Album of the Week

Gatto Black – Sky Is Blue

November 20, 2025

If there is a singular ethos driving Buffalo’s Gatto Black, it is the sheer, unadulterated catharsis of truth. The recording project, spearheaded by singer/songwriter Sal Mastrocola, has spent the last few years sharpening its teeth on a pair of EPs—2022’s 2 Stressed 2 Be Blessed and 2024’s (Not) Ready To Die. But on his debut LP, Sky Is Blue, Mastrocola isn’t just sharpening teeth; he’s baring them. Released via Triple Hammer Records, the album benefits heavily from the steady hands of producers Gary Cioni (Hot Mulligan, Crime in Stereo) and Michael Hansen (Pentimento, Hotel Etiquette). Together, they have helped Mastrocola sculpt a sound that sits comfortably at the intersection of melodic hardcore and emo, channeling the frantic energy of Comeback Kid with the emotional weight of Touché Amore.   The visual identity of the album—a black cat (often the project’s mascot of sorts) precariously navigating a power line against a[...]

Spaced – No Escape

November 13, 2025

If ToeJam and Earl started a hardcore band, it would be Spaced.   Fueled by trippy instrumentals, old-school gang choruses, and effortlessly-cool swagger, the Buffalo “far out hardcore” crew rip banger after banger after banger on their radical new EP, No Escape.   Formed in 2021 with the shared ethos of channeling pain and anger into something fun and positive, vocalist Lexi Reyngoudt, guitarists Joe Morganti and Donny Arthur, bassist John Vaughan, and drummer Dan McCormick have put in work this year. They’ve recently wrapped up impressive domestic tours opening for super-heavyweight acts including Terror, Bane and Hot Water Music and now they’ve got the scene buzzing with their latest 5-track collection of bruising, psychedelic hardcore.   Opening No Escape is the title track; a gnarly rager that perfectly encapsulates the band’s infectious and in-your-face spirit. Give it a spin for a stoner jam intro filled with crash-and-burn dive bombs[...]

Old Ghosts – Still Sinking

October 30, 2025

Veteran Buffalo hardcore haunts Old Ghosts are back from the dead with Still Sinking, their latest EP that’s loaded with heart and louder than hell.   Old Ghosts have been kicking around the scene for over a decade, dating back to the release of their 2011 debut, Caskets. Over the years, the band has seen members come and go, but has since settled into a lineup featuring vocalist Derek Dole, guitarists Tom Mayer and Nick Racino, bassist Brian Kaczamarczyk and drummer Josh Heatley. Most of the members share a history having collaborated on projects including Dead Hearts, Rust Belt Lights, and Wreckage. On Still Sinking, the five-piece compile a mix of previously-released singles and new material into a melodic 13-minute hardcore punk rollercoaster.   “False North” opens the pit, and the EP, with a pile-on of cymbal crashes, guitar spikes and drum rolls. From there, Old Ghosts remind you what[...]

Bryan Dubay – Call Your Mother

October 23, 2025

At a time when music often feels fleeting, Buffalo’s Bryan Dubay has delivered Call Your Mother, a deeply personal, full-length album whose careful, deliberate construction invites you to slow down and truly absorb it. Continuing to explore the atmospheric terrain between indie rock and chamber folk, the record showcases Dubay’s comprehensive role as performer, producer, and engineer. While he enlists talent for certain string and percussion parts, the album’s cohesive vision is distinctly his own, a product of a very specific melodic focus.   The album is framed by Dubay himself as an “exercise in gratitude,” a concept that finds its footing through the music’s emotionally intelligent explorations of life, loss, and connection. He cites George Harrison’s slide guitar work and Elliott Smith’s songwriting as primary influences, and these are not just casual touchstones. The slide guitar, prominent throughout, is used not for bluesy grit but as Harrison often did:[...]

Many Eyes – Combust

October 16, 2025

Buffalo hard rockers Many Eyes return with Combust, their new explosive, yet all-too-familiar sounding EP that will leave you seeing and hearing double.   Behind the band is the legendary Buffalo vocalist, Keith Buckley, who formed Many Eyes after the very ugly and very public breakup of veteran hardcore favorites Every Time I Die back in 2022. As ETID went their separate ways, Buckley stepped out of the shadows and surrounded himself with the talents of guitarist Alan Hague, bassist Sean Vallie and drummer Nick Bellmore. The four-piece debuted with a series of singles leading up to their 2024 freshman full-length, The Light Age. On Combust, Buckley and crew lay down four new tracks that build upon their wayward metallic hard rock repertoire. With a volatile fury of hardcore and metal influences, strap yourself in for grungy rhythmic changes intertwined with down-tuned riffs, chunky basslines, wrecking ball drums, and earsplitting[...]

