buffaBLOG - The Buffalo music blog: kristachuwan

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copy manager, dogs, electronic, experimental, kristachuwan, Lesionread, tometu, uvb-76 — 0 comments

Tonight: Lesionread, UVB-76, Kristachuwan, and Copy Manager

A hybrid of experimental electronic and offbeat performance art, Lesionread has just released her new EP. Dogs was released in two parts, the first containing Lesionread's avant-electronic at its finest, and Pt. 2 being a collection of jumbled and contorted love songs. The EP will be for sale at the show in the form of a Lesionread flash drive. Dogs is a perfect showcase for Lesionread's successful marriage of soul gripping vocals and playful, violent electronic chaos.

Dogs Pt 1 heads off with the track "If/Then/Therefore" which is the most inspiring song I've heard in a long time. Lesionread shows determination in the face of opposition and disbelief, and kicks snow at it. This one will bobble around your head for quite a while, perhaps motivating you to step out of your boundaries and pursue your dreams. The track "Snowball Fight!" has a backbone comprised of dancy- brainwave, and stands strong as the EP's only instrumental.

Dogs Pt 2 may be the most accurate aural representation of the actual experience of love that I've ever heard. The highs, lows, excitement, confusion and anxiety are all present. On SoundCloud, lyrics are available for all of the songs except the one titled, "I Want to Fall in Love." Instead, the curious party is privy to this interesting message: "(YOU WISH YOU COULD READ THESE LYRICS BUT NO THEY ARE PERSONAL I'M NOT GUNNA TYPE EM UP ON BANDCAMP."

This statement could be in place for nearly all of the tracks, as many of Lesionread's lyrics come across as the innocent, slightly awkward mental narrations of a torn lover with a shredded heart. You can connect with the songs on a basic human level, even as the instrumentation glitches around you like a bad tape, teasing at different strains while consistently remaining danceable. If Aphex Twin had a kid cousin who was a soulful singer, the music would sound sort of like this.

Tonight's performance (hint: click hyperlink for more info) consists of Lesionread, UVB-76, Kristachuwan, and Copy Manager, and promises to be a mind bending adventure the likes of which may never be reproduced. Lesionread is constantly topping her strange live performances which are thrashing wild and unpredictable. Past shows have contained props, lights, silly string, projectors, and audience interaction. If you walk through the door, you'd better be prepared to play. Come out to the show tonight and expect nothing less but to leave with a lust for enjoyable insanity.

Entrance is free, with a recommendation to donate or support the artists by purchasing their work.

beachers, cinnamon aluminum, coxland, kristachuwan, pump, steve, video — 0 comments

Kristachuwan Prepares EP, Drops Video

If you don't recall (it was several, several, frozen months ago), Cinnamon Aluminum was a Buffalo psy-prog-psych-pop band that put out a bunch of confounding records and videos, played at one of our parties, and made a few of our year-end best-of lists throughout their duration before quietly breaking up last fall. Since, founder/multi-instrumentalist/programmer Kristachuwan (aka Chris Svoboda), has become increasingly active; he's leaked tracks and visuals, and embarked on a bizarre art tour with noise/party proprietor Lesionread in an apparent, continual attempt to remind us to always have question marks hovering over our heads.

Check out his latest offering: the video for “PUMP,” a selection from the upcoming, free, multimedia Beachers EP. The song itself lures you into a dark, convoluted groove with downtempo beats and ringing drones, and is accompanied by some Creepy-As-Heck visuals. It will give you nightmares. Kristachuwan is underappreciated in his adeptness for multi-sensory, brain-scraping projects, so keep and ear/eye/pineal gland out for upcoming adventures (along with a show at Coxland later this month with Lesionread, UVB-76, and Copy Manager, where he'll be performing material from Beachers).

~ Photo by Ethan Calabrese

100 plymouth, deceiver, eppo, fe vajen, jeannette, kristachuwan, lucid pyramids, prime ruin, shitmansion, Sparklebomb, tyler justin — 0 comments

Tonight: Lucid Pyramids and Sparklebomb

If you're feeling boisterous tonight you're definitely gonna wanna stop by 100 Plymouth Ave and check out Lucid Pyramids and Sparklebomb as they kick-off their weekend tour.

As you may recall Sparklebomb's debut tape Funeral Beats (released by Prime Ruin) is our album of the week. This evening poses as a rare opportunity to watch her recreate her sonic rendering of the paranormal infused with nostalgia; a soup of beats, fuzz, ghostly incantations, and gothic organs, exquisitely channeled by Conte in a living room setting. Teaming up with her for the tour is Lucid Pyramids, the brain child of Weston Czerkies and Shaun Sutton. Together they create horror-tinged soundscapes that delve deeper into the terrain of shifting, ominous, and brooding frequencies.

