Joe Machi
Thursday: 8:00pm / Friday & Saturday: 7:30pm & 10pm / Helium Comedy Club, 30 Mississippi St. (853-1211 / Heliumcomedy.com) $15-$31
On last year’s season of NBC’S “Last Comic Standing,” Joe Machi immediately demonstrated that he was among the top comedians, if not the one to beat. Sample line: “Have you guys ever noticed that black people [... long pause ...] and white people are the same? ‘Cause if you haven’t, you are racist.” He was both goofy and fearless, evidenced by his line about the only good use for the N-word being his band password because he would never ever in a million years say that out loud, even if someone mugged him and demanded the code. Then, as he grew more comfortable being on a nationally televised stand-up competition, something off happened: Judge Keenon Ivory Wayans complained that he liked the Pennsylvania native better when he seemed visibly nervous. “I felt a little frustrated because folks always let other things get in the way of the jokes,” said Machi, who ended up in fourth place in the competition. “I was nervous at first; I hadn’t done theater shows before, and it was new and exciting. But by the time he made the comment, I’d had cameras around me constantly for weeks, and it kind of wore off. But it didn’t’ mean the jokes were any different. Sometimes people will say, ‘Oh, I don’t like his voice.’ It’s like, that’s OK if you don’t like my voice. To me, the though of the joke is the important part.” Machi does have a unique voice, a bit squeaky and enthusiastic, but it’s perfect for the content he spills out to packed audiences. Machi will be at Helium Comedy Club this Thursday, Friday and Saturday night.
> Jeffrey Czum
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Cabinet
9pm Iron Works, 49 Illinois St. (200-1893 / buffaloironworks.com) $15
The instrumentation of Cabinet may evoke the hills of Appalachia, but the vibe is more like the valleys of Neptune. Gentle mists of guitar, banjo, mandolin, fiddle and upright bass (bowed and ominous) swirl around your brain for the first minute or so before the vocals ease in: “Let it rolllllllll.... down the line.... let it goooooooo.... yes, it’s time...” The first thing you hear is a solitary voice that is soon wrapped in a blanket of brotherly harmonies. “She come ‘round my way...she come ‘round...” they sing before a breath. “My Caroline!” And the swirls implode as drums jump into the mix with both feet, and whomping thunder replaces the bass bow. The fiddle soars while the guitar, banjo and mandolin roll and tumble. This is they music they create. The name of the tune is “Caroline,” the leadoff track on the bands latest release, the seven-song EP This Is Cabinet – Set II. As stunning a song as it is, the real kicker is the band’s founding members wrote ‘Caroline’ when they were barely out of their teens. This sort of depth usually only comes from several thousand days of living. “Yeah, that was one of our earlier songs,” says mandolinist JP Biondo. “Pappy, Mickey [Coviello] and I wrote it together years ago, and it slowly evolved into what it is today. It’s really as true a Cabinet song as you get – and it’s one that we all enjoy playing.” You can catch these bluegrass playin’ fellas at Iron Works this Thursday night (9/24 @9pm).
> Jeffrey Czum
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Gurf Morlix
w/ The Steam Donkeys
6pm Sportsmen’s Tavern, 326 Amherst St. (874-7734 / sportsmenstavern.com) $15-$20
Over the years, the Western New York native, Gurf Morlix has made quite a name for himself among industry songwriters and everyday listeners. He’s best known for his 11-year partnership with Americana legend Lucinda Williams, but the list of collaborators doesn’t stop there. As a producer and studio session player, his credits grace the works of Mary Gauthier, Ian McLagan, Ray Wylie Hubbard, Patty Griffin, Jim Lauderdale and many more. If Morlix was a professional athlete, he’d likely be regularly recognized as an MVP; after all, his ability to multitask on guitar, bass, drums, banjo, harmonica, dobro, pedal steel and mandolin has made him an invaluable part of many an artist’s instrumental arsenal. It’s no wonder that in 2009, the American Music Association recognized him as their coveted instrumentalist of the Year. Considering the competition of Americana/country acts, that’s an impressive honor. Even with all his collaborations, Morlix has still managed to find the time to record and release nine solo albums to his name. Earlier this year he put out Eatin’ at Me, a beautifully produced work of dusty Americana tunes that may be his best collection of songs to date. The album opens with the gritty minor-key song, “Dirty Old Buffalo,” which paints a historical panorama of Buffalo with reminiscences about Morlix’s life around the city in the 70s. You really don’t want to miss this singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist when he returns to his hometown. He’ll be performing at Sportsmen’s Tavern this Friday night (9/25 @6pm) along with Buffalo’s favorite country/Americana group The Steam Donkeys.
