Latest Posts

Tonight: Aesthetic Perfection

May 24, 2014

Electronic music, in all of its forms, can be a fickle beast. It’s kind of like dating a German chick: sometimes you love her, but she doesn’t always love you back. Music made electronically through drum machines, synthesizers, and samplers always seems to be bubbling at the surface, but never quite boils over. Which, according to Aesthetic Perfection’s lead singer and primary creative force Daniel Graves, is just fine. “The state of electronic music is kind of irrelevant to me. I don’t exist in a scene that will ever be mainstream, so the mainstream’s acceptance of it doesn’t really affect me,” he says, adding “Europeans embrace electronic music more than we do is just a matter of culture. They just exist in a world that likes the sound more, we exist in a world that loves Nickelback.” AP’s latest release, Till Death, is a great departure from their early discography.[...]

Upset – “Linus”

May 20, 2014

Los Angeles has always been a mecca for music, like fellow NYC and Chicago metropolises. While ups and downs are unavoidable, as of late, LA has been able to find its footing, with new acts like Fidlar and Cherry Glazer, among others, to come of the City of Angels. The newest member to this club is the all girl pop punk outfit, Upset. Upset is a supergroup of sorts, consisting of former drummer of Best Coast and Vivian Girls, Ali Koehler (guitar/ vocals), Jennifer Prince (guitar) formerly of La Sera, and Patty Schemel (drums) of Hole fame. Upset released their debut album, She’s Gone, in October of 2013, on Don Giovanni Records. They are about to hit the road with White Lung, and have released a brand new track “Linus” to commemorate the tour. “Linus” is a throwback to an early 90’s alternative pop punk. [soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/147149401″ params=”auto_play=false&hide_related=false&visual=true” width=”100%” height=”450″[...]

Thunderegg – C’mon Thunder

May 13, 2014

C’mon Thunder, the new release from San Francisco’s Thunderegg, is the album we just might deserve. Full of lyrical real life experiences, as in the way they actually happen and not the way we thought they would happen, sometimes a creative licence is just a cop out. The California band is led by singer/songwriter Will Georgantas, the artist that Conor Oberst has always dreamed of being.  With an unprecedented output since the mid nineties, and a revolving door of band members (himself being one of the only constants), Georgantas writes the songs you only dreamed of writing at 14. They are chockfull of truth, consequence, and awkwardness. Even if the music you fell in love with as a teen isn’t as relevant as it once was, C’mon Thunder manages to avoid that problem. The album comes on like a tornado: slow and unassuming. Songs like “We Kissed and Ran Some[...]

Brother Keep Releases To You and Yours

May 6, 2014

Brother Keep are some angry mo-fos! Their new EP, To You & Yours, listens like a middle finger to the “empty girl” who ran off with guitarist/vocalist Nick Sessanna’s former best friend. The four track release opens up with the pop punk “Windy City” and ends with the whimsical “Laces”. In a lot of ways, this recording is classic boy meets girl, girl betrays boy. Just listen to any Senses Fail record. Where Sessanna and company differ from Buddy Nielsen and Senses Fail is that there isn’t any huge climax where Sessanna kills his ex. To You & Yours is more than a revenge record.  It has real sustenance, something that can really hold you over until dinner time. To You & Yours is that ‘Dear Jane’ letter that you drunkenly leave on the nightstand after you have packed the last truck load of your belongings from the studio apartment the two[...]

Tonight: Pigeons Playing Ping Pong

May 1, 2014

Since Mohawk Place closed its doors, there has been a void left in the local Buffalo music scene. Where do we Buffalonians get our itchy fix for live music? There are been a few new places that have popped up. After Dark Entertainment has fulfilled a certain void, with its venture The Waiting Room. Buffalo Iron Works has put together some great shows as well, however the one spot that gets over looked again and again is Nietzsche’s. Even though it has has been at it for over three decades, supplying live music nightly, the venue still seems to be a bit of an afterthought here and there. In just the last few weeks, Nietzsche’s has been putting together fantastic weeknight shows with out-of-towners, and tonight is no different. Tonight, the Allen Street staple with be bringing Baltimore’s funkadelic Pigeons Playing Ping Pong. PPPP is a quartet that will bring[...]

