The evening began with Cloven Dozer. Having shed the forest-skeksis attire of their debut performance at the 48 Hour Music Festival two weeks ago, we were worried they had sifted out the apocalyptic weirdness of their sound. Not so. Approximating a heavy vessel of undead captained by a spastic Bust! magazine columnist, Dozer’s material was noticeably honed, with more-defined melodies seeping out over the dual drummers.
This band are best when going nowhere, restraining the urge to build their lurching, low-frequency riffs into big-finish fireworks. Frontwoman Kat Hulit’s roaming, childlike sneer represents uncharted vocal territory for music this doom-y, countering the drummer Adinah Barnett’s epic thunderbow. It’s refreshing to see a group of arbitrarily assigned musicians keep playing together, and we’re curious to see how this sonic polarity will play out.
While we couldn’t immediately recognize the frantic, colorful eight-bit Atari game Kaveldt projected stageward during their set, it acted like a broken iTunes visualizer, and was therefore helpful. Kaveldt’s first performance was an affronted python of coiling noise. Intricate guitar lines bounced off each other like repelling magnets, and a gallop of harmonies laid by keyboardist Mike Harvey lurked behind the sonic wall. Somewhere in the din, drummer Ric Lloyd was a beast. Although we’re eager to see the next show by this crucial addition to Portland’s heavy scene, Kaveldt intend to lay low and record a full-length soon.
Ultimately, veterans AoK Suicide Forest steered the sturdiest ship through Geno’s murky waters. Leif Sherman Curtis is a riff clinician, and after two bands heavy on the personnel, hearing the distinct elements of a tight and heavy trio was a welcome, while still brutal, treat.
Related:
Ghost stories, Wanting more, Photos: Most popular slideshows of 2009, More 
- Ghost stories
For all of the excitement that surrounded Wilco on the Maine State Pier or Sufjan Stevens at Port City Music Hall or the various sold-out Ray LaMontagne shows of the past year, there is no question that last Sunday's Phish show at the Cumberland County Civic Center was the biggest thing to hit our fair city in a very long time.
- Wanting more
After its triumphant traversal of the complete Béla Bartók string quartets at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, the Borromeo Quartet was back for a free 20th- and 21st-century program at Jordan Hall, leading off with an accomplished recent piece by the 24-year-old Egyptian composer Mohammed Fairuz, Lamentation and Satire.
- Photos: Most popular slideshows of 2009
Our most popular slideshows from the last year: including Lady Gaga, Britney Spears, Dale Bozzio's crazy cat house, and much more.
- 2009: The year in Classical
This was a queasy year for classical music.
- The future is now
Even with all the promise of the new year ahead, it's hard not to feel a little stiffed in the Future of Mankind department. Here it is, 2010, and there's nary a flying car to be seen.
- Swing, etc.
The music may suffer plenty of economic slings and arrows these days, but it's still full of thrills galore. As usual, it's looking outside of its orthodoxy for invigorating ideas. Here are titles you truly need.
- Beyond Dilla and Dipset
With a semi-sober face I'll claim that hip-hop in 2010 might deliver more than just posthumous Dilla discs, Dipset mixtapes, and a new ignoramus coke rapper whom critics pretend rhymes in triple-entendres.
- Local flavor
Local journalist and acclaimed hip-hop scribe Andrew Martin has corralled a flavorful roster of Rhody-based rap talent on the Ocean State Sampler , 10 exclusive tracks available for free download.
- John Harbison plus 10
Classical music in Boston is so rich, having to pick 10 special events for this winter preview is more like one-tenth of the performances I'm actually looking forward to.
- Best in their field
The jazz scene continues to struggle — along with everyone else — through hard times.
- Royal pain
Jesse Lortz is always ready to lay something heavy on you. As the primary architect and male half of Seattle indie-folk troubadours the Dutchess & the Duke (who come to T.T. the Bear's Place this Sunday), he spent their 2008 debut, She's the Dutchess, He's the Duke , contemplating loneliness, disgust, and death.
- Stroke of genius
Julian Casablancas is in control, for better or worse. Better, in the sense that he is finally seeing the release of his debut solo album, Phrazes for the Young (RCA), in which he steps out of the stripped-down style of the Strokes — his blockbuster unit for the past decade — and unveils a kaleidoscopic world of lush dreamscapes, arpeggiated classicism, and haunting balladry.
- Less
Topics:
New England Music News
, Entertainment, Music, Arts, More
, Entertainment, Music, Arts, Leif Sherman Curtis, CULTURE, Geno’s, Geno’s, 48 Hour Music Festival, Lifestyle, AoK Suicide Forest, Less
