Latest Posts

Zealot Teases New EP, Releases Alternative Take of “Spent”

February 20, 2015

The fuzzy, Fredonia bred trio, Zealot, have been hard at work on a debut EP for a while now, with hints that a May release seems doable. Today, the three piece teased the forthcoming EP, which is currently titled Foilage, with a new song called “Spent.” The version that will eventually appear on the EP will have a different sound, but for the alternative take on the track, the trio left the influences of Yuck and 90’s fuzz rock behind, and released a song that would fit nicely on a Modern Baseball or Front Bottoms record, or for a local comparison, think Alex Berkley fronting I Can See Mountains. Listen to the alternative take of “Spent” below and keep an eye out for the full EP later this Spring.

Gay Angel Releases First Installment of floral

February 19, 2015

We first stumbled upon Jake Bellissimo’s Gay Angel project in the summer of 2014, impressing us enough to select his song “Gloria!” as one of our favorite Rochester tracks of the year. The chamber pop musician is what you would call ambitious, collecting one of the biggest cast of musicians for his album places i’ll eat, people i’ll eat I have seen on a WNY release, maybe ever. Bellissimo decided to up the ante on his latest work, an expansive four part, 100-track project that would make Sufjan Stevens blush. The first album, floral, pt. 1, was just dropped a couple days ago on bandcamp via Roch label Drunk With Love Records. The remaining albums hope to be released by the end of April according to Bellissimo. For the first floral installment, Gay Angel has continued to hone his orchestral sound, with influences ranging from Owen Pallett to Beirut to[...]

Watch Flatsitter’s SAFE WOR(L)D

February 18, 2015

If you have yet to attend one of Flatsitter‘s “shared virtual reality experiences,”  then check out the short clip that was just released to see what you could be getting yourself into when the audio/visual pair throws its next event. The duo debuted SAFE WOR(L)D earlier this year at the Buffalo Niagara Hostel, and just this last weekend, put on another installment at the Foundry Suites on Valentine’s Day. Both events quickly sold out so be on the look out for Flatsitter’s next event if you wish to experience. Watch the SAFE WOR(L)D montage, directed by Kevin Charlies Kline, below.

Just Announced: Glass Animals

February 17, 2015

After what seemed like an extended lull, Asbury Hall is getting back in the game with some quality shows down the pipeline. In addition to April’s now sold out Neutral Milk Hotel engagement, the Babeville complex, along with Ithaca based promoter Dan Smalls Presents, will be hosting one of 2014’s rising acts, Glass Animals, this coming June. The Oxford bred, electro-pop four piece released the buzz worthy debut album, Zaba, led by singles “Gooey” and “Black Mambo,” this past summer, and will be playing the Delaware venue on Tuesday, June 16th. The band appears to be using the Buffalo date as a prep before hitting the festival circuit later this summer. Tickets will go on sale this Friday, February 20th, for $17.50 in advance, $20 day of.

Joywave Annouces Debut LP, How Do You Feel Now?

February 17, 2015

After exhausting every ounce of airplay out of the breakout single, “Tongues,” Rochester’s synth pop five-some, Joywave, have finally announced the release of its debut full-length How Do You Feel Now?, set to drop on April 21st via Cultoco Music/Hollywood Records. The band has a couple area appearances coming up between now and then, including opening for Big Data, whose hit single, “Dangerous,” featured Joywave frontman Dan Armbruster on lead vocals, on Saturday, April 4th at the Showplace Theatre. The five piece is also set to appear on Jimmy Kimmel Live! on Monday, March 2nd The band’s latest single, “Somebody New,” has been getting some serious burn on Alt-Nation lately. Originally included on the 2014 EP, How Do You Feel, which also featured “Tongues,” the song will be the lead off track on the forthcoming LP. Listen to “Somebody New” below.

Just Announced: buffaBLOG 5th Birthday Party

February 16, 2015

Just about four years ago, we threw our first birthday party at Nietzsche’s. We only had about six regular writers at the time, and none of us knew the first thing about putting on a show. Half of the musicians we asked to play were underage (something Curt still won’t let me live down), we were clueless on what to pay the  bands (we played them A LOT that night), and really had no idea if anyone would come. We even asked Lloyd Taco, this is before Chris and Pete had a fleet of trucks and were being given $250K by CNBC to open a restaurant, to park outside for food. We practically had to beg people to go out and get tacos. This was before the food trucks really took over Buffalo mind you. That birthday party ended up being amazing, still one of my favorite shows we have[...]

Tonight: Red Rovers Roll – Valentine Night Adult Skate

February 14, 2015

After hitting negative degrees yesterday, I am sure it was a welcome surprise to wake up to another few inches of snow this morning in the winter that just won’t quit. And with today being Valentine’s Day, those single Buffalonians are either faced with being holed up in their apt all day and starting at the walls, or doing something about it. So why not choose the later and head over to Skateland at 10pm tonight for Red Rovers Roll Valentines Night Adult Skate, put on by the fine folks behind the recent Well Round Peoples Parties. Sike and DJ Reazon will be providing the tunes while you “gracefully” skate around the rink all night long. $5 will get you through the door and skate rentals are only a buck.

Genesee Live Premieres Latest Session feat. Sea Planes

February 13, 2015

We have been following Rochester’s Genesee Live for about a year now, catching up with some of our favorite sister city acts like Ben Morey, Skirts, and Buffalo Sex Change. It’s been a great way to see some of those musicians in a live setting without having to make the hour drive east. One band that we have yet to see in person yet is Sea Planes, a synth pop trio who we have been writing about on a frequent basis since late 2013. The band sounds huge, polished, and frankly fantastic on recordings, but could easily be one of those studio acts whose sound doesn’t quite translate live. So when we found out that the duo would be showcased in the latest Genesee Live session, we were happy to finally see them in a live setting of sorts. The trio channels bits of latter day M83 in its session[...]

