It’s been another hard fought contest, but the field has now been narrowed to four in the third installment of the Artvoice.com Battle of Original Music (BOOM). Once again, local music fans have spoken by visiting our Web site week after week to voice support for their favorite acts. On Saturday night at the Sportsmen’s Tavern, our four finalists will square off in a live battle royale from which only one act will emerge victorious and claim a recording package from Sessions Recording Studio, market-ready CDs of that recording courtesy of ESP CD and DVD Manufacturing and, to leave a more lasting memory, $150 worth of ink for each band member from our friends at Art-n-Body, Inc. At the event, audience members will each be given one ballot to cast a vote for their favorite band. Will it be Sam Gillam, London vs. New York, Off the Cuff or Host Echo? When the ballots are counted, one of them will join previous BOOM winners Dali’s Ghost and Constant Climax in the year-end BOOM Grand Finals, to be held immediately after the next round of the contest. The prize pool is growing for that ultimate showdown, and acts interested in winning the fourth and final spot should submit their materials for consideration next week at Artvoice.com. Come out and celebrate the local music scene with us at another great live music venue.

Having emerged from the music halls of 1930s Paris, “gypsy jazz” was born when legendary guitarist Django Reinhardt and French violinist Stephane Grappelli combined forces to create an underground musical phenomenon that would survive well into the 21st century. Local quartet Babik has emerged as a leader of the pack, after playing a sold-out release concert for their debut album, Pronounced Bah-beek, in late 2006 as well as taking home the Artvoice Reader’s Choice Award for Best Jazz Band the past two years. This week, Kruno Spisic, one of the leading performers of the genre, will be joining Babik on stage for “An Evening of Gypsy Jazz,” an event that is sure to excite Django devotees and entice new fans with rhythms that are far less heady and much more danceable than those of traditional, mainstream jazz. Kruno, the evening’s featured artist, is no stranger to acclaim. The Croatian-born musician has infused his music with notes of his Balkan upbringing, earning great praise from the gypsy jazz community as well as international tour dates with famed musician Dorado Schmitt and a standing ovation at New York’s Birdland Djangofest. His debut album, Kruno Gypsy Jazz Guitar (Gypsy Jazz Distribution), was just released last year. The program will feature ten other musicians from around the world and promises to be a night filled with toe-tapping and musical discovery.

If songwriter/guitarists Ed Droste and Daniel Rossen aren’t sure how to classify themselves, don’t expect me to do it. Their Brooklyn quartet Grizzly Bear—rounded out by Chris Taylor and Christopher Bear—has been lumped into both lo-fi indie rock and the over-zealously tagged acid-folk categories, but it’s a little tough to really peg the band’s distinctive, widescreen sound. Started originally as a bedsit songwriting project by Droste, Grizzly Bear’s central power lies in the careful song construction bearing unfolding honesty and lilting melodies. This power is furthered by concise arrangements—often spare but sounding larger than life—and a knack for experimentation, adding electronic elements and a pastiche of found sounds and percussion. With online tastemaker Pitchfork.com already cheerleading, Grizzly Bear’s second album proper, Yellow House (Warp Records), which followed the 2004 debut Horn of Plenty (Kanine), has catapulted them catastrophically close to mainstream success with wide coverage and kudos including a top five placement on the New York Times list of the best albums of last year. As they begin work on the follow up to Yellow House, the band finally comes to Buffalo following a busy summer that included big festival stops at Seattle’s Sasquatch and Pitchfork’s sold-out fest in Chicago.

India.Arie appears to have the Midas touch, as everything that crosses her path turns to gold, platinum or whatever color you can call a Grammy. She’s won two of those and has received a total of 12 nominations since this neo-classic soul songbird officially came onto the music scene in 2001 with her platinum-plus debut, Acoustic Soul (Motown). Her songs and music videos skyrocket up the charts and capture a sense of inspiration that is truly lacking in the pop mart of today’s music. In the wake of repeatedly abhorrent behavior displayed by certain (in)famous artists, India.Arie stands up for international social and humanitarian causes that have become an integral part of her work. She released her latest record, the certified gold and Grammy-nominated Testimony: Vol. 1, Life & Relationship (Motown), on National HIV Testing Day in 2006, and recently returned from South Africa as a US ambassador for UNICEF. Her 2002 record, Voyage to India, won two Grammy’s and three NAACP awards, which put her in a position to pick and choose among her favorite artists as collaborators on Testimony. These include Bonnie Raitt, Akon, Gary Lenox (of Rascal Flatts), Victor Wooten and others. This is an artist who can certainly be expected to deliver one of the more heartfelt and genuine performances to hit any stage in awhile.