Read - QBICO Releases Soundlab U-Nite VII as 3-LP Set

QBICO Records is a fascinating Italian imprint specializing in out rock, free improv, freak folk, and electro-acoustic noise. Typically featuring elaborate, psychedelic packaging, the label's roster includes devout outsiders Sunburned Hand of the Man, Vibracathedral Orchestra, Daniel Carter, Bobby Beausoleil, Evan Parker, Makoto Kawabata, Arthur Doyle, MV & EE, Mats Gustafsson, Conrad Schnitzler and Sabir Matteen, not to mention WNY's Coffee & Pengo (from Rochester), as well as Buffalo improv stalwarts Steve Baczkowski and Ravi Padmanabha, who released their fantastic Aqua Machine LP as QBICO 51.

On November 18, 2006, in conjunction with Hallwalls, the label visited Soundlab to present the next in its ongoing series of "QBICO U-NITES," eclectic one-off mini-festivals drawing from the label's varied roster. The festivals are recorded and then released as special edition vinyl discs. Enter QBICO 99, featuring "QBICO U-NITE VI & VII, Detroit & Buffalo, USA," a 3-LP package documenting U-Nite V1, which occurred at the Bohemian National Ballroom in Detroit on November 16, 2006, and the Soundlab event 2 days later. The Detroit sides feature performancs by Faruq Z. Bey w/Northwoods Improvisers; Half Life w/special guest Perry Robinson; Muruga and the Global Village Ceremonial Band; and Odu Afrobeat Orchestra.

The track list for the Buffalo sides are as follows:

side D
Steve Baczkowski/Ravi Padmanabha
Steve Baczkowski- baritone sax, tenor sax, pungi
Ravi Padmanabha- drums, percussion, pungi, malleus, incus, stapes

side E
Andrew Barker/Daniel Carter
Andrew Barker- drums, percussion
Daniel Carter- flute, clarinet, alto sax

side F
Arthur Doyle Electro-Acoustic Ensemble
Arthur Doyle- voice, alto sax
Nuuj- electronics
Dave Cross- turntables
Tim Poland- clavinova
Vin Paternostro- Korg EA-1
Ed Wilcox- percussion, drums

"Memorable and probably unrepeatable two qbico u-nites rec. in Detroit & Buffalo in 2006. worths mentioning.... Steve Baczkowski/Ravi Padmanabha with an hypnotic pungi duo, a long and fascinating improvisation by Andrew Barker/Daniel Carter (qbico 02) and finally what'd be one of the very last rec. of the Arthur Doyle Electro-Acoustic Ensemble with nearly all his original members. from afro-jazz, funk and afro-beat to free jazz/free music and outer space... more then two hours of great lake music!"

Check out the QBICO website here.

Attend Harvestworks Media Workshops Saturday - "The Artist's Guide to Useful Technology"

Saturday, March 27, 2pm, Squeaky Wheel. Spaces are limited, please sign up by calling us at 884-7172 or email office@squeaky.org!

This free workshop & presentation will include Max/MSP/Jitter, a software program that provides real-time video, 3-D, and matrix processing capability, for live interactive performances and installations. Depending on audience preference, the topics covered may include: Harvestworks project case studies, with in-depth discussion of technical approach and project management; presenting projects by the workshop leaders (live sound processing & V-J software instruments), with in-depth discussion of the artistic implications. The event will be moderated by two representatives from Harvestworks, a non-profit media arts center that offers artist support and residency opportunities, located in Lower Manhattan.

ABOUT HARVESTWORKS:
Founded as a not-for-profit organization by artists in 1977, Harvestworks has helped a generation of artists create new works using technology. Our mission is to support the creation and presentation of art works achieved through the use of new and evolving technologies. Our goals are to create an environment where artists can make work inspired and achieved by electronic media; to create a responsive public context for the appreciation of new work by presenting and disseminating the finished works; to advance the art community's and the public's "agenda" for the use of technology in art; and to bring together innovative practitioners from all branches of the arts collaborating in the use of electronic media. We assist with commissions and residencies, production services, education and information programs, and the presentation and distribution of their work.

For more information about HARVESTWORKS, visit http://www.harvestworks.org

See "Poor Traits" - Visual Work by Noise Musicians at Louis V E.S.P. (Brooklyn)

Louis V. E.S.P. is pleased to announce an exhibition of works by seven artists who are known primarily for their music. Poor Traits presents a closer look at the visual work of these musicians, all of whom have been loosely associated with the American “noise” movement. This term in itself holds little descriptive power so it seems necessary to delve deeper into the images that surround the genre. The works in this show have found connections in their sense of playfulness, theatricality, narrative disposition, and/or deadpan sensibilities.

Mat Brinkman, a founding member of Fort Thunder artist space, has played in Mindflayer and Forcefield and is known in the indie comic community for his elaborate Multi-Force comic strip. Brooklyn based MV Carbon is a painter and composer who has collaborated with many artists including John Wiese, Tony Conrad and Aki Onda. She is one half of the band Metelux. Max Eisenberg co-runs the performance venue The Bank in Baltimore and has performed with Nautical Almanac, Little Howlin’ Wolf, Rubbed Raw Dance Squad and in his solo rap outfit DJ Dog Dick. CF is active in the art, music and comic book worlds. He has performed music under the name Kites and more recently Mark Lord. He is the writer and draftsman of the graphic novel series Powr Mastrs. Daniel Lopatin is a member of Infinity Window and Oneohtrix Point Never. He runs the cd-r label Upstairs and maintains the culture blog Skull Theft. John Olson and Nate Young are members of the epic Michigan based Wolf Eyes. Olson is head of American Tapes label and is also a member of Dead Machines, and Graveyards. Nate Young’s AA label produces records, tapes, shirts, and treated or converted analogue televisions and radios. His other musical projects include Jean Street, Demons, and Regression.

Poor Traits
Curated by Justin Craun
Opens March 26, 2010
Louis V E.S.P.
140 Jackson St, #4D,
Brooklyn NY

MV Carbon has performed with Metalux at Soundlab 3 times: on 04/05/04 with Peter B, Voltage and Superwow; on 08/13/08 with Zaimph; and on 07/08/09 with the Bill Nace/Steve Baczkowski Duo. John Olson and Nate Young performed as Wolf Eyes on 10/11/07. The Golden Dawn Trio opened the show.

