), Flipturn July 29 (tickets), Dark Star Orchestra for two nights Aug. 4-5 (tickets), Dawes Aug. 28 (tickets) and what will surely be one of the wilder performances the brewery will host, Godspeed You! Black Emperor Sept. 15 (tickets).
The Academy of Music Theatre in Northampton brings in former Northampton resident Dar Williams Sept. 13 with Antigone Rising (tickets).
The Iron Horse hosts Town Mountain Aug. 3 (tickets), Hayes Carll Sept. 23 (tickets), Coco Montoya Oct. 7 (tickets) and S.G. Goodman Nov. 2 with Fust (tickets).
Easthampton’s Gold Dust (a.k.a. Stephen Pierce) plays May 16 at the Drake in Amherst (tickets), with the Croaks, Silvie’s Okay and Mibble. The show coincides with Gold Dust’s new album, In the Shade of the Living Light, which comes out the same day. The Drake also hosts Wheatus Sept. 12 (tickets).
Ladysmith Black Mambazo play July 19 at the Shea Theater in Turners Falls (tickets).
Westville Music Bowl in New Haven hosts comic John Mulaney, with Fred Armisen, Mike Birbiglia and Nick Kroll, Aug. 7 (tickets). Cypress Hill and Atmosphere are there Aug. 16 (tickets), with Lupe Fiasco and the Pharcyde.
Bloc Party comes to College Street Music Hall in New Haven June 5 (tickets).
The Space Ballroom in Hamden has Hayes Carll Sept. 24 (tickets) and Post Animal Nov. 5 (tickets).
District Music Hall in Norwalk hosts Stiff Little Fingers Sept. 7 (tickets) and 10cc Sept. 11 (tickets).
That’s it for this week, but Freak Scene is always seeking 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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