And if this hasn't caught your attention, the bill also includes some of the most exciting up and coming players in Buffalo's experimental scene: Fe Vajen (Dana Mcnight), Deceiver (Matt Goodrich), Kristachuwan (Chris Svobada), Eppo (Matt Eppolito), and Tyler Justin (T.J Borden). Needless to say, this event is undoubtedly a generous sample of what the subterranean end in Buffalo's lo-fi culture has to offer. The perfect lineup for those looking to challenge their auditory threshold and it begins at 8PM sharp (five dollar donation suggested). We'll catch you there.

kristachuwan, Lesionread, mac moretti — 4 comments

Buffalo Band Abroad: Lesionread and Kristachuwan - Episode III

Tossing people for loops even before introducing themselves, local noise punk Lesionread and glitched out Kristachuwan canceled their Boston appearance scheduled for the 18th at the last minute. Instead, the two made some sort of secret performance in a place called Push Palace in Pittsburgh, the only notice being what should be now expected series of vague tweets from Lesionread the morning of the scheduled Boston warehouse show:

"Yea so we don't feel like going to boston lol"

"were just gunna throw a party in pittsburgh"

"no cameras, no phones, no nothing. this one is different"

"tonight at Push Palace things get serious"

"FUCK BROS ERRDAY #LK2013 #ImSoTiredOfHashtaggingLK2013"

No other news or information was passed on from the LK camp, and needless to say, since cellphones were banned, there has been no news on the internet about the private show. Push Palace isn't even a recognized venue of any sorts. The reason it seems especially strange is because so far, Lesionread has made a dramatic effort to document and get others to document her work, even telling people to take out their smart phones during some concerts. Perhaps the show was a test of new material? Or maybe the show didn't exist at all and it was all a press trick that we are falling for. Maybe they are trying to be like Arcade Fire.

Regardless, the duo is still going through the rest of the tour as scheduled, playing in Chicago tonight at Studio 914

and the Monkey House Monday night in Burlington, VT. Both video promos can be found below:

Baltimore, kristachuwan, Lesionread, Shawn Lewis, Washington DC — 0 comments

Buffalo Band Abroad: Lesionread and Kristachuwan - Episode II

The Lesionread (L) and Kristachuwan (K) tour is on the road! Last Saturday, the crew left for their first away show in Baltimore. Whilst in Pennsylvania, L ran into a bit of an issue with a Penn resident, but his girl Jeanette handled it. Their show in Baltimore made everything right, with a wickedly wild crowd loving every minute of their performance. L moshed and wrestled with people in the crowd; the video of that should make its way around soon.

That night, the traveling bunch presumably ran into Brooklyn producer Su-Preme who has worked with Wu Tang Clan last night and showed him a video taken earlier, during their stay in Baltimore. They can all pride themselves on knowing they gave him an unprecedented experience as far as video clips are concerned, saying he's "never seen anything like it." Around that time, he drunkenly snatched up the mic and started rapping.

Moving along...

Their most recent stop was in Washington D.C. where L and K were interviewed by George Washington University's radio station, WRTW. That will be broadcast next Tuesday, the 24th. Tonight, they'll be playing D.C., then traveling on to Boston for tomorrow night's show.

For more timely details on what the guys are up to, #LK2013 is the tag to search tour happenings on Twitter. They update as the shit flows. And if you're interested in the LK 2013 TOUR merchandise, all that can be found here! All the cool kidz are doing it.

Friend and assistant, Deanna with K in the back seat, clearly bombarded with junk.

#LK2013, ami dang, Baltimore, Chris Svoboda, Club K, Jaz Frazier, kristachuwan, Lesionread, Maryland, settlers, Shawn Lewis, Shit Mansion — 6 comments

Buffalo Band Abroad: Lesionread and Kristachuwan - Episode I

Jumpy Mexican bean, Shawn Lewis a.k.a. Lesionread (above), and Chris Svoboda a.k.a Kristachuwan, blowing through a sax (below) played Shit Mansion last night to an enthusiastic crowd. Portland, Oregon/native Buffalonian Settlers (below) opened up the scene with some surfy, chillwave solo guitar and vocals, as performed by MAXWELL! Sounds like a musical, but I just call him Maxwell, because real people don't normally introduce themselves by first and last name.

Kristachuwan

The energy was as intoxicating as the audience was intoxicated, with the crunching of beer cans underfoot, cigarettes being lit from a homemade wine bottle candle holder, and a dancing red body-suited man named Phil.

