New Age by Celeste Busk ____________________________________ Composer and keyboard wizard Mars Lasar is a man with a musical message-- "to put in as much as we take out of the environment, and socially to change our way of thinking." The 29-year-old Australian's latest release "The Eleventh Hour" (Real Music), touches on issues ranging from ozone, the breakdown of the family unit and child abuse to displaced Native Americans, the dehumanization of mankind and the AIDS epidemic. Armed a keyboard, computer and synthesizer, the musician and his colleagues (including Yanni sideman Charlie Bisharat on violin and Greg Vail of Kilauea on wind instruments) present an assortment of dance - inspiring rhythms, annulus sound effects, subliminally styled vocals and get-lost-in-your-mind symphonies. And all this peppered with a little jazz, industrial and world beat styles. "My music is a combination of live and computerized performances, I use the computer as an extension of the mind, which enables many things at once," Lasar said. Lasar says his music draws influences from artists such as Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, Alan Parsons Project, Pink Floyd and Tangerine Dream. "These guy were always breaking new boundaries. It seems today we're not breaking new boundaries in music mainly because of the social pressure in the sate of our economy." To get an idea of what he's talking about, Lasar will hit the China Club tonight as part of WNUA-FM's free listener appreciation night. He'll be playing solo on a baby bran piano with computer instrumentation. Eight cuts from his new release are on the program as well as an "Eleventh Hour" video. "The thing I like about music is that you can get sentimental about life," he he said. "I like people to open up and think creatively and use music as an alternative to social pressure to fill, relax and motivate them to do something while giving a feeling of hope.