Witness Sonic Mayhem with Magik Markers, Ranallo/Baczkowski & Bare Flames Live at Soundlab Thursday

Thursday, March 25, 9pm, $10--MAGIK MARKERS, RANALLO/BACZKOWSKI, BARE FLAMES.

By Peter Vullo for Artvoice:

On Thursday (March 25), Magik Markers will bring their sonic weirdness to the Soundlab. Sometimes sounding like a church choir on acid in the Sixties, sometimes like the Velvet Underground, weaving dense musical patterns that invoke lava lamps and modern art on a projection screen. Their website (themagikmarkers.com) urges visitors to appropriately “catch the freakout fever.” The Connecticut-based band is currently comprised of Elisa Ambrogio (guitar, vocals) and Pete Nolan (drums). The group gained much attention for their chaotic live shows and an opening slot for Sonic Youth, leading to countless releases on various labels and different mediums, some released only on vinyl, CD-R, or digitally. Massive file-sharing efforts caused the band’s rare releases to be readily available online. Their 2007 album BOSS was produced by Sonic Youth kingpin Lee Ranaldo and was crowned “Best of the Month” for September in Vice magazine. Magik Markers was chosen as one of the “Best New Bands” of Connecticut by the Boston Phoenix. Supporting on Thursday will be Ronallo/Baczkowski and Bare Flames. Let the freakout commence.

Sample Balf Quarry here.

Read "Magik Markers: Some Kind of Blood Orgy" Interview, Catch Them Live at Soundlab 3/25

By Linda Rapka for the L.A. Record:

Formed in 2001 in a Connecticut basement, Magik Markers have covered a lot of ground, figuratively and literally. Now based in New York, noise rock duo Pete Nolan (drums, percussion) and Elisa Ambrogio (guitar, vocals) recently became a trio, adding John Shaw (bass) to the lineup. The band recently performed in an Estonian occult film and bobbed around in the Dead Sea. This interview by Linda Rapka.

I saw you perform a couple years ago in New Orleans at a fabulously grungy dive called the Hi-Ho Lounge. There was only a handful of people there, but you guys still tore shit up. Do you like playing smaller venues?
Pete Nolan (drums): We love dives. And we love New Orleans. This guy Rob down there always shows us around. He took us to this place Ernie K-Doe’s—the guy that sang that ’50s song ‘Mother in Law.’ He was this crazy flamboyant character, like Little Richard meets Sun Ra. He’s dead but his widow has this bar where there’s this weird effigy to him and they carry it around in parades and stuff.

Read the rest here. Magik Markers visited Soundlab with Sunburned Hand of the Man as part of its Fall Brawl Tour 08/16/05. Sunburned Hand of the Man shared the bill, with openers Caustic Solution. Elisa Ambrogio returned on 01/30/08 as part of Six Organs of Admittance, with Mick Turner (of Dirty Three) on the bill and The Lochs opening. Magik Markers return to Soundlab on 3/25/10 with Bare Flames and Baczkowski/Ranallo Duo.

Buy Pauline Oliveros' Primordial Lift Reissue (with 30 Extra Minutes), Recorded Live at Hallwalls (1998)

Deep Listening Institute is pleased to announce the re-release of Pauline Oliveros’s Primordial Lift on the Deep Listening label. Originally released on the Table of the Elements label and long out of print, this version of the recording contains an additional 30 minutes of material not included on the original release. Recorded live on March 20, 1998 at Hallwalls, Buffalo, NY. Primordial Lift is based on information concerning the shift in the resonant frequency of the earth from 7.8hz to 13hz given in Awakening to the Zero Point by Gregg Braden, Radio Bookstore Press (1997). According to Braden, the resonant frequency of the earth was measured as 7.8hz in 1960 and by 1994 the measurement was at 8.6hz and it will rise to 13hz by 2010. At the same time the magnetic fields of the earth are diminishing in strength towards zero point. By the time that13hz is established as the resonant frequency the magnetic fields will reverse their polarity - North will become South and vice versa. The acceleration from 7.8hz to 13hz of the earth's resonant frequency is represented in Primordial Lift by a low frequency oscillator. The oscillator is heard indirectly as it moves almost imperceptibly from7.8hz to 13hz over a 45 minute period and modulates the sounds of various performers in the ensemble. The amplitude of the performer's sound when selected will change rhythmically in step with the oscillator. When the oscillator reaches 13hz it will stabilize for another 30 minutes. Pauline Oliveros (accordion, electronics, vocals); Tony Conrad (electric violin, ring modulator); Andrew Deutsch (electronics, toy piano); Anne Bourne (cello, voice); Alexandria Gelencser (electric cello); David Grubbs (harmonium); Scott Olson (low frequency oscillator). Buy from Amazon: CD; MP3

Catch Margot & the Nuclear So & Sos at Soundlab Sunday

Sunday, March 21, 9pm, $10-12. By Frances Boots for Artvoice:

These Indianapolis chamber popsters manage to be sparkly and melodic without the trace of (emo? twee? freak-folk?... insert trendy indie band description here) that comparisons to Arcade Fire, the Decemberists, the Shins, and even Paul Simon might connote. The name is some reference to Dr. Strangelove (or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb), which gives the group props for black humor and sets you up to appreciate the lyrical wisdom of bandleader/singer/songwriter Richard Edwards. This is a fairly young band that went from solo outfit to collaborative effort to a full eight piece within a year of its conception, so if the meteoric rise continues, they may not come through town any time again too soon. Take this opportunity to see them close enough to almost touch at Soundlab on Sunday (March 21).

Watch New High Places Video – “The Longest Shadow”

By Jessica for Stereogum:

When we brought you High Places vs. Mankind’s “On Giving Up,” Brandon said their second album would yield “their best, most complexly beautiful material to date,” and a commenter said the duo had gone from cute to sexy. Even without the video, “The Longest Shadow” many-textured percussion and glassy, echoed vocals would be pretty sexy. But the High Places-directed clip has its own disconcerting suggestiveness about it. Here the camera directs its gaze on one or another body part (a foot, long blond hair), while the subject (High Places’ Mary Pearson) stays still. Sometimes that body part is draped across bedsheets or the floor. They grow up so fast, don’t they?

