Ed Canas Photo
Dooley-O.
Dooley‑O drops an anthem for the Elm City. Miracle Legion returns to the backyard. The Mountain Movers go to space.
As the pandemic hit the global pause button, New Haven’s musicians have been digging into their vaults to make the music of the past available again, from live recordings to studio mixes from decades ago, making what’s old new again.
Composer and guitarist Ronnie Neuhauser made available no less than 22 recordings. Musician Shandy Lawson posted older and newer solo material alike even as he put out new music with the Bargain. C/Site Recordings, the record label helmed by Stefan Christensen of Musical Intervention, posted a massive digital archive of past releases, announcing that “for the forseeable future all Bandcamp sales will be donated to relevant anti-racist organizations and bail funds.” (In this, Christensen joins Bands Against Brutality, a New Haven-based compilation designed to raise funds for the Minneapolis-based organization Reclaim the Block, which has apparently been inundated enough with funds that it is now asking would-be donors to direct their money to other organizations it deems worthy.)
Among the flood of past releases is Mountain Movers’ Single Series (2011 – 2013), These recordings represent the first recordings made by the band’s now-stable lineup of Dan Greene on guitar and vocals, Rick Omonte on bass, Kryssi Battalene on lead guitar, and Ross Menze on drums. The accompanying notes reveal that all the tracks were recorded on a Tascam 8‑track at former DIY venue Popeye’s Garage between 2011 and 2013; cheekily, given that seven songs are listed, they also claim to comprise three vinyl singles that the band self-released (was there a ghost side?). In any case, the recordings reveal how quickly the band found its sound, with Greene’s elliptical lyrics, the churning rhythm section of Omonte and Menze, Greene’s spacey guitar, and Battalene’s squalling, endlessly inventive leads.
The singles often find the band hewing more to the songs themselves, showing that Mountain Movers could be a more conventional band if the band members chose. “I’ve Been To Space,” “Desertion,” “It’s Just Summertime,” and “Pacemaker” find the band creating a dark, rich sound that’s just the right vehicle for Greene’s vocals. The harsher sound on “Alcoholic” reveals where the band was about to go. And the lead single, “I Watch The Sea,” finds all the pieces snapping together, as Battalene’s guitar first spikes holes in the song’s structure, and then is let loose in its annihilating glory for the song’s final minute. That final minute, given what the Mountain Movers would do on subsequent releases — 2015’s Death Magic, 2017’s Mountain Movers, 2018’s Pink Skies, and this month’s single, “A Bright Form,” all proceeds from which will go to the Connecticut Bail Fund — feels like an egg, hatching the shape of things to come.
Miracle Legion fans, meanwhile, can find Live At The Boot, a document of a 22-song show the band played in Philadelphia during its 2017 tour. The lineup — Mr Ray on guitar, Dave McCaffrey on bass, Mark Mulcahy on vocals, and Scott Boutier on drums — is in fine form as it tears through a set of Miracle Legion favorites, starting with the atmospheric “Country Boy.” “Sooner” bops along on a bright swing that turns into a drive when it hits the chorus. By the time “Everyone in Heaven” rolls around finds the band is thoroughly locked in and the crowd is with them. They roar with recognition at “The Backyard.” “Little Blue Light” struts forward on a solid rhythm and some very stately guitar playing, yet on “Snacks And Candy,” the band sounds as young as ever. In some ways this (so far) final recording is one of the better introductions to Miracle Legion out there, spanning the wide range of emotions, textures, and colors the band — whether live or in the studio — seemed always able to create.
New Haven’s own hip hop hero Dooley‑O posted The Meccanizm, a 1994 release from “a hardcore hip hop crew called the KGB [that] decided to come together as a unit and make a group,” his accompanying notes explain. “These dudes always was in competition with other MCs and beat makers and each other. What’s special about the crew is that they concentrated on lyrics and beats. The Mecc consist of Chief Rhythm, Gbo, Xtra, Doc Terror and Producer Dooley‑O. This album represents the grimy era of hip hop.”
All that is on display on The Meccanizm. The title track is a subterranean, shuddering groove laced with jazz samples and featuring the MCs at their hardest; whatever competition might have had translates into NSFW energy. “Incredible” brings the humor and the irreverence over a swinging organ sample. “Here Comes The Mecc” features the kind of beat that used to blow out speakers if you weren’t careful. And then there’s “Elm City Anthem,” a greasy ode to New Haven that surely put hands in the air in the club back in 1994, and could easily again, when the clubs come back.
