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Tonight: Night Slaves Cassette Release

October 8, 2016

Tonight, local industrial-electronica duo, Night Slaves will be celebrating the release of their second tape, Night Slaves II, at Mohawk Place. The duo has dark and complex beats, with David Kane’s complex compositions accented by singer Johnny Toohill’s chant-singing. Also on the bill is avant garde project Cages, stripped down Be Locust or Alone, and harsh noise act Flesh Trade. Doors are at 8pm with a $5 cover. Bring some extra cash to pick up the limited edition tapes, as there are only a hundred in print.

Tonight: Night Slaves

February 5, 2016

You may be living under a rock if you aren’t aware of the show that every local media outlet is talking about – Night Slaves release show at Mohawk Place. After much anticipation, the industrial duo, comprising of Johnny Toohill (JOHNS, Alpha Hopper) and David Kane (Them Jazzbeards) is set to release their self-titled debut six-song cassette via Bad Drone Media. Night Slaves makes some dirty industrial pop that sounds like it came out of a grimy basement (in the best way possible). This dark electronica is flavored with a psychedelic sound that has a pretty blatant punk influence. Toohill and Kane deliver on their own name, bringing out a specific yet dark atmosphere. The music is refreshingly produced in the provocative spirit of the avant-grade, and intensely immersive. Also on the bill are locals CAGES, VWLS, and Malaria control, with Flatsitter taking care of the atmosphere. Show starts at[...]

Tonight: Circuit des Yuex

September 11, 2015

Help ease in a busy Saturday here in Buffalo by paying a visit to Dreamland and spending the evening with Haley Fohr’s experimental folk project, Circuit des Yeux. The Thrill Jockey recording artist and NPR favorite combines electronic minimalism with organic strings, woodwinds, and percussion for a meditative yet challenging style of folk that fans of Chealsea Wolf and Zola Jesus should be drawn to. Expect the Indiana native to tackle selections from her well received and powerful 2015 album In Plain Speech. Joining Fohr this evening will be the rather busy Cages. The avant-garde folk outfit has had a busy summer, including performances at the Burchfield Penny and tomorrow’s Music is Art festival on the Sugar City stage. The evening’s set should be the proper format to catch the act: intimate and intense. Music begins tonight at 8pm with a suggested donation of $10.

Tonight: Cages

July 10, 2015

As a part of the M&T Second Friday program, the Burchfield Penny Art Center will be holding a one night only showing of the experimental 1970 film, Zorns Lemma, accompanied by a soundtrack performed live by local avant garde act Cages, in collaboration with local string section Wooden Cities. The film, directed by Hollis Fampton, will be projected onto three panels in the front lawn of the art center. The performance begins at dusk ( around 9pm), and is set to last one hour. The event is totally free, and the film and music combination is sure to be nothing short of ethereal. This is one you’re not going to want to miss. Get there even earlier to catch Lazlo Hollyfeld out on the lawn around 5:30pm. Cages – “Vivipary” Record Release Show – Hallwalls Contemporary Arts Center – 1/10/15 – Set 1 from David Bailey on Vimeo.

Tonight: Melt-Banana

May 16, 2015

Japan, it would appear, went off the deep end into wackiness sometime in the 80s; since the 90s, its capitalism-meets-schizophrenia, rampant-consumerist culture has had a disaffected release in Melt-Banana. The Tokyo-based four-piece mixes punk and pop and noise into an wall of WTF cerebral madness, both chaotic and precise, with energetic, melodically barked vocals that sounds like the soundtrack to an epilepsy inducing Japanese commercial for fish lightbulbs or something. Backed by a prominent, grindcore-leaning rhythm section, and guitar that often slips into circuit-bent, sound-effect territory, Yasuko Onuki’s lyrics are a hyperactive word salad, delivered with undeniable fervor. I was a fan for years before I even realized they were in English; even though it was catchy enough to sing along with, I’d just be shouting stuff like “punch kick punch!” like I had too much candy while playing Street Fighter Turbo at the neon game works. The band is crazy[...]

Today: Del Paxton

April 17, 2015

In case you’ve been ignoring our Still Diggin’ posts, today is Record Store Day.  As a sort of celebration, local independent record boutique Black Dots will be holding a show at the shop. Unlink every other show at Black Dots, instead of being held inside, the bands will play playing outside on a patio above the garage connected on the side of the shop. Genre wise, this showcase really hits all ends of the spectrum. Playing will be local indie lake-pop act, Bryan Johnson and Family,  avant-garde Black Dots signee, Cages, as well as indiemo rockers Del Paxton. This show will serve as the official release show for Del Paxton’s 7” split with Gulfer, out on Topshelf Records. The forecast is looking great for today, so its sure to be a great show.  If you have some spare time during your busy record store shoping,  Cages will be opening the[...]

