The Roots Report: Peter Frampton at Twin River
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Alt-Nation: Folk Fest Wrap-Up and the Latest from The Silks Newport Folk Fest The book is closed on the 2016 Newport Folk Fest, which showcased a mix of rising stars, modern day heavyweights and bona fide legends. Friday’s highlights included Raury, who mixes folk and hip-hop to create a soulful uplifting vibe. Dan Auerbach’s side project The Arcs had the feel of The Black Keys in a more fleshed-out arrangement playing tunes from their debut, Yours Dreamily. I also caught a surprise set from country legend Kris Kristofferson in the tiny Museum Stage, which was something I certainly never expected to see. Kristofferson would do another set Saturday backed by the Texas Gentlemen. Upcoming Nashville star Margo Price and main stage headliners, the New Zealand comedy duo, Flight of The Conchords, rounded out my list of Friday’s highlights. The latter performed many of their tunes from their popular HBO show like “Business Time” and “Too Many Dicks (on the Dance Floor).” Saturday featured a hilarious back and forth trolling exchange between Ryan Adams and Father John Misty one day after the latter got booed off the stage at another festival. Adams’ set with his band The Infamous Stringdusters featured a bluegrass take on songs from his catalog. Father John Misty had a big bounce-back solo stripping down his tunes to solo acoustic format. Singer-songwriter John Moreland’s set was a revelation with great tunes like “You Don’t Care For Me Enough to Cry,” “American Flags in Black & White” and “Nobody Gives a Damn About Songs Anymore” delivered in his unique voice. Ruby Amanfu took a star turn showcasing a powerful set of pipes on tunes from her forthcoming record, Standing Still, which is due out at the end of August. Notable about Amanfu’s set from a local perspective was her backing band featured three members of Deer Tick. Amanfu would also later perform at Deer Tick’s post-Folk Fest Bash with Deer Tick covering The Cranberries’ “Zombie” and Screamin’ Jay Hawkins’s “I Put a Spell on You.” Graham Nash showed he still carries the ’60s protest spirit with tunes like “Military Madness” and “Immigration Man.” Nash sent everyone home happy with a closing sing-along of “Teach Your Children Well.” The two best things I saw Saturday was one artist who was totally unknown to me — Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats — and a long time- favorite, Patti Smith. Rateliff & The Night Sweats made it even hotter under the midday sun that was mercilessly beating down with some old school bopping ’60s soul. Smith is a dynamic performer who lifts spirits in tunes like “Dancing Barefoot,” “Summer Cannibals” and “People Have the Power.” Smith’s set was heavy on covers including a reading of Allen Ginsberg’s “Holy, Holy, Holy” and renditions of tunes by Prince (“When Doves Cry”), The Who (“My Generation”), Rolling Stones (“This Will Be The Last Time”) and Bruce Springsteen (“Because the Night”). On Sunday Elvis Costello’s set was one for the ages, literally, as he covered songs from the ’20s as well as tunes from throughout his extensive catalog. Billed as solo performance, Costello’s set was anything but, featuring guests like Rebecca and Megan Lovell from Larkin Poe, Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Glen Hansard, and Dawes, members of whom were in the Middle Brother. Highlights of Costello sets were “Every Day I Write the Book,” “King of America” and “(What’s So Funny Bout) Peace, Love, and Understanding.” Middle Brother, an indie super group featuring members of Dawes, Delta Spirit and Deer Tick, performed their self-titled album cover-to-cover on the main stage. Son Little gave a stirring set early in the day. Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros closed out the Quad stage with a set that started off sounding like a jug band before transcending into their hippie alterna-daze hits like “40 Day Dream.” They seemed to be having a ball and genuinely bummed that they couldn’t play all night because of the stage curfew. All in all the Newport Folk Fest lived up to the magic of its rich tradition in delivering something for everyone and spotlighting artists, both new and grizzled legends. The Silks – Turn Me On It’s been three years since The Silks dropped their debut, Last American Band, which was recorded with Paul Westerberg. Since then, The Silks have toured, played festivals and opened for bands like The Replacements, but it is in a sweaty club where the band is in their element. On Turn Me On, The