Looking outside traditional band configurations to forge a “new approach to heavy/ ambient guitar,” the local duo of Chase Middaugh and Ryan McMullen wrench a full band’s worth of heavy rock atmospherics from Novelist’s relatively sparse drums and guitar format. With an all instrumental sound that falls somewhere between The Who’s long-form feedback jams, Glenn Branca’s art-rock symphonies and Sunn O))))’s drone metal soundscapes, Novelist maximize their minimal attack. On Friday (Dec. 29) at Soundlab, the group diverges even further from tradition when McMullen trades his drum kit for a guitar and Bill Abdale (guitarist with Brooklyn’s Black Centipede) joins the group to create a one-night-only all-guitar collaborative trio. Opening is Buffalo experimentalists The Beta Cloud, and Jax Deluca will provide projections, starting up at 9pm