In an effort to spark new bands and encourage new talent to emerge and mingle, Ithaca Underground is hosting their first ever Open Mic night on Friday, September 6th at Just Be Cause (1013 W. State St., Ithaca, NY 14850).

10 slots are available and sign up starts at 7:30PM at Just Be Cause. First band kicks off at 8PM sharp.

A few notes for attendees and would-be performers:
- No cover, but $2-$5 donations are encouraged.
- Performances will last a maximum of 10 minutes each.
- Local performers only: the majority of band members must reside in the Ithaca metropolitan area (not Syracuse, Binghamton, Cortland, etc).
- Any band signing up must not have already performed or be scheduled to perform at an Ithaca Underground event.
- The band/performer is looking to actively play out in Ithaca (no one-offs).

As Ithaca Underground exists to foster creative, unique, and boundary-pushing music, they are looking for acts to fall somewhere the spectrum of noise, hardcore, punk, grind, sludge, folk-punk, avant garde, solo experimental, math-rock, prog, drone, post-rock, live electronics, hip-hop, and other genre bending mutant forms of music.

At this time, applications from acts falling in the range of traditional singer-songwriter, traditional folk, jam band, blues, "rock", indie pop, funk, and other such genres will not be accepted.

For more information visit the Facebook event or IthacaUnderground.com.

Last Thursday brought an intimate night of mutant music to Ithaca. Murderedman were outstanding! Great night of music for those looking for something a bit different. Check out footage below, including Sun Spells final set, stripped down to just a duo.



Murderedman


Drose


Drose


Sun Spells (duo)


Murderedman

Last minute show with Itto was absolutely breathtaking. Their new material is going to erase minds. One cut from their upcoming split and the first track from the 10".  New Yakbak and a noisy Batista cut.



Itto (new)


Batista


Yakbak (new)

BIG BIRD


BIG BIRD


The Newman Brothers



We Are Whaleshark

Beautiful night of experimental creations. Very inspiring. Video from C.J. Boyd, Jessica Pavone, and Purple Henry below!



C.J. Boyd


Jessica Pavone

Thanks for joining us for a Wednesday evening of one of our more unique line-ups. Solid show all around for sure, but NO BABIES ran away with all of our hearts. One of the most high energy bands we've ever hand through - they even had us doing push-ups! Videos below, pics to come.

BONUS FOOTAGE: Live cut from HUME's set this past summer at the Mouth To Mouth To Mouth EP release show back in June. Expect more in Ithaca from these Baltimore/D.C. experimental popsters.



HUME


No Babies


No Babies


Temuchin


Temuchin

Problematic
Dr. Burtrum


Dr. Burtrum

Ithaca Underground Fall Shows Preview:

Hey kids, it's fall preview time! That time where we let you in on all the secrets we've been working for the last several months - bands from across the country (Brooklyn to L.A. and Oakland), across the world (German, UK, Australia), and covering a broad spectrum of genres from punk to jazz, sludge metal to indie hip-hop, and everything in between. We have a hell of a season of diverse shows queued up, so let's start right in. (Lots more after the jump)

Tuesday, September 19th: 
Why?, doesone, Serengeti, DJ Thanksgiving Brown 
@ The Haunt, 702 Willow Ave, Ithaca - 6PM Doors $12 ADV (Tickets)

We couldn't really be more stoked to kick the fall season off in such glorious fashion. We're incredibly please to have partnered up with Dan Smalls Presents to bring you an indie hip-hop / Anticon. Records takeover featuring Why?, doseone, and Serengeti plus DJ Thanksgiving Brown spinning to kick things off.

This stacked bill features two of arguably the best lyracists/MC's in indie hip-hop - Jonathan "Yoni" Wolf of WHY? and Adam Drucker a.k.a. doseone. The two have been clollaborating for decades and co-founded the lauded Anticon. imprint.

Where "Yoni" paints pictures with words of the lush backdrops of indie-pop and folk licks and hip-hop beats, doseone has been delivering a high-pitched lyrical assault of rapid-fire and polyrhythmic tongues twisting tales of the future and tearing down the rules of hip-hop across a multitude of projects. His solo material continues to show his prowess as a musician, expanding his pallet ever more in the psych-pop direction.

Why? have built themselves a massive cult and indie following since their breakout "Alopecia" and doseone, in addition to his solo work, has been ever prolific with such projects as Subtle, cLOUDDEAD, Themselves, 13&God and many others.

