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Tonight: Fat Tuesday

February 13, 2018

Mardi Gras is now more or less a thing up here in Buffalo so you might as well celebrate it properly tonight at Mohawk with the return of their Fat Tuesday Mardi Gras Party. Featuring the artfully ramshackle Americana band Pine Fever, heavy duty psych rockers Deadwolf, the rockabilly punk sensibilities of Soul Butchers, The Buffalo Brass Machine cranking New Orleans brass, A. Dreamer Solutions, and Mr. Conrad playing piano in between sets all night long, there’s also going to be a New Orleans buffet, NOLA drink specials, beads… and it can all be yours for $10, or $5 after the food runs out. Doors open at 6pm.

Tonight: Sugar City’s Soul Night

February 9, 2018

Venerable and essential Buffalo DIY arts and performance space Sugar City is having their semi quarterly dance party Soul Night! fundraiser tonight at Milkie’s on Elmwood, and as always it’s the place to be. Featuring vinyl jams spun (really spun!) by Handsome Dan, DJ Haüsfly, DJ Reazon, and Steve Soulson… the sweet soul, hot funk, and Soul Train line dancing joints will be kicking from 10pm to 3am, giving you plenty of time to drop in, throw your $5 towards this fine arts collective (full disclosure: I volunteer over there) to keep them going, and shake your booty right for as long as you like (or, until 3am when frankly, you got to go), and hit up the Lloyd’s truck across the street. Soul Night really is all you need.

Tonight: Bong Wish

February 9, 2018

Lovers of the tripped out, fantastical British folk music that fired up Led Zeppelin and Donovan simply have to get to Deep Space 8 tonight to check out Bong Wish, just in from the magical woods of ancient Massachusetts to play us some songs from their delightful eponymous debut EP. Rounding out your magical evening will be a stacked bill featuring local art blues rockers be locust or alone, true soldiers of love and good vibrations Welks Mice, and the live debut of lo-fi psych rocker The Midnight Vein (aka John Toohill), who’ll also be celebrating the release of his eponymous debut tonight, as if that wasn’t enough for you already. It’s a pay what you will situation, with a minimum donation of $5 to cover Bong Wish’s gas money, so be cool. Doors open at 7:30pm and music at 8:30pm.

Tonight: Different Strokes

February 2, 2018

Buffalo’s preeminent (and only) Strokes tribute band Different Strokes is back tonight headlining a top notch show at DBGB’s also featuring The Eaves, The Good Neighbors, and indie dance jams all night courtesy of the Dance Yrself Clean crew. An all-star squad featuring Tom (Humble Braggers, DYC) Burtless, Ben (DYC) Parsons, John (Girl Jeans) Grace, Ryan (The Slums) Schilia, and Griff (Feverbox) Smith, the wonderful, cheeky sausages of Different Strokes get the objects of their collective obsession right: kicking the early aughts downtown rock jams with tight riffs,  danceable grooves, some swagger, and the don’t give a fudge insouciance one expects from Casablancas and crew. Indie bar band from heaven The Eaves (you know, the fellows formerly known as Sixties Future) and garage rocker newbies The Good Neighbors will be warming you up, with Dance Yrself Clean keeping you on your feet all night. Doors open at 9pm and cover is $5.

The Able Bodies Drop Video For “Pet Shop”

January 30, 2018

Rochester electropop outfit The Able Bodies are back with a new single and video that’s absolutely guaranteed to provide some warmth during this fine Buffalo winter we’re having. “Pet Shop” is irresistible 80’s pop and a Chromeo-esque summer roller skating jam that’s just a few months early, heavy on juicy synth lines and breezy, soulful vocals… but it should be noted that it’s definitely not about about the joys of pet ownership or the American pet industrial complex. A tight follow up to their debut single “Flicker” from last August, it’s hilarious, catchy as hell, and what you need right now.

