November Top 5ive

The month that was... in song.

shapes have no religion - Bela's Shadow

In windchime rest stop scenic - Drivers to Warsaw

Somewhere on Christmas eve - Viva Noir

Trans Am - Brown Music

player piano - minuet

Neptune & Tentet/Octet @ Sound Lab, Sunday 11/18/07

a rudy sizzle review

the branding of music is at an all time high and it seems like there is nothing that can be deemed new, and/or original. I find myself dry heaving at the thought of modern rock music that is featured as the soundtrack for modern hybrid automobiles, teen-zit creams and fresh-breath enhancers. It’s true, I often throw up in my mouth when I hear the lulling sound of youth culture careening around the corner as I wait patiently for the Simpsons to come back from commercial break.

i also feel equally, slightly queasy when someone tells me about a band that primarily features homemade instruments and is adored by hipster geeks in the underground progressive music scene. Especially when that someone tells me that they are performing at Soundlab on a Sunday night and they are pretty well known in the “avant-garde" scene. Most of what occurs in the realm of “a/g” is generally summarized as the following simple catch phrase coined by a very jaded, but talented soul: JERK ART.

JERK ART can be as hard to swallow as teenybopper, emotional rock. Atonal noise can hurt. For real, especially when it is aimed at you from a small-platform stage at high decibels by a couple of dudes that do not care to offer songs or “compositions” even.

Buffalo duo Tentet/Octet allow little room for objective criticism as they pretty much are aware of the effect that overly distorted cacophonies can have on an audience. They perforate the air with “skronk” music, pitter-patter on drums, guitar and the occasional key line from the beloved Casio SK1. The redeeming quality of Tristan Trump and Kyle Price’s musical collaboration is that it is truly uncompromising. They deliver belches of loud freak-out with very little trouble and seem to be masterful in the craft of excessive drone and noise. T/O seem hell-bent on being too weird to pin down with song structures and genre specifics, but also too safely nestled in the warm chambers of “soft/quiet/weird noise here/occasional tantrum of drum fills then howling through halls of delay” sort of formula. They have performed as an accompaniment for performance art pieces and it worked relatively well in that medium. As far as being a live act to behold on their own, the lack of memorable melodies or dare I say, songs, make Tentet/Octet border line JERK ART.

upon entering the stage for their performance, Neptune struck me as a bit labored and overly gadget oriented, struggling to make the jigsaw puzzle of homemade electronics spill forth some noise for a simple line check. Once the trio from Jamaica Plain, Mass. strapped on their homemade sonic battle axes and spun out the first notes of their first piece were my perceptions smashed to bits.

they launched into primal percussive thumping via mutant makeshift drums and layered a whirling dervish of a rhythmic loop by putting forth low unrelenting currents of sound wave. The songs were channeled from another world, somehow bridging the gap between Kraut and electro-clash with the mixture of hand-assembled electronics and percussion. There was an exorbitant amount of tones pushed through the wall of rickety amps behind the band (mostly modified and re-built) and these sounds managed to encapsulate the entire room with their eerie drones and inescapable melodies.


the band all shared vocal responsibilities and, unlike most “avant-garde” indie bands, they actually understood how to establish melodic phrases, which instantaneously became earworms. Neptune delivered a live onslaught that blew away my expectations by a landslide and left me wanting more. Their spectacle was relatively short lived, perhaps that was my one and only complaint.

Postpunks pump up the jams

the faint stench of stale beer, smoke, and sweat seeps up from the Mohawk Place below; up and into the cramped second-floor practice space of the Exit Strategy. This is where much of the material on City of Microphones, the four-piece band's second record, was hammered out from countless writing sessions and free-form jams.

Microphones sees the band trading in much of their angular post-punkisms for more rounded-off muscular riffs and song structures. The result is more a compact and focused sound, ironically a sound they feel is more representative than their eponymous first album.