Enough talk. Heads better be at this one. Check these:







Let's have a listen to one of my personal favorites from doseone's Themselves too..


Ah... still fresh. Moving on!
______________________________

Sunday, September 16th: 
Vacation, Hunted Down, Batista, We Are Whaleshark 
@ The Space at GreenStar, 700 W Buffalo St., Ithaca - 8PM $5
Nothing like a good ol' hardcore/punk show... with an IU twist of course. 


Headliners VACATION hail from Cincinnati and churn out a blasting wall of noisy, poppy punk. They have two new 7"s and a cassette on this tour in addition to the full length streaming above which hit just a year ago.

HUNTED DOWN rep the Syracuse hardcore scene, with a whirlwind of blown & fuzzed out jams. Completely furious and always on the brink of collapsing in on itself. They have a split with Herpes coming later this fall. In the meantime check out these tracks from their "Life's Womb" EP:


Rounding out the show are two new Ithaca bands with familiar faces. Phil Price (known for his killer DIY show booking a few years back in Binghamton & Ithaca), Derek Manoco (ex-A Satellite Crash), and John Barrington are kicking it in a new punk band called BATISTA and Mike Amadeo (Mike A!, Dweeb, etc) rounded up some local musicians, including his pal Tyler Rodkey, to push out some short & sweet, dissonant & trippy punk under the moniker of WE ARE WHALESHARK. Lucky for us, they just dropped a "shitty demo" for our waiting ears.



(more...)

Band Name: The Yeomen

Location: Ithaca, NY

Formed: Febuary 2011

Members:
Devin Castaldi-Micca (guitar, vocals, organ, other stuff)
Dylan Henderson (lead guitar)
James Jordan (guitar, noise, percussion)
Julian Ciany (drums, vocals)
Pat Gaughan (bass)

Releases: Nothin' formal yet, but we have some rough demos and live cuts on our Bandcamp:


Tell us about yourselves!
Hey, this is Devin from the Yeomen. We formed last winter as a Tom Waits cover band. We learned a song or two of his but moved pretty quickly over to my originals. Many of our songs started as my bedroom recordings, but the full band has helped bring these songs from whispered and restrained bedroom folk to sweaty loud rock songs. We pride ourselves on our genre jumping, playing everything from folk-punk to garage, shoegaze, noise, punk, stoner metal and whatever the hell else we have a good time playing. We got off the ground playing in a friend’s garage, often in the freezing cold, the brutal heat, and generally at the ire of the neighbors (and once while a skinned raccoon was being bled onto a piece of cardboard). The other guys in the band are involved with other groups or solo projects, Julian and Pat both play in local mainstays Zgress (http://www.zgress.com/) and Kin Ship (http://kinship.bandcamp.com/).  Julian also plays in a band back home in Providence RI (http://www.myspace.com/vejaduri). Dylan and James are involved in a local trip-hop project and James also creates noise compositions. Dylan is also involved with a noise rock group out of Brooklyn.

Don't miss The Yeomen live, kicking things off at The Space @ GreenStar, 700 W Buffalo St  with Arvid Noe (Boston) and StageFright (Ithaca /  Long Island) - 8PM $5 All Ages

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?

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?

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

Whew! Another crazy week of shows here in Ithaca. All wrapped up with the IU show at The Haunt with Cobra Skulls, Nothington, Bombtree, and The Dirty Slits.  Great sets by all as those who were there will tell. But why just listen to me? How about some footage then, starting off with a double song in one clip rendition of The Streets of Cairo (Cobralectric) and Ode to Jefferson with Cobra-friend PHIL on banjo. Definitely didn't expect them to pull out tracks all the way back from Draw Muhammad.  Great night! Check the footage for some of my favorite punk acts.

Additional footage from some non-IU sets like Man Man (who we as awesome as hoped after 6 years of trying to see them), Grandchild, why+the+wires (who got to open for MM), Hyrrokkin (members of Matta Gawa and Kuan and blew away any expectations that line-up would herald), Nick Millevoi (of Many Arms and Make-a-Rising who shows you how to play your damn guitar), and a cool, newish band called Alter Koker. Thanks to Dan Smalls Presents and Experiment Without Borders for those shows.


