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. Headlining the show is enigmatic Brooklyn-based musician Cale Parks, who spoke to The Sun about his music. Parks describes his sound as “eccentric electronic pop music.” Although Parks has been to Cornell before, drumming with White Williams, Saturday night promises to be a totally different experience. “Being a drummer in a band is generally pretty easy,” said Parks. “Its night and day between being a hired gun playing drums for a band and making your own music.”

When Parks does record his own music, it is the ultimate do-it-yourself experience. The process begins with a beat or melody and then from there he starts adding tracks and chords progressions. Vocals and lyrics are the last piece to be “added to the equation.” As Parks puts it, lyrics are drawn from thinking about the future and “the way my life is now and the way 20years from now I’ll reflect on it.” Although he’s not sure where he’ll be in the future, Parks is confident he’ll making music in some form, even if its writing jingles. “It’s what I love doing,” he said.

Just as he can’t predict where his music will take him, he describes his musical odyssey this far in as “really random.” While in East Coast experimental pop band Aloha, Parks lived with the group’s singer Tony Cavallario, where they built a studio in their house’s attic for overdubs. When Cavallario went to bed, Parks would tinker around with solo stuff while his roommate was sleeping. After his mostly instrumental first record, originally written as demos for Aloha, got discovered by a Japanese label via MySpace, it was released in Japan. Afterwards, American label Polyvinyl decided to release the album, establishing Parks as a solo artist in his home country. Since then though, his work has taken more of a “pop” tinge, using the more traditional song structure of distinguishable verses, choruses and bridges. “A lot of Americans think pop music is a negative, with Britney Spears or Lady Gaga as the ideal,” said Parks. “Parts of my music, especially live, sound weird but when you break it down it has verses and choruses like a pop song.”

This shift in style has also had an effect on Park’s live shows. While previously it had just been him on stage the whole time, backing tracks up on a laptop, Parks has recently asked a few of his friends to step in to fill out his sound. This has turned the group into a three-man band, getting rid of the laptop and bringing in samplers, as well as live guitar and bass guitar, which takes on a sound that Parks describes as “three dimensional.” While all the members in the band now contribute vocals, Parks is still singing, drumming and playing keyboard in his new lineup. However, this Saturday’s Cornell audience will still experience the “one-man octopus of a show,” as Parks will be coming to Ithaca as a solo act.

Since moving to New York City, Parks has fully embraced the culture of his new hometown. Along with playing a multitude of shows at the recent CMJ festival with his three-piece band, Parks has also found himself in the midst of the burgeoning Williamsburg, Brooklyn scene. Aside from the barrage of news sites and blogs that promulgate this music, New York Magazine featured Williamsburg bands MGMT, Grizzly Bear and the Dirty Projectors (who Parks will play a show with next week) on the cover of their latest issue. “New York Magazine is kind of complimenting itself and patting itself on its back, but its justified and true,” said Parks. “Great music moves to New York and becomes part of the energy.”

Challenging that view will be three opening bands that hail from another hipster music capital, Baltimore. These acts are Adventure, DJ Dog Dick and Ed Schrader, all who are in the middle of their own college tour. This triumvirate of Baltimoreans has distinct and complementing sounds, all of which echo various music trends that are popular in their city. Adventure, who last visited Cornell in 2008 to support Videohippos, is a one-man electronic act who plays Gameboy-esque music designed for dancing. DJ Dog Dick was up here with Jucieboxxx in 2008, and is coming back with his in your face blend of electronics and hip-hop. Schrader, on his first trip to Cornell, initially made his name as a cheesy talk show host in Baltimore and now plays frantic, pounding songs on a snare drum, screaming about transvestites and gas station attendants. All these acts will make you move all around the dance floor.

While you won’t hear any of Cale Parks’ unreleased material (you’ll have to wait 2010 for that), you will experience “energetic dance music with one man doing way too much onstage,” as he puts it. So, “come be a part of the spectacle” and witness the triumphant returns of some favorites from the last few years, as well as the debut of one act, that perform danceable and enigmatic tunes, from the most layered electronics to the most basic man beating a drum and screaming.

Cale Parks, Adventure, DJ Dog Dick, and Ed Schrader will be performing at William Keeton House Ding Hall on Nov. 14 at 10:00 p.m.