Tonight: David Wax Museum

May 1, 2014

It’s finally May! I mean technically. I know it’s doesn’t actually feel like May as I saw a guy wearing ear muffs this morning. Ear muffs! However, it is May 1st. How are you going to celebrate the flowerious month? How about a show at the 9th Ward in Babeville? David Wax Museum will be taking the stage tonight at the 9th Ward. If you’re not familiar with the duo, think Gaslight Anthem with a dash of Americana and Los Lobos. David Wax and Suz Slezak are the creative and aesthetic core of David Wax Museum. They fuse folk, Americana, and South-Western effortlessly to create a sound that is timeless. Also playing with David Wax Museum this evening will be alt-country’s rising star, Rusty Belle. Doors open at 8pm, $12 at the door.

Jake Smith of The White Buffalo

April 29, 2014

Jake Smith stands in the back hallway of The Irving Plaza, the music venue that lives in the East Village of Manhattan. Smith’s band, The White Buffalo, will be playing in a few short hours, along with co-headliner Chuck Ragan, a tour that Smith’s publicist has personally coined, as ‘the manliest tour.’ After one look at Smith, you can see why that title just may stick. “That’s a little strange,” he says of the tour’s coined nickname, “But in a lot of respects, there’s not a lot of bullshit on this tour.” He adds, “we [Ragan and opener Johnny 2 Bags] all write honest songs and try to form them unabashed, and without compromise, we try to write good songs, songs that people can believe in.” When your wife informs you that she has been cheating on you with another man and is leaving, Jake Smith is the kind of[...]

Tonight: Local H

April 28, 2014

Local H, the Zion, Illinois native grunge act, is celebrating twenty four years as a band this year. If you are like me, you have not seen the alternative rock veterans with their new drummer, Ryan Harding. Harding marks the third to sit behind the drum kit. As a 90’s kid, I grew up with Joe Daniels, who appeared on the albums Ham Fisted, As Good As Dead, and Pack Up the Cats. Those albums produced such favorites as “Bound for the Floor,” “High Fiving Motherfucker” and “All the Kids Were Right”. I am also vaguely familiar with Brian St. Clair, but Daniels will always be my favorite “Darren.” After over two decades worth of work, Local H still manages to pique the interest of old fans and new fans a like. If you haven’t heard their cover of Australian sensation Lorde’s “Team,” you’re missing out. Local H has managed to[...]

The Afterbirth Tycoon Releases The Filthy Late Bloom

April 24, 2014

The ground is finally thawing and Buffalo is alive and well. To celebrate our survival of old man winter, several bands released new music this past weekend. The Afterbirth Tycoon is one of the bands which decided to get in on the celebration of spring with the righteously titled Late Bloom. Late Bloom is a 10 song, crusty, whiskey swilling, honky tonk bar brawl of a blues record. You can feel the broken beer bottles whizzing past your head with this one. The record makes you want to go out and do some day drinking out on Allen Street, and get into as many bar brawls as possible. Just make sure you have your bail money on the ready, though, because you have to work tomorrow. Late Bloom marks the first release from the band in nearly ten years. Originally formed in 1998 by Jason Pitcher (guitar/vocals) with a revolving door[...]

Sexist Releases Updated Demos

April 23, 2014

Since Record Store Day, everyone has been talking about Jack White’s new song, “Lazaretto,” the world’s fastest record. Seriously who cares about Jack White? Yes, he’s a genius, and he’s going to be making great records for years to come. Rather, let’s talk about Buffalo’s feminist riot grrrl outfit, Sexist, instead. Sexist not only played at Spiral Scratch for Record Store Day, but the trio also released some much anticipated demos. Now I know I have said in the past that you shouldn’t ever judge a band based on its demos, but after having a few conversations with these girls, I feel it is perfectly acceptable for Sexist Sexist Demo represents the Queen City girls perfectly. It’s chocked full of  fast, aggressive ammunition loaded ADD feminist anthems, from the opening audio clip of the right wing puppet Rush Limbaugh on “Respect” to the closing “I am Woman.” Still, the real[...]