Tonight: Desmadrados Soldados De Ventura

April 17, 2015

Sugar City plays host to Manchester’s Desmadrados Soldados De Ventura tonight, joined by Flesh Trade, Cages and trio Baczkowksi/Abramson/Sack. Desmadrados Soldados De Ventura create huge walls of sound and fuzz that could properly be called “psychedelic.” I don’t mean the brand of psych-rock that entails putting on sunglasses and singing about ghosts on the beach, either. These are full-on improv freak outs with shades of bands like Can as well as modern counterparts like The Mars Volta. And they’ve been kind enough to bring these sounds all the way from the UK for the likes of us to indulge in. With support from Cages, Flesh Trade and Baczkowksi/Abramson/Sack, it should be a noisy, experimental, unhinged night over at Sugar City. Music starts at 8pm for $7. Facebook event here. Check out Desmadrados Soldados De Ventura below.

Tonight: CAGES

January 10, 2015

“Vivipary” is the name of both CAGES‘ new album and a biological condition. Vivipary, because I am sure you wondering, means “development of the embryo inside the body of the mother, eventually leading to live birth.” Thanks, Wikipedia. I could clumsily try to walk you through how that process is mirrored on CAGES’ Vivipary, but I’d rather just ask you to sit with the image: the embryo growing inside the body, morphing from a distended hunk of cells into a semi-translucent thing with eyes into a fetus as alien as it is human which is finally, agonizingly brought into into a cruel and arbitrary world, a crying hunk of flesh covered in the primal slime and detritus of birth (and that’s if the embryo is lucky!). To me, that’s not a bad analogy for CAGES’ music. It’s beautiful and powerful in the terrifying, inhuman way that nature is. It pertains[...]

Cages

January 4, 2015

“Have you heard Cages?” Josh Smith asks. I shake my head no. “Oh they’re awesome. They are this weird…I don’t even know how to describe it. It’s this avant-garde noise, neo-folk fusion of sorts. The first time I saw them was at the Sugar City Metro Show.” When Smith talks about Cages, his eyes light up like a redneck showing off his new thirty-aught-six at his daughter’s wedding. With excitement like this, it’s no wonder that he decided to put out Cages new record, Vivpary, on his imprint Black Dots Records. Vivpary is Cages follow up studio release to 2009’s, Folding Space. It was written in 2011 and recorded in 2012 at GCR in Buffalo. “The sound is really amazing. It’s the closest picture of what we have been working on. Definitely different than anything else we have recorded,” guitarist David Bailey says, adding, “This is the most fully realized[...]

Cages – Vivipary

July 24, 2014

Under the tag of “punk” on bandcamp, but self-described as a “cohesive and undefinable act,” Buffalo-based Cages exists outside of any typical structure or classification. The group consists of vocalist Nola Ranallo, guitarist David Bailey, and now bassist Patrick Bolger, but until recently, Cages has had no major release. Their previously unreleased 2012 album Vivipary has just made it’s debut through Black Dots record shop, however, and it is considered by the band to be their their “most defining output to date.” Void of any specific form of style, Vivipary draws more upon the experimentation of tonal harmonies, shared primarily by the guitar and vocals. Immediately from the start, Ranallo’s vocals stand out as highly expressive, sometimes exploding into shrill cries, other times resolving in low end atypical melodies that fade in and out of the mix. The harmonies present in many of the tracks (particularly “Into Germination”) personally bring[...]

Cages Share First Single From Vivipary LP

July 14, 2014

Last month, in an interview with Black Dots owner Josh Smith, the shop runner told us that his label, also called Black Dots, would be released the forthcoming album from Buffalo’s free-form, noise collective Cages. Those familiar with Smith’s punk roots would be surprised to find the band on his label, but as he told us “they are one of the best live bands that I’ve seen in the past couple of years.” Late last week, Cages and Black Dots shared the first single, “First Seed,” from the group’s Vivipary LP. The track is challenging and beautiful, like Bjork or Sigur Ros embracing folk music while sprinkling in eerie and unsettling bits of electronic effects. Keep an eye out for the digital and physical release of Vivipary later this summer, and in the mean time, listen to “First Seed” below.