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I'm back once again at the Middle East upstairs, and it's a lot less crowded when the Rumble is not here. Alchemilla are playing when I arrive. Holy shit, can this woman ever sing! She's a wailer, bluesy and raw, with a clear, pretty upper register that she moves into occasionally and a scat-singer's sense of melody when she cuts loose. Which she does a lot of, and it's awesome. The rest of the band is really good--great rhythm section, with involved and involving bass lines and steady, supple drumming--although the guitar solos get a little jammy for my tastes, and go on too long. But that's mostly because when the guitarist is soloing, the singer is not singing! The songs (like a lot of jam band material, in my opinion) are not that memorable as such; I see them more as a base from which the singer can take off.
Baby Boy H are next. They, too, are dominated by their dynamic frontwoman. The rest of the band is fast and tight and pounding, with a sound that gets almost a little prog-metal at times and a really good keyboard player, but visually and sonically she's way out in front. I have to confess that I don't really get her, in some way. It's just possible that her pitch is really bad, but somehow she gives the impression that it's all unfolding exactly according to plan. If so, she has some ideas about tonality that are at odds with mine, and I can't really wrap my head around what she's trying to do with the melodies. She does cool things with her voice, though, and she has a few effects pedals, which enable her to control her own reverb and delay and modify them in real time to excellent effect. And she has a powerful stage presence. I just don't get her.
Sawyer are another odd bunch. Their music lurches from time to tempo in a way that I rather like, although it makes it hard to tell when a song has ended and we should clap. The lead singer makes me think of an indie rock Frank Sinatra for the new millenium. At its worst, this means a boozy stagger among pitches, not always landing exactly on them. (This seems to happen most in the slow, gentle intros and outros of songs.) At its best, it means a rich tone and a confident showmanship that go well with the band's noisy pop and his nice piano lines. There's some good harmony singing, and all the vocalists seem at their best when they cut loose in the most energetic sections.
