MALBEC PABLO SIGNORI, lead vocals/guitar SAMANTHA BARBERA, bass guitar SIDNEY MILLER, keyboards/laptop MARK PONTIUS, drums NICK RUTH, guitar/background vocals Guitar-based, pop-fluent and beat-savvy, the Los Angeles-based five-piece band Malbec pours out a richly textured sound as diverse as the backgrounds and styles of its members. Alike only in the extreme spirit behind their playing, their collective artistic statement makes for an improbable but blissful musical marriage. Theirs is a hyper-melodic and intensely atmospheric tonal landscape propelled by soulful vocals, observant lyrics and brooding bass lines. Underneath, a tightly calibrated hip-hop foundation counterpoints Malbec’s fluid double guitar signature, resulting in an authentic and ambient groove impossible to define by any of the “genre hyphenates” bandied about in the brave new world of post-modern music. Founded in early 2004, Malbec’s unique dynamic does share a quality or two with the grape after which it’s named. The band’s titular tip of the hat to righteous earthy passion is a link to the roots of lead vocalist/songwriter/lyricist/guitarist Pablo Signori, whose family emigrated from Argentina to the outskirts of Detroit where he grew up, heavily imbibing indie rock and jazz. Malbec’s most celebrated contemporary incarnation