See The Art Department & Black Umbrella Tonight at Soundlab

Tonight, August 31, 10pm, $5--THE ART DEPARTMENT, BLACK UMBRELLA.

Tuesday August 31st marks a return to chiming guitars and pop melodies at Soundlab with THE ART DEPARTMENT (Baltimore) and BLACK UMBRELLA (Buffalo/LA). May the seed of these sounds be fruitful in the belly of the night!


THE ART DEPARTMENT: "When Ernest Hemingway wrote his famous six-word micro-fiction—“For Sale: Baby shoes, never worn.”—it’s likely he didn’t anticipate that his bar-bet brevity would transfer so perfectly to music. The Art Department, a three-man band from Baltimore, is the postcard literature of house-party punk. Each song is insistently short with a clear message: It’s not necessary to blather on to tell a good story. The group’s high-speed fingerpicking and polyrhythmic drumbeats establish a steady momentum, while the almost-harmonized vocals of drummer Mike Meno and guitarist Jon Ehrens float above the smoke-long songs. Dusted with tambourine and condensed, flash-fiction nerditry, The Art Department’s sets kick into gear suddenly and end just as fast. The boys grab your attention with the first note, slide you into the chorus, and, before you realize it’s happening, drop you off at the music’s inevitable, eccentric conclusion." -Emily Wagner (DC CityPaper)

http://www.myspace.com/theartdepartment

BLACK UMBRELLA: "If you like psychedelic pop like early Pink Floyd with Syd Barrett at the helm or the latest from Of Montreal, or glam rock a la David Bowie and Jobriath, or synthpop akin to The Cure at their sunniest, or a hybrid of C86 bands and early American alternative college rock, or a mixture of all of these, then you’ll love Black Umbrella. James’s vocals remind me of a cross between Billy Corgan and Kevin Barnes with a melancholy pout and flourishes of glam panache. The lyrics are a wonderful blend of deep sadness and fanciful imagery.."

http://www.myspace.com/kin

Listen to Fourtet Remix Eluvium

By Tom Breihan for Pitchfork:

Earlier this year, ambient lifer Eluvium released his latest album Similes. On September 14, he'll follow it up with a new limited-edition CDEP, Leaves Eclipse the Light, out on Temporary Residence. In addition to the title track, it features the nearly eight-minute Four Tet remix of the Similes track "The Motion Makes Me Last" and new song "A Life in Tides Less Current". You can stream that Four Tet remix here.

The CD also features a video for "The Motion Makes Me Last" from director Matt McCormick. It's limited to 2000 copies, and it comes in a custom die-cut cover.

Eluvium visited Soundlab on 04/02/05 with Mono and Sleeping Kings of Iona opening.

Catch Jason Ajemian and Steve Baczkowski solo sets tonight at Big Orbit Gallery

8pm, Big Orbit Gallery, 30D Essex St. $5 suggested donation or PWYC--"Jason Ajemian snuck in a solo bass set. His brief performance felt like a prayer, meekness turning to fervor, hitting the strings with a mallet and bowing with levity. He framed the three-song set around a country song, about the rain, that his uncle wrote. In Ajemian's hands, it sounded like a beautiful tune from Arthur Russell's World of Echo."--Lars Gotrich, www.npr.org/.

"With only a double bass and no amplification to speak of, Jason coaxed the audience to the floor below the stage, politely asked for their attention, and then received it in full. While his request was polite, his music demanded it. For an instrument that is normally relegated to providing accompaniment for a melody, he made the beast sing, eliciting sounds far outside its usual range. The result was something between beat poetry and the Velvet Underground's 'The Black Angel's Death Song' had it been composed with bass instead of violin. In other words, intoxicating, impressive and innovative."--by Jack Diablo, EU Jacksonville

Multi-instrumentalist Steve Baczkowski is a Buffalo stand-out in the local “free improv” scene. He’s also very brave; at age 12 he decided to tackle the unwieldy and difficult baritone saxophone as his signature instrument and, by all outward appearances at his raucous and startlingly physical performances, he is well on his way to breaking the wild beast. Baczkowski has produced over 100 jazz/improvisational concerts in countless band lineups and has performed at fringe festivals, CBGB’s, in classrooms and international residencies. For him, rehearsed scores are secondary to that moment of “now” that free improv affords in live performance. His understanding of the lineage of experimental sax players, including such innovators as Peter Brötzmann and Odeon Pope, has helped him “engage the moment, where it sparks. It’s the real deal.”--Lauren N. Maynard, Artvoice

www.jasonajemian.com

www.myspace.com/stevebaczkowski 

Sample Fennesz/ Daniell/ Buck - Knoxville

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By MC for Other Music:

At this point, Christian Fennesz's reputation should precede him. A modern laptop pioneer, his solo records have balanced thoughtful electronics with guitar manipulations to become events that transcend the usual narrow audience for those types of experiments. In between albums, though, Fennesz maintains a healthy career as a collaborator and improviser, having worked with the likes of Jim O'Rourke and Peter Rehberg, Ryuichi Sakamoto, and Polwechsel (to name but a handful) on records that often manage to rival the greatness and intensity of the man's more noted solo works. Knoxville, a trio recording cut with David Daniell and Tony Buck at the Big Ears Festival in 2009, is yet another entry into that category of great collaborative works.

