About this Event
Event is 21+
$30/$35 GA
$80 reserved table
Doors 6:30
Club d'Elf returns to the Lizard Lounge Nov 28th for two post Thanksgiving shows! The line up features Rob Compa (guitar), Mister Rourke (turntables), Paul Schultheis (keys) Mike Rivard (bass & sintir), Vicente Lebron (congas) and Dean Johnston (drums). The band played its first show at The Lizard in Feb 1998 and began a residency that ran until March 2020. The Lizard has always been home for d'Elf and the band loves to return whenever the opportunity arises.
What begins as a groove in Club d’Elf’s world often becomes a doorway into someplace older, stranger and unshackled by time.The band has spent twenty seven years helping audiences lose track of time with its shape-shifting fusion of Moroccan trance, dub, electronica, jazz and improvised funk. Built around bassist and composer Mike Rivard, each performance features a rotating cast drawn from Boston, New York and beyond, creating a constantly shifting ecosystem where trance forms the central core of the band’s aesthetic. Under the tutelage of longtime member and Casablanca native Brahim Fribgane, the group absorbed Moroccan trance music deeply into its DNA. Fribgane passed away in early 2024, but his spirit remains embedded in the band’s sound, especially through Rivard’s commanding sintir work, learned under the guidance of Fribgane and Gnawa masters Hassan Hakmoun and Mahmoud Guinia.
Their new album, Loon and Thrush (released 4/10/26), recorded entirely live in the studio with minimal overdubs, channels that lineage into a raw, improvisatory flight. While largely built on Rivard originals, the album continues the band’s tradition of honoring key influences, offering Moroccan-infused takes on Grateful Dead classics “Bird Song” and “New Speedway Boogie.” The overarching theme of the record is“flight” itself—the avian imagery of the title track, the Dead’s celestial wanderings, and the enduring presence of Fribgane, whose spirit continues to guide the music from beyond.
“...Club d’Elf’s treatment does something impressive. Stripped of
words, the first-rate improvisers’ take on the classic track summons
lyrics where there are none, using instrumental gravitas that allows
the track to flap its wings, take flight, and gain new elevation.” –
Relix on “Bird Song”
“Mike Rivard’s rotating collective has blended dub, jazz, Moroccan
trance, funk, electronica, hip-hop, and prog into its heady stew.” –
The Arts Fuse
“The band skillfully fuses North African influences, jazz, trip-hop,
electronica, and global rhythms into something that feels both ancient
and futuristic.” – Glide Magazine
“Everything from New Orleans brass to deep psychedelic trance is in
the mix for yet another deep and revealing Club d’Elf record.” – WBUR
https://clubdelf.com/
Event venue & nearby stays
Lizard Lounge, 1667 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, United States
Concerts, fests, parties, meetups — all the happenings, one place.