MONKEYING AROUND: The second album by a band that have been together for seven years. Monkey Gone Mad, a nine-piece band from Scotia, will release Listen . . . on Tuesday, June 21. A press release for the disc describes the album as crossing boundaries “between ska, punk, funk, reggae, hiphop, hard rock, jazz, Latin, R&B and more.” Don’t worry, the disc is bound to not have as much of an identity crisis as its press release. The band have been working on this disc (focusing on mixing and recording in particular) for more than a year, and they’ve been writing for as long as they have been together, so you do the math. Some special guests featured on Listen . . . include local rock star Paddy Kilrain, Mudfunk’s Marco Haber and Sean Rowe, and Chris “Skunk” Hanson of Perfect Thyroid. The CD-release party is set to happen at Northern Lights (1208 Route 146, Clifton Park) on Thursday, June 23, at 7 PM. Admission to the show is $7, $5 in advance. If you’re dying to catch Monkey Gone Mad before that, you can see them at Valentine’s (17 New Scotland Ave., Albany) on Tuesday, June 21, when they’ll share the bill with the Toasters, Public Access, and Honeycreeper. Visit their Web site at, you guessed it, www.monkeygonemad.com.

FIRST BLOOD: Grunge-rockers Matador are psyched to have just released their first EP, Evidence of Foul Play. Hailing from Saratoga Springs, the band are made up of four 20-something musicians who are ex-members of One King Down and End of Line. See Matador when they play next at the Hudson Duster (40 Third St., Troy) with Kingscastle, Shift and Tripsonic on Saturday, June 17, at 8 PM. In the meantime, check them out at www.matadornet.com.

SPECIAL SHE IS, TWICE: Erin Harkes and the Rebound will release their new live album, Special I Am, with not one, but two release shows. The first will happen at Lynn’s Uptown Tavern (15 Colvin Ave., Albany) this Saturday, and will feature Harkes and her band. The second, at Magnolia’s on the Park (462 Madison Ave., Albany), will be a special, intimate acoustic show with just Harkes on Sunday, June 19. For more information on Erin Harkes and the Rebound, visit the Web site at www.erinharkes.com.

THEIR TRANSMISSION IS STATIC-FREE: Our Best Band pick for 2004, Saratoga Springs’ Sixfifteens, will soon (if you consider September to be soon) release their first full-length recording for the New Jersey-based indie label Fake Chapter Records. The band have been in the studio for months now, and they’re happy to announce that the album is nearing completion. Feature, Conference, Transfer was produced and mixed by Dave Reynolds at Hoex Studios in Albany, and has a tentative release date of Sept. 13. The Sixfifteens will tour the United States after the album’s release in September. You can also catch the Sixfifteens this summer when they embark on a small East Coast tour with the Kamikaze Hearts. For Sixfifteens fans right here in the Capital Region, catch them on June 24 when they open for Ted Leo + Pharmacists and Radio 4 at Valentine’s. Check out their site at www.thesixfifteens.com.

OK, NOW, LET’S CHANGE THE SUBJECT: The 10th annual Art on Lark street fair will take place from noon to 5 PM this Saturday (June 10) on the famed street between Madison and Washington avenues. Though Art on Lark has “art” in the name (and accurately, we might add, considering how much art is actually involved—both for sale and for show), there will be lots of “music” stuff going on as well. Musicians will litter the streets from the beginning till the end of the festival, providing a soundtrack to your strolling and browsing. This year’s performers are Katie McKrell, Tangled Web, Tom Ross, Tom Templeton, MotherJudge and Colin Scallan, Brian Bassett, Tom McWatters, Marc Jones, Steve Candlen, and Widget and the Widgettes. For a schedule of when the performers will play, stop at the Art on Lark information booth (in front of the Lark Street BID at 245 Lark St.) for an event program. For more about Art on Lark events, such as the Albany Independent Film Forum and the People’s Choice Art Show, refer to the special advertising section in the middle of this issue. You can also get the lowdown at the Lark Street BID’s Web site at www.larkstreet.org.

—Kathryn Lurie