Lazlo Hollyfeld

Check Out Lazlo Hollyfeld's Website For lots of Press.....

http://www.lazlohollyfeld.com/press.htm - LH

(four out of four stars) Lazlo Hollyfeld has emerged as a leading light on the Buffalo music scene and is poised to break into a much wider market, based on the strength of its hypnotic live shows and the ingenuity of its instrumental compositions. "The Pacer EP" is the band's third independent release, and it speaks well of the quartet's future; strikingly original and indelibly inventive, the band's sound is that rare one that is at once wholly new and warmly familiar.
There's no reason that fans who flock to see peripheral jam band-scene acts like Medeski, Martin, and Wood or Soulive won't take a shine to the Lazlo Hollyfeld boy's intoxicating, groove-centered brew. But there's something more here; elements of jazz, trance, ambient music and electronica inform the band's approach. Often, when it seems like the guys are improvising, they are actually sticking to the composition, which invariably boasts as much melodic design as it does mantralike, repetitive groove. There is a touch of both modern classical composer Steve Reich's looping, morphing designs and polyrhythmic inflections of Gamelan music.
It's all make to sound incredibly simple, organic, and natural, which is an amazing feat.
"The Pacer EP" is boldly creative music from a group of musicians of persistent vision. Lazlo Hollyfeld has the ability to make groove-based music exciting on a melodic and harmonic level as well. The band is ready for the world stage. - Jeff Miers; The Buffalo News - The Buffalo News

Buffalo's experimental/instrumental quartet has finally blessed us with a new recording. "The Pacer EP" is an adventurous yet slick and exciting yet balanced recording that makes the listener wish it were a full-length.
Lazlo is one of those bands that all sorts of people can agree on. Jam-fans love the experimentation and groove and riff oriented playfulness. Hipsters dig the synths and avante-gard arrangements. Dancers adore the far-out rhythms and arrangements. "The Pacer EP" showcases all of those talents of Lazlo Hollyfeld's.
The recording is available at the band's website, www.lazlohollyfeld.com as well as at the store at ChautauquaAMP.com. Included in the purchase are five great tracks that show that Western New York's best live band is also quite tight in the studio. If you want to listen to some of the best musicianship happening in out area's music scene, you don't have to look any further than "The Pacer EP". - MJS - WORD Magazine

It is the mark of a great band to defy categorization. Sure, labels will get recklessly thrown around like girls in mosh pits, but a band who’s truly unique can only be described by their name, as words can only do so much.

Lazlo Hollyfeld is, without question, one of those bands. On the surface, by using the basic jazz formula of improvisation and syncopation, they’re a jazz band. But in taking the old “wind up the band and see where the jam goes” approach, they allow every other style that influences them to come out, allowing their sets to take on countless forms.

They basically employ only two rules while on stage - no singing, and no soloing. Believe it or not, it’s the absence of the latter that’s more prominent - the quartet is a well-oiled, all-terrain vehicle that moves as one.

Their set last Monday at Frizzy’s, a weekly event, displayed their vision to a tee. In high gear without any sort of map. Gangarossa was up to the task, and McLeod and Molloy were at once along for the ride and in their own worlds, the product being a brilliantly cohesive sound that is truly all their own.

“If I had to call our sound anything, it would be powerful, instrumental simplicity,” says Molloy. “Texture is so important to us. If you’re playing that one note that sounds just right, and makes you feel kinda funny, then keep playing it.”

That mentality can make for a trance-like sound, which is magnified by their unified playing style. “We scold each other for soloing, It gets in the way of what we’re trying to do. We never write setlists, never plan anything. We literally wrote eight songs on the spot that night at Frizzy’s. ”

Regardless of that vision, as an electric, instrumental, improvisation-centered band, they inevitably are compared to Medeski, Martin, and Wood, and other bands that fall under the ridiculous copout title of a “jam band.”

“We’re not a jam band - I hate that term, We don’t hit crescendos. People have criticized us for that, that we don’t sound like Phish, but we like that. We don’t want to sound like them, or anyone else.”

“It’s hard to pinpoint when there’s no structure - anything comes out,” adds McLeod. “There’s no real style, just a feeling we’re trying to attain.”

Molloy and Gangarossa attained a feeling for making original music while playing in a Grateful Dead cover band called the Brother Project. “Chris and I grew tired of being a drunken party band, and started writing our own instrumentals,” says Molloy. “We got Tim Gerland, who’d been playing guitar with us, to switch to drums, and shortly after invited Jeff [McLeod] to jam with us, and he’s been with us ever since.”

After about six months of writing and playing together, they played their first gig at the inaugural Happening, at the Lafayette Tap Room in the winter of 2001.

After nearly a year of gigging, they went into Chameleonwest Studios to record their debut album with producer Marc Hunt. “We set the record for longest running recording session, from noon to 8 a.m.,” laughs Gangarossa. “There was a lot of coffee, but no arguing or anything. We were on a mission.”

They sent twelve tracks to Turtle Tone Studio in New York, where they were mastered by Mike Fossenkemper, and were elated with his finishing touches. “Mike’s credits are unbelievable, from Medeski, Martin, and Wood to even people like Mandy Moore,” Molloy says. “He’s worked with them all, and he did an absolutely wonderful job for us. When we got it back, Marc couldn’t believe how great it sounded. Our bottom line was to make a professional album on our own that stands out, not just on a local level. We spent a ton of money, but it was so worth it.”