Tonight: Feverbox

January 22, 2018

Mondays are terrible, it’s a scientific fact that’s generally agreed upon by all, and for good reason. The weekend is over and the next seems far away because the work week is long, plus there’s usually not much happening on Mondays, and when there is sometimes it feels a little like an imposition because after all, it’s Monday. But the good people at Asbury Hall and The Ninth Ward just might have what we need with their new Weekend Mondays: no cover, drink specials, good bands with good sound, with an inaugural edition tonight featuring local indie rockers Feverbox, psych rock behemoth in the making Deadwolf, Get Money $quad’s Quinton Brock, and DJ Miosi spinning tunes. Weekend Monday starts at 7pm. See you there.

Brat’ya –Desire

December 21, 2017

2017 is almost history (thankfully) but former Buffalo-based electronica artist/producer Aleksander Ogadzhanov (aka Brat’ya) isn’t done with us yet, with a sophomore album Desire that’s beguilingly one of the most outstanding albums from an expat this year. A luminescent expression of synthwave and 90’s R&B, Desire is a bold and soulful work that showcases a confident artist fearlessly out there vulnerably searching for love/beauty/truth/freedom/sumptuous sonic bliss with 80’s synthesizers and an expressive, honest falsetto that definitely gets the job done. Achingly minimalist, “Fog” provides Desire with a yearning, confessional start that finds a seductive groove that gives Ogadzhanov a chance to channel his inner Passion Pit and showcase his assured falsetto early to achieve early lift off before diving into the seedy and darkish underworld of title track “Desire” about the tyranny of our never-ending quest for satisfaction. “Girl” is straight up one-man band boy band R&B, with irresistible breakbeats, sly lyrics, and treated[...]

Ugly Sun Drops Fresh Single “LITTLE SISTER”

December 21, 2017

In time for your holiday shenanigans, local garage punks Ugly Sun have graced us with a new single by the name of “LITTLE SISTER” and an accompanying lyric video that’s funny and trippy as all hell. A skull crushing ode to making time with somebody’s little sister (probably yours), there’s something eternal and timeless within Trey Hollowood’s punk riffs, Harrison Crook’s galloping backbeat, and John Crook’s yearning howl, and “I want to be the space in between” is just a killer lyric. Rudy Scheider’s lyric video is a psychedelic treat of lo-fi video effects, ridiculous detours, including some vaporwave and a cameo by a very sad Joe (Made Violent) White, and distortions that will remind some of trying to watch the Playboy Channel on the sly unsuccessfully with an old cable box. The fellas in Ugly Sun always seem to be up to no good, and I love them for it. Enjoy.

First Ward Drop Video For “Speck Of Dust”

December 14, 2017

Zak Ward’s current band First Ward has a new drummer and a new video for “Speck Of Dust” that suggests the future is bright for these veteran musicians. With Buffalo Music Hall Of Fame member Jeff Schaller (Here Come The Comets, Black Rock Zydeco, Soul Patch) on drums, sweet vocals that call to mind Squeeze’s Paul Carrack and Caleb Followill from KOL before it all went wrong, and a lyric video that’s a gentle BFLO take on that classic Dylan video, “Speck Of Dust” is further proof that while rock is allegedly dead, there’s definitely a rock revival going on with a bunch of bands defiantly keeping the flame alive at the local level here in Western New York. You can catch First Ward this Saturday at the Tudor Lounge with Bold Folly and Soul Butchers and December 29th at the Town Ballroom opening for The Trews.

Tonight: Humble Braggers

December 9, 2017

Armed with some new tunes, synth pop heroes Humble Braggers headline an insanely stacked, can’t miss show tonight at Nietzsche’s that features some of the region’s best bands.  It’s a red hot Buffalo/Rochester showcase, with our friends KOPPS and The Demos representing for the 585, with KOPPS rocking their ever satisfying trashy electropop and The Demos bringing the glam power pop. Local garage rockers Ugly Sun are also thrown in their for good measure and will be sure to provide some righteously melted faces. Cover is $8 and doors open at 9pm. I Know Better, I’m No Better by Humble Braggers