High Places played Soundlab on 02/11/09 with Soft Circle. Listen to & buy High Places vs. Mankind here.

Read Village Voice Interview with Magic Markers' Elisa Ambrogio, Hear Them Live at Soundlab 3/25

By Steve Lowenthal for the Village Voice:

Elisa Ambrogio is happy today. Her duo with dummer Pete Nolan, Magik Markers, was recently profiled in her hometown paper, the Hartford Courant. Since then, she's been deluged with compliments from her grandmother's friends. "If I can reach just one lady, my grandma's age, I'd say I've made it," she says on the phone from her father's house in Connecticut, where she's staying in advance of a tour with Japanese psych legends Ghost.

Since 2003, the band has evolved from a violently raw punk spasm to a more restrained, yet equally challenging, psychic beast. Evidence of this change can be found on their latest album--and first for the esteemed Drag City label--Balf Quarry. The album features the full range of the Markers' abilities, from the hardcore inspired "Jerks," to the Nico-esqe Harmonium anthem "Shells." Ambrogio and Nolan seem more direct and confident than in the past, whether on record or otherwise.

"I was more willing to say things," Ambrogio says, regarding the new album. "The more things you make, the better you are about communicating clearly, and getting what you want to say out. I was listening to the greatest hits of Jimmy Webb this year and found he wrote a book on songwriting. Cause who's a more killer dude than Jimmy Webb? So I followed some of his advice in terms of how to construct a story in song. I really like the way he spoke about the words and the music and how the details were just as important as in any other form of writing."

Read the rest here. Magik Markers visited Soundlab with Sunburned Hand of the Man as part of its Fall Brawl Tour 08/16/05. Sunburned Hand of the Man shared the bill, with openers Caustic Solution. Elisa Ambrogio returned on 01/30/08 as part of Six Organs of Admittance, with Mick Turner (of Dirty Three) on the bill and The Lochs opening. Magik Markers return to Soundlab on 3/25/10 with Bare Flames and Baczkowski/Ranallo Duo.

Watch a Bunch More Neon Indian Soundlab Clips

Here.

Or purchase Pyschic Chasms here.

Check Out the Communist Party featuring Tweek and Arehouse at Soundlab Friday

Friday, March 19, 11pm, $5--THE COMMUNIST PARTY feat. TWEEK & AREHOUSE with residents MAREO SPEEDWAGON, FLAVA BRAUN, SIR RICHARD RECTOR

Hear the Intension Quintet at Hallwalls Friday

Friday, March 19, 8pm--INTENSION QUINTET. Hallwalls, 341 Delaware Ave. Buffalo, N.Y. $10 general admission, $6 members/students/seniors.

A new pan-stylistic ensemble from Buffalo, N.Y. combining adventurous compositions, group improvisations, ambient soundscapes, noise, electronics and more. Feat. Ed Klavoon (contrabass, alto sax); Kathleen Ashwill (cello, electronics); Kengo Yamada (tenor/baritone sax); Tim DeCillis (vibraphone)
Bill Conroy (drums, percussion); with guest Mitch Meyer (baritone sax)

Watch Video Clip - Team Robespierre Live at Soundlab (6/18/09)

Posted to Youtube by Peaarrow:

The camera is shaky from all the dancing, mine and the crowd surrounding me. (Also, it's hard to tell, but about halfway through he pours an entire bottle of beer on the guitarists head!)

Watch 20 Watts Video Clip: Neon Indian Live at Soundlab (03/12/10)

By Jeff Watts for 20 Watts Radar:

Our everlasting thirst for great concerts never yields, even if it requires a two-and-a-half hour trek to Buffalo, NY. No one left the secluded dive bar, Big Orbit Soundlab, with any regrets. Neon Indian was tight, electric and rocked with a new found swagger. Things are looking bright for Alan Palomo’s crew after they locked up a set at Bonnaroo and played for the Jimmy Fallon Show.

The set was short and sweet, but only because the band is only loaded with one small, crazy-good LP, Psychic Chasms. Give this band more time to thicken the arsenal of songs, and Neon Indian can be a hell-raiser live act. For an encore, Palomo had to dig deep and pull out a VEGA jam–yeah, I think it’s time to get on that next album.

. Check it out here.

Hit Sugar City Saturday To Hear Pacing/Vwls Collaboration & More

Saturday, March 20, 7pm, $5, Sugar City--PACING/VWLS collaboration, TRYSTERO, NYODENE D, DEATH BEEF.

Read "Bang a Drum With Talujon: NYC-based Avant-Garde Percussion Ensemble Comes to Town this Friday"

By Jan Jezioro for Artvoice:

The Talujon Percussion Ensemble takes to the Lippes Concert Hall stage in Slee Hall on the UB Amherst campus on Friday, March 19, at 7:30pm, for the fourth concert in the Slee/Visiting Artist Series. Based in New York City, Talujon is committed to the expansion of the contemporary percussion repertoire, as well as to the education and diversification of its worldwide audience. Talujon performs regularly for such highly regarded organizations as the Lincoln Center Chamber Music Society, Bang on a Can, Carnegie Hall, Symphony Space, Harvard University, and the Percussive Arts Society.

Talujon consists of David Cossin, Dominic Donato, Michael Lipsey, Matt Ward, and Tom Kolor, who is now in his second year as a faculty member of the UB Music Department. Kolor, who directs the UB Percussion Ensemble as well as UB Contemporary Ensemble, has been a member of Talujon for the past 15 years and is looking forward to celebrating the group’s 20th anniversary season next year.

Read the rest here.

Read "Neon Indian Played Soundlab, Dropped New (Free) Single"

By Michael Spreter for Skipster: Echoing Voices of Independent Music in Upstate NY:

In case you were blacked out all weekend, Neon Indian made their Upstate debut at Buffalo’s Soundlab on Friday night. Preceded by local avant-pop group Wooden Waves, the set was tight and danceable, comprised solely of cuts off their breakout 2009 album Psychic Chasms. Things didn’t veer into “unexpected surprise” territory until the encore, at which point leader Alan Palomo emerged and asked the audience’s permission to play material from his other project, VEGA. Cue a stunning live version of that band’s “No Reasons,” one of my favorite tracks last year and one whose strobe-lit power stands above any single Neon Indian song in immediacy.

