Latest Posts

Tonight: Wine Lips

May 25, 2019 Cliff Parks

Tonight, Mohawk Place hosts a night of serious, uncut garage rock when it hosts Toronto’s very own Wine Lips, DC garage sludge rockers Teen Mortgage, Rochester’s The Dirty Pennies, and local ne’er do wells Bold Folly. Wine Lips busted out of the Toronto scene and onto the international stage thanks to their hard charging riffs, killer rhythms, and insouciant and vaguely glam vocals from Cam Hilborn, and after an Asian tour last year this is the bands first tour south of the border. Washington DC’s Teen Mortgage are a skull crushing drum and guitar duo that unleashes a sound way bigger and heavier than what any two dudes should be able to wield by themselves, so be prepared for sweet sonic overload. Meanwhile, The Dirty Pennies from Rochacha just released their first EP last month of vocative and shoegazey yet rousing garage rock, and local psych rockers Bold Folly will be[...]

Tonight: Spirits Having Fun

May 16, 2019 Cliff Parks

Tonight, local DIY space Sugar City hosts a “very fun rock show” featuring Chicago art rock outfit Spirits Having Fun, Tokyo East-West rockers and now honorary Buffalonians The Molice, and local post rock avant-gardist Little Cake. Melding sweet melodies, chaotic whimsy, progressive discordance, and elements of free jazz, Spirits Having Fun have a debut album coming out next month, Auto-Portrait, and a lot going on simultaneously from a critical standpoint, so they’re worth checking out. The Molice meanwhile, have been kicking around Buffalo since last Fall while working on material at GCR Audio, playing venues all over the city and they’re back to Sugar City for more international DIY fun, while Little Cake will get the fun started with their impeccable melodies and always bravura musicianship. Cover is $7-$10, doors are at 7pm, and don’t forget that Sugar City is an all ages space that is drug and alcohol free so please be cool.[...]

Tonight: Slow Cooker

May 11, 2019 Cliff Parks

Tonight Buffalo surf punks Slow Cooker celebrate the release of their debut LP Do A Kickflip at Duende at Silo City with an international lineup featuring fellow local punks Science Man and 2 of London (Ontario)’s finest punk up and comers KLAZO and MANAGER. With Do A Kickflip Slow Cooker (Ian McCrohan, Andy Krzystek, Joe McGrath, Adam Malchof) stretches out their sound to embrace some psychedelia, garage rock, and New Wave while staying true to their school of wanton thrash and scuzzy surf punk. Science Man aka John (one half of Night Slaves) Toohill will be playing some jams from his recently released eponymous debut, while London Ontario’s KLAZO and MANAGER will be getting everything started with their respective crushing thrash punk and mind shredding and doom laden noise rock. Big kudos to Duende for trading the laid back, folk vibes they’ve become known for since opening last summer for some straight up[...]

Tonight: Ryan Luce

May 4, 2019 Cliff Parks

Buffalo to Brooklyn ex-pat Ryan Luce is back home to celebrate the release of his aptly named debut EP California Gold tonight at The Tabernacle with California singer songwriter and fellow collaborator DM Salsberg. California Gold is an ode to an age gone by, when laid back country, folk, and pop coalesced into something that sounded sweet (and rather popular) coming over your AM radio… and even sweeter in stereo; all shimmering piano notes, bittersweet harmonies, and pedal steel over a toe tapping beat ideal for shimmying and shuffling at a spot like The Tabernacle. DM Salsberg and her evocative soprano voice will be getting the shindig started right with her own brand of acoustic folk pop California sweetness. Doors are at 8pm and suggested donation is $5. California Gold by Ryan Luce

Jesse & The Spirit Releases New Single “Anthropocene”

May 2, 2019 Cliff Parks

Jesse & The Spirit aka Jesse James Kaufman is back with a compellingly bleak and punishingly psychedelic single and video called “Anthropocene” that takes no prisoners and holds back no truths. Saving you a trip to a search engine, Anthropocene is the geological name for our age, the time period during which our human activity has actively wrecked the planet we live on. Meanwhile, the word psychedelic comes from the english word psyche (the human mind, soul or spirit) and the greek word delos (clear, manifest), and this futuristic and Fridmannesque “wall of sound” aural experience is excruciatingly concise and clear of mind about our current state and future prospects, while jamming hard in the process.

