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)

Chicago, math/punk/hardcore/skramz/etc quintet bring their complex tunes to Ithaca this Sunday, March 24th. 8PM $5





Locals BATISTA and Yakbak (MTMTM, ex-Beach Parade) will get things rolling.

After four years, Ithaca gets its wish!  This Sunday, December 21st, 2012 at The Haunt, BEHOLD... THE ARCTOPUS will perform their only show outside of Brooklyn this year and their first upstate NY show since 2008.

For those unfamiliar with the band, take a listen to their latest technical devastation:



The technical instrumental trio from Brooklyn play music inspired by both metal and 20th century classical with emphasis on dissonance, polyrhythms, and jazz-like elements.

Founded by Colin Marston (Krallice, Dysrhythmia, Gorguts) and Mike Lerner in 2001 and quickly became known as one of the most forward thinking and technical bands in the underground extreme metal community, being mentioned in the same breath as Cynic, Gorguts, Meshuggah, Voivod, and touring with the likes of Between The Buried and Me, The Dillinger Escape Plan, and Genghis Tron.

In 2009, the legendary Weasel Walter, composer and multi-instrumentalist most well-known for his work with The Flying Luttenbachers and the ugExplode imprint, joined BTA after original drummer Charles Zeleny left he group.

Behold... The Arctopus are perhaps most well-known for Colin Marston's use of a 12-string Warr guitar - a 12 string instrument played primarily by tapping that covers the range of guitar and bass.
____________

Our good friends Summer People will be releasing their latest full length Teamwork on vinyl this Friday, March 2nd at Spool Mfg in Binghamton, NY.

The group released Teamwork on CD in 2011 to fan acclaim and hit the road with Hotchacha, Zlam Dunk and more to support. Thanks to a wildly successful Kickstarter, the band was able to raise the funds to release the LP on their own Low Light records.

Summer People have performed on several Ithaca Underground events, including last December's BIG DAY IN with Parts & Labor and Algernon Cadwallader, supporting Marnie Stern, Tera Melos, as well as headlining.

Don't miss their headlining set at Spool Mfg.138 Baldwin Street, Johnson City, NY 13790 with friends HotChaCha, Old Tapes, and Fish Out with Anthony Cerretani painting throughout the night.

$8 | 6PM Doors | 7PM music starts

More info: http://www.facebook.com/events/256970164372014/

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?

Here's footage from Beach Parade's last show ever / Bubba's birthday show. Hope you were here for this one!  Check 'em out here or head to the IU YouTube page for HD.


Beach Parade - Two if it Tastes Good


Beach Parade - 67 Inches


Beach Parade


Beach Parade


Mouth To Mouth To Mouth 'Consensus on the Fences'


Mouth To Mouth To Mouth 'That Felt Weird Coming Out Of My Mouth' (New)


Mouth To Mouth To Mouth 'Mouth Parade'


Crime Pays


Crime Pays


Doll Eyes


Doll Eyes

Braveyoung (formerly known as Giant) hail from Greensboro, NC and compose beautifully lush and complex instrumental music for your aural pleasure. Their latest, We Are Lonely Animals and their preceding EP Song found release through the mighty The End Records (Sleepytime Gorilla Museum, Ulver, Goes Cube, etc).

They've had a busy 2011 so far with the release of their latest LP and a pending collaboration with The Body. Up next the troop is about to launch on a Northeast US/Canadian tour with our friends in Rosetta. On their way back home, Ithaca Underground is presenting an absolutely FREE show with this fantastic five-piece in celebration of Bubba (IU main-man) Crumrine's birthday and the final performance of local favorites, Beach Parade. BY bassist and co-founding member Zack Jones takes a few minutes before they hit the road for some quick Q&A.

IU: For the uninitiated, could you give our readers a bit of background on how you, your brother, and Kyle (and Derrek at the time) all met and started writing music together as what would become Braveyoung?

Zack: Isaac and I have been playing together since we were children. We grew up in a small farmtown in rural NC, fortunately immersed in a very musical family. Kyle and Derrick were living in greensboro when Isaac and approached them about working with us on some stuff. We had already written what would become the red opus, and some other stuff we later discarded.

IU: When did Ben come into the picture?

Zack: Rodney, who had been working with us during the recording of 'song' and some tours following that, decided to have a family.  Ben is a long time friend, and he was over what he was involved in musically at the time, so after continuing for quite some time as a four piece, we asked him to help us flesh out some bigger ideas.

IU: Earlier this spring the band released "We Are Lonely Animals" What are some of your favorite moments of the LP - ether of the process or the composition itself? 

Zack: There have always been long drags of time between records with braveyoung, mainly because it is expensive to produce a record the way we feel like a record should be produced. We had been stuck on a collection of recordings that over 2 years of production, had thousands and thousands of dollars invested in it, only to be discarded. It was an intensely confusing time for us, and when Derrick decided to leave the band after 5 weeks in Europe, it gave us the opportunity to just completely move on from that material. The writing was, personally, one of the most intimate and favorable experiences of my life. We also got to record live, which is something we always felt would benefit us. We were very excited to finally be able to put to record what we had been doing live for the past few years. Trying to compose some pieces that had a severe amount of weight to them without being "heavy", in a common sense of the word. I really like how quiet the record is.

IU: Also earlier in the year, you all collaborated with The Body on a studio project - any updates on when the world might get to hear what came of the sessions?