Ancients Of Earth Releases Valley of the Suns LP

April 22, 2014

Ancients Of Earth is a grungy, psychedelic, blues stoner rock band from the Queen City. There isn’t anything like them in Buffalo right now. They are writing nine minute songs and are refusing to apologize for it. Formed in 2011 by Thomas Oliver Daulton (guitar/ vocals), Ryan Tomaka (bass) and Tyler Kurtz (drums), they first started out as a shoegaze outfit, an endeavor that was quickly scrapped. Ancients Of Earth’s first full length, Valley of the Suns, is everything that Queens of the Stone Age should have been after Kyuss disbanded in 1995. Equal parts, Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, Kyuss and Clutch, Valley of the Suns listens like an open letter. It’s full of sludge, peyote dreams, bareback horse rides through the Mojave desert and goblins, lots and lots of goblins. Don’t worry these are the nice kind of goblins, not the evil, soul engulfing goblins, but the ones who[...]

Tonight: Shilpa Ray

April 17, 2014

If you’re like me, you have a faux real job, such as a server, bartender or a barista. Not to say those aren’t real jobs, but let’s face it, monkeys could do our jobs, and probably with less attitude too. In our ‘desired’ vocations, we don’t get out to see shows all that often, considering a lot of shows fall of Fridays, Saturdays or the random weekdays we happen to work. However, tonight is a different case, Nietzsche’s has put together a show just for us (not really, but it’s nice to think so). Nietzsche’s will be hosting a plethora of talent this evening, most notably harmonium toating Brooklynite, Shilpa Ray, who, sans her Happy Hookers, will be bringing her own brand screaming indie roots rock to Allentown. Also on the bill will the Buffalo’s indie slacker rockers, Difficult Nights, The Coy Wolves and Nietzsche’s regular Pam Swarts. 7 bucks at[...]

Still Diggin’: Still Searchin’ for the ‘Holy Grail’

April 15, 2014

When I broke up with my ex girlfriend, Stephanie, it was a long time coming.  We just weren’t connecting. She was going through a transformation of sorts. She was trying to become this feminist stripper in the form of an incarnation of Frida Kahlo. I mean she had the unibrow thing going on, but everything else was a mess. We were sitting at her kitchen table in her cramped one bedroom apartment. You could tell that it was once a boarding house, by the way all of the doorways were too narrow to move anything wider than a drop leaf table through. And how the bathroom was ten yards from the bedroom.She started crying, and asked me to leave. I hesitated. “Just go!” she yelled. Now when a Stephanie is in an emotional state and tells you to leave, you do it, and if you don’t, well thats how you[...]

Like A Parrot Debut “Awkward Arm”

April 8, 2014

I just want to dance! Maybe it’s because it’s Tuesday or maybe it’s because Like a Parrot has just released the brand new track, “Awkward Arm.” Consisting of Aaron Bonus and Justin Gammella, Like a Parrot have been making music together for the past year, creating their own brand of indie dance-pop in the vein of Walter Meego. Gammella commented on their recording habits; “We are always writing new music. Our goal was to write 50 songs this year, while still working other jobs. Our next goal is to write at least 100 songs in a year when we are doing nothing but music.” In the past year, they have recorded with the likes of Bianca Dyrland of ARIA, with future collaborations set to include Dan Erickson and The Spin Wires. The name Like a Parrot is a tongue in cheek jab at the industry. “ In briefings we get[...]

Know Your Opener: Cheap Girls

April 8, 2014

Lester Bangs once wrote, “nothing ever quite dies, it just comes back in a different form.” Now Mr. Bangs could have been talking about a slew of things, however most likely he was speaking of music. Cheap Girls fits right into the quote by the late rock critic. The Lansing, Michigan natives’ sound is reminiscent of late 80’s alternative rock, a time when bands like Husker Du, The Replacements, Uncle Tupelo, and REM ruled the college radio air waves. After seven years and three studio albums – Find me a Drink Home (2008), My Roaring 20’s (2009) and Giant Orange (2012, the first album to be produced by Against Me’s Laura Jane Grace) – people are finally taking notice of the band. Currently on tour with Brooklyn’s The Hold Steady, Cheap Girls are on the verge of dropping their fourth studio album, Famous Graves, due out May 14th. “The phrase started taking[...]