Matthew Dear

Thursday, November 8

Producer Matthew Dear is quickly becoming an icon of American dance music, which is funny, because his latest record, Beams, is as much rock as it is house, as much David Bowie as it is Juan MacLean. His iconicism is forged by his thick, almost monotone voice, his slicked back, jet black hair, his Commes des Garçons style, and the deeply focused electronic production of pop/rock tracks on his albums like 2010’s Black City and this year’s Beams. Dear seems to exist in a perpetual beam of neon club light, always half masked by shadows as he sings affective and darkly sexy songs like “You Put A Smell On Me” and “Her Fantasy.” The latter track is the opening song of Beams and the first single, featuring a campy, surrealistic video full of dissolving scenes, neon colors and overlapping layers of images, which acts as a perfect entrance point to this mysterious and emotional record. He didn’t need to, but he put Detroit on the musical map once again with his highly successful record label, Ghostly International, which he formed in 1999 and is home to acts like Com Truise, Phantogram, Tyco, Shigeto, and more. Dear comes to Buffalo for an intimate performance at Soundlab next Thursday (Nov 8) with support from Light Asylum. The first time I heard electro-goth duo Light Asylum’s debut self-titled album I was blown away by lead singer Shannon Funchess gnarly, aggressive vocals on songs like “Pope Will Roll” and “IPC” and synth/drum-machinist Bruno Coviello’s Trent Reznor-esque production. Their live show has proven to be even more intense, adding just one more reason to check out this show next week. —cory perla

9pm Soundlab, 110 Pearl St. (440-5907 / bigorbitgallery.org/soundlab) $15

Friday, November 2

Consider the Source

Close your eyes. Let the sounds paint a picture and only focus on what’s developing. It’s a journey listening to a Consider the Source song and each one will take you to a different place. The three-piece group creates an immersive sound that you could easily get lost in. There really isn’t a genre that captures everything this group does in one word. Their beautiful mix of funk, Sci-Fi, and Middle Eastern scales somehow blends seamlessly with the heavy grooves the band’s low-end provides. It is a tonal landscape that few bands have the chops or vision to pull off, and that only begins to describe what your ears are treated to. The instrumental band from New York City formed in 2004 and continues to explore new territory and mature musically with each year that passes. This Friday (Nov 2) the band will be transforming Nietzsche’s and taking the audience on an aural journey. Opening for the band will be Timbre Coup, a progressive jam band from Albany, and Axis of Evil who will certainly add to the night. —jeremiah shea

9pm Nietzsche’s, 248 Allen St. (886-8539 / nietzsches.com) $12 advance, $15 day of show

Friday, November 2

Hear Me Roar! A Benefit for the YWCA

The YWCA of WNY is an excellent example of the sort of social services agency that works to knit together the fabric of our community at its fraying edges. The YWCA focuses on women in need, housing for seniors, homeless, and victims of domestic violence; and drop-in centers, daycare, and after-school programs for children, among other programs. The agency delivers these programs, as a rule, quietly, without drawing attention to itself. But this Friday (Nov 2), at Benjaman Art Gallery, the YWCA and its supporters—including more than 40 women artists and the gallery owners—will let out a mighty roar, at the opening reception for a benefit exhibit. The participating artists—painters, sculptors, jewelry-makers—are donating some or all of the proceeds of sales of their work in the show to the YWCA (Among the works for sale: the above print by the late Lenora Tilton of Buffalo’s grain elevators). The reception coincides with Allentown’s First Friday gallery walk, and the show runs through December 2, the heart of the holiday shopping season. Perfect. —geoff kelly

