Live Music Review // Grant Beale, Michael Larocca, Evan Palmer, Sam Childs / Greg Conte / John Dalton and Kelly Bray at Willimantic Records, Willimantic CT June 8th 2024
Additional photos can be found here :::
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This was such a nice day for music and the Bliss Market Place was having a sidewalk sale so once we got to the area of Willimantic Records there was a lot going on. We passed a table going in that had a rack of clothes hanging next to it but also had a giant Pez dispenser of Palpatine which I thought was kind of cool.
One thing about coming to these events once a month is that you typically see Michael Larocca play and so you can become familiar with how he plays. This first set though put him into a quartet, and though I'd have to actually go back and check my records, I don't think I've seen Michael Larocca play with this many other people before.
Grant Beale was on guitar, making sounds on the far left side to echo throughout Willimantic. We couldn't drive to the Frog Bridge because that road was closed off but this guitar could make it there. Evan Palmer was on bass and in some ways having that guitar/bass/drums combo felt like you could be hearing a "normal" band but this was anything but normal.
Sam Childs rounded out the quartet playing the saxophone and the sudden bursts of the blaring of playing the sax would set the tone for how the music felt. It felt on this day that maybe the sky would open up at any minute and start to rain, but the sound of this quartet seemed to bring that thunder instead. All of these instruments working together and sometimes even sounding like they were against each other made for quite the storm.
I feel like I should have been more aware of Greg Conte before this show but as the flyer said this would be a set of guitar and electronics I was definitely intrigued because those are two elements I like to hear in music. You can never really be sure what someone might do with those instruments, but the end result is usually one that I enjoy.
The music of Greg Conte started off quieter. It had that ambient way about it at first where you just felt like you were in an independent film, watching life go by through the vision of a Super 8. The sound was calming, soothing even. And then it changed almost like the flip of a switch. I remember at this one point, someone out on the street was playing hip hop music loudly and you could hear it clearly.
This seemed to be the thing which set Greg Conte into an idea of "Let's see how loud we can get" as the distortion came through the speakers. This didn't really become harsh noise so much as it just turned into what felt like a noise set, but that idea of feeling calm, as if we were lulled into a sleep-like state only to then be loudly woken, much like those who wake up every morning to an alarm.
The duo of John Dalton and Kelly Bray closed out the day, as John Dalton played percussion and Kelly Bray played the trumpet. This was a great combination because you have that jazz feeling of the trumpet but then add in the chaos of the percussion and it all just works together so well. I often find myself wondering how the musicians know when to stop playing because some times one of the two will stop and the other will just solo.
While the rain managed to hold off, the music was loud and wonderful. The perfect mix of sounds from three different sets and they all felt equally loud. The way that these different musicians can come together and form these sounds continues to amaze me, as I feel like they have practiced this or done it numerous times before but it's always just so spontaneous.
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