With a roster of 27 diversely talented local rock musicians, you walk into an event like the 48 Hour Music Festival — the culmination of two days of practice and construction of 20-minute sets by six spontaneously generated bands — expecting the unexpected (see "Random Rules," by Christopher Gray, March 5). But still: there's no way to truly steel yourself for a few of the spectacles on hand Saturday night at SPACE. Like, the sheer surrealness of seeing Zen Ben play oboe in the Eric Brackett Music Group, or Katherine Hulit (freestyle?) rapping her way through the Clöven Dözer's dank metal chords, or — most blessedly of all — witnessing Portland's only slightly ironic answer to Sade, in the form of ROY G. BIV (named for the colors of the rainbow).
Even the more conventional acts weren't quite nestled in any specific genre. Sister-ita, which seemed to be the consensus favorite of the night (though every band had their partisans), evolved from a rock band tweaked out by Casey McCurry's contrapuntal synth work into a juiced-up new-wave dance/rock act over the course of a few songs. Vaxxene (excellent singer Gina Brown wrapped up their set by saying, "You've just been Vaxxeneated!") found creative ways to get around their lack of a drummer, with a two-keyboard approach to the fanged doo-wop of "Devil's Reef," and taunting military ratatats on edgier rock tunes. Stoner band Jefferson Slaveship, with another great female singer (a theme of the night), Katie Gilchrest, peppered their big sound with Noah Defilippis's eager drum rolls.
Magnetic oddness prevailed among the night's other acts. The Eric Brackett Music Group, fundamentally warped by the aforementioned oboe show, were otherwise a fine minimalist post-rock group, thanks to Brackett's mastery of the taut, lethargic time signature. It'll take the polished live recording to decipher what exactly was going on with the shamanistic Clöven Dözer. Ultimately, it was ROY G. BIV who stole many of our hearts, with MPC- and drum-machine-driven slow-jam beats, the odd cello/slide guitar/dance interlude, and the sultriest and most brilliant hook of the night, courtesy of singer Ginette Labonville: "I want to text you all night long." Justin Timberlake: your next session band has arrived.
Related:
Ghost stories, Winged migration, Injustice for all, 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.
- Winged migration
Since their start in the middle of the decade, Brown Bird have been one of the region's go-to chamber-folk outfits, with a couple of dark and stormy albums earning them a following in various nooks of New England. The release of their latest album, The Devil Dancing , feels like both an ending and a new beginning.
- Injustice for all
Scott Sturgeon loses his train of thought a couple of times during this interview. He's loopy from jet lag — which is unavoidable after a 20-hour flight from New Zealand (halfway around the planet from his non-residency at a squatted apartment building in New York City), where he's just finished a tour with his claim-to-fame band, Leftover Crack.
- 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.
- Group hug
Things aren’t always what they’re called — we know that flying fish don’t fly and starfish aren’t even fish.
- Local heroes, ’09 edition
The Rhode Island music community flourished in 2009, with new full-lengths from the Coming Weak, California Smile, and the pride of Cranston West and official big-leaguers Monty Are I, who released Break Through the Silence in September.
- 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.
- Shout it out!
Sharks Come Cruisin' founder Mark Lambert is a Warwick native with a penchant for reworking and penning sea shanties from centuries past, often revised with rollicking punk flare — all thanks to the golden pipes of Quint, the shark-obsessed skipper in Jaws .
- Punk wreck
Guitar punk rock has a long and, frankly, dull history.
- Less
Topics:
New England Music News
, Entertainment, Entertainment, Music, More
, Entertainment, Entertainment, Music, Music, Pop and Rock Music, Justin Timberlake, Music Festivals, Arts, Chris Gray, SPACE Gallery, Less