Tonight: dreambeaches

December 8, 2017

The Burchfield Penny had so much fun with their 50th anniversary Gold art party last year that they’re doing another one and they’ve chosen dreambeaches to kick off this year’s version, Stay Gold. Starting at 5:30pm sharp with a performance by dreambeaches accompanied by a string quartet in the East Gallery, Stay Gold features installations by local artists including Stanzi Vaubel, Muhammad Z Zaman, and Jose Rodriguez; exhibitions of works by Charles Burchfield, Milton Rogovin, and artists from the WNY Urban Arts Collective, and performances by DJ Toneyboi, Kerry Fey, Leroy Townes, Erica Wolfing, and Twenty Thousand Strongmen with the Sunshine Sisters. Stay Gold is part of the Burchfield’s Second Friday at the Center program so admission is free and hours extend until 11pm. Full event details can be found here. Disappearing Act by dreambeaches

Tonight: Deadwolf Album Release Party

December 1, 2017

Local psych rock classicists Deadwolf have finally released their epic full length debut LP Heavy Heart and they are celebrating this long awaited event tonight at the Mohawk. The band and their fans have been waiting a while for this album to be out there, an expansive exploration of sixties psychedelia featuring serious ear candy jams, loads of shimmering guitars, subtle menace, and excellent harmonies, which translate very well live, and with their penchant for audio and visual satisfaction,  you can expect something a little extra from Deadwolf in the headlining spot this evening. Lockport rockers Handsome Jack, who recently crushed it opening for Timber Timbre on this very stage will be back to spread their early 70’s rock gospel with Witty Tarbox opening the show with their funky and nihilistic surf rock. Cover is $5, doors open at 8pm and the first 25 people through the door get a physical copy of[...]

The Eaves Drop First Single and Video

November 28, 2017

Sixties Future was a band much beloved here at the buffaBLOG from that Herd Fest show at the Mohawk when the melted the faces off a few staff writers, myself included. Chris Couche’s Matt Berninger meets Bruce Springsteen vocals and mythic frontman stage presence, coupled with the band’s retro edged hard driving Americana rock made believers of us, and from that point forward their every song or show received passionate attention. After a few years growing in strength in the rock revivalist corner of the local scene, when word went out that the band was calling it quits there was definitely some sadness. Everything just felt right about Sixties Future, but maybe it wasn’t to be. But earlier this summer there was word on the street that the band was resurfacing  under the moniker The Eaves, but nothing materialized until last week when they released “Feel Better,” their debut single and a music video[...]

Small Smalls – Things Can Only Get Worse

November 27, 2017

Time freezes in an eighties neon haze on Things Can Only Get Worse, the debut full length album from Buffalo synth pop trio Small Smalls, accompanied with a bittersweet awkwardness  that keeps it vulnerable and new. The bright lo-fi synth lines always lift off, but never drift too far from the emotional core that holds Colette Montague’s lyrics and vocal performances together on a set of songs that encompasses New Wave, sixties pop, noise rock, and surprisingly in the end, surf punk. “Brave Bird” is a perfect album opener with it’s beguilingly shiny and upbeat synths and vocals and  fuzzed out guitar, which give way to the angular yet pensive New Wave of “Falling Blossoms” and pleasing atonal robotic textures of “Polystyrene Girl,” both of which play beautifully off of Colette Montague’s warm and airy soprano. The offbeat sonic textures continue on “Hamster Lunch,” featuring vox from guitarist Stephen Malczewski, punk rhythms from Dave Borden,  and[...]

Tonight; New Order vs Depeche Mode Dance Party

November 18, 2017

Transmission Dance Party is back with a pre-Thanksgiving week warmup New Order vs Depeche Mode Dance Party tonight at the Mohawk. Dance to the hottest 80’s UK dance jams as Bill Page and Jason Draper pit Manchester legends New Order against venerable Essex heroes Depeche Mode in a battle for faux supremacy… with the winners being you party kids of all ages downtown to get down. The party starts at 10:00pm, goes to 3am, and cover is $5.