This is the week of Origins Game Fair which I don’t attend every year any more but it still brings many of my dearest friends in from out of town and I’m happy it’s both still here and it weathered GenCon moving closer to its date. There are some great music options if anyone’s coming to town but – like I always used to be at cons – interested in ducking out and seeing what else the town has.
Music
June 3: Beth Israel. Double Happiness, 482 S Front St.
Beth Israel is a deliciously loud, abrasive, and plodding post-punk band from Austin co-signed by Parquet Courts. They plow a similarly bummer sphere as PC, steeped in late ’70s and ’80s referents with a delighful, Dadaist approach to lyric writing. If you’re a sucker for that kind of thing like I am, they do it in a way targeted right for that sweet spot.
Anyone into Protomartyr, the dronier parts of the Bassholes, or the many bands who’ve taken up the Joy Division torch in recent years, would do well to see Beth Israel in these intimate confines.
Doors at 8:00pm. $5 tickets at https://www.ticketfly.com/purchase/event/860413?__utma=1.209975392.1432496223.1432496223.1432496223.1&__utmb=1.1.10.1432496223&__utmc=1&__utmx=-&__utmz=1.1432496223.1.1.utmcsr=google|utmccn=(organic)|utmcmd=organic|utmctr=(not%20provided)&__utmv=-&__utmk=209472018
June 5: Ava Luna. Double Happiness, 482 S Front St.
Like the above-mentioned Beth Israel, Ava Luna has a strong interest in sounds of the ’70s and ’80s but they fuse and fracture that DNA into something beguiling and uniquely their own. Brooklyn’s Ava Luna traffic in an intense, agitated funk that’s frayed around the edges but also gleaming with gorgeous harmonies that never seem to resolve where you’d expect.
Doors at 8:00pm. $7 tickets available at https://www.ticketfly.com/event/829191-ava-luna-columbus/
June 6: Elizabeth Cook. Rumba Café, 2507 Summit St.
There aren’t many finer American songwriters than Elizabeth Cook – if you can name 10 better country songwriters, pound-for-pound, I think you’re a liar. She has a knack for a melody that will slip right between your skin and your bones and clean you like a fish so your all-together is whipping in the breeze in long, red strips.
Her last record, Welder, might be her masterpiece, with songs like “Mama’s Funeral,” “Heroin Addict Sister,” and “Rock and Roll Man”, but I thought that about both her records before. A killer, cunning stage presence honed by more than 300 appearances on the Grand Old Opry and lots of touring, plus her acclaimed radio show on SiriusXM, she’s not to be missed whenever she comes to town.
Boston singer-songwriter Reed Foehl opens. The buzz around him is white-hot, having written the single on Lee Ann Womack’s amazing last record and strong press across Americana and jamband lines.
Starts at 9:00pm. $15 tickets available at http://www.ticketweb.com/t3/sale/SaleEventDetail?dispatch=loadSelectionData&eventId=5679165
June 6: Cory Henry and the Funk Apostles. Park Street Saloon, 525 N Park St.
Cory Henry, keyboardist from Grammy-winning jazz-R&B combo Snarky Puppy has been on fire with his new solo band this year, the Funk Apostles. Columbus has benefited from this as this is, I’m pretty sure, Henry’s third time through town this year. This time, he brings his gleaming new mothership to the larger (and more centrally located especially for you Origins folks, hint hint) confines of the Park Street Saloon.
Henry has a crack ensemble built around himself on keys and vocals. Featuring Andrew Bailey on guitar and Nick Semrad on keys and one of the greatest rhythm sections touring now – Sharay Reed (from Aretha Franklin and Chaka Khan’s bands) on bass and Cleon Edwards (Jill Scott, Erykah Badu) on drums. It’s a powerful, joyous sound when they get together with an understanding of dynamics and tension not often seen in the more jam-centric groups.
Starts at 10:00pm. $10 tickets available at http://www.ticketweb.com/t3/sale/SaleEventDetail?dispatch=loadSelectionData&eventId=5805105
June 6: Mojoflo and Gramps the Vamp. Brothers Drake, 26 E 5th Ave.
Mojoflo is the preeminent party band in Columbus right now, one so infectious they even get a hardened, cynical jackass like me on the floor and moving.
Amber Knicole’s one of our finest singers and entertainers, as riveting on a ballad as on a call and response chant. George Barrie’s guitar is perfect, never overplaying and while he understands stretching for the dancers, he never over-complicates the lines, there’s a sense of space and purity in his playing. The horn section, too, cares more about space than making sure you know how much they can technically play on every line. That goes double for the rhythm section anchored by Doni Jai on drums and a rotating selection of bassists. Great songs, a great show, something I never regret seeing in town.
The icing on the cake for this Gallery Hop show is the Chicago band Gramps the Vamp. Gramps the Vamp refer to what they play as “doom funk” and it’s definitely an ominous but sensual sound. The closest comparison I can make is to Budos Band’s recent turn toward ’70s soundtrack influences on their record Burnt Offerings and the snaky brass definitely recalls that but the country could use more bands like that, not fewer.
Screen of Distance 