They're already off to a nostalgic kickoff for a two week, partially mapped tour that zig-zags the eastern board. L and K are on the road now, journeying to Bodymore, Murderland (Baltimore, Maryland, for the unhip) for their upcoming show tomorrow at Club K with "Bollywave" artist Ami Dang.

Settlers.

Wish the guys luck on an adventure of a galactic lifetime, follow their Twitter tag #LK2013, and this series for DEETS!

kristachuwan, Lesionread, lk2013, preview, settlers, Shit Mansion, steve, tour kickoff — 1 comments

Tonight: Lesionread/ Kristachuwan Tour Kickoff Show w/ Settlers

Touring is a sort of litmus test for any local band or performer, and a sort of milestone for the municipal scene that supports them. Kristachuwan (the solo project of former Cinnamon Aluminum sax/effects guy Chris Svoboda) and Lesionread (the alias of electronic producer/art star Shawn Lewis) are kicking off on a two-week stint, and they're throwing a going away party tonight at Shit Mansion. Kristachuwan makes some deep, dark glitch/psych beats, and I don't think I could really describe Lesionread without using a complex series of algorithms and vertiginous symbols, or maybe a just a can of silly string (check out our incoherent interview with him here).

Both artists share a propensity for being art-damaged and weird – and damaged art factors heavily into their sound, style, performances, promotion, and even their approach to comporting themselves as human-ish beings. To quote a cryptic message I received from Lesionread:

“all the merch is gunna be cheap and profits go towards our gas tank

which is gunna get obliterated

and after the tour we will be destroying all the merch we haven't sold

to make sure that the artifacts documenting the tour will be true

in their essence of someone else wanting them to live on.”

Come out to the kick-off show tonight (the shoe-gazey two-piece Settlers will also be performing) to wish these fellas well, pick up some merch while you can, and enjoy some confounding but ultimately fun music/art, then follow the tag #LK2013 for updates, photos, and videos from the road.

buffablog video, carly, Interview, kristachuwan, Lesionread, mac, wild nothing — 6 comments

buffaBLOG Video: Lesionread

Lesionread, the manic alter ego of art school student Shawn Lewis, has been very loudly taking Buffalo by storm over the last few months. The electronic producer has been honing his skills in his basement and Monday after Monday at Inventory Night at Hardware, including one such night where he screamed at the crowd until someone found his middle name written on notes all over the Allen Street Bar (this was much more fun that my writing indicates, just ask winner Bryan Johnson). Last month, Lewis and crew opened for Wild Nothing at the Tralf in what was one of those "you had to be there" kind of sets. Weird, shocking, hilarious, and down right fun, the musician turned the packed house into his very own circus, something the people at the Tralf had to just love, that is until they started to clean up the silly string that became one with the floor later that night. Word is they are still scrubbing....

Anyways, we took a little time to talk to Lewis, who will soon take off on a tour with fellow electronic music Kristachuwan (formally of Cinnamon Aluminum) following his opening set with Darwin Deez early next month at the Waiting Room. With some recent new music and an upcoming collaboration with Malt Disney on the way, look for Lesionread to continue his wild takeover of the Buffalo.

~ Interviews by Carly Cassano

~ Photo by Jeanette Chwan

~ Video by Chris Osterhoudt

cinnamon aluminum, kristachuwan, level 4 activated — 0 comments

Kristachuwan set to release 2nd LP

Kristachuwan is set to release his 2nd LP, Twin Swiss, by the end of the month. Most of us know Chris Svobada as one of the members of Cinnamon Aluminum, however Kristachuwan is the moniker of Svobada's dark, atmospheric, solo electronic project (which you can check out here). He has already released two tracks from the LP, both of which illustrate his range in rendering moods that fall in the supernatural realm, and ultimately they leave the listener eager to hear what the rest of the album has in store. For instance, in "Other Reasons," glitchy drum sequences, ambiguous vocal samples, and airy mallets are cleverly combined, giving the listener a vague sense of being on an amusement park ride themed around dark sorcery.

amenta abioto, kristachuwan, laura buckley, malaria control, The vault — 2 comments

Tonight: Amenta Abioto

Tonight brings another deliciously eclectic evening of music at The Vault. Portland based Amenta Abioto embraces the trance-like repetitive nature of afrobeat with catchy vocal looping and live drums. Opening the show is local electronic artist Kristachuwan, whose recent album Pterodactyl Fish blurs the line between rhythmic downtempo and expansive melodic soundscapes (the title track featuring some romantic saxophone, for the ladies). Also performing are folk artist Laura Buckley and Kevin Cain's own looping mayhem by way of Malaria Control. Show starts at 8, get out of the summer heat and enjoy one of the most consistently engaging and exciting music venues in town.