East Rock Porchfest presents a pleasant puzzle: dozens of musicians, scattered across neighborhood porches and yards, performing at the same time.
On Saturday, September 19, more than 70 acts are scheduled across East Rock. You could simply walk around and see what you hear (this is a pretty good idea). Or you could make some choices ahead of time.
We put our heads together and came up with two plausible courses through the festival. Track One tends toward the eclectic and unexpected; Track Two leans a little more toward rock and songcraft. But this is just a jumping-off point. Switch tracks, skip a stop or abandon the plan entirely if something good catches your ear along the way.
11 A.M.
TRACK ONE: NU HAVEN KAPELYE ALL-STARS
6 Everit St.
Nu Haven Kapelye All-Stars play klezmer and Yiddish music featuring horns, strings and Eastern European melodies. The New Haven ensemble has a big, shifting lineup and a joyful spirit—a lively way to start a festival before noon.
TRACK TWO: OLIVER EGGER
735 Orange St.
Oliver Egger's folk songs favor acoustic instruments, plainspoken writing and melodies that feel like they might have been passed down instead of recently composed. His newish song, Old Time Love, is warm, unhurried and sweetly nostalgic.
12 P.M.
TRACK ONE: LADY & THE KAMPE TRIO (WITH GUESTS)
721 Orange St. (P&M)
Part of the fun of Lady & The Kampe Trio is watching a few musicians become a much larger band. Cali and Matt Kampe use live looping, vocals and beatboxing alongside sax, keys and other instruments to build funk, jazz and soul in real time.
TRACK TWO: A PALLET FOR THE SHOAL
79 Lawrence St.
A Pallet for the Shoal might appear to be folk at first glance but it has more bite than that. Clay Eles’s songs put melodic, sometimes nostalgic writing against Chris Graves’s bass, Chris Maiorano’s drums and guitars that aren’t afraid to get ragged. It’s a good pick for anyone who likes their folk-rock with some ’90s distortion on it.
12:30 P.M.
TRACKS ONE & TWO: AN IDE OF MARCH
187 Lawrence St.
Westville musician Emily Ide, performing as An Ide of March, has the 12:30 time slot all to herself. She plays saxophone, clarinet and flute and cites her influences as jazz, musical theater, alt-rock and emo-pop. We can't be sure which direction the set will go, but we're here for it.
1 P.M.
TRACK ONE: JJ SLATER
53 Livingston St.
There’s plenty of Americana in JJ Slater, but his songs get more fun when they wander away from it. Folk and blues give way to stranger, more atmospheric passages, particularly on The Silver Key, written during a residency in northern New Mexico.
TRACK TWO: GOLD ERIS
595 Orange St.
Gold Eris has the hooks of an indie-rock band and the impulses of an art-school experiment. Thomas Oliverio cites Bowie, St. Vincent and ’90s grunge among the influences; you can hear bits of all three in the bright guitars, sudden turns and introspective lyrics.
2 P.M.
TRACK ONE: FUSELAJE
47 Clark St.
Twangy surf guitar is the first thing that jumps out of Fuselaje, but it doesn’t stay alone for long. The New Haven band folds ska and Afro-Latin cumbia into its psychedelic worldbeat, with a bit of punk keeping things scruffy. Of the afternoon picks, this is one of the easiest to imagine spilling off the porch and into the street.
TRACK TWO: BRIAN EMBER
37 Cottage St.
Brian Ember has an unusual résumé for a Porchfest rocker: He’s also an opera singer and classical composer. You can hear it in songs that pile vocal theatrics, ornate arrangements and elaborate time signatures onto a foundation of ‘70s art rock and soul. At times the songs get grandiose, but that’s part of the fun. 3 P.M.
TRACK ONE: EAST ROCK BRASS BAND
42 Avon St.
Obviously, East Rock Brass Band belongs at Porchfest. Formed in New Haven in 2023, the group plays in the New Orleans second-line tradition, with horns and percussion carrying originals and borrowed tunes through jazz, hip-hop and Latin rhythms. This music wants a crowd around it... probably parading and dancing through the streets.
TRACK TWO: THE MUSHROOM CLOUD
595 Orange St.
The Mushroom Cloud describes itself with three words—“Funk, Synth Rock, Hip-Hop”—and that’s unusually accurlate advertising. Synths and heavy guitars ride a serious groove, while the band leaves enough room for improvisation to keep its songs from feeling locked to the recordings. This should be one of the heavier sets on either route.
4 P.M.
TRACK ONE: OLD MILK MOONEY
63 1/2 Canner St.
Old Milk Mooney calls its music “Boop-Core,” but folk is the more useful starting point. Their songs can be funny, lovely and lonely in quick succession.
TRACK TWO: SETH ADAM
37 Cottage St.
Seth Adam has been making records long enough that he doesn’t need to dress up what he does: melodic American rock and roll, informed by the likes of Tom Petty, Counting Crows and Jason Isbell. His voice is lived-in while the guitars and the songwriting are electric.
4:30 P.M.
BOTH TRACKS: THE FINALE
Lawrence Street Plaza, 1 Lawrence St.
The last set isn’t really one band. Modern Refuge, the band behind East Rock Porchfest itself, is presenting a collaborative finale featuring members of Always Morning, The Vascoe Bleus, The Mushroom Cloud, Solgyres, Ian Biggs and Esmer. It'll be a genre-bending stage combined with Modern Refuge’s big, occasionally proggy rock. For the band that organized the whole day, it’s a fitting way to close it all out.
Lastly, the best third track remains the one Porchfest is designed for: start walking, hear something you like and head off confidently in that direction. You've made the right decision.
Schedules, artists and locations can change. Check the official East Rock Porchfest schedule before heading out.
Written by Daily Nutmeg Staff.
