Moon Hooch

Brooklyn jazz-punk groovesters Moon Hooch returns to The Saint on March 25, along with The Accidentals, a jazzy folk band from Traverse City, Michigan. Wenzl McGowen and Mike Wilbur attack each number primarily with saxophones, playing both support and lead roles, but they also add a bit of synth, clarinet, the occasional vocal, and interesting elements such as an electronic wind instrument “EWI” that responds to both breath and touch. They’re also able to create some amazing tonal sensations with a little bit of processing from their onstage laptop rig, resulting in a wide array of melodic textures. Meanwhile the slight, yet sinewy strong and shirtless James Muschler backs the whole thing with air-tight percussion mixed with frenetic riff outbursts from behind a kit whose bent cymbals bear the evidence of the nightly beating they take, appearing as if a brass-eating robot with bad teeth had given them a satisfying chomp.