Tonight: Twin Peaks

May 1, 2019 Cliff Parks

Tonight, incandescent Chicago DIY indie garage rockers Twin Peaks make a stop in Buffalo at the Rec Room with fellow Chicagoans Post Animal and local rock heroes Made Violent. God bless them, these dudes formed their band back in high school in 2010 amidst other proper shenanigans, getting their legs becoming mainstays in Chicago’s DIY scene before releasing their debut EP Sunken in 2012 and continuing a prolific string of releases up thru last year’s Sweet ’17 Singles, a collection of laid back psych garage recordings the band released as singles monthly throughout 2017. Chicago’s Post Animal will be making a welcome return after making a very heady debut at the Tralf a few years ago and making good on a show scotched by the death of a van last year I believe, while local fellas Made Violent will be getting everybody in the mood with their tasteful, California sober hard rock[...]

Johnny & the Man Kids – You Made Me Hurt

April 29, 2019 Cliff Parks

Buffalo indie garage rockers Johnny & The Man Kids are back with You Made Me Hurt, a brand new EP of downtown rock jams that will pleasingly transport you back to the pre financial meltdown glory days of the early to mid aughts. Yes, to hell with Generation X (we had it coming) and any notion of an overdue 90’s revival that we probably don’t really need, the Marciniak boys and crew have tightened up and expanded their rambunctious garage rock sound to embrace a decidedly NYC vibe set forth by beloved bands like The Strokes and Vampire Weekend, and it works. Lead vocalist and guitarist Johnny Marciniak really goes for it, switching up that Rust Belt post grunge wail and shred for something a little more urbane and jangly but no less rusted out overall. All over these five melodic and anthemic yet gritty jams the guy almost sounds like clean cut evangelist preacher man trying[...]

Tonight: Bad Waitress

April 20, 2019 Cliff Parks

Tonight Sugar City hosts a night of serious 21st century punk rock when Toronto’s Bad Waitress rolls through town with Thick and Tina Panic Noise. Bad Waitress is rowdy, insurgent, and not playing around with your feeleings or your hangups, while Brooklyn’s Thick is all DIY punk, soaring melodies, and kicking the status quo in it’s dude-centric junk (we have it coming); and Buffalo’s Tina Panic Noise is punk rock stomping on the fingers of the dying CIS-heteronormative world unfortunately holding on for dear life well after it’s sell by date. Tickets are $12 and doors are at 7pm. Please note this is an all ages show and that Sugar City is a drug and alcohol free space. Party Bangers Volume: 1 by Bad Waitress

Tonight: Matthew Danger Lippman

April 19, 2019 Cliff Parks

Tonight, Buffalo to Brooklyn transplant Matthew Danger Lippman brings his glammed out, soul man jive home for a special show at Sugar City with Welks Mice and Lesionread. Matthew just released Sadomania hot on the heels of last year’s trippy and surprisingly soulful Ill, which found MDL leaning hard into melodicism and confessional turns to find some real catharsis; also, it’s always real interesting to see what he’s got going on. Actually that’s also true for good vibes prophets Welks Mice and the always provocative Lesionread, who’s taking a night off from Space Cubs to offer artistic support to a fellow troublemaker comrade in arms. Cover is $7, doors are at 7pm, and don’t forget Sugar City is all ages and a drug & alcohol free venue, so please be cool. Sadomania EP by Matthew Danger Lippman

Handsome Jack Go Inside The Making Of Everything’s Gonna Be Alright

April 18, 2019 Cliff Parks

Gritty Lockport rock revivalists and intrepid world travelers Handsome Jack have given their fans an intimate glimpse into their creative process and the making of their last album Everything’s Gonna Be Alright in a new documentary by Christian Gentry. Calling their sound “timeless” is a huge understatement, and Gentry digs in to show how the boys along with producer Ben McLeod and Nashville engineer Grant Husselman crafted an album with such deep analog vibes for a modern audience and listening experience. There’s also sharp cinematography reminiscent of Anton Corbijn, heavy jams, rock & roll shenanigans, and blood, sweat and tears to round it all off for you, so you should check it out immediately, below.