"on the first one you could definitely tell what our influences were," laughs Tim Turcott, drummer for the band. "(This record) is more of our own thing."

mark Constantino, Steve Kabza, Tony Flaminio, and Tim Turcott have all know or played music with each other for 12 to 15 years and their interpersonal chemistry is evident. They often finish each other's sentences without missing a beat. It seems only natural that City of Microphones is mostly a product of collaboration, a departure from their previous album.

"this one was definitely more -- all four of us in the practice space coming up with stuff," vocalist Constantino says. "A lot of the last record was Steve (the band's guitarist) coming in with these ideas; because he had tons of these ideas that he had written over (that) year."

the band recruited J. Robbins to help produce the new, beefed-up songs. Robbins' reputation proceeds him in many circles: he has produced iconic indie bands in the past such as Jawbreaker, Clutch, and the Dismemberment Plan. The result of the Exit Strategy's sessions with Robbins are guitar sounds that blaze like four-log fires and rhythms that rumble the cheapest of car stereos.

the album opens with "X-rays", a song that was written just days before the band left for Magpie Cage Studios in Baltimore to record with Robbins.

"he needed to hear demos of every song we were going to do so he had a rough idea and that was kind of troublesome," said bassist Flaminio. "He was fine with it. It ended up being one of his favorite songs."

the band said they knew what they had immediately after writing "X-rays".

"we got done playing that song, it was the first time we went through it," Constantino said. "And Tony looks at me and goes, 'I guess that song's done.' "


constantino's job as a Buffalo Police officer gives him a unique perspective as a songwriter and lyricist. The eleventh track on City of Microphones, "He has a Bright Future with British Steel", is about his view on lay-offs within the BPD.

"about four years ago, these guys that I was good friends with just got laid off and kinda left in the dust," he said. "A few guys I knew went from health benefits, a good job and a pension to tending bar three nights a week."

according to Constantino, the band is a relief from work and a chance for him to vent his frustrations. He said, surprisingly most of his material doesn't come from the streets of Buffalo.

"most of the lyrics don't come from dealing with people, like on a call." he said. "It comes from... (being a police officer) you get a really nice view of how screwed up government in this area is."

after their Cd release show, the band has a national promotional campaign being launched by Yarr PR in Detriot and plans on supporting the Cd with some dates on the East Coast including a One Percent Press Showcase in Athens, GA, the Lemuria Cd release show, and a stint with the Failure's Union, Tony Flaminio's other band.

city of Microphones will be available locally at Exit Strategy shows and in local stores after the Cd release show at 9pm on Saturday, Nov.24 at the Mohawk Place, their home away from home.

Top 5 for October

It's that time of the month again only here at silo3 it looks like you ARE gettin' some. Some top five local songs that is:

Ballast - the Old Sweethearts

Dissolution Soundtrack - Viva Noir

All to you - the hammond shutdown

Blown Away - VictoryLightBlackHoney

Battle Snakes - la Cacahouette

Pain in the Big Neck III

this year's Pain in the Big Neck 3 included more local bands than ever before. Six locals graced the stages of the two day twenty-two band festival, evidence of the strong presence that blue-collar garage/punk still has in the Queen City.

one of Buffalo's newest bands, who emerged from their basement earlier this year, plates(above) put on one of the best 30-minute sets of the weekend ripping through their modest catalog like the grizzly veterans they are. Their modern take on Ian MacKaye punk (Minor Threat+Fugazi) is a big middle finger in the face of trendy garage-rock revivalists and indie kids alike.

another new band/ familiar face that had a strong showing was the minimal-industral one-man-punk band Mannequin Stupor. Not quite punk or garage, Eric G's latest project has influences that run deep into 80's post punk and noise. The set had it's high cerebral moments and low-blow potshots. Watching Mannequin Stupor play, one cannot help but feel transported to NYC art-school hangouts somewhere around 1985. However, a post-backbeat drum machine gave the songs a modern twist, a nod to the right-now post-electroclash NYC scene.


if Mannequin Stupor was the festival's high-brow moment, then Ski-Mask and his Bucketmen were it's low-brow. Ski-mask's angry rants, constant dick jokes and potty humor have been his trademarks since the days of Thunderbird Theatre, his cable access show. The latest incarnation has the masked madman spewing his mini manifestos over free-folk electronica loops dotted with samples culled from AM talk radio, mostly of the religious variety. The set can only be described as a look into the mind of a maniac. Ski-mask has an extremely polarizing presence and makes no apologies for what he does. He definitely gave this year's fest a twist of the demented, something that is missing all too often in today's safe, color-by-numbers punk/alternative.

by all accounts, this years Big Neck Records fest was a blast. If Bart Hart and Co. continue the trend the next one can only bigger and more ambitious.

