Editor’s note: due to the imminence of this Thursday’s show at The Anchor, we’re departing from our usual procedure and running Morgan’s piece online before it gets into the print edition.
Those disheartened by the current news and wanting some freakout fun need to run — not walk — to The Anchor this Thursday, June 16 to catch up-and-coming rockers Moon Tooth. Imagine soaring and soulful vocals somewhere between Glassjaw, Bowie and Lenny Kravitz overflowing with poetry as a virtuoso guitarist leads a relentlessly curious and capable backing band, perhaps only currently matched by Mutoid Man for sheer chutzpah. Insanely impossible-sounding prog is compressed into the language of punk rock and delivered with the bombast of sludge metal, yet with instrumental tones that allow for huge dynamic shifts, not just walls of noise. Chromaparagon, the Long Island band’s full-length debut, is simply a revelation.
Even if you can’t make the show (which also features local psych heroes and recent Small Stone Records signees It’s Not Night: It’s Space and Rozamov), suffice to say you need to hear Moon Tooth’s record.
“The spirit took me and this old broken body leapt up and danced/Settin’ out, all my heroes in a bundle at my back,” croons vocalist John Carbone on their song “Igneous.” Listening to the radical sounds, you can really believe they are following their inspiration on some sort of holy quest to save rock and bring people together in the name of the past, present and hopefully brighter future. Fresh off a tour with one of my fave space metal bands InAeona, Nick Lee from Moon Tooth somehow managed to type me answers while still shredding (I actually don’t know this but I can’t ever imagine the dude putting down his instrument, so he must have extra arms like some Hindu diety who happens to like High on Fire).
“The tour with Boston’s InAeona was awesome! They are great and we’ve all had their songs stuck in our heads ever since leaving them,” Nick reports. “We just started routing back up north on our own until we meet up with Rozamov from Boston at The Anchor on June 16. That show kicks off a tour with those guys up to Montreal and Toronto. It will be all of our first time in Canada. We’re really psyched for it!
“We dropped our first full-length, Chromaparagon, back in February and have been hitting the road hard ever since,” Nick continued. “Some highlights have been opening two sold out shows, one opening for Candiria in New Jersey and soon after that opening for Killswitch Engage at Webster Hall. We’ve been going to shows there since we were kids and it was an honor to play such a nice room with those guys. After the run with Rozamov we have a short break and then we are doing a full U.S. tour with Intronaut and Entheos! That will be by far our longest and most high profile tour so far. All the tours combined we are doing close to 70 shows this summer!”
Has anyone checked out Art Bar yet at 674 Broadway? The small-but-aspiring space is curating an ongoing emerging artists’ classical music series this summer, including soprano Alexandra Schleuderer, pianist Paula Vitolo and other to-be-announced names. Find out about the current art exhibit on display, featuring the work of sculptor Susan Spencer Crowe, online as well. Artbargallery.com gives the scoop on the 1,200-foot space, described as “an exercise in simple elegance, playing host to art exhibitions, corporate events, parties, meetings and other gatherings. ARTBAR Gallery exhibits emerging, mid-career and established artists creating works on paper, paintings, fine art photography, sculpture, encaustic, assemblage, video and on other media.”
A Jaggery time on the 21st
Songbird Mali Sastri of positive white-magic chamber music pop-goth ensemble Jaggery also checks in this week. The band plays BSP on Thursday, June 21 with Rebecca Moore and local chromatic gypsy tribe Not Waving But Drowning. Prior shows include sharing bills with Amanda Palmer and Wye Oak, if that helps set the tone a bit.
“We’ve played the area twice — once previously at BSP, and once at a friend’s house party in High Falls,” Sastri recalls. “Both experiences left us feeling incredibly welcomed, and the relaxed-yet-creative energy of the region is quite a break from the feel of most of the big cities that we tend to play on tour. We have several friends who’ve settled in the area, usually leaving a big city, like New York City or even Boston, for more space, more bang for their buck, more greenery and fresh air and nature, without losing the sense of a thriving artistic community. A huge perk of playing the region for us is getting to stay at our friend’s [from Not Waving But Drowning] incredible magic rainbow house Calico, which is like a museum of DIY design.
“For those who haven’t heard us before: expect to be lulled, jarred, soothed, and stirred up. If that’s too vague, how about Kate Bush meets Bjork meets Diamanda Galas meets Alice Coltrane.”
Well, looks like I’m running away and joining the circus with all my heroes on a bundle on my back. If I don’t write henceforth, suffice to say I’ve been kidnapped by a fairy circle and am dancing somewhere until my beard grows long.
Join the family! 