Tonight: Johnny & the Man Kids

April 12, 2019 Cliff Parks

Tonight Mohawk hosts a solid lineup of Buffalo indie rock when Johnny & The Man Kids celebrate the release of their new EP You Made Me Hurt with help from Passed Out, Award Show and Halo Nellie. People expecting some 90’s revivalism will have to look elsewhere because Johnny & the Man Kids have entirely skipped that apparently misbegotten decade to embrace the glory of the first decade of the 21st century as embodied by NYC stalwarts The Strokes and Vampire Weekend with some of that early Killers goodness (before it all went wrong) via John Marciniak’s earnest and appealingly evocative vocals, and their EP is a celebration of youth and an era that almost seems bygone nowadays considering everything’s all went wrong, but hey. Opening the show will be raw as hell indie rockers Passed Out, lo-fi shoegazers Award Show, and newbies halo nellie, about which little is known so[...]

Planet Three – Equinox

April 8, 2019 Cliff Parks

Cosmic vibrations and cotton candy aural explorations abound on Equinox, the debut EP from Planet Three, yet another satisfying project from the shockingly prolific Reggie Clark and produced by the also shockingly busy Cody Morse. Emanating from the psychedelic wellspring that nourishes the sonic sorcery of psych legends The Flaming Lips, early 70’s Genesis, Tame Impala, and in a pleasing twist, proto metal gods Black Sabbath, Equinox feels unspeakably timeless and very easy on the ears. Trading VR Sunset’s airy yacht rock for bold as brass guitar heroics and Kevin Parker’s cosmic drum sounds, “Visuals” kicks Equinox into high gear with splashes of pulsating color, reverb drenched multi tracked vocals, and a detour into faerie land before crashing into the crushing, Iommiesque, ur metal riffs and throbbing, doom laden Jimmy Ciambor bass lines on “Decay.” As a guitarist Clark really digs in and shows off his skills and influences, with “Sensorium” showing some appreciation for Houses[...]

Ryan Luce Finds “California Gold” On New Single

April 2, 2019 Cliff Parks

Buffalo ex-pat Ryan Luce has hit a vein of pure Americana goodness on his new single “California Gold” off his forthcoming album and you should get it in your ears pronto. Shuffling earnestly with just a sweet whiff of melancholy, some killer slide guitar lines and intertwined harmonies that conjure sensations of 70’s country and Buckingham Nicks, “California Gold” is indeed AM radio gold; timeless and bittersweetly irresistible. “California Gold” is the title track of Luce’s forthcoming album that comes out April 26, with a homecoming show scheduled for May 4th at The Tabernacle.

DRIPPERS! – APSEN ZURTS

March 25, 2019 Cliff Parks

Rochester bizarro world psych rock act DRIPPERS! has tapped into some profoundly esoteric emanations on their debut LP APSEN ZURTS to create some seriously out there psychedelic progressive rock that’s our Album of the Week. Ideal for your next scheduled freak out, everything about APSEN ZURTS seems to come at us from some place… else, a thrilling and exuberant ode to Syd Barrett transmitted from a parallel universe where Syd Barrett never existed. I’m not exactly sure what’s going on with this album to be honest because DRIPPERS! aka Mike Turzanski has put forth a record that’s somehow imminently listenable yet utterly disconcerting simultaneously, like attempting to merge data from totally incompatible programs, or acute aural cognitive dissonance wrapped in vaguely sweet ear candy up until the oddly menacing frankly bonkers vocal performances kick up. 60’s psychedelia, free jazz and doom metal coalesce into the perfect soundtrack for somebody’s nervous breakdown, possibly your own. Even[...]

Tonight: Belle-Skinner

March 6, 2019 Cliff Parks

Tonight, Electric Avenue is changing things up a little bit with an evening of new folk music featuring Brooklyn’s Belle-Skinner and local folk rockers Leyda. Lilting, delicate and pleasingly esoteric, Belle-Skinner aka Maria Brosgol has a voice and guitar tone that is absolutely timeless, plus shes’s opened for the sublime Mitski, and at this point in time that’s all you really need to know. Opening the show will be baroque indie folk quintet Leyda, who’s bold and effecting Hallways EP came out earlier this year. Doors at 9pm and cover is $5. The Covers by Belle-Skinner