Top 5 for September

Top five for Sept:

Sentimental Jenny - plates
http://www.myspace.com/platesplatesplates

Big Words - White York
http://www.myspace.com/whiteyork

Sugar and Dirt - Little Dipper
http://www.myspace.com/mapoftheheavens

Dirty Dirty Deception - Trystero
http://www.myspace.com/cellocrust

Prologue - go, mordecai!
http://www.myspace.com/gomordecairocks

Novelist steps on the gas, throws map out the window

the 21st century society is one driven by instant gratification and an "on-demand" mentality so pervasive, it engenders a mindset of valueless, disposable media. Once-viewed DVDs collect dust on living room shelves, music folders gorged on P2P networks expand as they fill hard drive space by the second, as do countless photo albums and videos from across the world.

the minimalist rock of Chase Middaugh and Ryan McMullen's Novelist is anything but "on-demand". Riffs and song structures stick together like shitty Velcro, coming apart at the slightest touch. Like an ADD child, the music can be frustratingly difficult to track and therein lies the hook.

while most artists use volume or discord to create tension (see the Pixies, Sonic Youth), Novelist's music meanders blindly around each bend at breakneck speed to create an aura of unexpectedness that hooks in the listener. As guitarist Middaugh wraps dark hues around McMullen's scatter shot drumming, the music can become epic at times and eerie at others, always looming close to the edge of the cliff but never quite falling off.

according to Middaugh, the song writing process has even begun to take on a fast-paced improvisational style. "The process these days is quite similar- just with less 'points' on the map, certain times no map at all," says Middaugh via email interview.

the new Novelist record "DROSERA" will be available this winter, with details on the release still to come. The recorded material tends to be on the more minimal side according to the band, with the live performances more frenetic and rock-friendly, baiting audiences with the hook that never comes.

Top 5 Songs for August

There' gold in them thar' hills! Or at least a lode of great end of summer songs from local artists. Here's our top 5 for August, once again in no particular order:

Texty McTexington - Knife Crazy

Missing Persons - the Arms

Domicile of the Eagle - Ice Cream Social

All Circuits are Dead - the Exit Strategy

Integral of Love - the Dense

We are also now linked to the Buffalo Music photo set on flickr. Check em out!

Infringment festival Spotlight

while the infringment festival is usually full of one-off "experimental" bands, occasionally a few decent left-of-left-of-center bands crop up and make an appearance under the festival banner.

knife Crazy makes just such an appearance August 4th at Nietzsche's. The band's prog-art-funk continues to evolve with the latest shows being evidence that the band has reached its most complex and technically-masterful state yet.

kC is planning on finishing another full length to be recorded in drummer Fen Ikner's studio. The band looks to release the new record in early 2008.

Knife Crazy w. Sonourous Gale, Severly Departed, & Pocket Gallow
Nietzsche's
248 Allen St.