6pm to 10pm The Benjaman Gallery, 419 Elmwood Ave. (thebenjamangallery.com) Free

Friday, November 2

Mick Hayes

From the mouthwatering pan American grill, to the wedding receptions held frequently, to the 57 rooms all equipped with a 40’’ flat screen television and high speed internet, The Hotel Lafayette bolster’s good reason to come and check the place out on any normal business day. Friday, however, there is going to be something different about this seven story steel frame and concrete building and its French Renaissance style architecture. Mick Hayes and his band are proud to release their new album Café Artistry, an R&B compilation, with an emphasis the blues, in their hometown before rolling it out across the country. Hayes was given a guitar at an early age by his parents, both of whom were also musically inclined, and soon thereafter rose up in the ranks of Buffalo local talent. He would go on to win countless Buffalo Music Awards, including the Buffalo Music Awards Hall of Achievement in 2010. He has opened for bands from the Doobie Brothers to Peter Frampton. “My guitar connects my fingers to my soul,” Hayes says. The new album is a great depiction of the journey Mick has been on in the last few years of his life and deeply reflects the evolution of the man and his music. The release party is Friday (Nov 2) at the Hotel Lafayette. Mick Hayes Band will feature six very talented individuals that evening, including special guest Bobby Militello on saxophone. —brett deneve

8pm Hotel Lafayette, 391 Washington St. (mickhayesband.com) $30, or $75 VIP

Friday & Saturday, November 2 & 3

Ron Hawkins and the Do Good Assassins

Buffalo has always been a sort of second home to Torontonian singer/songwriter and painter Ron Hawkins. While cemented by the favored status of his legendary, long-standing band Lowest Of the Low, Hawkins has nurtured a large following here beyond the Low with over 15 years of music. His latest rock endeavor is The Do Good Assassins (aka bandmates Steve Singh, Derrick Brady, Jesse Capon, and Alex McMaster) who are supporting a brand new album, Rome. It’s a 20 track collection of country-lilting rock and pop bearing Hawkins’ usual heart-on-his-sleeve sensibility along with his everyman sardonic wit and wisdom. Hawkins and the band are celebrating Rome with two nights in Buffalo at Mohawk Place and support slots shift each night with a couple of the Queen City’s finest: Friday (Nov 2) it’s the rustbelt troubadour-ing of Jeremy Hoyle and Saturday (Nov 3) sees the ebulient powerpoppers Roger Bryan and the Orphans. —donny kutzbach

8pm Mohawk Place, 47 E. Mohawk St. (465-2368 / themohawkplace.com) $15 advance, $17 day of show

Saturday, November 3

Holy Fuck

Don’t worry, Holy Fuck aren’t as offensive to the ears as their name would imply; it’s quite the opposite actually. Their live show on the other hand might make you say those very words. This band from Toronto does live electronic music in a unique way. No computers, no loops, no spliced tracks, just far-out phasers shooting out of delay pedals, casio keyboards, toy ray-guns, and some kind of film synchronizer-turned-synthesizer device that keyboardist Brian Borcherdt manipulates to sound like the scratching of a turntable. Their latest album, Latin, eases you in with the slow ambience of the opening track “MD” before turning on the jets for jam-disco track, and album highlight, “Red Lights.” “Stay Lit” gets emotional with melodic synth lines and “Silva & Grimes” moves into Battles territory with soaring chopped up keyboards and driving drums. Latin is just as impressive as their 2007 record LP, which scored this Canadian band a nomination for Alternative Album of the Year at the 2008 Juno Awards. Holy Fuck comes to Soundlab this Saturday (Nov 3) with support from local experimental rock experts Lazlo Hollyfeld. —cory perla; photo by ben gardner

9pm Soundlab, 110 Pearl St. (440-5907 / bigorbitgallery.org/soundlab) $13 advance, $15 day of show

