Latest Posts

M.A.G.S. – S/T

September 25, 2017

Our city’s been waiting on this one for a while now. We now have a full-length from M.A.G.S. I repeat: a full length from M.A.G.S. It’s been two and a half years since the band’s debut EP Cellophane made waves in the local scene and beyond, solidifying frontman Elliott Douglas’ status as the posterchild of local indie rock. Between then and now, M.A.G.S. has played a truckload of shows, landed licensing deals, and amassed a sizeable following on social media. Now with their self-titled debut album under their belts, there’s not much that can stop the M.A.G.S. train. Album opener “Real Talk” is a fast and furious blast of garage rock with an energy level to parallel “My Love,” one of the best tracks off of Cellophane (and most popular songs to date). Not surprisingly, “My Love” has been re-recorded and included on the full-length. M.A.G.S. seems to be in[...]

Ben Morey & The Eyes – Mt. Doom

August 14, 2017

Rochester is a great city to be a musician nowadays. There is no shortage of fellow musicians, like-minded individuals, and just general support of the arts, and Ben Morey knows it. Though initially planned as a solo album, Morey’s latest–the brilliant and grandiose Mt Doom–fully utilizes this exceptional network of people, a near countless number of musicians coalesced  into what might be considered the city’s greatest supergroup–The Eyes. Featuring contributions from members of just about every prominent act around Rochester, Mt Doom brims with ambition and sparkles with creative influence. Though the album’s official release was over a month ago, physical copies (vinyl and tapes!) begin shipping out next week, so what better time for an album of the week feature? After listening to Mt Doom a few times, it is difficult to imagine the songs as the lo-fi 4-track recordings they were originally slated for. The album is home[...]

Overhand Sam – Longer Legs

July 31, 2017

Rochester’s Sam Snyder is forever a busy musician. Splitting time between playing guitar in Brooklyn’s Maybird (currently gearing up for October tour dates with Portugal the Man and The Babe Rainbow) and his self-written, self-recorded, self-produced solo project Overhand Sam (or OHS) could be a full-time job considering the amount of material both acts pump out. Maybird is riding high on the recent release of their Unraveling EP, produced by Patrick Carney of The Black Keys, and somehow Snyder found time in between to put out a full-length’s worth of the haziest psychedelia bangers I’ve heard in a while. Overhand Sam’s Longer Legs is our album of the week. It’s not nearly accurate enough to call Longer Legs a mere continuation of 2015’s Long Legs, though the similarities exist. In addition to reworked versions of previous tracks “Bitter” and “Nothing Worse Than Waiting,” both records bask in lo-fi excellence, a[...]

Hieronymus Bogs – Lowlives Divine

June 26, 2017

We’ve written about Hieronymus Bogs before. For the uninitiated, the man is as unique as they come. Blending elements of orchestral folk and spoken word poetry, Bogs has made his songcraft well known around western New York and its surrounding areas with an extensive catalogue and touring. Once a Rochester native, Bogs now resides in Truth or Consequences, NM–an area which suits his character well–”my musical direction was pulling me west through the landscapes and sparseness; I think my music sits well in this kind of environment,” Bogs says of his new homebase. His newest album Lowlives Divine builds on his strengths of inspired lyricism over eclectic folk instrumentation for songs that excel in the creation and maintenance of freeing moods and feelings. It’s an interesting thing, moodcraft. It’s one thing to write a song, the structuring of intro verse chorus verse outro. It’s another thing entirely to endow such[...]

Jon Lewis – Exquisite Corpse

June 12, 2017

Jon Lewis is a pretty much a staple in the Rochester music scene. The hard-working musician is more or less a fountain of new material, be it from his well-rounded solo project Jon Lewis Band, or his Wiggles-inspired educational alter-ego Mr. Loops. This week we’re checking out his brand new full-band album Exquisite Corpse, which proves Lewis’ shining time as a musician and songwriter is all but fleeting. Exquisite Corpse drives home the idea that unadulterated indie rock is not dead. So many mainstream acts today aim to reinvent the genre–often times favoring decadence over organic musicianship–in an effort to distance themselves from the ordinary; the result can barely be considered indie rock. This exodus of sorts has left a void–a void that Lewis seems to fit perfectly. With a pop rock sensibility to rival that of Matthew Sweet and hooks around every corner, there is no shortage of catchy material[...]

