Warming weather and hot tunes are on tap this week to thaw thick blood and to refresh cultural gullets parched by the pandemic. Either sitting down or standing up, get ready to get those feet tapping, hips rolling and shoulders shaking with new local and national song releases on offer from CAFE 541 this week.
Local releases Kudhara, Ratie D
Right from the start, performer Ratie D’s December 2020 “Ink & Melodies” draws listeners in with a joyous collision of percussion, strings, horns and lyrics. Sung in English and her native Chivanhu language, the Zimbabwean Eugenean Ratie Dangarembwa Morgan sings about love, family and identity reflected in Eugene and from her south African roots.
Forged in the raw immediacy of the University of Oregon house show circuit, Eugene-based indie rock trio Novacane knows what it means to maintain their groove in an unusual environment.
“If you can remain rhythmically tight in 120-degree heat,” Novacane drummer Zach Clifton says, clearly exaggerating the heat of a house show and with people bumping into you in every single direction, “you can remain tight in any situation.”
What’s it been like for a popular trio used to playing in this kind of environment two or three times a week around the UO campus to spend this past year without live music due to the COVID pandemic?