According to Palomo’s banter, we can expect a full-length VEGA album later this Fall; for now, you’ll have to pull some Google moves to get your hands on their excellent Well Known Pleasures EP, which may or may not have ever been “officially” released in 2009.

Elsewhere, in a calculated move to test the corporate limits of their hipster audience’s allegiance, Neon Indian debuted their new single, “Sleep Paralysist”, via Mountain Dew’s Green Label Sound. You can grab that, as well as an exemplary VEGA track, here.

Sample Magik Markers "Balf Quarry," See Them Live at Soundlab 3/25

By AB for Other Music:

It seems with almost every release, the duo of Elisa Ambroglio and Pete Nolan continues to befuddle us (in a good way, natch). They dropped the song-oriented BOSS on us, pressed up by none other than the Universal monolith, only to come at us next with the crazy dense Gucci Rapidshare Download album last year. And now they are all cozy with Drag City for Balf Quarry. Holed up this time with producer Scott Colburn, the duo again mingle songs with rants, pop with noise. Verse-chorus-verse with freeform. Rather than wait to be startled from album to album, now MM do it to us on a song-by-song basis.

Magik Markers visited Soundlab with Sunburned Hand of the Man as part of its Fall Brawl Tour 08/16/05. Sunburned Hand of the Man shared the bill, with openers Caustic Solution. Elisa Ambrogio returned on 01/30/08 as part of Six Organs of Admittance, with Mick Turner (of Dirty Three) on the bill and The Lochs opening. Magik Markers return to Soundlab on 3/25/10 with Bare Flames and Baczkowski/Ranallo Duo.

Catch Cinema Cabaret Film with Live Performance Poetry Accompaniment This Week at Hallwalls

Wed, March 17, 7:30. The UB Poetics Program Poets' Theater presents KONRAD STEINER & JEN HOFER: The Cinema Cabaret, a film with live narration by performance poets from San Francisco, Los Angeles, & Buffalo. FREE

Writers' engagement with popular cinema has long been limited in the popular imagination to the industry of screenplay writing leading to film production. Recently an inversion of this mode of production has captured the imaginations of poets and audiences. Using a form of live film narration inherited from practices in Japan and Korea during the silent film era, scenes from popular films are shown muted and re-narrated live with new language. These hybrid performances are satirical, critical, poetic, and analytic ways of "talking back" to the talkies. Konrad Steiner (SF) and Jen Hofer (LA) will present some background and conceptual framing about this new take on the movies and perform their own work along with writer/performers from Buffalo who will premier their own live cinema narrations.

Filmmaker and curator Konrad Steiner lives in San Francisco. His engagement with the writing community includes video collaborations with Leslie Scalapino (text from way) and Mac McGinnes (with text by James Schuyler), producing live film narration events in SF, Los Angeles, New York and Portland, OR, and his own performances in SF's Poets' Theater.

Jen Hofer is a Los Angeles-based poet, translator, interpreter, teacher, knitter, book-maker, public letter-writer, and urban cyclist. Her most recent books are a series of anti-war-manifesto poems titled one (Palm Press, 2009); sexoPUROsexoVELOZ and Septiembre, a translation from Dolores Dorantes by Dolores Dorantes (Counterpath Press and Kenning Editions, 2008); The Route, a collaboration with Patrick Durgin (Atelos, 2008); and lip wolf, a translation of lobo de labio by Laura Solórzano (Action Books, 2007). She teaches at CalArts, Goddard College, and Otis College, and works nationally and locally as a social justice interpreter.

Hear Woods - "I Was Gone"

By Jessica for Stereogum:

At Echo Lake will be the fifth Woods full-length. This first sample from Echo Lake stays hypnotic without lulling, due to interplay between the song’s guitars: some flit in and out of the foreground, others stay workmanlike and straightforward. Singer Jeremy Earl keeps his voice high as ever, though his words are obscured in the drone. Their last one was called Songs of Shame, but this song has something a little Saucerful of Secrets about it (Hipgnosis could have designed them an amazing album cover).

Woods played Soundlab on 08/13/09. Woods member G. Lucas Crane has also played Soundlab as a duo with performance poet Ric Royer, and third as a guest of Wooden Wand and the Vanishing Voice (although he didn't actually show up because he had a local wedding to attend instead).

Listen to New Ariel Pink - "Round and Round"

By Tom Breihan for Pitchfork:

Many of today's lo-fi bedroom popsters claim L.A. iconoclast Ariel Pink as an influence. Late last year, Ariel Pink and his band Haunted Graffiti signed to 4AD. Now they've introduced the world to "Round and Round", a song from their forthcoming 4AD debut. And surprise! Pink now sounds like he's recording in a professional studio.

4AD will release "Round and Round" as a limited 7" single and digital download on April 26, with "Mistaken Wedding" as its B-side. That's the adorable cover art above. You can also hear the new Ariel Pink track "Menopause Man" on 4AD's Record Store Day compilation EP.

Ariel Pink accompanied Animal Collective to Soundlab on 04/14/05.

Buy New Stamp Series Celebrating Abstract Expressionism (Including Four Paintings from the AKAG Collection)

Last Thursday, the Albright-Knox hosted a day-of-issue ceremony for the U.S. Postal Service's new series commemorating Abstract Expressionism. The set features 4 iconic paintings from the permanent collection at the Albright-Knox Art Gallery: The Liver Is the Cock's Comb (1944) -- Arshile Gorky (1904-1948); Convergence (1952) -- Jackson Pollock (1912-1956); Orange and Yellow (1956) -- Mark Rothko (1903-1970); Elegy to the Spanish Republic No. 34 (1953-1954) -- Robert Motherwell (1915-1991). For what it's worth.

