JIM CATALANO

CORRESPONDENT

The ever-eclectic Ithaca music scene will gain a welcome new addition Friday night, when Cornell University student Kurt Riley debuts his album “Kismet” in a concert at Cornell’s new Klarman Hall.

Released by the student-run label Electric Buffalo Records, “Kismet” is a concept album that blends glam-rock and science-fiction influences to tell the tale of an alien named King Bandele who leaves his native planet to search for his queen, Heaven Snow.

“I wanted to challenge myself and do something more than writing a record full of unconnected songs about girls or whatever, and do something a little deeper,” Riley said in an interview last month. “I’ve always been a huge aficionado of science fiction since I was a boy. I grew up on ‘Star Trek,’ ‘Star Wars’ and comic books. So I thought to myself, ‘What if I made a concept record?’

“I also grew up listening to ‘Tommy,’ ‘The Wall’ and ‘Quadrophenia’ and thought it would be amazing to do something like that,” he continued. “But it’s really difficult because to tell a story with a narrative you have to try to not make it cheesy — if you don’t, it will be like a musical. So I wanted to take my two favorite American art forms — rock ‘n’ roll and comic books – and combine them to make this album.”

Riley said the story was inspired by “this common notion that we are bad and we have to be fixed or saved by something. There’s always this figure that comes and tells us how and why we’re bad and how we have to be saved and what to do. I always felt that represented a collective guilt in humanity — that we feel bad about ourselves. So I wanted to write a story that addressed some of that existential stuff but in a non-boring way,” he said with a laugh.

“I decided to think about what would be the most fantastical place that aliens could come from — an alien kingdom with tall white spires and buildings and regal spacecraft and they evolved past greed to create a really utopian society. Maybe they’d bring life to places – maybe that’s what populated the Earth.”

Chock-full of rousing vocals, crunching guitars and fat keyboard riffs, the record impresses on a musical level as well. After recording the basic tracks with bassist Charlie Fraioli and drummer Olivia Dowd at Lincoln Hall last summer, Riley overdubbed the rest of the instruments and vocals in his home studio, enlisting a few more guests along the way.

Riley said Friday’s concert, at which he’ll be joined by six musicians, is “going to be more than a show – we’re doing a theatrical presentation.”

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“I’ll be wearing a costume, playing several of the characters,” he said. “I’ve always personally loved shows where it’s not just people wearing blue jeans, but dressed up giving a performance. I’ve always been into people like Bowie, Adam Ant, Gary Numan, Marc Bolan – people who had these stunning personas that transcended their offstage personalities.”

Riley, whose real name is Kurt Fritjofson, is a senior in the School of Industrial and Labor Relations, where he transferred after two years at Southwest Tennessee Community College in Memphis.

“I’m not really from anywhere — my dad was in the Army, so we moved around a lot,” Riley said. “But I did spend a lot of time in Tennessee. It’s where I first got into music – you can’t not be into music if you’re living in Memphis.”

Tickets for the 9 p.m. show are $10 and available at CornellTickets.com. Visit www.facebook.com/events/805514932914799/ for details.

Holy Crow Jazz Band makes Ithaca debut

Thursday, New York City’s Holy Crow Jazz Band will make its first Ithaca appearance at Casita del Polaris. The quintet plays traditional American jazz music from the 1920s throughout the 1930s.

Founded last year, the band is fronted by a couple of familiar faces: Jessy Carolina, who has performed here with the Bill Murray Experience and the Hot Mess; and Jesse Selengut, a former Ithacan who played trumpet with Johnny Dowd and Sugarmoan in the late 1990s.

“The attitude is rock and roll, but the repertoire is trad jazz,” Selengut said in a phone interview from his home in Queens. “But somehow it manages to be really exciting. The music feels really fresh to us and it hits really hard.”

The band’s repertoire includes many instrumentals from Louis Armstrong, King Oliver, Kid Ory, Bix Beiderbecke and Red Nichols and other greats of the hot jazz era. “Jessy’s husband, Mario Maggio who’s an awesome clarinet player, takes care of the repertoire and calls tunes on stage,” Selengut explained. “They’re from the early 1920s-30s, and based on these old charts and transcriptions that Mario has found.”

There’s no cover for the 9 p.m. show. Visit www.facebook.com/events/516922285154336/ for more information.

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Cosmic Joke Collective moves to the Dock

The Cosmic Joke Collective, a monthly showcase that allows local artists and musicians to showcase new work, will return Saturday at a different location — The Dock — for a 6:30 p.m. show.

