Tonight there will be lift-off, as Igloo Music presents Cosmos, a space-themed dancing celebration, at Wastelands.

Headlining the event will be Mike Parker, a Buffalo-resident who has performed on a global level.


In the ever-evolving world of genre terminology, Parker coins his stylistic sound as "voodoo techno."

"It's more minimal than other forms of 'club' music," Parker said. "I'm attracted to the abstraction of it and the spaces between the sounds."

In addition to writing music and performing, he is also a teacher at Daemen College and Niagara County Community College where he instructs drawing and print making. Art, in any form of medium, is an inclusive form that relates back into everything he does.

"Everything I do visually ties in because I'm always thinking about music and the way I present it," Parker said. He designs and prints the record jackets for his label, Geophone, which he started in 1997 to release his music with a more involved and personal creative direction.

He became enveloped in the life when he was just a teenager. "I bought my first synthesizer, a KORG Mono/Poly, when I was in high school. I've been addicted ever since."

"I've played in many countries across Europe in the past few years. Also, my performances in Japan have been a creative inspiration for me. It's such a beautiful country. I recently contributed an ambient track to a CD compilation called Composure. This compilation, by various artists, was made to raise relief money for victims of the earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan in 2011," Parker said.

Among many aspiring and growing artists in the Queen City some have a confident hope and diligence toward the Buffalo music scene, whereas some are struck by wanderlust and feel a career is only manageable elsewhere. For a DJ and producer who has traveled to the Land of the Rising Sun, across the U.S., Europe and more, why remain in the 716?

"My teaching career, affordable living, the art scene, and my friends," he said.

Mike Parker loves music because, "It's the most abstract of all art forms. And it helps chase away the blues."

In addition, Diskomaster will be hailing in from Syracuse. Igloo's Paul Kuenzi, and birthday boy, will also be performing, along with Gene Linet, J.P. Freedom and Ryan Liddell.

A costume contest will commence, so dress your best. C.P. Abbott Photography will be there to capture the madness.

2014 is just 12 hours away. With or without resolutions, 2014 signifies a new calender year. A fresh page to begin life a little bit different, to make some major changes, or perhaps you're one of those people that is headstrong to stay exactly the same. A new year is what you make of it.

Champagne is flowing all over the world today. And in the words of Francis Bacon, these words I say nearly every time I have a flute in hand or am slugging from the bottle:


Tonight, the Igloo crew is presenting a New Year's Eve party: Reanimate. If you caught the previous post, I had the pleasure of interviewing Toronto DJ Mix Chopin, in addition to Buffalo-native gone West Coast, Neil Kryszak. Local favorites will fill the themed rooms of an undisclosed warehouse from 10 p.m. - 7 a.m. (Call the info-number to find out the location: 716-217-1752).

Click the following link for more information and to see the truly remarkable avatar artwork of all the DJs performing during the event, done by local artist Mickey Harmon.


This event is BYOB.

Cheers!

At buffaBLOG, we don't often preview events so early, but New Year's Eve takes forward-thinking and pre-planning. Igloo music will present another progressive party, bigger and more complex than the last.

Reanimate is a party that encompasses what New Year's is all about. The adage "auld lang syne" (meaning: times long past) is the foundation of the holiday's M.O. What happened in the past year has come and gone; it is time to start anew. Let the troubles of 2013 stay there and relinquish ourselves from the baggage we've been carrying. It's time to reanimate who we are, what we want and where we're going.

The multi-room, multi-genre party will take place in a three-story warehouse, and from 10 p.m. until 7 a.m. three rooms will feature various DJs and worlds of sound.


Hailing from Toronto will be Mix Chopin. He started playing piano when he was five years old and he said it has been consistent progression ever since. "I got into DJing after I heard Daft Punk, and it was really a life-changer for me. I was really young and was like, who are these robots? And I really wanted to do what they do because I wanted to be a robot, right?" he said with a laugh. Fascinated with mixing, beat-matching and collecting records and CDs, he began professionally DJing by age 19 at clubs.

