Boston-based Palehound is quintessential indie rock, centered around front woman Ellen Kempner’s gentle voice and unobtrusive guitar approach. The sound is soft and warm, broken up only when Kempner stretches her vocal chords all the way to falsetto land. It’s thoughtful and inviting, though a little introverted and shy. It’s endearing, nonetheless, with beautiful subtleties […]
Frank De Blase
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Cavalcade is a band that’s not afraid of genre
Cavalcade is an indie rock outfit of little restraint or convention. Come to think of it, that’s the definition of most indie bands, isn’t it? The band commands a big rock dynamic as it calls upon odd time signatures and grooves. That’s why it’s hard to picture them as outcasts or misunderstood musical orphans (again […]
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Album review: ‘Insistences’
Ocular Panther “Insistences” Self-released ocularpanther.com Ocular Panther’s “Insistences” opens with a tapestry of guitar so melodic that the absent words pop into the listener’s ear like a whisper. It’s like a collaboration with the band. Don’t sweat it; there’s plenty room in the band’s fourth album of instrumental salvos to hum along. Hell, the band […]
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BLUES | Benny Turner
From the Chittlin’ Circuit to the Far East, blues bassist Benny Turner has spent the last 60 years circling the globe as a sideman. Now, we’re not talking just any sideman to just anybody, we’re talking about playing with Freddy King, who incidentally was Turner’s brother. Turner played with King until the guitarist’s death in […]
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Frank reviews ‘Where? I. Come! From…” and Leo Crandall
With any dance performance, I don’t suspend disbelief but rather dive right in with my own reality as my guide. I may be wrong, and often I am, but this way, I get a personal benefit to leave with. “Where? I. Come! From…” over at MuCCC was a genius technical concept that featured three dancers in […]
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Frank reviews Mental Graffiti, ‘The Black Bird of Death,’ and the Immersive Igloo
First off on this tepid evening, I sauntered over to see RIT’s Mental Graffiti poetry reading. Topically it was young person fare and charming, with lots of clever digs and clever ways at reclaiming compromised innocence. One fellow even performed an ode to his foot. When a performer did something of note, the other poets […]
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Frank reviews Cirque Du Fringe: ‘Eclectic Attraction’ and Pinch and Squeal
Cirque Du Fringe: “Eclectic Attraction” was a physical treat of muscular and balance-oriented feats performed in the confines of the Spiegeltent. The hosts, Matt Morgan and Heidi Brucker Morgan — who have staged Spiegeltent shows at the Rochester Fringe before — were the through-line for essentially a circus masquerading as a dream by their infant […]
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Brian Wilson kinda, sorta talks about ‘Pet Sounds’
There’s no other way to say it, The Beach Boys’ “Pet Sounds” is one of the greatest, most influential works in rock ‘n’ roll history. With its symphonic, psychedelic leanings and lush vocal orchestration, “Pet Sounds” was initially met with a lukewarm response in the US when it was released in May 1966, but its […]
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Album review: ‘Mostly Blankets’
Candy Isle “Mostly Blankets” Self-released candyisle.bandcamp.com This is an awesome album of deceptive simplicity. Candy Isle is a dynamic duo made up of Kat Bakrania and Lydia Dake — and not much else. This, their first EP, sparkles like a pristine smile with a dusting of harmonious quirk. Assorted instruments are sprinkled about so sparsely […]
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PSYCH ROCK | Sisters of Your Sunshine Vapor
After listening to Sisters of Your Sunshine Vapor, it’s safe to say that the classic, trio set-up — bass, guitar, and drums — is still far from being relegated redundant or obsolete. In this Motor City, garage-psych howl, there’re nuggets of beauty and texture fueled by the band’s wide-eyed curiosity and a lack of gravity. […]
