Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Interviews: MATH THE BAND

Ithaca Underground's Bubba Crumrine catches Kevin and Justine of Math The Band on a rare day off on their way back from South By Southwest (SXSW) in Austin, TX. Several pauses in the interview had to take place for the interviewer or the interviewees to collect breaths from laughing or attempt to get back on task in one of the most fun and hilarious interview we've ever been a part of which gives a great glimpse into what to expect from this candy-fulled, analogue synth fueled duo of crazy people.  Today you'll learn about the adverse relationship between good pizza and good shows, Math The Plague, Candy Cereal, the best show food, new tunes, and more.  They're Math The Band... who the hell are you?

IU: How was SXSW?

K:  It was OK.  We played way too many shows each day. We determined that if the show was at a pizza shop then it would not be a good show.  If it was not at a pizza shop than it would be a good show.

 IU: So there is a relationship between pizza shops and good shows?

Monday, March 22, 2010

Band name: Speak Daggers

Location: Ithaca, NY

Members: 
Corey Mahaney (Guitar + Vocals)
Peter Pillardy (Drums + Vocals)
Ari Kaputkin (Bass + Vocals)

Formed: September '09

Releases: EP on 3.27.10


Tell us about yourselves!
We thought of forming this band as more of a side project, but it quickly became one of our main focuses. We wanted to do something basically louder and faster than what we were doing and with less limitations on our sound. Its one of the most expressive bands we've played in, and we just have a lot of fun doing it. We're definitely our biggest fans. In 6 months we've already written more songs than with any other band. We think we'll have 6 new songs for the March 27th show. It's been fun hearing how our songs are evolving. We just spent the last few weeks recording our 4 track EP in assorted living rooms and showers. It'll be on sale for negative two cents March 27th. Oh, you also have to dance.

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Interview with Evolve

Ambient soundscapes, noise, and hip-hop are all part of Evolve's magic bag of tricks to make you nod your head and think. Social-political lyrics and a desire to yield and inspire an overall communal experience and effort mark this Cincinnati group as another shining point rising in the deep underground. With their debut LP "Beyond Limits Being Human" (Realicide Youth Records) and their follow up "Once It Was Easy To Give Up Everything We Had and Wander Before The Streets Were Venomous: We Walk" (Tanzprocesz) in hand, Evolve look to take their art and message to the road. Ithaca Underground's Pete Ives chats up with Colin (CM) and Dominic (Freakone) on the eve of their Ithaca debut.

IU: How would you describe yourself and what you mess around with in Evolve?

Colin: I would describe it as an experimental electronic media project set to examine the experimentation of electronic media and how that electronic media is used within the context of modern society to control and coerce people and how we can use the same media to counteract that control and project our own realities into the general consciousness - lyric based electronic music.

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Meet The Band: BLOW!

Band name: BLOW!

Members:
Bruce Hyde, Guitar, vocals, percussion
Johnny Zachmann, guitar, bass, electro, wizard

Formed: Fall 2009

Release: Overrated. EP 3/26/2010

Tell us about yourselves!
Blow! uses looping, samples and instrumentation to create complex soundscapes while keeping a pop sensibility. Their freshman release, Overrated. 3/26, has been exploding. Recently, they have signed a publishing deal with Fish Music Group in Manhattan and will be going into the studio with producer Jimmy Bralower who's name graces over 250 million records sold and has worked with the likes of Peter Gabriel, Eric Clapton and Joan Jett.

Band name: Robot Detective

Who's in the band:
- Otis Rachtman - Guitar / Keys
- Chris Knight - Keys / Electronics 
 
Releases: In 2009 we released our Self-Titled EP, which is available for free download at our myspace (www.myspace.com/robotdetective).
 
Tell us about yourselves!
Robot Detective is the culmination of 2 years of musical experimentation by Otis Rachtman and Chris Knight. We create emotive flowing soundscapes composed of harmonic noise and dissonant instrumentation, which are slowly destroyed by explosive glitchy and penetrating climaxes. Using toy synthesizers, software synthesizers, samples, and Ableton Live, we've been able to create compositions that are both beautiful and destructive. 
 
We are currently working on putting together a full-length which is to be released in Summer 2010.

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Band name: The 1000-Year Plan

Members:
Brendan Kuntz (Drums: 2004 – present)
Joe Kepic (Guitar: 2002 – present)
Thomas Yagielski (Bass: 2002 – present)

Formed: 2002
Location: Brooklyn, NY
Releases: In Theory & Practice (2006)

Former Members:
- John Blanchard (Drums: 2002 – 2003)
- Dana Jannsen (Drums: 2003)

Tell us about yourselves!
The 1000-Year Plan formed following the breakup of the Buffalo based band 1800 and froze to death, which was composed of Brendan Kuntz (drums), Dave Nutt (guitar, vocals) (Why+The+Wires), Tom Yagielski (bass) and Joe Kepic (guitar). With Nutt deciding to pursue other interests and Kuntz not in New York City, Kepic and Yagielski continued to write music together as an instrumental three piece with John Blanchard, who briefly replaced Kuntz on drums.