Though Fennesz may have the biggest name recognition in this group, his partners are far from slouches. David Daniell has released a clutch of great records (solo, as a member of San Agustin, and in concert with folks like Douglas McCombs) that trace his noisier figures across guitar and electronics. And Tony Buck has been active as a member of Australian group the Necks for the past two decades, providing drums and percussion for that band's steady improvisations. Here, the three spread themselves across four tracks, gradually working themselves into an easy conversation on "Heat for Light" that builds from a slow rumble to a more all-encompassing buzz and hum. Elsewhere, tracks like "Antonia" achieve a subtle beauty, with aching waves of guitar contrasting neatly with prickly static and Buck's cymbal work. While fairly brief, Knoxville more than manages to take the listener quite a distance in its short runtime, all while allowing each participant to make their own voice heard while still achieving a singular identity.

David Daniell visited Soundlab several times: on 07/22/04 with Tim Barnes, Jeph Jerman and Sean Meehan; on 09/20/05 with Greg Davis and Mersault; on 05/17/08 with Josh Abrams Solo & Duo sets, Tentet/Octet opening; and as part of Rhys Chatham's groups on 09/15/06 and 02/01/07.

Sample James Blackshaw - All Is Falling

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Part 1
Part 5

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LP+MP3
MP3

By AG for Other Music:

An ambitious, challenging album from the British 12-string virtuoso, All Is Falling continues James Blackshaw's movement away from the spiraling acoustic guitar opuses that defined his early work. Not a 12-string guitar can be found here, in fact. Picking up where Blackshaw's piano-derived tracks from Litany of Echoes (2008) and The Glass Bead Game (2009) left off, All Is Falling -- unsurprisingly given its ominous title -- is characterized by a brooding, cosmic quality.

Longtime fans will notice Blackshaw is playing the electric guitar for the first time on one of his own records, a move perhaps inspired by his recent work with Current 93. When at the piano, Blackshaw often recalls Florian Fricke's playing in Popol Vuh, particularly on "Part 1" and "Part 4," and comparisons could be made to minimalist composer/pianist Lubomyr Melnyk as well. Throughout, this haunting album can recall a diverse set of influences, ranging from John Renbourne's The Lady and the Unicorn to the brooding '90s work of Louisville chamber group Rachel's, and makes nods to Steve Reich and Philip Glass as well. Only "Part 8" deviates from piano, finger-picked electric guitar and classical string palette; harmonium, e-bowed guitar and swirls of feedback lift off before settling on an enigmatic, uncertain note. Appropriately enough.

James Blackshaw visited Soundlab on 01/29/10.

Hit Up Shock & Awe: Back to Cool Saturday at Soundlab

Saturday, August 28, 11pm--SHOCK & AWE feat. DJs J.Zenger & Kisabella.

Back to cool kiddies. Classes are starting and you need one more rage of the summer. Get your leather on on on on on.

Sample Bear in Heaven - Beast Rest Forth Mouth

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From Other Music:

Hometapes re-releases Bear in Heaven's great sophomore full-length from last year, this time with a host of remixes by Studio, Twin Shadow, the Hundred in the Hands, High Places, the Field, Pink Skull, and more. Delivering an exciting blend of psychedelic, prog, and '80s-tinged pop, the group has perfected the art of layering, resulting in a dense-yet-wholly-listenable mix of driving, tribal cuts.

Bear in Heaven visited Soundlab on 6/26/10.

Check Out Fang Island Tonight at Soundlab

FRIDAY, August 27, 8pm--FANG ISLAND. $10/$12.

By Donny Kutzbach for Artvoice:

Imagine putting together the pop savant quality of Broken Social Scene with the inexorable party jams and bro on bro high fiving of Andrew WK. Got it? If you do, you are just beginning to get at the exuberant magic of the Brooklyn via Providence, Rhode Island quintet Fang Island. Vocals? Who really needs them!? Fang Island manages to get the good times done without really having a singer though the occasional “la-la-la” harmony slips in the mix on a song like “Davey Crockett”. Their 2010 self-titled debut on Sargent House Records is loaded with hook-heavy hymns played at high speeds and built for happy high kicking. Fang Island made a recent drop by in Western New York over the summer warming up for the mesmerizing Flaming Lips at Artpark. Their unbridled and energetic live show held it’s own even up against to the eye-popping extremes of the headliner. That’s no small feat! This Friday (August 27) they will bounce, jump, and blissfully rock out with extreme joy on a stage all to themselves... well, almost. Joining Fang Island on stage at Soundlab is Buffalo’s own All Of The Witches, fittingly bringing their uniquely psychedelically twisted post-rock to perfectly fill out the bill.