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See You There!

Artvoice's weekly round-up of featured events, including our editor's pick for the week: four picks from The Infringement Festival which begins Thursday, July 24th.

If you haven't already, be sure to check out our full events calendar on-line for complete event listings, a location guide to find your way about the city, restaurant reviews, and more.



Four More Infringement Shows

Tuesday, July 29 - Saturday, August 2

The Infringement Festival begins tonight. Last week we featured over a dozen Infringement shows, including the Opening Ceremonies tonight at Nietzsche’s. Here are four more acts to check out this year: Liaison has endured a difficult adventure to create the structure of piano bowed with fishing line to create music that is controlled by the performer strung up to the piano. Megan Grace Beugger, the brains behind Liaison, has written music that is very “visually informed,” and says that this creation was a natural progression for her. Prepare to be absorbed by the coalition of movement and sound as you feast your eyes on this captivating device. See Liaison on Tuesday (July 29) at Hallwalls (341 Delaware Ave.). Brooklyn-based duo Graph Rabbit (pictured) brings an experimental treat of finger picked guitar, analog synth and the striking vocals of Austin Donohue’s to Infrignement this year. Heading overseas for a tour in the fall, lets ship them off right with a last Buffalo-styled hurrah. See them at Karpeles North Hall (220 North St.) for Etheareal Thursday, next Thursday (July 31). Folk artist Allysen Callery has made her very first visit to Buffalo to participate in Infringement. This Rhode Island native tours Europe yearly and was chosen by NPR’s Bob Boilen as one of 40 “Intriguing Unknown Artists.” Callery said that her music comes from the shire; if you are a lover of magic and in tune with intricate and rare gifts of life, you’ll want to seek her out. Catch her at the Ninth Ward (341 Delaware Ave.) on Friday (Aug 1) and elsewhere throughout the festival. Intrigued by the affair of movement and sound, Finally, self-proclaimed nature worshipers, Lobo Marino return to Infringement for the third time bringing exotic and homemade instruments with a sound inspired by world and American folk music. Spanish for Sea lions, “Lobo Marino” comes fully equipped with a self-created mythology born from their fascination with the Sea lions they watched beg for scraps during their time living in Valdivia, a small coastal village in southern Chile. You can catch this band at Backyard Saturday (95 Trinity Place), Saturday (Aug 2). See the Infringement Festival insert in this paper for a full schedule or check out last week’s issue of Artvoice for our extended coverage of #Infringe14 events.

- sara ali

Various Locations

Friday, July 25

Matthew Good

Outspoken geopolitical views and inflammatory lyrics only serve to charm Matthew Good’s fan base. In the late 1990’s, he led the Matthew Good Band, whose high-octane indie rock dominated Canadian radio before dissolving in 2002. Perhaps an early indication of the innovation and biting social commentary that has become Matthew Good’s signature was his penning of the phrase “first world problems” in his 1995 track, “Omissions of the Omen.” 20 years and 11 albums into his music career, Matthew Good remains a brusquely outspoken social critic and one of Canada’s more prolific musicians. His solo career has been marked by darkly introspective, often experimental music that is considerably less radio-friendly than the earlier rock that defined the Matthew Good Band. His music is at times acoustic, at other times embracing lush orchestration, but ultimately moving away from the earlier days of guitar and drum driven rock anthems. However, predictability isn’t a characteristic associated with Matthew Good; his 2013 album, Arrows Of Desire, rediscovered some of the colors from his 1990’s musical palate, and ultimately proved that Good hadn’t lost his ability to write flat-out enjoyable rock music. In concert, he plays a healthy mix of old and new material. The absence of audio mixing adds a raw sense of immediacy to Good’s politically charged subject matter. Matthew Good will play at the Town Ballroom on Friday (July 25).

- kellie powell

7pm Town Ballroom, 681 Main St. (852-3900 / townballroom.com) $30 advance, $35 day of show

Friday & Saturday, July 25 & 26

Summer Scum III

If you want to experience a massacre of distortion, static, tape manipulation, and circuit bending cacophony, consider this weekend a treat. The third installment of Summer Scum is beginning on Friday (July 25) at the Foundry. The sprawling two-day event will feature 15 minute sets from over fifty experimental acts hailing from all over the East Coast with names likes Total Abuse, Pleasure Island, VWLS, Taskmaster, Hive Mind, and many more in what will be be less like an ordinary festival and more like a conference of noise music, or at least what’s become of it. Imagine a microphone getting too close to a speaker and making out a hailstorm of grating textures and composition from that sound: that’s more or less what the warehouse space will play host to this weekend. It’ll be $20 if you want to attend for a day or $35 for a festival pass. Apologize to your eardrums in advance and enter the pandemonium.