Soul Butchers – Second Death

October 9, 2025

Buffalo’s Soul Butchers have always been a force in the local scene, known for their high-octane live shows that leave ears ringing and soles smoking. Three years in the making, their latest full-length album, Second Death, has finally arrived, soaked in all things that give the four-piece rock band their signature snarling edge. The 13-track effort is another blistering document of the band’s unique blend of noise rock and garage punk, bottling the raw energy of their stage presence into a calculated and surprisingly diverse collection of songs this time around. Second Death is our album of the week.   The album’s sound is immediate and raw, not unlike previous Butchers releases, but this time around the band recorded and engineered the entire project themselves before handing it over to John Angelo for mixing and mastering. The result: an album on which the band had the breathing room to do[...]

Westside Gunn – HEELS HAVE EYES 2

October 2, 2025

Westside Gunn always delivers what he promises. Back in his pushing days on the seedier sides of Buffalo, that was crack or another illicit substance. Throughout his steady rise to the top of the rap game, it’s been addicting gun impersonations, endless pro wrestling references, and depictions of high fashion items that you’ll never own yourself.    Throughout a decade of increasing notoriety, the Griselda member’s collaborative CV includes the likes of MF DOOM, Danny Brown, Tyler, the Creator, and Rick Ross alongside some of the greatest beatmakers we’ve had going (Alchemist and DJ Premier to name a couple). Gunn and Griselda’s status has grown, but their essence remains the same – Buffalo scenes and faces have graced the covers and lines of countless pieces from the group through the years, with at least one significant project dropping every single year since 2016.    Gunn’s high workrate continues through 2025,[...]

Besta Quadrada – S/T

September 25, 2025

Buffalo’s Besta Quadrada are back to break some balls with their brand new bratty and in-your-face self-titled debut LP.   Founded just two years ago by bassist Carol Mags (Outrage Factor) and guitarist John Toohill  (Science Man, Alpha Hopper), the two set out to form a band with an abrasive sound akin to Black Flag and the Jesus Lizard. After recruiting drummer Steve Kerfian (Science Man), the final and pivotal piece of the puzzle fell into place with the addition of vocalist Bailey Arena, who surprisingly had no prior experience as a singer nor performer. With their line-up set, the band fast-tracked their first EP, 2023’s The First Four Weeks and Besta Quadrada was born.   On their full-length follow-up, the band serves up ten new unapologetic garage and egg punk tracks that reek of apathy and attitude. The songs are short, but fierce with Arena’s distinct and snobby vocals[...]

Spiria – Amateur’s Garden

September 18, 2025

Listening to Amateur’s Garden, the second album from Buffalo’s art pop duo Spiria *, feels like stepping into a secret world. It’s a space that’s both carefully tended to and wonderfully overgrown. You can tell that siblings Mikayla and Johnny Manke spent a lot of time with these songs, having written them over a few years before recording them in the summer of 2024. The result is an album that doesn’t rush – one that builds intricate, personal worlds and is more concerned with texture and feeling than easy hooks. It’s an invitation to get lost for a while, and its our album of the week.   The duo officially formed Spiria in 2022 after a lifetime of musical bonding. Their sound is built around the interplay between Mikayla’s piano and passionate, introspective vocals, and Johnny’s dynamic, expressive drumming. They move freely between ethereal, ambient textures and jazzy, experimental passages,[...]

gas station. – A Collection Of Songs For Saying Goodbye

September 11, 2025

Scrappy Buffalo-based three piece gas station. wrote themselves a full-length. Through a conception and birth, they foisted the 11-song A Collection Of Songs For Saying Goodbye (ACOSFSG) into this world, with just a little bit help from GCR Studio maestro Jay Zubricky and a brand new label in We’re Trying Records. In a world of short-form content and even shorter attention spans, what does it even mean to be a band nowadays, anyway? Is it enough to just be doing something, anything really? Why are we even here!? Does anything really matter? Ask yourself these existential questions with an open mind as you listen through the equally existential ACOSFSG – it’s our album of the week this week.   The album opens with “Perfect Crime Sequel,” a surprisingly tender offering – gas station.’s aesthetic makes them seem like the type of band to pound out big, spunky pop-punk compositions, but this[...]