Hope you made it out to this one! Tuesday night punk shows!  The Queers tore through an absurd amount of songs in very brief periods of time so most of their clips have multiple tacks in them. If you'd rather watch these in HD, just hop on over to http://www.youtube.com/user/IthacaUnderground for all of these clips and about 300 other.


THE QUEERS


THE QUEERS


THE QUEERS


WTF is this insect/bug/thing found during The Front's set?


THE FRONT


THE FRONT


FIGHT A SCARY DOG


FIGHT A SCARY DOG


FIGHT A SCARY DOG


BEACH PARADE


BEACH PARADE

The DVD of last December's BIG DAY IN is here! Featuring life footage from Soul Control, Bridge & Tunnel, Beach Parade, Why The Wires, Oak & Bone, Like Wolves, Ghost Robot Ninja Bear, Speak Daggers, Zona Mexicana, Cattle Drums, Ailments, and Bright Shiny Objects.



We're talking multi-track board & room audio and multi-angle video from all the bands involved plus bonus mp3s and photo gallery - for just $10.

The release will be available first this Saturday, May 7th at BIG DAY IN with Tombs, Woe, Ehnahre, Sulaco, Night Owls, Oak & Bone, Lux Carentes, Sepsis, Inerds, Mouth To Mouth To Mouth, Hiroshima Vacation, and Sun Spells - we aim to record this one as well so don't miss out!

The disc will be available at all Ithaca Underground shows after BIG DAY IN, at Angry Mom Records in Ithaca, and via Hex Records. Keep in touch as we add additional ways of obtaining this momentous disc.

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

Many local bands that Ithaca Underground has worked with over the last few years have released DIY demos which have found comfy homes on the shelves at Pirate House HQ. We'll always enjoy them and they'll be a good glimpse at the bands we were enjoying during these years.


Recently, however, there has been a handful of bands who have been looking to take their recorded sound to the next level, in an attempt to better demonstrate their full capabilities and sonic prowess, as they would live.

Today, we take a look at one of studios in the area which has been a cornerstone to the overall CNY music community for decades: Pyramid Sound Studios. We discuss the studio, recent projects, and a studios role in today's ever changing music industry with engineer/producer Phil Abbott.

IU: Can you give us a brief history of Pyramid Sound Studios?

Phil: In the 70's, Alex Perialas' father was running a talent agency which would book bands across the East Coast.  As far as I know, it was illegal for clubs to book their own bands without an agency.  I may be wrong.  But, anyway, the studio was built alongside the talent agency.  A few people cycled through as engineers before Alex decided to just run it himself.  So, juggling schooling at IC and full-time studio work, Alex started engineering and has been the main guy since.  He's worked with greats such as Anthrax, Testament, SOD and even had the likes of Ginuine and Missy Elliot come through.  He has also had various engineers/producers working out of the studio, and that's where I come in.

IU: What's your recording & music background?

Phil: I've been a cellist since I was 5 and took up tuba and guitar in middle school.  In middle school, Pete "McAwesome" and I formed a band with two friends of ours.  We didn't really play out much, but we played all originals in that bedroom, and it was the foundation of my interest in recording.  The first recording I was a part of was done with a single mic hung from the ceiling with our amps spaced around it to create the 'mix'.  The medium was an Aiwa tape/cd/radio boombox.  Our singer/guitarist would hit the record button with his toe after counting off.  We even punched in this way.  In high school, the band pitched in and bought a tascam studio-in-the-box thing-a-ma-gig and I ended up buying it off of them.  It worked great and we could record multiple tracks!  My dad got me Recording for Dummies and I recorded some demos using it as a reference.  In the coming years, I got a BM in Sound Recording from Ithaca College with a focus in cello.  At school I abused my studio privileges with any band I could find that would come in.  This is the time I valued the most--just trying again and again to make good sounding recordings.  Learning how to use the gear, deal with people and generally what works and what doesn't.

IU: How did you come to be working at Pyramid?

Band name: Mouth To Mouth To Mouth

Location: Ithaca, NY

Members:
Gabe Millman: drum gits & percagits
Corey Fox Mahaney: gits & vix
Bubba Crumrine: bassgits & vix
Peter Pillardy gits & bits

Formed: Fall 2010. About a year and a half ago Corey, Peter, and Gabe first discussed starting another band together because initially they were all in Makeshift together. More and more bands were formed but the idea kept lingering between the three of them. Corey mentioned the idea to Bubba around the time he was contemplating starting up a band more akin to his first Ithaca project, Bazaar of Guillemots, after playing some of the material for friends Sleep For The Nightlife. Corey and Gabe started writing what became "Open Hand, Insert Mouth" in August of this year while Peter was in Poland. The three who were in Ithaca started jamming while Peter started learning the material via Skype. We played a secret show in November and people said we were smokin'.

Releases: Nothing! We're on the face and the my though. Three tracks on each but they're different.

Sounds like: Mathpunk... a bit of an oxymoron?
Feels like: You're a spool of thread tied to an antennae of a car heading a high speed chase, rapidly unraveling.
Tastes like: Kiss your Mom and your Dad at the same time.
Smells like: Teen spirit! Wait.. that's taken. Naked men. Maybe we should have used that for sounds like.

Features members of: Speak Daggers, Ballistic Shit Circus, Makeshift, Fight A Scary Dog, Genital Holograms, Brian!, Angry Furniture, DAADs,

Upcoming shows: Friday, Jan 7 with Beach Parade, Longitude, Cattle Drums, Sirs, and Johnny Lucas at GreenStar Annex. 8PM $5. We've got a show coming in Feb but we can't talk about it yet.