Passion Pit

Wednesday, June 17th

There’s the buzz of indie rock fanatics across the web. There’s the string of sold out shows. There’s even the recent stint as a cover boy for the taste-making British music and culture mag Clash. All of this must be pretty heady stuff for Michael Angelakos who just a handful of years ago was a kid in Buffalo playing guitar in the ska band Cherry Bing—the same outfit that spawned emo band Cute Is What We Aim For. The frontman of the Boston-based Passion Pit is hopefully enjoying the ride. Writing and arranging the band’s ethereal and exuberant electronic pop dreamscapes, Angelakos has steadily pushed Passion Pit to crest of “it” bands in the last year. 2008’s Chunk Of Change EP (French Kiss)—with the infectiously fun and funky “Sleephead”—was quickly followed up with the debut full-length Manners (French Kiss), released just a couple of weeks ago. Angelakos’ musical goals are not small ones. He has stated that he is aiming to ascend to the creative heights of Brian Wilson circa ’66 and the deft humor and skill of Randy Newman’s songwriting prowess. This weekend Passion Pit will join the all-star lineup in Manchester, TN for the Bonanroo Festival before their stop at Mohawk Place in Buffalo next Wednesday (June 17). Support comes from Cale Parks.

—donny kutzbach

8pm. Mohawk Place, 47 East Mohawk St (855-3931 / www.mohawkplace.com). $14

Friday, June 12th

The Third Coast: Grain Elevators Illuminated

This weekend marks the 100th anniversary of the signing of the Boundary Waters Treaty, which aimed to settle disputes between citizens of the US and Canada over water use. There are a number of events planned to celebrate the agreement’s centenary, including performances and speakers, tours and fireworks, all transpiring simultaneously on Saturday (June 13) in Niagara Falls, Ontario and Niagara Falls, New York. (Visit www.oursharedwaters.com for details on Saturday’s events and others throughout the week.) But our choice for coolest commemoration? On Friday evening (June 12) at dusk, Squeaky Wheel will show films on the side of the Terminal Grain Elevator, capping a slate of early evening celebrations at the Erie Canal Harbor. The program includes Water for Maya by Stan Brakhage and Pond and Waterfall by Barbara Hammer.

—geoff kelly

8pm. Erie Canal Harbor. FREE.

Friday, June 12th

The Pillagers

Buffalo supergroup the Pillagers will lay waste to one of the city’s hottest little joints on Friday (June 12). Led by charismatic veteran frontman Gary Zoldos, the band features the twin rock guitar attack of Patrick Kane—whose credentials date from local punk pioneers the Elements through to John & Mary and the Valkyries today—and David Bowling, whose exploits include stints with alt.country rockers Hayshaker Jones, and Cleveland’s Whiskey Daredevils. Rounding out the lineup is Jeff Miers on bass, who everybody knows through his guitar work with the Tails as well as his eloquent coverage of pop music for the Buffalo News, while tattooed trap king Dave Privitera slaps out the group’s wicked beat. The band got a big shot in the arm with some high profile gigs opening for Bruce Hornsby, the B-52s, and area native Willie Nile, but this little show on the Elmwood strip should prove to be another high time, with the work week over and the town poised to go nuts for the Allentown Art Fest the next day. Openers include Silent Fury and Electric Crowd Control.

—buck quigley

11pm. Merlin’s, 727 Elmwood Ave. (886-9270 / www.merlinsbuffalo.com)

Friday, June 12th

Purgatory Road Trip 2

After last year’s smash success, “The #1 Touring Fetish Show in the Nation” returns to Buffalo on Friday (June 12) for the second time around. Hosted at—where else?— Club Diablo, the event features three performances, dancers, drinks, domination, and other “downtown” delights bordering on the depraved—but of course it’s all perfectly legal. DJ Onesiktrik and Mixtress Krikett are Masters of Ceremony, and there will be drink specials, music, and a “Rock-n-Roll Atmosphere.” The rest is shrouded in mystery—as it should be—adding to the confusion about just what goes on in “Purgatory.” Visit www.singlecell.us to try to get more information, but good luck. Guess we’ll all just have to go down there to see what’s going on. I’ve got of feeling some of it couldn’t be described in words, anyway.

—alan victor

9pm. Club Diablo, 517 Washington St. (www.clubdiablo.com). Ages 18+. $10/advance or $15/at

Saturday, June 13th

Pink Mountaintops

All the way down from their hometown of Vancouver, the rock band Pink Mountaintops comes through Buffalo on Saturday (June 13). Well, probably not all the Mountaintops are coming—the collective has comprised up to 18 people in its relatively short lifetime—and that’s probably a good thing since the band is playing at one of our more intimate (read “smaller”) clubs, Soundlab. Sharing members with many of the same musicians in Black Mountain, another Vancouver art-rock project, Pink Mountaintops is part of that collaborative trend that keeps music nerds and rock journalists (if you will) in a state of semi-confusion. It may be tough to get straight—but it sure keeps things interesting. While Pink Mountaintops are definitely an offshoot of Black Mountain, the music leans toward the more experimental side of frontman Stephen McBean’s style. The band has just released it’s third album, Outside Love (Jagjaguar), and it’s full of the moody melodics and lyrical intensity this side project is known for.

—k. o’day

9pm. Soundlab, 110 Pearl St. (www.bigorbitgallery.org/soundlab). $12

Tuesday, June 16th

Post Honeymoon

The story of Chicago duo Post Honeymoon began when drummer Nick Kraska and keyboardist Rachel Shindelman met in 2001. After speniding time in many local bands, the two found a mutual bond in music, got married and formed the aptly named Post Honeymoon. Taking the post punk nature of their former bands, the duo slows things down to a dirty minimalist sound that echoes the sounds of Siouxsie & the Banshees, Bauhaus ,and the Birthday Party but without the gothic pretensions. Their recently released self titled debut was recorded by Greg Norman of the Bitter Tears and is a must for those who wore a lot of black in high school during the 80s. Post Honeymoon performs on Tuesday (July 16). Also on the bill is Arizona, and local art punks the Dense.

—eric boucherl

8pm. Mohawk Place, 47 East Mohawk St (855-3931 / www.mohawkplace.com). $5

Thursday, June 18th

Hal Niedzviecki: The Peep Diaries

Do you obsessively monitor your facebook account? Are you constantly searching YouTube for the next citizen-made video to become an internet hit? Then you might want to be at Sugar City Art Gallery next Thursday (June 18) when they will welcome famed social critic Hal Niedzviecki as he tours in promotion of his new book The Peep Diaries: How We’re Learning to Love Watching Ourselves and Our Neighbors. Niedzviecki will explore our heavily recorded world and the ways the we use, view, and digest the endless visual information obtained through surveillance cameras, web cams, GPS, and networking websites such as Facebook and MySpace. Niedzviecki will explore what is lost and gained in the separation created when people use digital shields while interacting with one another. So gather your laptop, digital video camera, iphone, digital voice recorder, web cam, and GPS and head down to Sugar City next Thursday. You might even be able to have a YouTube video of the lecture with six different angles and background music posted before you go to sleep.

—justin sondel

7:30pm. Sugar City, 19 Wadsworth in Allentown (www.myspace.com/buffalosugarcity)