Haasan Barclay debuts live band at The Rockwell on Thursday, 20 April 2023.

Maeko and Layzi open the bill 20,000 leagues under Davis Square.

Deep, deep, deep below the upper crust of Somerville’s surface lives a blackbox theater by the name of The Rockwell.

It’s a wonderful neighborhood stage that puts on shows of all shapes and design, from sketch comedy, to drama, to live music.

The venue puts on great music shows with a club atmosphere, playing host to traveling bands coast to coast, from the Pacific northwest’s Enumclaw to Maine’s Dead Gowns. You can find regular ONCE shows happening there. And Nice, A Fest calls it home for festivals past and future.

Good as good is good. And the sound system is sweeter than a bowl of cherries. If you were the type to judge a book by its cover, you might see it’s a blackbox and figure it only had the audio setup sufficient to meet the needs of “Yes, and…” fart jokes and highbrow absurdist theater. 

Not so! The musicians who play there ring out crisp and clear. Is it the work of an excellent sound tech? Is it the workings of an excellent sound system? Is it the sophisticated product of acoustically-engineered architecture, like a Mayan temple? Is it all the above?

We may never know….

But we know for sure that Wolverine isn’t “the second-most underrated member of the X-Men.” If you believe that nonsense, you don’t know what the word ‘underrated’ means. Go tell it to the bar trivia emcee at Mike’s Restaurant, who absolutely robbed Hump Day News from a podium finish on Thursday night. 

Bangin’ jumbo pizza and beer though.

Maeko

Boston’s Maeko performed as a genre-smashing three-piece in the opening slot.

A strong one-two punch from the bass and drums of the rhythm section propelled the charismatic frontman to lyrical heights. Shades of Chance the Rapper with a free & easy living room flow.

If this were another decade, Maeko might stick strictly to the funk textures, but the layers of electronic samples and backing tracks made it an entirely 21st-century experience.

Shout out to the bassist with the Celtics jersey. Malcolm Brogdon, declared 6MOY Thursday night!

Layzi

Layzi’s no stranger to Davis Square, having gigged local at least as recently as her Crystal Ballroom appearance during Day Three of last summer’s Nice, A Fest.

She performed on Thursday night as a four-piece that included the reliable complement of two guitars, bass, and drums.

Arty, poppy, indie, dreamy. Layzi’s sound sails adrift on vast oceans of reverb-soaked melodies. One constant you can always count on is that every song comes with memorable textures and beats beefy enough to freestyle to, if you were so inclined. Could make for a good remix.

Shout out to the twin Telecaster attack. Both the rhythm and lead guitar – if it even makes sense to draw the distinction – sported the soft edge of the sweet Telly.

Haasan Barclay

Pull back the curtain! The live band debut of Haasan Barclay kicks off a new era in his music making. 

If you had only ever heard Haasan Barclay’s solo material, like last year’s DUAL SHOCK, you wouldn’t have a clue what to expect with a live band. The album (EP?) was a nimble stack of quickhit electro themes and beats. It was pretty, and inspired, but listened more like a collection of ideas rather than a fully-fleshed out album. Have a listen to “Fleet Center.”

If you had seen his solo performance on Day Three of Nice, A Fest last summer, you might have a faint inkling of where his full band-version was headed. Barclay traded time between a guitar and sampler at the festival appearance. He had already started down the path of incorporating live instrumentation into the digital mix. 

Working with live musicians was a natural next step. A giant step. And there’s always the question of whether the full band will be a paint-by-numbers concept, where the frontman sets up songs like dominoes and the new band members merely knock them down, or a genuinely collaborative project. What sort of band did we see close out Thursday night?

Thankfully, the latter. Haasan Barclay’s set took full advantage of the range of talents he’s assembled under his moniker. A strong rhythm section lays the foundation for a musical exploration across genres and decades. A little jazz, a little Brazilian swing, a little garage, a little tart 60’s pop, a little sub-Saharan folk guitar, a little acid rock. The band kept flipping the dial with the crowd constantly peering around each corner, listening for what was coming next.

About three-quarters of the way through the set, Barclay reintroduced his sampler-centered sound. Beats, mic, some lyrics delivered in the pit. Maybe the reversion to more DUAL SHOCK vibes will be a feature of every Haasan Barclay show, like Joni Mitchell telling the rest of the band to take a smoke break while she strummed a solo acoustic number in the spotlight? A nice change of pace. Or maybe the full band doesn’t have enough shared material yet to build a full set on their new sound?

So many questions! And not all the answers. But the live debut of the band answered the key one, though. Haasan Barclay’s sound is not just bigger, it’s better.

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