Monday, November 5

Big Gigantic

Dynamic livetronica duo Big Gigantic, from Colorado, put the big in big room. They’ve made a name for themselves in the world of dance music by incorporating the sultry and soulful sounds of the saxophone with drums and synths. Heavy bass-driven bangers and catchy high frequency beats make for one hell of a live performance, not to mention their mesmerizing light show. Classically trained at the Manhattan School of Music with a masters degree in jazz, Dominic Lalli (saxophone, production) and drummer Jeremy Salken both have an extensive background in the foundations of making music. Leaving no genre behind the duo infuses hip-hop, jazz, house, and dubstep into one uplifting sound that leaves their listeners smiling ear to ear. Since forming in 2008, they have released four albums including Nocturnal, which reached the number two spot on iTunes top electronic dance charts. Tracks like “Eyes Closed” feature their talent with jazzy melodies and impressive sax solos. Like so many other rising EDM producers from Boulder, Big Gigantic continue to make people dance around the world with their provocative sound. There seems to be no stopping them any time soon with their popularity in the festival circuit at playing at huge festivals like Camp Bisco X, Ultra, Bonnaroo, and Electric Forest. Big Gigantic hits up every major city in America on their “Uprising Tour,” and they’ll make a pit stop at the Town Ballroom on Monday (Nov 5), featuring Crizzly and special guest Papi Chulo. —jessica reinhardt

7pm Town Ballroom, 681 Main St. (852-3900 / townballroom.com) $17 advance

Wednesday, November 7

Sum 41

“SUM 41” arranged on a Lite Brite screen is used as the backdrop for a venue that was once someone’s bedroom floor but is now a pulsating stage for four dolls with instruments. Each band member’s face has been printed depicting various emotions and attached to the doll’s heads. The concert to ensue would be a be all and end all for action figure battle royals and this is coming from a person who has been re-enacting world war two with toy soldiers since the age of four. Celebrity dolls that make a star appearance, to name a few, are Gene Simmons, the Osbourne’s, Angus Young, Snoop Dogg, Metallica, Marilyn Manson, and Jesus, the last two of whom share a dance twenty-nine seconds before the video’s close. “The Hell Song,” being the first track, sets the tone for the rest of Sum 41’s 2002 album Does This Look Infected? The cover art for the album is of a man, from the neck up, gashed on the right side of his forehead as well as the opposite cheek; bleeding without any sign of emotion on his face other than slight confusion. It looks as if he is pointing at part of the forehead gash. Off in the lower corner a woman looks as if she is about to utter a shriek of terror at the sight of the man. Plenty more screaming will be taking place at Town Ballroom on Wednesday (Nov 7) when Sum 41 celebrates the 10th anniversary of Does This Look Infected?. From action figures giving each other the finger to dodging bullets in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sum 41 goes above and beyond the musical minimum required for their lifestyles, not to mention “41” tattoo’s on the back of their arms. Special guest IAmDynamite open the show. —brett deneve

7pm Town Ballroom, 681 Main St. (852-3900 / townballroom.com) $20 advance

Thursday, November 8

The Men

The Men are one of the more fascinating groups to come out of the punk and DIY movement of the last five years. Mining dark psychedelia and fuzz drenched droning, the Men evoke a sound that alternates between frightening and blissed out. Formed in Brooklyn in 2008, the band initially gave away self recorded cassettes through their website and later released two full length LPs on their own label. The second of which, Immaculada, was an eye opening wave of distortion that brought to mind Psychocandy-era Jesus And Mary Chain and Isn’t Anything-era My Bloody Valentine. Recently reissued, Immaculada is a record that if you listen closely enough, you might hear the pop songs that hide within. Subsequently signing to the ultra hip Sacred Bones in 2010, the Men recorded Leave Home and explored a much darker terrain. Like the bad part of the trip, noise freakouts and repetitive rhythm drones collide with desperate howls of confusion and searching. Earning almost universal critical acclaim for Leave Home, the band released Open Your Heart earlier this year. Incorporating new found elements of country, surf music, and vocal harmonies, the Men take their inherent Sonic Youth, Neu and Flipper influences to create something uniquely their own. More intricately arranged and infinitely more diverse, Open Your Heart is an art-damaged masterpiece. Not for the faint of heart. The Men perform at Mohawk Place next Thursday (Nov 8). Opening are Plates and The Johns. —bill nehill

7pm Mohawk Place, 47 E. Mohawk St. (465-2368 / themohawkplace.com) $10 advance $13 day of show