Silks deliver more of their signature early ’70s stomp rock. The opening “All Day” sounds like bastard of Solomon Burke’s “Everybody Needs Someone to Love” and the Stones’ “The Last Time.” “Rolling Wheel” is a fuzz-infused barroom swinger where singer/guitar wizard Tyler-James Kelly sings of the love of being back on tour with a lines like “take that rearview mirror, throw it out the door, you’ll won’t need to look at it anymore.” “Blue” is a ballad in the vein of the Stones’ “Angie.” “Take Me to Town” mixes a honky-tonk vibe with barroom rock in the vein of John Cafferty and the Beaver Brown Band. My favorite tune on the new biscuit is the three-chord stomp of “Get Up and Get Free,” which is like one psych-garage meets Humble Pie. The rhythm section of Jonas Parmelee on bass and “Uncle” Sam Jodrey anchor the beat, freeing Kelly to insert as many molten leads as his heart desires. Tunes like “Get Up and Get Free” and “Home” showcase the growth of the band from their debut making more use of Kelly’s harmonica playing and incorporating more elements to make a richer album. Turn Me On is available now online through bandcamp.com. The Silks celebrate the release of Turn Me On with a show with Tall Teenagers and The Low Cards at Aurora in Providence on August 12. Email music news to [email protected] Album Of The Week: Descendents’ Hypercaffium Spazzinate In this crazy year we need punk rock more than ever. We need to listen to some amplified, angst-filled, guitar-driven music that ignites the rambunctiousness in all of us. Seems like the perfect time for the Descendents to put out their first album in 12 years, right? The punk legends from Manhattan Beach, California, have their seventh album, Hypercaffium Spazzinate, out and the fearsome foursome have gone back to what they do best. That’s unleashing feverish riffs, pristine drumming and lyrics that come straight from the heart. The title is an ode to frontman Milo Aukerman’s former career as a research biochemist while the album itself harks back to the Descendents’ earlier material in tone and style. When the band’s previous album Cool To Be You came out in 2004, polished pop punk was all over the place. Being a band that are considered to be pioneers of pop punk (which I find to be weird), the Descendents went with the times with Cool To Be You and put out a clean sounding album. Hypercaffium Spazzinate brings back the band’s edge that they had in the ’80s. The album’s production quality has a little bit of grit and that’s what a punk band should sound like. Pop punk is a bit of an oxymoron in my opinion. Punk started out as a genre that counteracted what pop music was in the ’70s and then punk bands started bringing melody. That’s what makes it pop? Maybe that’s why we have crappy bands like All Time Low and The Maine corrupting the youth, though that’s not the Descendents’ fault. Before I ramble on more than I should, let’s mosh to my top tracks from the Album Of The Week: A minute-long rager, “We Got Defeat,” has a triumphant chorus that adds power to a track that’s lightning quick. “Spineless and Scarlet Red” is Aukerman’s examination of people’s cowardice and ignorance toward where people like to place blame. It’s always nice to hear Bill Stevenson drum and he proves why he’s still one of the best from start to finish. Karl Alvarez is the anchor on bass in “Limiter,” a pissed-off song about how drug addiction can alienate the young. The track has a full arsenal of shred from guitarist Stephen Edgerton coming at a rapid pace. The Descendents will be tearing apart the Royale in Boston on October 6 with Philadelphia punks Beach Slang. From the looks of it, it should be one of the top shows to happen in The Hub by year’s end. While you wait for the leaves to fall and the show to blow the roof off the joint, grab a copy of Hypercaffium Spazzinate. It’s hot out of the lab and it’s bound to explode. Stream “Limiter” hère: youtube.com/watch?v=UhvIF3V5wQc; Follow the Descendents on Tumblr: descendents.tumblr.com Mike D’s Top 5 Can’t Miss Shows of August 1. Saturday, August 13: Foo Fest with Dan Deacon, Arc Iris, Churchburn, Ed Schrader’s Music Beat, Harry And the Potters, AS220 Youth Zukrewe, Taina Asili, Houseboy, Leiko, Gertrude Atherton, Powermonster, Hussy, Secret Lover, Lovesick, Sidy Maiga, The Quahogs, Snowplows, Theosophia, Flintstones, XR-Tabs; 1pm; $7 advance / $10 day of; All ages; Empire St Block Party, Providence. One of Providence’s best annual parties of the year is back with a tremendous headliner: electronic psychedelic dance party empressario Dan Deacon.