Watch AVTV Clips of the My Bloody Valentine's Day Celebration at Soundlab

Part 1: The Bear Exchange

Part 2: On Beta

Part 3: (At Sea)

Part 4: Fourem

Listen to High Places Free Song Download - "On Giving Up"

For Other Music:

Free Song Download of "On Giving Up," off of High Places' second full-length, High Places Vs. Mankind, out next Tuesday, March 16 on Thrill Jockey. It's an outstanding follow-up to the band's eponymous debut album from '08, and finds the duo placing more emphasis on real instrumentation like guitars with Mary's ethereal melodies sitting more prominently in the mix. There are still plenty of layers of found-sounds, spacious ambience and stereo-panned percussion percolating throughout, only here it's a little more reigned in allowing for a more deliberate, cohesive path for the songs to take. Check it out here. High Places played Soundlab on 02/11/09 with Soft Circle.

Read "Fear of a Bleak Planet: Change is Coming, says Mr Lif — Just Not in Politics"

By Bill Forman for the Colorado Springs Independent:

The idea of hip-hop activist Mr. Lif not talking about politics is as inconceivable as Lady GaGa not talking about, you know, whatever it is she talks about.

One of this past decade's most politically astute and critically celebrated underground hip-hop heroes, Lif made waves last year with his Inauguration Day release of the prescient single, "Obama." On a day when just about everyone this side of a Penguin-esque Dick Cheney seemed caught up in the moment, the East Coast rapper's reservations echoed across the Internet like a stone-cold reality check: "I'd like to be more optimistic / But the world is twisted / A new America? / Oh shit, I think I missed it."

Now, as the promise of health care reform sinks into the political morass, Lif's cautionary stance seems well ahead of the curve. The same can be said for I Heard It Today, the album he released three months later that's as politically incisive as anything from Public Enemy or Dead Prez in their prime.

But today?

Read Lif's answer here. Mr Lif visited Soundlab 3 times - on 02/18/05 with The Perceptionists (Mr Lif/Akrobatik/DJ Fakts One), on 02/09/07 and on 02/27/10.

See Neon Indian Tonight at Soundlab

Friday, March 12, 9pm, $13-15--NEON INDIAN with WOODEN WAVES

By Cory Perla for Artvoice:

Neon Indian, one of the monikers held by 21 year-old Alan Palomo, made a dent in the psychedelic music scene this year with the release of his debut album Psychic Charms (Lefse Records). The album combines lo-fi recording techniques with electronic beats and samples to create a sound that flows like the score to a 1970’s exploitation film. Every song progresses in a drugged out blur, with layers upon layers of swirling guitar and keyboards mixed with bright, fuzzy vocals and sometimes-bombastic beats. The record is highlighted by gems including “Ephemeral Artery,” a body moving 1980’sesque dance track, and “Should Have Taken Acid With You,” which comes off as an ode to the Magnetic Fields, with it’s quacking keyboards and hypnotizing laser sounds. Palomo, who hails from Austin, Texas and composes all of the music for Neon Indian, created the band in 2008 as a side project to compliment his full time project, VEGA, which has a more glossy, modern disco sound. Both projects clearly draw from the same source of nostalgic, analog inspired, psychedelia, but Neon Indian sticks out, relying on dream-pop synthesizer sounds to create a washed-out haze, which contrasts VEGA’s more polished sound. Palomo will be joined on the stage of Soundlab on Friday (March 12) by a full band to recreate his psychedelic sound and send the crowd into an acid flashback. Wooden Waves opens the show.

Preview The Besnard Lakes - "Are the Roaring Night" LP

Listen & buy.

By DM for Other Music:

Like an Arcade Fire tuned to AM radio in 1973, Montreal outfit the Besnard Lakes return with their second album, awash in Jace Lasek's glass-cutting falsetto, a wall of mournful reverb, and the doleful memory of forty years or so of pop music, cut and pasted into challenging, instantly memorable slices. Jams like "Glass Printer" and "Albatross" hearken back to that Slowdive record you heard in your dreams -- you know the one, where Brian Wilson sings all the lead vocals, and stars in the sky spell out awesome Tweets to you and you alone -- while two-part openers "Like the Ocean, Like the Innocent" and "Land of Living Skies" stretch out from ambient soundscapes into crushing, massive slabs of Spector's manse falling down upon you. It's not like anyone can innovate these days, what with a wealth of music both loved and unheard available to us every day. It takes true innovators like this bunch to make something memorable out of it all, and with Are the Roaring Night, that is precisely what has been done. Moody, fragile, and dark, not afraid to bare its teeth, this is the sound that chases your winter away.

Besnard Lakes played Soundlab with the Stay Lows and Knife Crazy on 07/27/07.

Watch Clips of Prefuse 73 Live at Soundlab on AVTV

Check it out here.

Hear New Bear In Heaven - "Lovesick Teenagers (Twin Shadow's Twins In Heaven Remix)," See Them Live at Soundlab in June

By Amrit for Stereogum:

Brooklyn (via Georgia and Alabama) quartet Bear In Heaven have a deluxe version of their ace Beast Rest Forth Mouth which extends the directional East West North South wordplay with a five-track bonus CD. It’s got two originals and a triptych of remixes: one you’ve heard by Pink Skulls, another’s filed by arclike, and the set’s rounded out by the previously profiled Terrible Records signee George Lewis Jr. aka Twin Shadow. Dude’s difficult to pin down, and his expansive rework of “Lovesick Teenagers” only introduces more shades to the palette, sending the original’s insistently ricocheting synth throbs into a grooved out club track, intermittently laced with twinning guitar lines, fiery rhythm guitar comping, cut-and-paste digitalisms, and a late-breaking dissonant classical motif. Ye all that. By the end it regroups and circles back to the one easily identifiable common denominator in Twin Shadow’s output — dance — setting the stage for … I have no idea. Whatever it is, it won’t be lacking for ideas. Grab it here.

Read "Dan Deacon to Release Remix EP," Hear Hudson Mohawke Remix now

By Tom Breihan for Pitchfork:

Last year, Dan Deacon released the heady album Bromst, a departure from the day-glo raveups he'd made in the past. And next month, a new EP will include remixes of a few tracks from Bromst.

On April 19, the British label Amazing Sounds will release the extremely limited Woof Woof EP-- just 500 vinyl copies are being pressed up worldwide. Hudson Mohawke's squiggly remix of the title track is available above.