That finished product, “Our Universe is Feeding,” displays their cohesive knack for addictive grooves, but these guys are one of those bands who cannot be captured in the studio or on a CD player. Neither can do justice to the constant inventiveness that drives their dynamic live performances, a fact that growing crowds are backing up. “We were nervous about anyone coming to our CD release party (held February 6th at Nietzsche’s), but the place was packed, and we were pumped. It means so much to us - you can tell that they’re gunnin’ for us.”

“We’ve gotten to know a lot of our fans by name, and that was so huge that they showed their support - they knew it was an important night for us,” adds Molloy.

“There’s a real music community here, and we have to stick together, because we’re all in it together. We have friends from other bands that we only know from playing with them, and we support each other.” That’s the Lizzard Ball “City of Good Neighbors” spirit working for them, and it’s paying dividends.

Their sound isn’t for everyone, but if you can dig instrumental music without boundaries, their show is guaranteed to please. - Seamus Galavan - Buffalo Beast Magazine

In Buffalo, where live music reigns supreme and countless musical genres — from punk to metal to funk — play anywhere from Pearl Street to the Continental, Lazlo Hollyfeld stands alone.

With roots in Buffalo's diverse musical landscape, the band is able to sift effortlessly through musical boundaries. Hollyfeld has quickly developed a form of music that is more than just sound — the four members have created a palate of creativity in which color and contrast meld together in melodious harmony.

The band hosts an upcoming release party for their upcoming release, titled "Our Universe is Feeding," tonight at Nietzsche's, 248 Allen St. They will be appearing with jazz/fusion pioneers Schleigho.

With its new release, Hollyfeld strings together a collection of 12 tightly knit studio cuts, capturing a gentler side while maintaining a consistency.

Hollyfeld ranges from delicate jazz tempos on piano, to the in-your-face explosive funk of exploratory electronic trance. With every effort, the band seamlessly merges varying genres into one cohesive resonance.

"We strive for simplicity," said keyboardist Scott Molloy. "We spend a lot of time finding ways to simplify things without taking away from them."

Without emphasizing one or two specific members of the band, Hollyfeld prefers to maintain its cohesion as an ensemble, thus creating a sonic consistency. With this, the band can achieve a certain sense of solidity seen rather infrequently in today's popular music.

"The best way I can define our sound is emotional instrumental music with a strong focus on rhythm," Molloy said.

"We all have the feeling that one note can be just as powerful as 20 if it's the right one," Molloy said. "I like to think that it acts to form our sound.

"We tried to strip down a lot of our songs and arrange them in a way that, front to back, created a certain emotion or feeling to anyone who listened," he said. "So a lot of our time was spent toiling with the song order and deciding if the tone of an instrument on a track was really what we wanted."

Commencing with the aptly titled "Axelrod," the disc immediately gives the listener a glimpse into the Hollyfeld approach: solid, precise rhythms, slick organ and timely guitar fillers.

The guitar-key duet introduction to "You Think I Am" provides solid room for expansion in the live setting. Conversely, the over nine-minute "Enigma for Dummies" is a sometimes heavenly, sometimes passionate exploration of electronic and fusion soundscapes.

"As far as how we sound compared to the other bands in Buffalo, we're different," he said. "Our thoughts on generating our music are different than anyone else's around here. And that's the beauty of the music scene in Buffalo.

"Whenever I think about the amount of incredible talent around us it makes me very proud to say that we can be part of the mix," he added.

Buy Molloy and the band aren't the types to get engulfed by rock star ego.

"Not many people have the opportunity to do what we do and we know that. It's something we cherish and feel very humbled by," he said. "We have the chance to play our music live all the time and that's something none of us will ever give up." - Chris Clark - University at Buffalo; Spectrum Magazine

Meeting somewhere between Boards Of Canada, Mogwai and DJ Shadow, Lazlo Hollyfeld are a four piece band who play atmospheric post-rock with added grooves.
On the groups latest release, THE PACER EP, Lazlo Hollyfeld skate between elevator muzak meets smooth jazz meets off centre electronica on MISS HONG, atmospheric guitar noodling by way of moody ambience on EVERYTHING YOU KNOW IS GONE and beat heavy dark electro stalking on SIX MONTHS LATER, a kind of Unkle meets Aphex Twin mash-up with added guitars. Closing number BONES finds the band laying down jazzy guitar grooves against off kilter rhythms, a sound reminiscent of prime Tortoise; Lazlo Hollyfeld basking in the gorgeous laid back jazz vibes and soundtracking the perfect summers day.
Creating a euphoric and uplifting take on post-rock, Lazlo Hollyfeld perfectly meld the sounds of Tortoise and Boards of Canada into one delicious whole here; and in doing so, manage to come up with a sound all of their own. THE PACER EP is a work of depth and warmth, marking Lazlo Hollyfeld out as almost the Beach Boys of the post-rock scene. - UK Music Search

The Pacer EP - Lazlo Hollyfeld
Plucking their name from Real Genius's glorious weirdo of the dormitory steam tunnel, upstate New York's Lazlo Hollyfeld carve a fine niche for themselves in the post-Tortoise sector of the jamband world. With no credited band members cramming five lush tunes onto their well-paced Pacer EP, the Hollyfelds' keyboard attack is lush and meticulous, like Sound Tribe Sector 9 without the crystals. If there's a guitarist, he assimilates so cleanly into the blend that he frequently just sounds like another chiming keyboard. Where the opening "Everything You Know is Gone" chimes like virtual clockwork, "Six Months Later" grinds with the frictions of human energies, perhaps the only tune on the disc to sound like a live band. With lo-fi geometrics adorning the cover, and the idea of brevity close at hand, Lazlo Hollyfeld could cross that rare bridge between hippie and hipster. - Jesse Jarnow - Jambands.com