Whenever one hears screeching, their first instinct is to turn down the sound. Last Saturday night, the musicians felt like doing just the opposite — make it as loud as possible. Over the weekend, Fanclub Collective presented two free-noise groups, Wasteland Jazz Ensemble and the Bill Nace and Paul Flaherty Duo, as a part of a series of concerts that the club is organizing to showcase the different approaches to improvised music. Even though the performance was hosted in the cramped, fluorescent-lighted offices of the Toboggan Lodge, this allowed the musicians to fully submerge the audience in myriad of complex, diverse and unworldly sounds. 

It’s incredible how much music you can make just using some drums and electronics. In a blend of the primal and the technological, four distinct performers brought their unique blends of genre-defying music to the William Keeton House last Saturday night, courtesy of Fanclub Collective. These four musicians, DJ Dog Dick, Ed Schrader, Adventure (the three of whom are in the midst of their own tour) and Cale Parks, doing a one-off solo show, brought the goods to a crowd eager for any opportunity to dance. The performers delivered, making for a night filled with blips and bleeps and quick-footed dance moves.

While Ithaca has a vibrant and diverse music scene that is constantly shifting and changing, it’s nice to see artists return to Cornell. This Saturday night’s concert at William Keeton House, put on by Fanclub Collective, will mark the return of three well-loved musicians, and the Cornell debut of another.

Quick question: Did you know there was another concert besides Maroon 5 on Sunday night? To my surprise (and sadness, as I ripped up my A-Levine ticket), there was! In the quiet neighborhood that is College Ave., house number 106 held what turned out to be three incredible and fresh bands. The Fanclub concert’s headliner was Real Estate, a band from New Jersey, preceded by two opening bands: the awesomeAWESOMES and Madres de Juarez.

The show was set in the typical college house. The audience was in the living room — giving off the vibe of just hanging out, listening to your friends sing karaoke. The stage, a long dining room, was equipped with Baldwin Kruegan amps and Yamaha speakers with a tie-dye sheet acting as the backdrop.

Buenos dias, Cornell peeps! Well. It has been a rather epic weekend for the arts on our campus far above Cayuga’s waters. Cornell designers wowed audiences at Once Upon a Runway, and Girl Talk presided over a massive dance party in Barton Hall (I, unfortunately, could not attend, but I hope ya’ll got to shake your groove things). However, there was another show this weekend that maybe many of you were not aware of — which is your loss, because the Fanclub Collective made a little bit of history Saturday night. I’m talking five bands for five bucks kind of history. What now, brown cow?

My friends, I have done a bad thing. A super-confidential secret music source sent me the tracks from the new Akron/Family album, set to be released May 5, 2009, and I couldn’t help it — I listened. Forgive me Father, etc., etc.

Now that I have confessed, allow me to offer you some friendly advice. On May 5th, buy this album. Put in on your imagination pod. Play it over and over. You will like it (or I’ll know why). If at first you don’t succeed (in liking it, that is) try, try again.

Bird Names is a band that reminds me of two things: fruits, specifically drupes, and Rube Goldberg machines. Alright, that’s unhelpful. But I’m just reframing the usual stuff. You see, Bird Names is an excellent band, abnormally resonant among the grey masses of pleasure pop. Typically, I’ll queue up a new band’s recordings and I’ll hear instruments. I’ll hear the drum kick, the layered guitars. When I first heard Bird Names, I thought of a fruit bowl: bright, colorfully cacophonous and, at the heart, juicy sweet. In summary, I was, and yet remain, very excited about Bird Names. How neat, then, that Bird Names is coming to Ithaca — to precious little No Radio Records!