Anemoia, Animal Prince, Dionysus at Shuffle 04.14.23
Musical curator extraordinaire Phil Benito of Brokenmold Entertainment has been booking some great music at Shuffle, a really nice small venue just north of Tampa city center with a great bar, nice brief food menu, lovely courtyard for music and games, and, oh yes, shuffleboard. He brought in Abstract Citizen from Miami for a great show April 7. The following week — April 14 — he booked a dynamic triple-header with Anemoia, Animal Prince, and Dionysus. The results were superb.
Dionysus is a jazz fusion quartet from Gainesville. We had seen them a year ago, and their sound has grown by leaps and bounds. This set was magic from start to finish. They kicked out with a nice mellow jazz tune giving tenor saxophonist Jose Piñeiro an opportunity to strut his stuff. They followed with another mid-tempo tune before shoving it into overdrive for a waaaay up tune, Sebastian Sayavendra’s bass in the lead and Ivan Padilla on drums in lockstep. It veered into some fine disco-fusion.
On their original “Ionize” Piñeiro again stepped out, matching some excellent synth work by David Wells. Every song they played clicked just right, and all four members had plenty of time to show their wares. Write that name down. These gents are going to make their mark.
Animal Prince is a concept put together by a couple from Oakland CA who used to have a big following here in Florida some years back. Fae Nageon de Lestang and Grant McLeod had a dynamic and popular band called Flat Land that played shows and festivals all over Florida before they moved. They have worked in Oakland for some time. On this trip east, they chose to pair up with the perfect duo: two musicians from the eclectic ensemble Katara: Natalie Depergola, drums and bass, and Seth Adam Lynn, keyboards, synths, and harp.
The quartet played in two configurations. They began with McLeod on drums, Depergola on bass, Lynn on all of his toys, and Fae on vocals and violin. Their sound check was superb! they opened with the same song, “Any Day,” with Fat using interesting effects for her vocals and her violin. The wash of colors from Lynn’s harp and synths was magical. Depergola showed herself to be a deft bassist.
After “Didn’t You Notice,” they played musical chairs, with McLeod moving to keyboards, Lynn to bass, and Depergola to drums. Depergola, who also plays in all-female Purple Gurl, is excellent at the kit. McLeod, whom we’d known only as a fine drummer, added keyboards to his resume with great results. The real key here, however was Lynn as a bass player. I would match him up with anybody in Florida; he is a monster!
Fae sent this one out with love “for all my queer babes out there,” and Animal Prince totally rocked out. The next song was about coral reefs, with violin, synths, and bass standing out. They closed their all-too-short set with “I Can’t Talk to You.”
The final band on the lineup was Anemoia, an experimental rock trio from Miami featuring guitarist Aaron Lebos, who also plays in the aforementioned Abstract Citizen. He is joined by drummer Armando Lopez (also with Electric Kif) and Andres Ferret on bass. These gents thrill every time they step on stage, at least for those who like to step outside a bit.
For this show, in this context, following these two bands, they made the brilliant decision to head a slightly different direction. As much as anything, their set reminded of Khruangbin, in the very best way. In fact, they threw in one of the Texans’ tune, which got great recognition and response.
Lebos utilizes a phalanx of pedals, and on the very first song he employed an EBow (electric bow), a divide that has the effect of playing the guitar with a bow. It was awesome! There was some mention of Cuban coffee. This trio can improvise, but they play together as a unit, so tightly linked to each other musically. Lopez’s drum cadences and Ferret’s bass attacks wove around each other while the guitar danced on top. Also dancing was Ferret’s pigeon (well, some kind of bird), attached to his guitar strap.
The crowd was with them, and we got an incredible treat when they close with “Ghost Town,” weird to the power of weird. It was the perfect coda on a great night of music at Shuffle.
Do yourself a favor and check out these bands if they get anywhere near you. You’ll be glad you did. (Might be a bit of a wait on Animal Prince, though.)
