Concert Review: Jah Wobble’s Invaders of the Heart at Mississippi Studios

Original image by There Stands the Glass.

My friend R. acquired a copy Public Image Ltd.’s Metal Box in 1979. Inspecting the unique packaging while listening to the correspondingly strange music it housed in the basement of R.’s home was an otherworldly experience. Forty-five years later, I was transported by live renderings of Metal Box songs by Jah Wobble’s Invaders of the Heart at Mississippi Studios on Friday, July 19. The interpretations of once-unintelligible songs like "Poptones" on the Metal Box: Rebuilt in Dub Tour were perfect distillations of my coinciding passions for punk, jazz and reggae. Either Wobble’s extensive career helped shape my taste or he and I simply share similar inclinations.

Concert Review: Kassa Overall at Mississippi Studios

Original image of Stas Thee Boss, Bendji Allonce and Kassa Overall by There Stands the Glass.

A modified stage dive during Kassa Overall’s appearance at Mississippi Studios on Saturday, August 26, affirmed jazz’s historic mutability. The euphoric 75-minute performance also clarified the ambitious artist’s intent.

Once a drummer for elite artists like the late Geri Allen, Overall is committed to expanding the sound associated with Kendrick Lamar’s groundbreaking 2015 album To Pimp a Butterfly. Overall’s current tour focuses on material from his latest release Animals.

Joined by soprano saxophonist Tomoki Sanders, pianist Ian Finkelstein, bassist Giulio Xavier Cetto and percussionist Bendji Allonce, Overall drummed and rapped with wild abandon. An expansion of the interpolation of “This Train (Is Bound for Glory)” heard on “I Know You See Me” was among the selections in which the quintet breathed new life into old forms.

Stas THEE Boss, a musician best known as a member of the Seattle group ThEESatisfaction, joined the band for a hypnotic rendition of "Tried It". Yet even the pieces that presented as hip-hop possessed unmistakable jazz foundations. Finkelstein’s playing in particular rendered genre distinctions meaningless.

As for that stage dive: after indicating the audience of about 250 should part, Sanders leapt from the stage and ran through the club. Scrambling back, bounced off the lip of the stage and exited again. As a percussion workout climaxed, Sanders hurled himself onto the stage. Punk rockers- as well as everyone who embraces the ongoing evolution of jazz- should be impressed.

Concert Review: The Clientele and the Papercuts at Mississippi Studios

Original image of the Clientele by There Stands the Glass.

I didn’t make any friends in the line to the bathroom at the conclusion of performances by The Clientele and Papercuts at Mississippi Studios on Tuesday, August 22.

My assessments- “those songs weren’t bangers, they were bummers!” and “instead of party-starters, we heard party-enders!”- didn’t go over with fans of the morose bands.

As with the other 300 people in the Portland venue, I bought a $20 ticket because I’m partial to British sad boy bops like "Bonfires on the Heath". Unlike the humorless devotees, I think it’s funny that all of us chose to wallow in misery.

The lavish production of the Clientele’s gorgeous new album I Am Not There Anymore led me to believe the core members of the British band would be supplemented by additional musicians. I was wrong.

Rough and lean, the Clientele sounded little like its refined recordings. And never having previously seen the band, Alasdair MacLean’s guitar shredding came as a shock.

Papercuts was an ideal opening act. The group’s downcast jangle-pop reminded me of my affinity for the style 40 years ago. A rendition of “John Brown” felt like a faded postcard from my Kansas home.