Wylie Something – Up Through the Rust

September 4, 2025

If you ask Buffalo songwriter Jacob Smolinski, the creative force behind Wylie Something, his music is tied directly to the calendar. “Everything is seasonal to me, revolving around periods of time in our quad seasons of B-LO, NY,” he explains, comparing the seasonal vibes of previous Wylie releases. “Dimes was early Spring. Picnic? Summer. But sometimes… you get something evergreen.” His latest EP, Up Through the Rust, released August 29th, is one of those evergreen moments, but one that feels perfectly suited for the here and now. “It just sounds like early Fall to me,” Smolinski says, and he’s right. The five-song collection is a hazy, scrappy, and distinctly satisfying slice of slacker rock that feels like that first truly crispy day after a long, hot summer. Bust out those denim jackets, folks. Up Through the Rust is our album of the week.   This release, his 14th in 11[...]

We Were Blank – BLANK

August 28, 2025

Wouldn’t it be really funny if our review for We Were Blank‘s latest album, BLANK, was just… *blank?*   …   BLANK is out as of August 8th, 2025. Check it out on Bandcamp for a very reasonable “name your price” option, or, find it on your favorite streaming services.   Just kidding.   We Were Blank has been kicking around Buffalo for a while now. They’ve been both a three-piece and a quartet, born out of a Craigslist ad and having too much time on their hands… But perhaps the most important part of their existence is that they simply continue to make music. Buffalo musicians have this habit of borrowing musicians from other bands – you may recognize some of that happening here with fellow emo-ish act (and frequent buffaBLOG feature) Amateur Hockey Club. Whatever it takes, right? Either way, these guys ended up with BLANK – a five-song EP bridging[...]

Astronaut Head – Meek Moon

August 21, 2025

A musician’s evolution is rarely a straight line. For Buffalo’s Jessica Stoddard, the path to the ambient dream pop of her Astronaut Head solo project has been a long and patient one, winding from quirky piano pop at Buffalo open mics to full UK tours as a keyboardist for a Scottish indie rock band. Along the way, a different sound was brewing – one built from looped vocals, electronic textures, and cavernous reverb. The result is Meek Moon, a five-song EP where those years of private experimentation finally take the lead.   The EP’s sound is deeply indebted to a certain Scandinavian chill, favoring atmosphere and texture over immediate hooks. Opener “batshit” makes the Björk comparison impossible to ignore, not just in Stoddard’s vocal leaps but in the contrast between its crisp electronics and a restless, jungle-like percussion. Shifting on a dime, the percussion vanishes completely on “egg the snake.” Instead[...]

Boy Jr. – I Hate Getting Dumped!

August 14, 2025

Boy Jr., the musical alter-ego of Rochester native Ariel Allen-Lubman, is the kind of artist that doesn’t let the grass grow under their feet. Their latest six-track EP, I Hate Getting Dumped!, released July 25th, serves as the spiritual successor to last year’s full-length album, I Love Getting Dumped. It follows in the same synth-heavy electropunk vein, but as the title suggests, this outing is less bright, a little darker, and more serious. The dichotomy is impressive and obviously intentional; the two releases feel like siblings in spirit, a point underscored by their respective album covers. The vibrant birthday party scene of I Love is replaced by the darker, sepia-toned art for I Hate, which features Boy Jr. in a full fencing uniform, standing stoically beside a tablet-distracted angel. Is this new EP a collection of I Love Getting Dumped! B-sides or is it a deliberate continuation? Either way, it’s our[...]

Shane Meyer – To the broken coast / on the crystal wave / it’s you, oh / hey

August 7, 2025

On his latest full-length, Buffalo’s Shane Meyer reaffirms his status as one of the area’s most distinct and disarming songwriters. A veteran of the scene, formerly of the slacker-rock outfit Difficult Night, Meyer’s solo work has found its own lane and cruises there comfortably. His new album, released August 1st on Steak & Cake Records, arrives with the wonderfully unwieldy title, to the broken coast / on the crystal wave / it’s you, oh / hey. Failure to edit? Perhaps. But it seems messy on purpose: across ten tracks of sparkling, minimalist jangle-pop, Meyer continues to perfect his unassuming, heart-on-sleeve style, delivering fractured vignettes of life that are gentle on the ear but carry surprising emotional weight.   The core of the album’s sound is Meyer’s intricate fingerpicked acoustic guitar, which provides the foundation for nearly every track. The arrangements are often sparse, allowing his lyrics and uniquely conversational delivery[...]