- jeanette chin

3pm The Foundry, 298 Northampton St. (summerscumnoisefest.bandcamp.com) $20 per day or $35 for both days

Saturday, July 26

1, 2, 3 Whiteout

The more-or-less monthly Little Red Booking film series continues with 1,2,3 Whiteout: The End of the Light Age, by experimental filmmaker James June Schneider. Veteran European actor Lou Castel, who has starred in films by Wim Wenders, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Olivier Assayas and many others, plays an inventor working on a technology to stymie artificial light and return the world to a state of even cycles. His experimental subject is Véronique (Karine Adrover), a rootless young woman whose brother works for a government agency that wants to repress his work. Schneider has made documentaries about such musicians as The Make-Up and Panico, and is presently working on a chronicle of the early years of the DC punk scene. He is known as a vampler, using video-audio sampling for live performances. This screening will be followed with a performance by local electronic musicians UVB76.

- m. faust

7pm Squeaky Wheel, 712 Main St. (884-7172 / squeaky.org) $7

Sunday, July 27

The Fray

In 2005, you couldn’t turn on the radio without hearing one of the Fray’s two hit singles, “Over My Head (Cable Car)” and “How To Save A Life.” The usage of these songs on television shows and commercials (e.g., an episode of Scrubs and the season finale of Grey’s Anatomy) not only gave the Fray the popularity surge they needed to make their mark on the international pop-rock scene, but also made these tracks culturally indicative of the year 2005. Since their formation in 2002, the Denver-based four-piece has forged a path lined with a deeply emotive style. Now, over a decade later, their sad tones and soft lyrics are shifting into more upbeat and energetic pop songs that don’t sacrifice their hot-blooded lyricism or Issac Slade’s breathy vocals and deft piano work. That classic, earnest style is subdued on their latest album, Helios, proving that they’re capable of spinning that solemnness into uplifting, Coldplay-esque pop rock. This quality is sharpened throughout, but with a bit of edge to keep things from descending into schmaltz. They’re approaching a point of musical maturity where we start to hear their versatility and where they make it quite clear that their hit singles in 2005 won’t be their capstone. The Fray will play at Niagara River Rocks on Sunday (July 27).

- kellie powell

2pm Gratwick Park, North Tonawanda (niagarariverrocks.com) $10 -$40

Tuesday, July 29

Sammy Hagar

The Red Rocker is coming. Former Van Halen vocalist Sammy Hagar will be bringing his tour, “A Journey Through the History of Rock,” to Artpark on Tuesday (July 29). The tour, presented by Hagar’s new drink Sammy’s Beach Bar Rum, will highlight the different phases of Hagar’s musical career. “What we’re playing is my history from Montrose to solo to Van Halen to solo to Chickenfoot,” Hagar told the St. Lewis Post-Dispatch. “It’s my dream set list.” There will also be a good share of Led Zeppelin songs with Jason Bonham, son of the late Zeppelin drummer John Bonham, on drums. Playing bass is Michael Anthony, formerly of Van Halen, and the Wabos’ Vic Johnson on guitar. It’s worth noting that last week, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin was fined $154 for going 63 in a 45, but she told TMZ that it wasn’t her fault because Hagar’s “I Can’t Drive 55” was playing on the radio at the time. It’s just a good thing she didn’t blame it on his rum.

- jonny moran

6:30pm Artpark, 450 South 4th St., Lewiston (754-4375 / artpark.net) $12-$27

Thursday, July 31

Sheila E

Multi-talented musician Sheila E will wow the Buffalo masses on Thursday (July 31) at Canalside for a free concert. Rare vocal sounds and years of practice on the drums/percussion led Sheila E to many impressive collaborations with musicians such as Prince, Lionel Richie, George Duke, Ringo Starr, and (even) Beyoncé. Her percussion contributions remain on some of Prince’s most recognized records including “Purple Rain” and “Sign O’ the Times,” while she also served as his writer and musical director. Her 1984 hit “The Glamorous Life” peaked at #7 on the hot 100, with smooth dance moves that also climbed high on the charts. It is no surprise that Sheila E’s R&B, funk, and Latin jazz sounds still play on. After you give “The Glamorous Life” another listen, be sure to play “A Love Bizarre” and “The Belle of St. Mark,” two Sheila E classics that will have anyone barging to the front row.

- hannah epstein

6pm to 10pm Canalside, 1 Naval Park Cove (canalsidebuffalo.com) free