Cut Copy

Tuesday, March 25

Not often does music take up a physical presence within us. When it does, we become one with it, and it moves us from the inside out. Whatever formula produces this unique phenomenon must have been patented by Cut Copy. Psychedelic, trance-like states are their specialty, and the natural result of the Melbourne quartet’s efforts. It all started in 2001 with DJ Dan Whitford, but the sound of Cut Copy could not be contained for long. Soon it infected Tim Hoey, Mitchell Scott and Ben Browning. They then found themselves a part of a band with magical powers, one with the ability to transport listeners across time and space. It’s doubtful that anybody under the influence of Cut Copy can actually feel sadness or concern, let alone their own feet on the ground. Whether it’s a sunny day in a rolling field, a vivid dream scene, the middle of an acid trip or a crowded dance floor, the blend of each member’s art background and untouchable electro-psych power can get you there. The substance-induced feeling that is a common result of hearing Cut Copy’s sound is no mere coincidence. Through the cultural practices that develop in and around clubs and immersion in Melbourne’s subterranean dance community, the guys discovered a portal to UK’s acid house movement. This Grammy-nominated export will soon be accompanied by Canadian artist Jessy Lanza at Town Ballroom this Tuesday (March 25). Her refreshing, if not disorienting, cocktail of R&B and 1980’s dance music produces strong and clever pop songs, sure to get you thinking, and moving. Although strong on their own, the combination of the two will likely result in an all night dance party. So take a nap. Rest up. Soon the synthesizers will be on, the bodies will be swaying and reality will become blurred.

- samantha wulff

7pm Town Ballroom, 681 Main St. (852-3900 / townballroom.com) $22 advance, $26 day of show

Thursday - Saturday, March 20 - 22

Iliza Schlesinger

IIf you’re stuck with broadcast television and ever find yourself drunkenly flipping through the channels at 2am, you’ve probably landed on the dating show Excused. At first glance, it looks exactly like your generic dating game show—and in many ways, it is. If it weren’t for the #excused hashtag in the corner, you might think you were watching Blind Date (or Dismissed or Next or Room Raiders or The 5th Wheel or Elimidate or... you get the idea). But if you stay on the show for more than a few minutes, you immediately see why Excused is such a departure from the rest of reality hookup shows: the host is f’ing funny. Iliza Shlesinger, winner of the sixth season of NBC’s Last Comic Standing (and the only female to ever win the show), is quick on her feet. Rather than being fed lines from cue cards, Shlesinger essentially plays the role of both host and audience. She says what you’re thinking, but funnier. In this way, Excused is the first show of its kind to develop a format where the audience can relate to someone on it. Last year, she released her first stand-up special, War Paint, on Netflix. This year, she’s filming another one, as well as another season of Excused. She’s also working on a one-woman show based on her hilarious blog Unnecessary Items: A Catalogue of the Absurd (ilizashaunch.tumblr.com). She’s currently on tour, honing material for her next special, and is performing three shows Thursday through Saturday (March 20-22) at Helium Comedy Club. Check our website for an exclusive interview with Shlesinger.

- jonny moran

Thursday: 8pm, Friday & Saturday: 7:30pm and 10pm Helium Comedy Club, 30 Mississippi St. (853-1211 / heliumcomedy.com) $15-$27

Friday, March 21

Cosmos featuring Mike Parker

It’s no surprise that techno producer and UB fine art teacher Mike Parker has released his only two full length albums roughly a dozen years apart. That’s because Parker’s productions are painstakingly detailed. The artist statement for his latest album, Lustrations, released on the German techno label Prologue, explains that his subtle, bubbling minimalist techno is “designed to be timeless” and “produced to be played in techno temples.” Each bump, each clap is almost ritualistically placed within the bassy ether of these hypnotic tracks. Though Lustrations came over a decade after his debut full length, Dispatches, he put out plenty of other music meanwhile by himself and other artists on his own label, Geophone. Releases on Geophone have included lauded techno producers like Shifted, who remixed Parker’s wobbling banger “Mnajdra;” Voices From The Lake, a production duo that includes Italian producer Donato Dozzy who put out one of the most critically acclaimed techno records of 2013 in Plays Bee Mask; and Parker’s own whirling techno tracks like his latest “Full Moon in Winter,” off of Geophone’s 20th release. Parker played last year’s Movement Festival in Detroit, a three day electronic music event that included everyone from techno pioneers Derrick May, Kevin Saunderson, and Carl Craig; underground names like Moodymann, Mala, and Onra; to big names like Moby, Squarepusher and Nicolas Jaar. Now he’s on board with Paul Kuenzi of Igloo, who will present Cosmos, a space-themed equinox techno party this Friday (March 21) at the Wastelands (700 Main St. 2nd floor), featuring support from Syracuse’s Diskomaster, and Buffalo’s Gene Linet, J.P. Freedom, and Ryan Liddell. BYOB.

