Trapezium: "The Rumble of the Amplifiers"

By 1996, the Mystic music scene was in the full throes of the Splinter Years. The first and second waves of bands, such as Alexander Field, Lotus, Skimbleshanks, and 17 Relics, had passed, and several new acts ushered in a new era. The 16-track Trapezium compilation LP offers us a fascinating snapshot of this chaotic time period, which resulted in some of the most mature and complex songs ever recorded by the Mystic scene up to that point.

Lotus soldiered on as a three piece when Charley Eastman left the band to start mona gritch, and later onDasher. The big three of Skimbleshanks all had new groups: CJ Stankewich leading Magpie from Seattle, Rich Martin teamed with Brooks Townsend and Doug Hodges in the ultra-exciting Grand Passion, and Mat Tarbox added bass guitar to his repertoire with Dawn Estabrooks and Rich Freitas in Delta of Venus.

Luke Hunter Releases the Dizzying Heights

When Mr. Hunter was just a young fourteen year-old regular at the Mystic Disc, he and good friend Jaime Burke approached djshecky about recording a demo of their first band, the Incessant Pop Group, at shecky’s Centraal Studios.

The group released two EP’s to wild success, but as the third EP was being recorded, a unique technological outbreak occurred in the electrical feed during their last show at The Space in Hamden, CT. For some still unknown reason, the IPG sequencers were wiped clean, so they decided to huck the hulking mess into the Mystic River during a blind post-gig rage. This action effectively ended the band, which is where Luke found the inspiration to record a debut solo recording.

Lost Portersville Music Recovered!

During the summer of 1999, at the cusp of a new century, Portersville began tracking their unreleased EP "Portersville" in Middletown, CT with Michael Arafeh. This "lost" recording has intrigued fans and non-fans alike with an elusive nature akin to Dylan's "Great White Wonder" project with The Band, coupled with the obscure remains that is Skip Spence's "Oar" LP - an architectural relic.

During travels around the former Soviet Republics of Moldova and Armenia, erstwhile WCNI DJ Chachi came across a group of pirate radio operators, who had paid great sums of money to secure the lost tapes of Connecticut pop ensemble "Portersville" before their release. The idea was to buy in early on a possible 17 Relics reunion in hopes that the new band could actually get the job done.

A New Path to Music

Trial, error and friendship lead Sodium Lights to a CD 

By Rick Koster - Published on 1/24/2009

In the context of music, this Ledyard basement is not remarkably different from thousands across the country. Drum kit. Guitar stands and instruments. Amps. Mixing and recording equipment and computer consoles. Maybe it's a bit cleaner. That's OK, though.

The musicians here - Mat Tarbox, Rich Freitas and Alex Pellish, all former members of a variety of popular Mystic rock bands over the past several years - are getting older and are not interested in the Old Way of doing things.