Another trio's first time in Ithaca! This time is the blown out noise-rock of SHOPPERS. It's members are heavily involved in the DIY community in Syracuse - from music to records, shows, and more - and put their punk ethics on the road regularly. Other than that, we'll let their music and words speak for themselves. We've heard fantastic things about their live show from many reliable sources so, come out early and don't miss their 2:30 set at BIG DAY IN this Saturday at The Haunt.  Anyone wanna grab Meredith a vegan slice from Pizza Aroma?



IU: When and how did the three of you come together as Shoppers?

Meredith: Josh and Kari had been best friends for years when I moved to Syracuse.  When Josh and I started dating, Kari and I naturally became friends and decided to start a band together, without Josh. We looked around for a different drummer because Josh was already in bands, but eventually we gave in and started playing as a family.


IU: Tell us about your latest LP, "Silver Year" and the processes you went through:

Meredith: That's kind of like, 'You just had a baby, tell us about the processes you went through'-- I can't possibly know everything that happened, I can't describe the celestial things that went on inside of me, but I can tell you that I got fucked, walked around with it inside me for about nine months, and eventually forced it out.

Josh:  We all went down to Miami on tour and recorded a long play record released on Drugged Conscience and Feeble Minds' collective dime.  Kari did like four bass track overdubs and I was a one-take dynamo in the studio (our friend Brian's parent's guest room).  Then Meredith recorded a half hour of noise to drown out any potential fuck-ups.


IU: Any highlights from your fall tour?

We've got a slathering of trio's making their first appearance in Ithaca this Saturday, including our headliners Algernon Cadwallader - a group of pals creating complex, melodic music. Their full-length Some Kind of Cadwallader stole the hearts of punk, math-rock, and hardcore fans alike. With their latest, Parrot Flies - a more polished effort while still retaining the realness that is Algernon Cadwallader - and subsequent intercontinental tour, these three friends aim to keep turning heads around the globe. Don't worry about pronouncing their name, just make sure you don't miss their headlining set at BIG DAY IN. Ithaca Undergound's Bubba Crumrine gets the skinny from Peter and Joe.


IU: For the uninitiated, how did you three meet and start making music together?

Peter: We met in the suburbs of Philadelphia when we were high school-aged.  Joe and I had a band that would play with Tank's band.  When our original drummer left to go to school, Tank was our first choice and we eventually coaxed him into it.  We lived happily ever after.

IU:What are some moments you most enjoyed creating "Parrot Flies"?

Peter: Recording in an empty church for a week was pretty amazing.  I still can't believe we pulled that one off.  Also, exploring the sounds of different amp and mic combinations - that's fun for us.

IU: The record is quite a bit denser and more layered than its predecessors, was this a concious effort to move in this direction or just a natural progression of having more time and different resources?

It's that time of year again! Time for another 10 hours of awesome music down at The Haunt with Ithaca Underground. We're extremely honored to be hosting Parts & Labor on this our fifth Big Day In event (our third winter version).  Why are we so smitten to have this band in particular?  We'll beyond them being one of the best bands to merge noise, punk, and pop mentalities, after what will be a 10 year run, this Ithaca performance is their final outside of Brooklyn before their pending infinite hiatus.  Ithaca Underground's Bubba Crumrine catches up with founding members BJ Warshaw and Dan Friel - both of whom have performed their own solo acts in Ithaca previously - regarding their latest LP "Constant Future", the possible end of Parts & Labor, and what's next.

IU: First off, I must say we're utterly enthralled with the idea of Parts & Labor's long-anticipated debut in Ithaca.  Sadly, it sounds as though it may be our last. Could you give us and our readers some insight on the cause for hanging the project up for now and what you'll all be focusing on in the meantime?

BJ: We're very excited to finally be playing Ithaca, at long last!

There's not one, central reason for the impending hiatus.  We each have a lot of personal things, families and occupations, that have begun to take up more of our time.  That and our geographical separation has made frequent collaboration and touring increasingly tricky (Joe still lives in Milwaukee, Dan lives in Brooklyn, and I
live in New Jersey).  But mainly we felt ending strongly with a celebration, after 10 years of touring and making records, made a lot of sense.  There's really no discord between us.

We've all got other musical endeavors you'll be hearing from.  I'll be working on Shooting Spires.  Dan's working on a new solo record.  Joe continues to make music for film/TV through his company Noisola.

IU: Glad we'll still have those things to look forward to.  As Parts & Labor, you guys have had a great run of LPs, EPs, tours, collaborations, and collaborators making fantastic noise -  what are some of your favorite highlights?

Summer People this Saturday at Big Day In! Ah, music to my ears. Despite our love for this this high-energy revolving cast of characters, this is the first BDI that has worked out for both parties. We're stoked to have one of central NY's hottest rising stars back on the IU stage. This crew had another busy year with two more lengthy tours, releasing their spilt 12" with tourmates HotChaCha, a successful Kickstarter to convert their tour van to veggie power and press their second LP "Teamwork" to vinyl and more. Ithaca Underground's Bubba Crumrine catches up with Brandon Musa for a bit of Q&A before they head for Buffalo to start a handful of NY tour dates, ending with our event on Saturday.