The EP will also include remixes from Allez-Allez and Luke Abbot. That's the cover art up there, and you can see the tracklist below.
Woof Woof:
01 Woof Woof (Original Mix)
02 Woof Woof (Hudson Mohawke Remix)
03 Build Voice (Allez-Allez Remix)
04 Surprise Stefani (Luke Abbott Remix)

Dan Deacon played Soundlab on 04/01/05 with Height w/Bow, Chugga Chugga

Listen to New High Places - "Can't Feel Nothing (Remix)"

By Brandon for Stereogum:

Rob Barber and Mary Pearson are releasing their excellently chilled-down, darker, and percussively denser second album High Places Vs. Mankind at the end of April. This new track “Can’t Feel Nothing (Remix)” doesn’t show up on it — instead it’s part of the “Can’t Feel Born” 12″ being released as a part of Thrill Jockey’s Second Annual Singles Club series. The 12″ will also include the Halloween spooky “I Was Born” along with High Places Vs. Mankind remixes. As the track’s autumnal cover art suggests, “Can’t Feel Nothing,” which features some falling leaves, follows in the breezy atmospherics of the band’s upcoming full-length, though it introduces a stuttering, more outer-realms production approach.

High Places played Soundlab on 02/11/09 with Soft Circle.

Read YACHT Interview - "Phenomenal Formations and Furious Beats"

Portland duo YACHT reveal how dancing desert stars informed their new album, See Mystery Lights. By Lorraine Carpenter for the Montreal Mirror:

"YACHT is not a cult," reads the mission statement of the electronically inclined Portland, Oregon pop duo, who perhaps protest too much. They have a philosophy, a belief system, followers, mystical symbols, a grand council (the YACHT Trust) and a work method that involves trance states. Read the rest here.

YACHT performed at Soundlab last night, 03/08/10.

See Foreign Born Wednesday at Soundlab

Wednesday, March 10, 9pm--Foreign Born, Free Energy

By Peter Vullo for Artvoice:

On Wednesday (March 10), Foreign Born brings their tribal-tinged folk music to Soundlab. The band creates a simple sonic template that is ideal for sipping a drink in the sun, like a strange blend of Animal Collective, groovy Simon & Garfunkel, and hand-claps. A perfect example of the band’s beach house sound is the track “Early Warnings,” from their album Person To Person, which showcases their flair for driving campfire rhythms and sugary lead guitar lines. The Los Angeles band began in 2003, self-releasing their EPs and a full length, while gaining exposure from a Spin Magazine feature and a performance on the pilot episode of the television series Chuck. Supporting the band will be Philadelphia’s Free Energy, who have a similarly sunny sound with a rock ‘n’ roll attitude. Wednesday’s show at Soundlab starts at 9pm, and will surely cure any Buffalo end of winter blues.

Read "Dum Dum Girls Release Tape Comp"

By Ryan Dombal for Pitchfork:

Rising garage-rock act Dum Dum Girls are looking to make a big indie splash with their Sub Pop debut LP, I Will Be, out March 30. But before that, they're looking back for a minute and compiling all the tracks they've made thus far in the form of a cassette tape dubbed Blissed Out. (Via Gorilla Vs. Bear.)

Less than 400 copies total of the 11-track tape are being made by Sub Pop, Rough Trade, and Art Fag. Gorilla Vs. Bear reports that those who sign up for Art Fag's mailing list will get an e-mail notification before Blissed Out becomes available so you can try to catch it before it sells out.

Five tracks that are also on Blissed Out ("Ship of Love", "Longhair", "D.A.L.", "Catholicked", and "Hey Sis") will be included on on a CD-R that comes with pre-orders of I Will Be from the Sub Pop site.

Dum Dum Girls visit Soundlab on Sunday, April 4.

Attend "Anarchy in the Kitchen" Webcast Tonight at Squeaky Wheel

Friday, March 5, 7pm, $6/$4 members--ANARCHY IN THE KITCHEN: LIVE BROADCAST WEB PERFORMANCES.

Witness a one-time evening of live gastro-performances by literary, performing and media artists who explore the intersection of edibility/aesthetics, technology/cuisine and prose/produce. Edible books will be read and consumed, kitchen aids will be used to generate a musical score, newspaper will be transformed into soup, video and sonics will refresh your palate, and lemons will be used as a battery source to whip meringue!

This event is curated by Laura McGough for the 2010 Umami Festival of Food and Art, a biennial festival based in NYC, and will take place before a live audience at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) and simultaneously webcast live via the Umami web site and projected to audiences nationwide at "host sites" such as Squeaky Wheel. Be on time, as this webcast starts at 7pm sharp!

See Yacht at Soundlab Sunday

Sunday, March 7, 9pm $12-14--YACHT, Bobby Birdman.

By Cory Perla for Artvoice:

Few bands can make you dance and contemplate the nature of reality at the same time, but this is what Portland, Oregon based indie-pop duo YACHT forces you to do. Electronic composer Jona Bechtolt created the project in 2003 and released three albums before adding vocalist Claire Evans in 2009. The duo, which is part experimental progressive rock and part 1980’s synthpop, recently embarked on a world tour that will soon bring them to Buffalo. See Mystery Lights, YACHT’s fourth album (and first featuring Evans), was released in 2009 by dance-punk master James Murphy’s record label, DFA Records. The album propelled them into the sights of electronic indie music fans with its existentialist lyrics about life after death and the existence other worldly dimensions, hypnotic chants about human nature, and ironic lines about the supernatural, like “I used to live in a psychic city/I never knew what would happen in a day.” The heady themes examined in their lyrics are toned down by upbeat and bouncy digital sounds layered with fuzzy guitar riffs, complex looped drum tracks, and bizarre samples. Be prepared to dance along with this philosophic art duo as they turn knobs and click laptop keys on stage at Soundlab on Sunday (March 7). Bobby Birdman opens the show.

Sample The Clogs - "Creatures in the Garden of Lady Walton"

Listen ...
"Cocodrillo."
"Adages of Cleansing."
& Buy.

From Other Music:

It's been four years since the Clogs released their last proper full-length, Lantern, which isn't surprising if you've been following the upward trajectory of the career of the National, a band which shares the Clogs' Bryce Dessner and Padma Newsome. Composed entirely by Newsome, Creatures in the Garden of Lady Walton is this ensemble's most accomplished album to date and a unique one in their discography, the classically trained group's fusion of avant composition, folk music and indie relying heavily on vocal melodies from guests like Sufjuan Stevens, the National's Matt Dessner, and six contributions from My Brightest Diamond's Shara Worden (who also sung on the Clog's Veil Waltz EP from last month).

