Review: Jatoba shakes the beams at Harlow's

Saturday night I headed over to Peterborough, NH to listen to funky and mellow guitar-based sounds of Jatoba. This young duo of Jason Scaggs and John Jamison hail from Brattleboro, VT and they brought their ecletic, head-bopping acoustic sounds to Harlow's Pub, packed with thirty-somethings, local granolas, and well-to-doers drinking the organic ales on tap.

They started their set off with a really solid cover of Bowie's "The Man Who Sold the World" (or Nirvana's, depending on how old you are) and gave it a cool flamenco flair. They also did a sped-up, unexpected cover of Stone Temple Pilot's "Plush" that was really close to bordering on Weird-Al comedic, but well-done nonetheless. It wasn't all covers though, and their own material was strong enough to stand on its own. They broke out some cool instrumental songs that were surprisingly well-constructed, but still managed to feel loose and toe-tapping (I say that in all seriousness, because several times I found myself bouncing my foot along to the music - I don't do that often). They also did one song where - I can't be sure - seemed to have a sampling of the musical score that played in Star Wars every time Darth Vader appeared on screen: "dum dum dum, da da dum, da da dum..." You know, "Vader's Theme." :) "Take Me Away" has a sound reminscent of early Blind Melon stuff and is one of the best and most crowd-friendly songs they perform. "Winds of Change" was a great slow acoustic number that had a Neil Young/Simon & Garfunkel feel to it.

Jatoba's diverse and interesting sound pulls influences from artists like Jack Johnson, Guster, Crosby Stills Nash & Young, Rusted Root and even Radiohead with their experimental, somewhat psychadelic guitar hums and wails. At first blush, they may strike you as another drop in the New England acoustic jam band bucket, but they're far from it. They restrain themselves from the narcissic tendency some bands have to go off on ridiculously long jams, and while there are moments they show off their guitar/mandolin/banjo playing chops (they hit some crazy kickass notes on a few songs that had people whooping), its only because they can back it up and it never detracts.

Scaggs and Jamison are great performers, have a lot of fun onstage with each other and with the audience, and are genuinely passionate about the music, not stopping at all during the few hours they played. "A lot of times when you stop, people tend to leave," said a breathless Jason Scaggs after their performance. "We wanted to really keep the momentum going." They even managed to overcome the constant hum of crowd noise and rivet many heads permanently in their direction.

Earlier in the evening when I was sitting at the bar, I heard a guy next to me ask the bartender, "Is this going to be one of those bands that they move the tables for?" And though there was only a lone, possibly inebriated old-guy dancer that night, Jatoba proved to everyone in that place that they are indeed a band to move the tables in any joint they play.

Jatoba's next New Hampshire dates will both be held in Keene. On February 9, they'll play at Armadillo's at 7:00 p.m. and on August 30 at 9:00 p.m. at the Keene Music Festival.