Something to TAUQ About – Tauk and Aqueous Join Forces in Ithaca

New York City’s Tauk and Buffalo’s Aqueous (TAUQ?) have a problem. The bands had teamed up for the second time of their seven appearances together this fall only to discover, that not one, but BOTH band’s vans are under duress. Luckily, after some quick warranty work, the Tauk-mobile was back in action, and in true musical brotherhood form, they escorted the Aqueous boys on time to Ithaca for their dual show at Lot 10 on October 25th.

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The venue is new to the Ithaca scene and sits conveniently off the downtown Commons area on South Cayuga Street. Composed of a lower lounge area that features DJs and couches and an upper area with a bar and stage, it’s certainly a welcome addition to a city that has struggled to find a central place for musical gathering since the 2012 closing of Castaways.

Tauk kicked things off around 10:30 with their self described brand of rock fusion. Sounding like a prog-ified MMW with shades of Zappa and King Crimson thrown in, the bands buzz is well deserved. Virtual soundscapes abound between shifting rock-based tension and smooth jazzy ambiance throughout the set. The mostly instrumental songs enveloped the amassing crowd of Gorge-us Ithacans who appreciatively hollered for more. And more they were given in the form of a top notch outro cover of, in this reporters opinion anyway, the BEST Beatles song ever, “I Want You (She’s So Heavy)”.

DSC_2083Buffalo’s groove rock powerhouse Aqueous was up next, taking the stage shortly after midnight to a relatively packed house given the cold Southern Tier evening. Having hit the area heavily over the past few years, the band has gathered a local fan base who danced their asses off for seemingly every note of the set. Amongst the set of excellent original material the band still found time for a quick jam on P Diddy’s “Bad Boy’s For Life” with Tauk’s drummer Isaac Teel happily offering up some vocal offerings. After a quick and delicious encore of Radiohead’s “Just”, both bands disappeared into the cool Finger Lakes night.

Fear not if you missed this excellent band duo, as Upstate NY has two more chances to see Tauk and Aqueous team up. This Friday, Rochester gets the love at The DubLand Underground. (18+ 7$ 10pm). Saturday they are off to the legendary Nietzsche’s in Buffalo. (21+ 7$ 9:30PM)

Check out Tauk’s newest single “Sunshine Harry” here.

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