Cobra Skulls - Streets of Cairo/Ode To Jefferson

Hey, it's not and Ithaca Underground gig but that doesn't mean it's not worth checking out. If you're into the noisier side of pop and haven't heard of Deerhoof, I'll let you go back to your rock.

8PM Doors folks... Details here.

Greetings from the underground! So, as many of you have seen, FREE! evolved out of the interviews/articles we used to issue through the print version of the zine from late '08 to early '10.  Since then, we covered relatively the same format, just online instead of print. Within the last few months, we've been posting videos from the IU YouTube Channel here. We're thinking about posting brief passages with news relevant to Ithaca & regional music we support. Sound cool? Feel free to give us your feedback.

Drumroll please...

Go check out the latest edition of IU.com - v3.0 right here! Sing up for our eNews, updated forums, calendar, booking request form, and more. Lots more to come too! We wanted to get the basics out of the gate as soon as possible but we're looking to take this above and beyond the last one.

 
Providence, Rhode Island's Tinsel Teeth are one of the few bands whose live performance has been tuned to match the intensity of their music - bludgeoning you with thick noise-rock and bizarre female vocals while throwing themselves into the crowd, soaking themselves in fake blood, props, skin, mayhem... all in the hope of entertaining YOU the fuck out. Bubba Crumrine catches up with Will for the story.  Their new official video for 'Stock Footage of Stuntmen' is at the bottom!

IU: Hey Will, you and Brandon were the founding members of the band, correct? How did Dave come into the picture and where the hell did you find such an amazing front woman like Stephanie?

W: Brandon and I met at work and started playing music together.  He and Dave had been in a band together called "Spheres" that broke up.  Dave was also Brandon's roommate at the time, so when he heard us playing in the basement and was into it, he just came down the stairs.  That part was pretty easy.  As for Steph... the first time we met her she was easily and instantly drawn into our web of spells and magic.  She has never been the same since.

IU: Did any of the blood, props, and nudity come first or did your live shows start out of the gate at the extreme level they're known and loved for now?

W: We did talk a lot at an early point in the band about what we wanted to see in a live show.  We were all bored with going to shows and not being entertained.  Not seeing the package of killer music and rocking the fuck out.  So it definitely became a focus for a Tinsel Teeth show to be a party.  Once we started playing out, the actual progression show to show to what you see now came pretty naturally.  I can say that one of the first 2-3 shows we ever played was at "summercamp" in Providence.  After we set up our gear we ran downstairs, took off all our clothes and covered each other in shaving cream.  That was a shocked crowd when we came back up and one hell of a show.  It's what I believe set the tone for Tinsel Teeth.    

IU: How much fake blood do you go through in an average year?

W: Too much, someone sponsor us.  I dare you. 

IU: Have members of the band (or gear) ever been subject to injury at the hand of the live show?

We've got a nice batch of live videos from earlier this spring for you! Footage is all from Kyle Rothman of DAADs (sans the Matta Gawa clip).




















Footage by Bubba Crumrine

Ithaca Underground’s Bubba Crumrine snags some time with Alex Nagle and Evan Lipson of Philadelphia’s nearly unclassifiable SATANIZED.  High-energy like punk, heavy like metal, blistering and deafening like noise, but still like none of them, well more than the sum of its parts, and capped off by one of the best live chaos this side of the Mason/Dixon -  this will be an experience to remember for those coming out to The Annex, on Tuesday, Feb 22nd to catch the STNZD men with Philly noise brethren DRUMSLIKEMACHINEGUNS, locals DAADs and Mike (A)!. Let’s get familiar shall we?

IU: What's the current line-up for the band?

AN:
-Gaspar, Andrew
-Klopfenstein, Vincent
-Lipson, Evan
-Nagle, Alex

IU: Give us a brief history of Satanized:

AN: I started Satanized in '05 with my drummer friend Matt and a revolving cast of bassists. This incarnation of the band never got it together enough to play shows and dissolved after a few months. Evan came into the picture shortly after. Since we worked well together in Flittermice of Eld and Normal Love, I asked him if he was interested in playing the first batch of Satanized songs and if he knew a suitable drummer. He agreed and got his friend Pete Angevine to play for us. At that point we needed a singer and after a period of searching, I met our first singer Natalie. The band's gestation was now over and we played our first show, auspiciously enough, on 06/06/06. At the end of the summer, Natalie left Philly for college and we replaced her with Andrew.