Ian McCuen – Songs of Fleeting Permanence, Vol. 1

May 29, 2017

Sometimes it’s not easy to be a musician. There is an element of vulnerability you must subject yourself to in order to find even a marginal amount of success. This, of course, rings true with most aspects of art in general, but there exist certain musicians who go beyond this unspoken requirement, laying all cards on the table face-up in an effort to further substantiate their craft. Ian McCuen is one of those musicians. In his first solo release–the exceptionally reflective Songs of Fleeting Permanence, Vol. 1–McCuen stirs up the acoustic singer-songwriter archetype with an interesting concept series chronicling a pivotal period in his life. Volume 1 of that series is our Album of the Week. It is through McCuen’s Fleeting Permanence series in which one can vicariously live (or relive) these moments of self-discovery. The tangibility of heartbreak, uncomfortable social situations, mortality, regret, alcohol–Fleeting Permanence grapples each of these[...]

Sonny Baker – Easier

May 22, 2017

There’s not much to say about Sonny Baker that hadn’t already been said. The Buffalo musician has been a staple of the local scene for over a decade now, having had associations with more musical acts than I can count on one hand. Between full-band freak outs and introspective singer-songwriter pieces–and everything in between–Baker’s musical resume is impressive for a man only just nearing his 30s, and he just keeps churning it out. Baker’s latest release Easier, a collaborative effort with Chris Groves (Fourem, Applennium) follows suit with his 2015 full-band EP Flesh it Out in that the songs seem to widen the gap between what would otherwise be considered Sonny’s “solo material.” Groves’ role in the batch of songs is as integral as it is backgrounded, providing multi-instrumental support on most of the tracks that propels the music beyond the boundary of a typical singer-songwriter affair. Groves also recorded[...]

Folkfaces – How Long?

May 15, 2017

Folkfaces is a Buffalo band that falls beyond the typical confines of categorization. Their unique blend of americana, folk, and jazz is loud, rustic, and organic; there is an inherent genuineness to their craft. If I were looking for an easy way out, I could slap a “roots rock” label on them and call it a day, but with elements of ragtime, alt-country, and alt-gypsy involved, their music defies that boundary effortlessly. It is best to define them as undefinable, and give them an honest listen. They’d probably like it that way, anyway. Their latest album How Long?  sprawls 8 tracks over their road map of musical genres, and with multiple songwriters and musicians at the helm on any given track, the influence varies greatly. From the back-country banjo charm of “Institution Blues” (this one may sound familiar, as it was released as a single earlier last year), to the rowdy foot-stomping pandemonium[...]

Tonight: Coca-Cola Death Squad

April 20, 2017

Coca-Cola Death Squad, the Buffalo-bred, St Louis-based brainchild of percussionist Cameron Rogers, makes a homecoming appearance at Sugar City tonight. The unique musical project, which harnesses the prowess of two drummers simultaneously, ditches standard time signatures for highly-textured polyrhythms, beats, and sounds. Equal parts mathy, noisy, and downright shamanistic, the drum duo is touring in support of its newest release Brain Power II, which melds all that aforementioned madness into a concise 7 tracks. Rounding out the all local(ish) bill is fuzzy lo-fi duo Space is Haunted and and experimental improv act Rat v Cat v Bat. Additionally, vegan-friendly black bean soup will be available free of charge, while supplies last. Music, soup, and friendship? See you there. Doors at 7pm, $5 suggested donation.

Tonight: Lucy Dacus

April 1, 2017

Lucy Dacus is on the rise. Her trending debut LP No Burden makes indie rock seem effortless, and garnered the interest of multiple record labels before its eventual release on Matador. Dacus’ delivery is exceptionally mature for a 21-year-old; the Richmond-based songstress weaves a warm alto through her hyperaware observations and swirling guitar leads. Fans of Wye Oak, Angel Olsen, or pseudo-locals Bethlehem Steel would dig Dacus. She is an artist worth checking out in a live setting this early in her young career, and tonight is your chance. She makes a pit stop at the Tralf later tonight to showcase her craft. Tourmates Spooky Cool, also from Richmond, will provide opening support with Buffalo dream-pop pals Mutual Friends rounding out the indie-rock gem of a bill. Doors open at 6pm, tickets can be had here for ten bucks apiece.