This month’s theme is "Past & Future Perfect with a twist of Bowie," with five acts — Mary Lorson with Steve Gollnick, Drew Minson, Beverly Stokes with Brooks Miner, Bob Proehl , and Michael Decatur of WonderMonday — and host Mickie Quinn.

“We’re going to be putting our own lo-fi velvety spin on a bunch of songs from the distant past, including a couple by the Thin White Duke himself,” Gollnick said. “Mary and I haven’t played together in years, so it’s great to be singing with her again. It’ll be very loose and very fun.”

Proehl will be reading from his soon-to-be-released debut novel, “A Hundred Thousand Worlds”; to align with the theme of the show, He has selected a piece that includes a “Bowie-influenced transgender space opera comic book.”

Cover charge is $5. Visit www.facebook.com/events/837426109702720/ for more information.

Two shows from Ithaca Underground

Ithaca Underground will present two shows this week. Saturday, IU will host one of its biggest shows of the year when Boston indie-rock bands Pile and Palehound join locals Therm (formerly Lust), Shore Acres Drive and Teencat for a 7 p.m. all-ages show. Advance tickets are $12; at the door, admission is $15.

Tuesday, IU and deejay Helen Stride will present Denver hip-hop favorites Sole & DJ Pain 1 at the Chanticleer Loft. The duo’s latest album is “Nihilismo,” which “embodies the overlap of their music with the world of activism and journalism.” Locals AVIATRIX, Remstar Steele and Infamous will round out the eclectic bill. Cover is $8 for the 7 p.m. all-ages show. Visit www.ithacaunderground.org for more information.

More shows

It’s another busy week on the local scene, starting with Thursday’s Rhett Miller show at the Dock (read Luke Fenchel’s story for a preview). And there’s more!

• Those who are still lamenting the loss of Felicia’s Friday night happy hour shows finally have a replacement, as Felicia’s Hive 45 is now open at 45 E. Main St. in Trumansburg. This Friday, familiar Judy Hyman, Jeff Claus, Mac Benford and Sally Freund will play old-time tunes at 6-8:30 p.m. Visit www.hivefortyfive.com to learn more.

• Friday, the Canaan Institute in Brooktondale will host a house concert featuring Quebecois duo Yann Falquet and Pascal Gemme along with New Foundland native Keith Murphy. The 7 p.m. concert will be followed by an instrumental jam session. Reserve a seat at this private show for $25 by emailing mike@cinst.org. Visit www.canaaninstitute.org for more information.

• Friday, electronica jam bands Mister F, Broccoli Samurai and Strange Machines will team for a show at the Haunt. There’s a cover for the 9 p.m. show. And at the Nines, locals Misses Bitches, Janet Batch and Beet Juice will team for a 9:30 p.m. show.

• Saturday, the New York Rock will play the Rongovian Embassy in Trumansburg. Fresh off a short Midwestern tour to Cleveland and Chicago, the band will be playing both an acoustic set as well as its usual rock set. Cover is $10 for the 9 p.m. show. Also Saturday, Buffalo’s Intrepid Travelers will team with locals Fall Creek Brass Band for a show at Lot 10, and the legendary Grandmaster Caz will spin some vinyl at a free show at the Dock.

• Sunday, the East Shore Arts Council will present The Dean’s List at Lansing Town Hall. The group is a next-generation version of the Dean Brothers, with brothers John and Bob Dean joined by Bob’s daughter Kate Ellen Dean and their niece-in-law Caroline Manring Dean to play pop, folk, Motown and originals with four-part harmonies. There’s a cover for the 3 p.m. show. All active duty military and first-responders get in free. Visit eastshorearts.org for more information.

• Tuesday, Eleanor Friedberger will come to the Haunt. After co-leading the Fiery Furnaces with her brother Matthew, Friedberger went solo a few years ago and has released three excellent albums including her latest, “New View.” There’s a cover for the 8 p.m. show. Visit www.dansmallspresents.com to learn more.

• Wednesday, Big Mean Sound Machine’s Lucas Ashby, guitarist Colter Harper and percussionist Jeff Berman will accompany Ghanaian music legend Osei John for a show at the Dock. John is one of the few remaining seperewa musicians in Ghana — the seperewa is an Akan harp, a forgotten cousin of the Sahel's kora or ngoni, but it has been usurped by the guitar in Ghanaian music. There’s a small cover for the 7:30 p.m. show, which will be followed by Reggae Night featuring Thunder Body beginning at 10:30 p.m. Visit www.thedockithaca.com to learn more.

Catalano has covered the local music scene since 1992. Follow him on Twitter at @IthacaMusicNews, and email him at jimcat@aol.com.