Middle of the Map, Day 2: Notes from the field

Capybara at the Beaumont Club. Photos by Forester Michael/Special to Ink

I spent about six hours hopping from venue to venue in Westport for Day 2 of Ink's Middle of the Map Fest. I hit every venue but the RecordBar (see Mission of Burma review). And right off the bat: a toast to all the sound guys, who did good work all night, some under rugged conditions. Some highlights and observations:

Highlights: Capybara laying down some effervescent pop tunes at the Beaumont Club, including several warm gusts of four-part harmonies. During one track I jotted down, "Side 2 of Abbey Road." "Late NIght Bikes" was a highlight of the entire evening. 

Owen at the Riot Room

Mike Kinsella, the one-man band known as Owen, bravely  doing a solo-acoustic set at the Riot Room and getting more than half the room to stop and listen.

Mates of State at the Beaumont: They performed as a four-piece, with a bass player and a guy who played keyboards and trumpet. They drew the biggest crowd I saw all night -- more than 600, it looked like. Still wasn't full enough to help the sound, which was its usual rough and uneven.  I figured most of the crowd was there to see Murde By Death, but the crowd was smaller by the time they started. Highlight of the Mates' set: "Get Better" and "You Are Free." I like Murder by Death enough ("Kentucky Bourbon/As Long as There is Whiskey.." and "You Don't Miss Twice" were fun), but afterwards I wished I'd gone to Firefly and seen Latenight Callers instead.  

Sara Swenson and the Pearl Snaps nailing a cover of Lucinda Williams' "Joy" at McCoy's. After her set, Dollar Fox had the place jumping.

The Grisly Hand saying farewell to fiddler Kian Byrne, now a full-time member of the Elders, by shutting down McCoy's with an infernal, barnstorming set. "Paris of the Plains" never sounded more unfurled.

Spirit is the Spirit at the Riot Room. From my notes: "Shaker, trumpet, trombone, three drummers, dancing." They're that kind of band.

White Denim at the RIot Room

White Denim unleashing its haze of garage rock, post-rock and stoner rock at the Riot Room. "They're jammier than I thought," someone said to me. I agreed.

The Firefly Lounge is a cool live-music venue.  Saw the last two songs by Sons of Great Dane in that room. Seems like an ideal spot for the singer/songwriter scene. 

Andrew Connor of Ghosty

Gusto Lounge was pretty insane both times I stopped by. Thet stage is on the floor, between the bar and the back room. It felt like being in a house concert in someon's basement. A crowd nearly filled the place for Ghosty, who opened the bill there and played some songs off their great new self-titled album. It was packed and on fire for the Beautiful Bodies's closing set. Kim (Anderson) Baldwin, one-time lead singer of Flee the Seen, stood in on  bass. They raised a joyous uproar. I couldn't get near the stage so I never really saw the band but I did catch a couple quick glimpses of Alicia Solombrino stirring a ruckus in a crowded space. Reportedly, sometime during their set, part of the ceiling came down. 

| Timothy Finn, The Star

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