Mix Chopin's influential artists include the sounds of The Chemical Brothers, Prodigy and Justice. He said specifically Justice, clad in their leather jackets, was a "huge influence. When I was a teenager they came out and blew my mind."

Without sub-genre attachments, he said his style falls under electronic and house. In a more refined sense, he said "Nu-disco, along those lines. It's hard to put a finger on it because there's so much stuff out there in the world of electronic music. I like to experiment with it all, but it still somehow goes back to the funk and groove.

"I love DJing, it gives me a certain feeling." Currently, he said he has been producing and collaborating with vocalists and experimenting with live performance; a blend of band and DJ. With "live musicians on top, sprinkling percussion ... it adds a whole new element and the energy goes up so much more. It's been received pretty well, I would say. I hope to do it more, and take it on the road. And keep that vibe going."

Reanimate will not be Mix Chopin's first time performing in Buffalo. "I got booked for a show at Soundlab," through Rick Vallone, who brought him back again last year to Duke's Bohemian Grove Bar. "I love Buffalo a lot," he said. A friendship was formed between the Toronto DJ and John Sullivan, currently an Igloo crew member, who is deeply involved in the process of Reanimate. "Sully was even saying how big of project it was for him," Mix Chopin said. "So it's cool to be a part of. I'm just super excited to come up and play the gig."

While Canada and the United States differ on many things (i.e. hockey fans, money, distance measurement, etc.), the Canadian scene versus the American scene differs slightly. From Mix Chopin's perspective, "There's a little bit of a difference ... every time I come down [to Buffalo] it's really warm. I like the crowds. Toronto's a little oversaturated sometimes." He said there is so much music within Toronto's city limits, that the intimacy of an event isn't as strong as the U.S. "There's a different vibe. The crowds are always really awesome [in America]," he said.

The two countries also vary in the pronunciation of Mix Chopin. The French influences of Canada have some pronounce Chopin like the famous composer Frédéric Chopin, while Americans will harden the word ("chop" + "in"); he said the confusion entertains him. "That was the whole point of the name. People are going to be so confused. It's going to be awesome." His actual name is Mick Match, which he said "is a pretty cool stage name already," but was difficult for Google searching.

His recent release "Never Let Go" is available for listen on SoundCloud. "It's just a little bit deeper and there's vocals on it. It's kind of a different twist," he said.



Often with inspiration comes the move. Neil Kryszak – after his upcoming release will be known as Kryss – is a Buffalo native. He moved to Bushwick, a working-class neighborhood in Brooklyn. "I kind of felt like I was boxed in. I love Buffalo but I had to leave because I needed some more influence." With a few opportunities to work in New York City, he made the move and stayed for the past four years, until he felt the urge to travel again and moved to California, where he is now currently based in Los Angeles. "I like warm weather, it's more inspiring," he said. "I didn't expect to actually move out here.

"My world got a little too small [in Buffalo], but then the same thing happened again in Brooklyn. It can happen wherever you are, which is why I want to keep traveling."

Kryszak was raised playing different types of instruments, mainly drums. His father is a silent film composer and as a child Kryszak's toys were the orchestral instruments in his father's studio. He said he considers himself more of a music producer, that the DJing aspect is something that comes along with being in love with music. "I like to share everything good that I find," he said. Performing random gigs here and there, he said he has never played a show in Buffalo before.

So far he has released various singles on SoundCloud and Bandcamp. Currently, he is setting up a recording studio in LA, and also working on a score for a BBC documentary about the osprey bird species. His own album release is projected for spring 2014. "That will be my first major release and will have a lot of songs," he said about his self-released album.

In addition to his musician friends, Kyrszak said that Shigeto and Machinedrum are his two main influences; "Shigeto does basically my dream set-up of what I've always wanted to do. It's ambient mixed in with beats and percussion." Kryszak stated his own productions can be described as "visual and ambient electronic music" always with a jazz influence.

"I've been friends with John [Sullivan] for a long time ... but I moved when Queen City Cartel started to do a lot of these shows. I've been watching from afar and noticed the music scene getting bigger and better," he said. "John asked me to play [Reanimate] ... thought I'd be good for the Magic Carpet Room."