Just Announced: Cloud Nothings

February 12, 2015

When you think of Fredonia’s BJ’s, you normally think of college bands, bands like Mooses and Zealot, playing to the loyal local audiences and co-eds. In fact, one of Plainsman’s many phallic objects is still probably lying around the bar from a past Well Worn Boot show. What you don’t think of when you think of BJ’s, at least not initially, is the band Cloud Nothings. This is one of the biggest acts in indie rock right now. But, just over a half an hour ago, the bar announced via FB and Twitter that the Cleveland three-piece will be playing the college town haunt on Friday, May 8th. The bar then channeled  Almost Famous with a follow up status of “ITS ALL HAPPENING.” The bar is clearly ending the semester on a high note. The now trio followed up its breakthrough album, Attack on Memory, with 2014’s equally impressive Here and Nowhere Else last[...]

Brass Palace Begins 50 Bands, 50 Weeks Project

February 11, 2015

So after a busy day in the office yesterday (jk, we didn’t post anything), I was happy to see the continued progress in the “50 Band, 50 Week” project from Brass Palace, a Rochester based recording operation led by producer and engineer Chris Vandeviver. You may remember Brass Palace when we posted about the studio’s recording of Secret Pizza’s “Not a Lover” for the Shark Tank Sessions earlier this fall. Anyways, the Brass Palace crew has premiered three recordings so far in the near year long, fairly self-explanatory project, so far including songs from post-hardcore band, Druse, chill-hop MC, Benny Beyond, and most recently, prog-rockers, Edge of Jupiter. If all goes as planned, a new song should be added to the comp every week. No word yet on what bands will contribute future recordings, but you can follow the project at the 50 Bands, 50 Weeks’ bandcamp page for Brass Palace.[...]

Revolver Records Lauches Storefront Crowd Funding Campaign

February 9, 2015

We don’t normally get behind too many crowd funding campaigns here at the blog. I mean, do we really need to help pay for another food truck at this point? Late last week, though, Revolver Records, a garage run vinyl store, launched a GoFundMe campaign to get its own shop up and running. If you have been to the Peddler during the summer or taken a stroll by Bureau on Friday afternoons, then you have prob run into Phil Machemer and his great collection of both quality used and new records. He and his wife, Kerri, are hoping to raise enough money to open their own storefront in the near future. Despite the recent surge in vinyl sales, record shops are still a dying breed so its great to potentially have another shop open up in Buffalo down the read. The Machemers still have a ways to reach their goal, so[...]

Cooling Card Drops Shoe-Gaze Track, “All of Lost”

February 6, 2015

A rather mysterious band/artist popped on up Rochester’s bandcamp today in the form of Cooling Card. The artist page has no links to any other forms of social media, and the song doesn’t even have a date stamp on it. Is this even new? No matter. Whoever Cooling Card may be, the act delivered a solid cut of shoe-gaze in the track “All is Lost.” Droning vocals and reverb heavy guitars with the occasional jangle, pretty much the key ingredients to a good shoe-gaze, are all present on “All is Lost.” The song recalls a less mopey Smiths, a less poppy Pains of Being Pure at Heart, and even a touch of local act Spirit Choir. Check it out below and if you have an extra $666 lying around, you can purchase the track over at Cooling Card’s bandcamp page.

Grits Drops Debut EP, Shimshamwhimwhamanditalwayswillbe

February 5, 2015

Between taking over lead female vocals in Mallwalkers and handling bass duties in Mink, Jaz Frazier apparently has working on ANOTHER new project named Grits, which just dropped its debut EP,  Shimshamwhimwhamanditalwayswillbe(yes that is the title), earlier this week. Since debuting her Inquiring Mind project in late 2013, Frazier has always displayed an impressive vocal range and flair on any project she has been involved in. As for Grits, the 5-track EP is full of fuzzy guitars and more spoken word type vocals from Frazier. Think Kitten Forever or Le Tigre and you have a good place to start. Stream the full EP here, and check out, “Thich Nhat Hahn,” the stand out, Pavement-esque track from Shimshamwhimwhamanditalwayswillbe below.

Full Body Releases Debut Demo, “World Famous”

February 3, 2015

We woke up this morning to some solid new Rochester material to pick through, one of which being the first track from the new college rock trio, Full Body, which made its FB debut just at the end of 2014. Recorded by Hayden Ford of Skirts, the slackerish “World Famous” recalls a mixed cast of bands from long time lo-fi’ers Guided by Voices to Weezer to even some fuzzier Sloan. Check out the track below and keep an eye out for forthcoming new material from Full Body.

Alex Berkley Drops First Track from Latest Fun-a-Day Album

February 2, 2015

The start of February means the start of another month of Fun-a-Day. The now annual collective project, where people are asked to do something “fun,” normally artistically fun, every day over the course of our shortest, and at least in Buffalo, most miserable month (see outside currently), is a nice way to get through some winter blues. Curated by Sugar City, the finished products will be on display at the DIY headquarters on March 12th. In what is now becoming a yearly traditional, local singer/songwriter, Alex Berkley, has already begun his Fun-A Day project, following up last year’s ambitious Sick of the Sound of My Voice, and 2013’s 28 Days of Fun. While his 2015 project has yet to be titled, for this year’s album, Berkley has decided set his iTunes on shuffle, and whatever song comes up first, write an original tune about a memory said song conjures. Repeat[...]