This first solid lineup played out locally a lot over the next year and in early ’07 we recorded the first CD. Some East Coast touring followed, as did new music. The long-delayed split with AIDS Wolf finally came out early in ’10 and Pete quit in the late spring. Vince took over for him in the fall and we played our debut show with the current lineup with AIDS Wolf’s Philly show in late October. We’re now preparing for tour with Drums Like Machine Guns which will happen in a few weeks!

IU: How did you guys each get into noise & extreme music?

AN: In short it's because I've been into extreme metal since I was a teenager and Relapse records put out a lot of Japanese noise in the 90s. I picked up an issue of Wire magazine because it had a cover story on Coil and that introduced me to a lot of other experimental and electronic music. Along with metal, I've concurrently been into free jazz, modern composition, etc. Another watershed moment for me was when my first real band, Thoughtstreams, played shows on tour with the Infection and Decline lineup of the Flying Luttenbachers. Weasel and my slightly older bandmate Forbes definitely turned me onto a lot of influential stuff I wouldn't have heard otherwise. I don't see Satanized as a noise band though.

EL: My initial exposure to noise also came via the 90's Japanese variety (specifically the work of Otomo Yoshihide and his band Ground Zero), although I never listened to any of the recordings that were put out by Relapse. By that point, I was also pretty steeped in a lot of modernist composition, free jazz, and other types of weird and experimental music, so it wasn't anything that seemed totally foreign or unrelated to me. Concurrently, there was also a burgeoning noise scene that was happening in Philadelphia, thanks largely in part to the efforts of Breathmint Record's label head, instigator, and impresario Mat Rademan (AKA Newton). Andrew was actually the one who was involved much more directly with this, but I can recall one particular instance that took place at The Fun-O-Rama (RIP) around Thanksgiving of '01, in which three future members of Satanized (Andrew, Pete, and myself) performed, in conjunction with Rademan, Wharton Tiers, Joe Lentini, an insanely feral coed, and some ragingly slow-lidded meathead, what was quite possibly the most egregiously reprehensible (and loudest) show of my life. I still feel that I owe Wharton Tiers a heartfelt apology for inviting him to take part in such a disaster. Subsequently, Philly has become quite a magnet for noise-niks in the past 5 or 6 years. To further elucidate what Alex said: although there are certainly 'noisy' and/or potentially chaotic-sounding aspects to our music, there's probably far too much pre-determined order, strategic rigor, coherent rhythms/meters, structural integrity, etc. going on for Satanized to be considered a noise band per se; CALL US ANYTHING BUT LATE FOR DINNER.

IU: How did the split with AIDS Wolf come about?

Band Name: BEES///. Gimme had a dream about four deaf kids who made music, calling themselves The Bees, and we try to embody that essence through the power of ELECTRIC GUITAR.
We used to be called The Touch Yourselves/The Bees/Suicide Death Cult. Now those are just slashes.
But names are important to forget about. The best thing would be a band called every sound that they ever make as together and then people don't get any unhealthy dose of persona before the thing itself.

Members: Gimme D. Brown, Devin B. Brown, Brian H. Ma, + a chorus of ghosts and vapors + everybody.

Location: Binghamton, NY. It's sort of like a giant Civil War jacket full of mice, beached between the stinking sheen of two rivers. I wish I could say that I was born there, but we came to the place as intruders.

Formed: December 10, 1986 at Westchester Hospital + November 30, 1988 at Danbury Hospital. The Brown brothers have been in bands since they learned that it was cool to do in Pre-school. The first effort, Krippy Krappy and the Krippy Krappy show, survives only on a single challenging cassette, "Krap".
But this particular thing stands out as having more of our blood and hope in it than anything we've yet made together. It's changing rapidly, too rapidly to keep up with, but there's a joy in that constant de/rematerialization that's a large part of how we feel and want people to feel.
A lot of the rest of it has something to do with words like technoshamanism, ritual, catharsis. It's maybe not the most intellectually involved music we could be making, I don't think it's about that. I wouldn't want people to be listening for our technique, I'd rather people rolled around on the floor and shouted and sang and laughed and growled.

Releases: We try our best to release ourselves upon others.


>>>Ithaca Underground presents Marnie Stern, Summer People, The Dan Drake Ensemble, and BEES/// this coming Monday, October 4th at The Haunt.  6PM Doors, $10 adv/$12 dos, all ages!