IU: Congrats on the kickstarter process! How is everything going regarding the pressing and veggie conversion?

Brandon: Thanks! It’s going well. We are working on getting both done within the next month or two.

IU: Glad I was able to catch the SP/HCC set at Culture Shock earlier in the fall.  Everyone tore it up as usual. What were some highlights from your tours w/ HotChaCha and Zlam Dunk?

Live footage from our new pals in Rat Storm (killer female fronted powerviolence from IN), new local band called Crown of Oak (solid melodic, concentrated prog rock - watch out for these guys), my first solo performance, and return to Ithaca for Plasma 36.

Hey gang! Time for a visual recap of what's been going on. Footage from the 11/17 IU show with Dope Body, Child Bite, Like Wolves, and Womyn Boiz plus two clips from the Risley show with Phorke and Year on a Mountain. Added bonus - footage from the Tumul return show in Rochester 11/20.


Dope Body

Last official IU show of the year before BIG DAY IN! (aka the show of the two word band names).

It's time to pull out all the stops, bring the ruckus, make the sweat, do the thing with the stuff, and so on, so forth. If this one doesn't end in a big pile of everything, I'm going home. But, enough with the nonsense.

Let's meet our first out of state guests of honor... There's DOPE BODY, who hail from Baltimore (love that place) and whom we unfortunately missed on their summer tour with Liturgy and Hume. Their latest LP "Nupping" hit a few months back over the summer and their latest beast (pictured above) is a screenprinted split with tourmates CHILD BITE from Detroit.  The DB crew wield a solid mix of crunch, math-spazz, and rock holler (who have an apparent affinity for Rage Against The Machine of all things) and CB are a keyboard-happy ball of avant-punk.  The CB camp recently performed as Nine Inch Nails for their hometown Halloween show. Guess you could say we've got two killer, high-energy bands on tour together with an affinity for 90s big shots, doing things that present-day fans of those bands would probably hate. I digress. Check these out!


100 MILE /// DOPE BODY from Theo Anthony on Vimeo.


CHILD BITE "ODD INN" from KATIE BARKEL on Vimeo.

Closing out the night will be our good friends from Rochester, Hex Record's own LIKE WOLVES. These guys have been slugging it for over 3 years with a high-energy hardcore punk influenced by angular goodies like Hot Snakes & Drive Like Jehu. First time back in Ithaca since Dec '10. Check out tracks of their latest 12" here and footage from their Big Day In performance below!


Like Wolves - Big Day In at The Haunt - Ithaca, NY - 12/4/10 from Chris Knight on Vimeo.

Last but first, our pals Womyn Boiz will be kicking things off. Gnarly garage punk with plenty of samples from Binghamton/NYC. Check out their tunes here.  

So, the order is Womyn Boiz, Child Bite, Dope Body, and Like Wolves.  8PM $5 ALL AGES >>>
The Space @ GreenStar, 700 W Buffalo St, Ithaca, NY 14850
- easy to get to from the corner of N. Fulton & Court St by the railroad tracks but if you want to take Buffalo St - take the alley across from GreenStar Coop between Enterprise and Kalzonies... drive down the alley a bit until Corks & More is on your left - The Space is on your right (the yellow & purple bldg withing the fencing).  Makes more sense when you're there I swear.  See you then!

We've had a great month so far with the likes of Pterodactyl, new locals Time/Being, BEES///, why+the+wires, Mothguts, Don't Go Into The Woods, and The Invisible Hand. Look out for this Thursday with Like Wolves, Dope Body, Child Bite and Womyn Boiz. In the meantime, check out some vids below!


Pterodactyl "Esses" - 11.05.11

MOTHGUTS
Get read for Jersey jazz-metal quartet MOTHGUTS, this Saturday at The Space. More info on them below but first let's check out some video of this goodness...



Awesome. Want more? Well, it just so happens you can download Mothguts entire discography right here (3/4 down the page).

So far, the quartet have released three proper studio albums, a live album, a Christmas album, and an improv album. All of which are fully fueled with blistering, Satanic-fit-inducing metallic riffage, sax shronk and skree, a la Painkiller/Naked City/Last Exit but very much their own beast.

The Invisible Hand
We've got another damn good reason for you to show up - your first shot at picking up the latest album from Ithaca's own jazz-noise-punks, The Invisible Hand entitled "A Zen Philosophy" plus the release of guitarist/bassist Mark's own solo EP "The Rapture". Two spankin' new releases at one show. Need something to do in the meantime? How about this official music video from the TIH camp for the track "Fukushima". Come down to the space for more of Mark's video animation during their live set.



Don't Go Into The Woods
Closing out this three band evening is Ithaca's own black metal three piece. Don't Go Into The Woods. Check out some footage from their last IU gig at The Haunt. Who knew psych/folk singer/songwriter Mike (A)! had the blackmetal pipes!


Saturday, November 12th
The Space @ GreenStar (aka The Annex)

700 West Buffalo St
Ithaca, NY 14850
8PM $5 ALL AGES