- cory perla

9pm-3am The Wastelands, 700 Main Street $15 advance, $20 day of show, 21+

Friday, March 21

T. Mills

On the surface T. Mills may remind you of a guy who could have jammed with Blink-182 or Green Day—more ink visible than skin, and gauges so wide that King Tutankhamen would have raised a brow. But underneath this rapper’s punkish appearance is an artist whose demeanor runs too deep to pin down. Refusing to cement himself to one genre, T. Mills has absorbed so many different forms of music in his 24-years, that he simply can’t and won’t exclude certain sounds because they don’t fit in with genre standards. He lays down tracks that show off his rap skills alongside fiery electronic beats. In 2011 he won the attention of Columbia Records after releasing an independent studio album a year earlier and showing off his raw talent on the Vans Warped Tour circuit. T’s latest EP, a smooth flowing, high-gloss pack of tracks titled All I Wanna Do, gives us a taste for his major debut album that drops later this year, and we can confidently deduce that it’s going to be a game changer. T. Mills is an ever-evolving artist. With each new release listeners best drop their cynicism and pre-conceptions at the door because T. Mills is an all-out original who is creating music to satisfy his passion—not to achieve baller status (although he’ll gladly accept both). T. Mills will perform the Waiting Room on Friday (March 21)

- samantha wulff

7pm The Waiting Room, 334 Delaware Ave (852-3900 / waitingroombuffalo.com) $15 advance, $20 day of show

Saturday, March 22

MS MR

Faded glamor is all part of MS MR’s dark charm. They opt for beauty through weirdness, a concept that swirls around them as thick as their music’s atmospherics. Their funerary cadence and reverberated vocals produce a chilling graveyard ambiance. A tune that vaguely resembles what you’d hear wafting out of a haunted house, yet with a touch of vintage elegance. Lizzy Plapinger’s noir-ish vocals blend with Max Hershenow’s warped and cavernous instrumentals to form a collection of flossy eulogies that operate in the pop world but aren’t entirely of that world. They’ve created an apocalyptic pop world—one that aims for a new approach to the alt-pop form without sacrificing accessibility. Their brooding, rhythmically strong tracks fall halfway between the poutiness of Lana Del Rey and the hyperactive rapture of Florence and the Machine. The male-female duo aspect certainly gives them an edge, but it’s their chemistry on stage that sucks in the crowd. Lizzy’s vocals are shaded brittle, confident or spooky as called for, while Hershenow’s ability to write music is paranormal. He’s matched perfectly by Lizzy’s melty tone that at times sounds as though she’s in some type of melodic fugue state. The chance to see them lay down their raw talent live is an unparalleled opportunity. MSMR will perform at the Town Ballroom on Saturday (March 22).

- kellie powell

8pm Town Ballroom, 681 Main St. (852-3900 / townballroom.com) $18 advance, $20 day of show

Monday, March 24

Bethany Moore: From Buffalo to Broadway

On Monday (March 24) at 8pm, Second Generation Theatre is hosting a special evening of song and stories with Broadway’s Bethany Moore. A 2007 graduate of UB’s musical theater program, Bethany has gone on to appear on Broadway in Spiderman and the Tony Award winning Pippin, in which she went on as Catherine. Bethany also appeared in the Central Park revival of Into the Woods, standing by for Donna Murphy as The Witch. She toured in Cats and A Chorus Line, including to Shea’s. She has also appeared in The Producers as Ulla, and in The Drowsy Chaperone as Janet. A statuesque redheaded dancer with the charm of Gwen Verdon, in Buffalo, Moore will be remembered for playing Hope in the MusicalFare production of Urinetown. The performance will take place at the New Phoenix Theatre, 95 Johnson Park. For tickets call 716-864-0938 or visit www.secondgenerationtheatre.com.

- tony chase

8pm New Phoenix Theatre, 95 Johnson Park (864-0938 / secondgenerationtheatre.com) $25

Thursday, March 27

Bobby Bradford Frode Gjerstad Quartet

Listening to the music of trumpeter Bobby Bradford, you might mistake his fluid jazz maneuvers for something he’s written down on paper, performed, and practiced hundreds of times. With a musical memory like Bradford’s though, composing is simply a matter of adding lips to brass. The sensational 79-year-old, born in Cleveland, Mississippi, is able to instantaneously create complex and elongated solos that call to mind greats like Sonny Rollins and Joe Henderson. Now, as the leader of an international band of equally talented musicians, which includes Norwegian saxophone player Frode Gjerstad; American drummer Frank Rosaly; and another Norwegian, bassist Ingebrigt Haker-Flaten, who some might remember as leader of Young Mothers— the freak-jazz outfit that kicked off Hallwalls’ 2014 concert series—Bradford and company have taken their improvistaional free-jazz stylings to another level. Catch the Bobby Bradford/Frode Gjerstad Quartet at Hallwalls Contemporary Arts Center next Thursday (March 27).

- cory perla

8pm Hallwalls Contemporary Art Center, 341 Delaware Ave. (854-1694 / hallwalls.org) FREE ($10-15 suggested donation)