Various Artists – Coast to Coast: Recordings from the Bedroom

March 27, 2017

Our Album of the Week comes from four different artists this week, in the form of a starry compilation from the Buffalo-bred, San Francisco-based record label Joysdead. The compilation, aptly titled Coast to Coast Vol 1: Recordings from the Bedroom, features prominent local musicians from both sides of the country—Buffalo’s Alex Berkley, Roger Bryan, and Ray Fulton, and San Francisco’s Sean Mikula (formerly of Buffalo). If you couldn’t deduce from the title, the collection features tracks that forgo the crispness of high-quality production for the glorious little imperfections of self-recording. The first thing that struck me about Coast to Coast is just how interpretative the term “bedroom recording” can be. All four songwriters on the compilation contributed very different tracks, making the collection particularly listenable. To Mikula, it is a method of self-recording that involves drum machines, multi-instrumentation, and synths (much like the stylings of his Buffalo baby Besnyo), while[...]

Coral Collapse – Post New York

March 20, 2017

Buffalo dream-pop quartet Coral Collapse has barely allowed a year to pass before offering up some fresh new material, and nobody’s complaining. Drawing comparisons to airy indie contemporaries like Wild Nothing and DIIV, Coral Collapse has built their platform on the same soaring soundscapes, only with an endearing, almost garage-ish charm. And continuing in the wistfulness of last year’s debut EP Hafla, the band’s new EP, Post New York, is a concise 4 tracks of indie-pop bliss and our album of the week. Dream rock bands don’t have it especially easy right now. The genre, in its relatively crowded state, is teeming with bands that follow the indie pop cookie cutter. Many of them are able to craft good solid tracks, but the real issue is standing out. Offering up something tweaked ever-so-slightly—tracks that don’t get inadvertently get lost in the sonic white noise. Coral Collapse finds the perfect balance[...]

Tonight: Local Natives

March 17, 2017

With the Spring season fast approaching, Buffalo’s concert season begins to ramp up right alongside the nice weather. And what better way to help melt the remnants of Stella than a performance by SoCal indie heroes Local Natives? The band has made more than a name for themselves over the past seven years, having chiseled their own eclectic sound into the all-encompassing megalith that is ‘indie rock’. And to help celebrate the evolution of that sound and the release of their newest album–2016’s Sunlit Youth–the quintet will perform tonight at Town Ballroom. Now with three albums under their belt, it should be safe to say that the band is here to stay for a while. From the angular guitarwork of their debut Gorilla Manor to the cathartic transformation into their soulful, electronic-tinged new album, Local Natives have covered a lot of ground, sonically. The show tonight should display some of[...]

Drive Me Home Please – Infinite Tsukuyomi

February 13, 2017

Solo artist Zach Hallenbeck, under the name Drive Me Home Please, creates lo-fi synth jams that explore the inner confines of his mind. Channeling the stylistic elements of  Casiotone for the Painfully Alone, and armed with little more than what sounds to be a microKORG and a drum machine, the Rochester-based beats-and-keys bedroom artist has just released his latest album (and our album of the week) Infinite Tsukuyomi via Bangkok Blend Records. Hallenbeck’s music has an innate relatability to it, from the bedroom-y vibes of understated synth progressions to the non-chalant nature of his lyrical delivery. And it is that very simplicity that makes the songs so endearing. With one listen-through, you’re taken for a mini guided tour of the corridors of Hallenbeck’s thoughts “I can tell that things are getting complicated,” bouts of nostalgia “I dreamt that they played MCR in Wegmans,” and uncertainties “and I’m still not so[...]

Julie Byrne – Not Even Happiness

January 27, 2017

There’s something about the songcraft of downstate-based singer-songwriter Julie Byrne that appeals to more than just the ears. Her music, at once spectral and tangible, whisks the listener to Byrne’s weightless place of soft melodies and personal experience. And it is this very suspension in which Byrne spends most of her latest album, Not Even Happiness. A sprawling musical simplicity contrasts the album’s deepest exploration of feeling, in what can be considered one of the most striking collections of songs so far this year. Musically, Byrne channels artists like Cat Power, Leonard Cohen, and Sufjan Stevens, all of whom with music that shares innate, personal elements. Not Even Happiness uses that element liberally, with tracks that explore the places, namely the Pacific Northwest, and feelings of Byrne’s most recent years. The expansive skies and ebbing tides of this record almost purposefully paint it a faint blue, with songs that breathe[...]