Donald Mauskovic, Mano Mauskovic, Marnix Mauskovic, Nico Mauskovic make up the Mauskovic Dance Band. From Amsterdam, they swung through Rochester at the Bug Jar on Tuesday, August 29, part of their late summer US tour. The Mauskovic’s though are, like the Ramones, not really Mauskovic’s and not really related.
Though this mysteriousness only served to enhance their performance. The who’s, the what’s. the how’s, were not important. The only thing that mattered was the rhythm and the groove, and the Mauskovic’s were doling out heaping helpings of both. The energy emerging from the stage was immediate and the audience was converted to a dancing frenzy in no time. The band may not have been related, but they invited the Rochester crowd to their family gathering in the upside down apartment that is the Bug Jar. The party was underway and soon enough everyone was a Mauskovic.
Drums, percussion, synthesizers, and effects and echo laden vocals were stitched together by an ever-present and deliciously grooving bass, sometimes doubled up with a second more melodic bass. African, Jamaican and Brazilian sounds all seeped into the mix, bobbing heads, shuffling feet and moving everything in between. At one point supremely deep bass blasts even moved bodies at the cellular level.
Lyrics, sometimes in English, sometimes not, sometimes improvised, sometimes not, piled more into the mystery. Songs blurred together into never ending strings further dizzying the senses, breaking the crowd down into dancing mounds of putty waiting to be sculpted. When the dust settled though there was no doubt, that was a damn fun time on a Tuesday night in Rochester with the Mauskovic Dance Band.
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