Silo3 top 5 songs for July

we put some heads together to come up with the top five songs for July. So here they are in no particular order:

Give Way - Failures Union

Don't Forget - Love Parade

Bomb Parts - la cacahouette

Tehran - London vs. New York

Ain't So Cruel- Roger Bryan

Lemuria at the Adam Mickiewicz Library - July 13th

lemuria's simple and short pop songs serve as a pastel-colored backdrops for the band's darker lyrical imagery. A tour warm-up show in the old east-side library is seemingly apropos for lines like:

oh fuck just this once can i root for the hometeam
i'm always the bee to kamikaze to save the precious queen
and i watch the sympathy turn to pity
from my sympathetic friends

recent reviews draw comparisons to indie-pop icons Jawbreaker and Discount, which suggests the band is on the right track. With countless 90's faithful (and revivalists) generating similar sounds, Lemuria's biggest hook lies in the group's vocal interplay and obvious chemistry. Each member brings a piece to the puzzle and makes the band greater than the sum of its parts.

the band is scheduled to play festivals this summer and goes to Europe in September with Ringers from Boston. Catch them for their only local show this summer. Openers Bridge and Tunnel just released a 7" on the highly prestigious No Idea Records.

LEMURIA
BRIDGE AND TUNNEL
YO MAN, GO!
SAM WEIR

JULY 13th at:
Adam Mickiewicz Library & Dramatic Circle
aka The Polish Library
612 Filmore Ave. (near Broadway)
Buffalo, NY 14212

8 pm . $6

Silo 3 Launch Party

Come out and get loose with the first Silo3 party.

the Dense
Like a Panther
the Dirty Birds

Bands start by 10:30 -- stay for dave anchovies sure-to-be-a-classic DJ set.

La Cacahouette interview

the Greater Buffalo Area is a study in contrasts. Only Western New York could contain one of the most majestic natural wonders of the world and one of the biggest toxic chemical disasters of the 80's.

la Cacahouette know the meaning of contrast. Soaring melodies run up against stacks of noise. Atmospherics precede breakneck crescrendo. 00's postpunk blends seamlessly with 70's quirk-prog.

the band enters their fourth year with some miles under their belt and a full length album due out in June. Recently, Gerald Thomas sat down to talk about getting their touring legs going:

S3: So this is the fourth tour you're going on now?

Gerald: Yeah. The last tour we did was almost two weeks. We went all the way down through Texas and up to Colorado and... Arizona; Omaha, Nebraska; and into Minneapolis. So [this time] were going all way down the east coast to Atlanta and coming back and ending in Bloomington, Indiana.

S3: So basically east coast to midwest.

Gerald: Yeah, and were already planning to do another two weeks in October, probably a week of that with Otis and the Rufies from Bloomington, Indiana. Last year we did the east coast with them.

S3 : What was the best experience you had playing on the road?

Gerald : Probably, I would say-- Lubbock, Texas because we were down there and supposed to play in Denton and the show got messed up; it fell through but the girl had contacts for people in Lubbock and they basically added us on a bill. We were in Austin. We drove like eight hours, showed up and-- it was one of the best shows on the tour. It was in this artspace, clothing store venue. We played with this really mixed bag of bands, but all the bands worked well. There was this Satanic country band that played, and then a more Wilco-ey alt-rock band, and then like a really crazy experimental rock band. I don't know-- it was just really awesome and we're still getting messages from people-- from [the Lubbock show.]

S3: When your on the road you play with a lot of bands: local bands, and other touring bands that are criss-crossing the country. What is the best band you've played with on the road?

Gerald: I'd have to say Otis and the Rufies. We have a real soft spot for those guys. But even closer [to Buffalo] we love playing with the Audience, from Jamestown. They're really good guys-- actually[we played] their Cd release party.

S3: So where is everone coming from influence-wise?
Gerald: I don't really know. We have this question asked of us -- everybody's always like, "So what does your band sound like?" and we never really know what to say cause we're such, like, a mish-mosh of things. I'm into more modern indie rock, and a lot of psychedelic stuff, and 60's and 70's progressive rock, and then.... I don't know I like all sorts of stuff-- Pepper's way into 90's college rock, and a lot of British stuff like Ride and the Charlatans. Blake's into tons of different music. He has one of the biggest record collections on anybody that I know. He's into any style of music. But I don't really know... we don't sit down... I mean I think a lot of bands are like, "Hey we wanna write a song that sounds like this." or "Here's three different bands we really like. Lets try to do something that sounds like that..."



the La Cacahouette Cd release party is June 30 at the Mohawk Place in Buffalo, NY