Clogs played Big Orbit Gallery back on 05/30/01 with The National and Mia Doi Todd.

Scan the New Soundlab Schedule Update... Bear in Heaven, Amanda Blank & More!

Sunday, March 7, 9pm, $12/$14--Yacht, Bobby Birdman, Mndr--NEW DATE

Wednesday, March 10, 9pm, $8/$10--Foreign Born, Free Energy, Clovers

Friday, March 12, 9pm, $13/$15--Neon Indian, Wooden Waves

Friday, March 19, 10pm--Communist Party

Sunday, March 21, 9pm $10-12--Margot and the Nuclear So and Sos*

Thursday, March 25, 9pm--Magik Markers

Friday, March 26, 9pm--Afghanistan*

Saturday, March 27, 9pm, $10-12--Suckers, Shilpa Ray and her Happy Hookers, Miles Anthony Benjamin Robinson

Monday, March 29, 9pm, $10--An Horse, Here Come the Comets*

Sunday, April 4, 8pm $10-12--Dum Dum Girls*

Friday, April 9, 10pm--Starkey, Telepath, Big Basha

Mon, April 12, 9pm, $10--NOMO, Peanut Brittle Satellite

Tuesday, April 13, 9pm, $10--Surfer Blood, Turbo Fruits

Friday, April 16--Communist Party

Tuesday, April 20, 8pm, $10-12--Aloha, Pomegranetes, The Stay Lows

Friday, April 23--Amanda Blank, Steve Kream*

Wednesday, April 28--EOTO*

Saturday, May 1--Shock & Awe Runway 3.0 Afterparty*

Saturday, June 26, 8pm $10-12--Bear in Heaven*

* JUST ANNOUNCED THIS WEEK

Sample New Yellow Swans - "Going Places"

Listen...
"Foiled"
"Limited Space"
& buy (CD) (MP3)

By MC for Other Music:

In 2008, Pete Swanson and Gabriel Mindel Saloman announced they were dissolving their Portland, Oregon-based Yellow Swans project after a clutch of great full-lengths and a veritable pant-load of CD-Rs, splits and collaborations, and random slabs of vinyl. At the same time, the pair also heralded the imminent release of Going Places, their last-ever LP. It's taken a while to materialize, but now that it's here courtesy of the Type label, the music only serves to highlight what a loss this dissolution actually was, and is the final chapter in the group's transition from abrasive noise-niks into moodier, more contemplative beasts.

Though they started life on the more gristle-y side of things, Swanson and Saloman have evolved gracefully over the course of their myriad of releases, incorporating more pensive, drone-based elements into the mix as they've progressed. Following up on the promises of 2007's At All Ends, Going Places, the duo frontloads subtle melodies into each track and runs them through layers of static and distortion to make for some truly moving emotional signifiers. Pieces like "Sovereign" and "New Life" deal in a cautious ebb and flow, giving guitars room to breathe alongside electronics and hazy percussive thumps as darkening clouds move in from the coast. Ever mindful of their origins, the pair crank it up one last time on the title track as well, closing out on gauzy swells that show just how far Yellow Swans came in a few short years.

Yellow Swans played Soundlab on 09/24/06 with Grouper, Caustic Solution.

Read "Deerhoof to Release Two Vinyl Reissues for Record Store Day"

By Amy Phillips for Pitchfork:

In honor of this year's Record Store Day (April 17), Deerhoof are reissuing their 2003 album Apple O' and 2005 EP Green Cosmos on vinyl. Each comes with a download code for the album's contents, plus four bonus tracks. Apple O' is on blue vinyl, while Green Cosmos is on green (duh).

Deerhoof's Greg Saunier wrote a note about the reissues and his relationship with independent record stores which can be read over at the Kill Rock Stars site.

Deerhoof visited Soundlab on 05/10/05 with Needel and Ho-ag.

Read Dave Longstreth's Letter to Don Henley

In 2005, the Dirty Projectors released The Getty Address, a conceptual album/performance piece that Wikipedia described about as well as anybody as: "'a glitch opera' about musician Don Henley, although it also explores themes like ancient Mexico, post-9/11 America, and oil. The album boasts over 25 musicians on it, most of whom contributed to the orchestral and choral backing of the album. These parts were recorded at Yale University as well as other locations in New Haven, Connecticut over a period spanning over five months, and were chopped up digitally to create the backings of the album. Dave Longstreth then overdubbed his own vocals, guitar, bass, and other instruments to create the songs on the album. Although the lyrics have been described as gibberish, the words actually do tell a narrative beginning with Don Henley contemplating suicide, and ending with a new installment of Longstreth's songs involving brown finches." Longstreth and the Dirty Projectors first performed this work at Soundlab on 06/29/05 with Wind Up Bird and Nat Baldwin; and on 04/18/06, the group's set was preceded by a screening of "The Getty Address," an animated film by James Sumner. On the heels of the Dirty Pro's recent crossover success, the group is in the midst of revisiting this material for special concerts in serious music halls in LA and NYC. The program to the LA show included the lyrics to The Getty Address, and a reprint of Longstreth’s letter to Don Henley introducing the piece and explaining the "Don Henley" character at the center of it, which you can read here.

Watch Album Leaf "There Is a Wind" Video

By Jessica for Stereogum:

After 10-plus years recording as the Album Leaf, Jimmy LaValle is, if nothing else, consistent. There are a couple changes here though: A Chorus Of Storytellers is the first album LaValle’s recorded with a full band. And, according to Sub Pop, this is the first time LaValle concentrated on mixing vocals first, which is why they’re more promiment. I’m not sure you hear that on “There Is A Wind” — here the vocals are on equal ground with the song’s expansive, wistful instrumentation. The accompanying video has its own melancholy feel to it, despite the gorgeous, saturated colors and soft, lit-from-within glow of its subjects. The video was directed by Matthew Brown.

Album Leaf played Soundlab twice, on 11/10/06 with Lymbyc Systm and Dirty on Purpose; and on 05/16/07 with Young Galaxy.

Listen to New Eskmo/ Eprom - "Hendt/ Land and Bones"

Listen & Buy.

