From Boston to Brazil

New albums from Puerto Rican guitarist and composer Gabriel Vicéns, Boston’s Club d’Elf, and Brazil’s Jamile and Vinícius Gomes deliver a wide range of musical offerings.

Club d’Elf
Loon and Thrush (Royal Potato Family)
A review
Once again, with their latest release, Loon and Thrush, Club d’Elf delivers a highly satisfying groove-based collection that draws from Gnawa trance music, jazz, psychedelia, rock, funk, hip-hop, Hindustani music, and anything else that fits the moment. Prepare to dance around your living room. Built on the bass and sintir lines of founder Mike Rivard, the band includes the usual suspects: Duke Levine (guitar, slide guitar, electric sitar), Paul Schultheis (Rhodes, organ, Moog, Mellotron), Mister Rourke (turntables), and Dean Johnston (drums)—along with the large current cast of rotating guest musicians on any number of instruments. Missing is Moroccan oudist, percussionist, and vocalist Brahim Fribgane, a longtime inspiring member of the core who passed away in 2024 and to whom the album is dedicated. Highlights abound. With Bob Weir’s recent passing and Rivard’s long fascination with the Grateful Dead, Club d’Elf decided to take two of their tunes to Morocco, “Bird Song” and “New Speedway Boogie.” The title track offers funk with a hefty serving of harissa, and there’s some New Orleans funk, with horns, on “Second Line,” with nice work from Schultheis and Levine. The trippy opening of “Like a Silence” seems to have floated in from another dimension, although Levine and Schultheis offer a down-to-earth homage to Steve Cropper and Booker T a little later. The final track, “Level Up Your Soul,” offers a musical expansion of consciousness. Club d’Elf ’s Loon and Thrush offers a highly entertaining way to change your mind. Available on Bandcamp and the usual streaming services.

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