> Jeffrey Czum
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The Trews
7pmTown Ballroom, 681 S. Main St. (852-3900 / townballroom.com) $27-$30
After ten years of playing music, five albums, and 13 top 10 Canadian radio singles (including two numbers one’s), The Trews have more than earned their place amongst Canada’s top rock acts. Last year, the band released their fifth album, a self-titled project that was produced by fellow Canadian Gavin Brown, and they don’t care what critics think. “It’s like what they say about KISS,” frontman Colin MacDonald says. “They aren’t a critic’s band, they’re a people’s band. I’d like to think the Trews are the same thing. Without the makeup.” Their newest, release can most certainly be described as the peoples record. Hell, the people even play on it. Funded by the fans through PledgeMusic, an international crowdsourcing site, die-hards were offered a chance to contribute to the album ($1500), face off against the band in four-on-four street hockey ($1000), be a roadie for a day ($750), and even get guest list privileges for life ($10,000). “It was cool to connect with fans on that level,” MacDonald said. “Everybody who pledged on being able to sing on the record happened to be a really good singer. We kept all takes.” The album’s tight rock n’ roll arrangements, hard-hitting drums and reflective pop-inflected tunes make this album one of the band’s best releases to date. Check them out when they perform at Town Ballroom on Friday night (9/25 @8pm).
> Jeffrey Czum
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The Internet
7pm Waiting Room, 334 Delaware Ave (853-5483 / Waitingroombuffalo.com) $15-$18
It all started with the beats for Matt Martians. A producer and multi-instrumentalist, Martians is just half of The Internet, the adventurous R&B group that began as an offshoot of the cheerfully anarchic LA hip-hop collective Odd Future. Since then, Martians and his creative partner, Syd tha Kyd, have soothed nerves jangled by Odd Future’s rowdier members, including Earl Sweatshirt and Tyler, the Creator; they’ve also cultivated a small but devoted following of their own among connoisseurs of left-field soul music. But with their newest album, Ego Death, the two wanted to connect more broadly. So where in the past the internet happily floated “u in the clouds,” as Syd described their dreamy, sometimes aimless early work, this time they built songs from the ground up, creating harder-edged rhythms to grab a casual listener – “the random dude that might hear it in a store,” says Martians. “The drums are like the Trojan horse,” he goes on. “You catch ‘em with the drums and then they’re like, ‘Whoa, what’s going on up in here?’” Sure enough, it’s that persistent thump that grabs you on Ego Death. But inside are all kinds of off-killer song structures and spacey instrumental textures as well as a lyrical point of view rarely heard in the straight-dominated world of so-called baby-making music: that of one woman singing to another woman. The result is a winning paradox: a jump toward accessibility that also feels deeply personal. You definitely don’t want to miss this crew in action when they come to the Waiting Room on Monday night (9/28 @7pm).
> Phil Dunphey
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Toro Y Moi
7pm Waiting Room, 334 Delaware Ave (853-5483 / Waitingroombuffalo.com) $20-$22
Twenty-eight-year-old Chazwick Bradley Bundick aka Toro y Moi will be heading to the Waiting Room on Tuesday evening (9/29 @7pm) along with ETC. and Astronauts. Back on August 28th, Bundick digitally released a somewhat unexpected project. Titled Samantha, the release was put up on Dropbox for free download and has since spread like wildfire. Seeming more like a collection of songs than a true album, Samantha is a 20-track mixture of collaborations and solo material, some of which had been previously released as standalone songs. Many of the album’s tracks are less than three minutes long, but that doesn’t mean they don’t hit hard. The record’s songs flow extremely well and prove Bundick has enough talent to become a major player in the “chillwave genre.” He’s not just some kid playing beats with his computer. Most of his production on this new project leans more on hip-hop ideals that the trippy pop-rock sentiments of his earlier work. With all of the album’s fuzzy samples, eclectic percussion and jazz influenced chord structures, fans of artists such as Flying Lotus and Madlib are sure to find something to enjoy on this album’s instrumentals. Be sure to check out Bundick, as he makes his way downtown next week.
> Javier Peña
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