By Daniel Givens for Other Music:

Another debut from Warp by way of this split single from San Francisco's Eskmo and Eprom. With guest vocals from Swan, Eskmo's "Land and Bones" features cut-up synths, a slow and deep bass line, and lots of nice poppy accents -- the track kind of reminds me of a heavier Little Dragon or The xx. In contrast, Eprom's "Hendt" is more of a traditional dance floor jam. Dizzying synthesizers open up to a steady, almost hip-hop groove, and soon after full-on arcade-gone-wild bleeps and a bouncy bass come to the forefront. It's nice to listen to some American-made dubstep for a change, and I'm sure we'll be hearing more from these two artists.

Eskmo played Soundlab on 2/20/10 with Big Basha and Mark Kloud.

Check Out Rozler/Baczkowski Wednesday at Nietzsche's

Wednesday, March 3, 9pm--BACZKOWSKI/ROZLER DUO. Nietzsche's 248 Allen St. Buffalo, N.Y. $5-8 suggested donation

Joe Rozler (instruments)
Steve Baczkowski (instruments)

See Atomic Thursday at Hallwalls

Thursday, March 4, 8pm--ATOMIC (Norway). Hallwalls 341 Delaware Ave. Buffalo, N.Y. $15 general admission, $10 members/students/seniors.

Fredrik Ljungkvist (reeds); Magnus Broo (trumpet); Håvard Wiik (piano); Ingebrigt Håker Flaten (bass); PNL (drums)

Even though initially thought of as a sort of rebellion to the quaintness of the “Scandinavian Sound” which had become exemplified by Norwegian artists on labels such as ECM, Atomic found themselves becoming a new sort of unique sound on their own. An explosive blend of American free-jazz with European characteristics is how some reviewers have described them. Or better yet, “part academic lecture, part a fun night out on the town” is how the band describes themselves and is what makes their sound truly Atomic.

”if the Miles Davis Quintet with Tony Williams, Wayne Shorter, Ron Carter And Herbie Hancock could have rocked, they would have been the brilliant and ass kicking Atomic.” -Lloyd Peterson/All About Jazz

”On Retrograde this scandinavian quintet opts for a set of compositions much looser than its usual repertoire. The musicians’ intuitive rapport and high-level communication skills allow them to transform even the sketchiest melodic or rythmic structures into gripping narratives- they nail this new paradigm with all the gusto and daring they brought to their old freebop-based approach.” -Peter Margasak/Chicago Reader 12/08

www.myspace.com/atomicjazz
www.atomicjazz.com

Listen to New Red Sparowes (feat. New Lineup) - "Giving Birth To Imagined Saviors"

By BBG for Brooklynvegan:

New band member. New sound. And just like an abbreviation of the first track on their last LP, the new Red Sparowes represents a "Great Leap Forward".

As expected, the LA band's recent addition of guitarist Emma Ruth Rundle and the amicable departure of Josh Graham has left a indelible mark on their upcoming LP, The Fear is Excruciating, But Therein Lies the Answer. But it's not for the worse; soaring and heartbreaking melodies are still the primary (and fulfilled) objective and that achy-breaky pedal steel will still get you every time. In a nutshell, it's a Red Sparowes record, filled with expansive, emotional pieces like "Giving Birth To Imagined Saviors", downloadable above. Hanky not included. To hear the track, click here.

Red Sparrowes hit Soundlab with Daughters and Versoma on 08/20/06.

Watch New Sunset Rubdown Video - "Dragon's Lair"

By Tom Breihan for Pitchfork:

You know a video is long when it includes multiple dream sequences. The new video for Sunset Rubdown's "Dragon's Lair", from writer/producer/director Throne Boogie, runs nearly 11 minutes and doesn't feature any actual dragons. Instead, it consists mostly of prettily shot footage of an adorable little kid running through wintery meadows and riding a horse. But there are also a couple of parts featuring a witch-looking lady in the sky. You figure it out.

Watch the clip, from Sunset Rubdown's BNM'ed 2009 Dragonslayer album, here.

Read "Suckers Sign to Frenchkiss," See Them at Soundlab March 27

By Tom Breihan for Pitchfork:

Last year, Rising Brooklyn indie crew Suckers released their self-titled debut EP. And now, as they get ready to drop their first full-length, they've joined fellow Rising bands the Antlers and Local Natives over on the Brooklyn label Frenchkiss, which is quickly amassing one of the most loaded rosters in all of indiedom.

At the moment, Suckers are mastering their debut album. In March, they'll head out on the road with Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson and Shilpa Ray and Her Happy Hookers. The trek will take the band deep into the U.S. and include a whole mess of sets at SXSW,

as well as a show at Soundlab Saturday, March 27.

Listen to Mary Halvorson Trio Live on BBC Radio 3 (12 Hours Left)

Jez Nelson presents a gig from New York electric guitarist Mary Halvorson. Playing original compositions that feature angular grooves and dissonant melodies, the trio obtains excitingly edgy and dynamic improvisations. Joining Mary on stage are bassist John Hebert and Ches Smith on drums.

Mary has been active on the New York jazz scene since 2002. She plays regularly with the infamous avant-garde reedsman and composer Anthony Braxton and released her debut recording as leader in 2008. The album was proclaimed 'an auspicious debut' by Downbeat and "full of tension, excitement and awkward pleasure, and very much of its moment." by The New York Times. Click here to check it out.

Mary has played Soundlab in a handful of different incarnations, including MAP with Tatsuya Nakatani and most recently, the Halverson/Jessica Pavone Duo, which made a return visit on 2/15/10.

Read "Neon Indian Teams with Mountain Dew"

By Tom Breihan for Pitchfork:

More than their prettified chillwave peers, Neon Indian sound like they recorded their particular brand of hazy, jittery synthpop after an all-night bender on Sega Genesis and Mountain Dew. So it kind of makes sense that Mountain Dew's internet record label Green Label Sound is set to release a new Neon Indian jam into the world.

The label announced on their site yesterday that they'll release an exclusive Neon Indian single as a free download next month. It'll be the first new Neon Indian material we've heard this year. Green Label Sound has already released free mp3s from artists like Matt and Kim, the Cool Kids, and Chromeo.