Album of the Week

The Traditional – The Queen of Heaven

April 17, 2017

It’s been a few years since we’ve heard from Buffalo trio The Traditional. Their previous effort was a 10-song monster full of lyrical curses and sharp edges delivered through a haze of second-hand smoke. Last year, the trio headed back into the studio (with GCR wizard Jay Zubricky) and came out with the well-crafted, six-song The Queen of Heaven. If anything, TQOH is indication that The Traditional know who they are, and they don’t give a shit what you think either way. EP opener “Parlez-vous francais” is an archetypal Traditional song, showcasing how this trio has nestled themselves between rock n’ roll’s “rock” and emo’s “hard place.” “Francais,” like most Traditional songs, listens like an angry diary entry from singer/bassist Anthony Musior, whose not-so-subtle poetry is as heart-on-your-sleeve as it gets. “Kerosene” is another must-listen, and is truly brought to life through guitarist Mike Bienias’ furious rock n’ roll chops and the pristine back up vocals from drummer[...]

brat’ya – Nightwalker

April 10, 2017

Buffalo synth-pop producer brat’ya (aka Alek Ogadzhanov) debut full-length Nightwalker is driven by layered, melodic instrumentation and inventive sound design to make for a lush, hook-laden release. The release is brat’ya’s first collaboration with internet savvy / futuristic chillwave label Business Casual. Opening track “Glow” kicks things off with an introspective pop jam with bright synth leads and engaging vocals. Using Daft Punk-esque vocoded vocals on “Goodbye,” brat’ya creates a nostalgic feel with its’ benevolent duet and pensive tone. Whether going for a more downtempo, melancholic sound on tracks like the ballad “Relief” and “Pretend” or more buoyant tracks like the sprightly title track “Nightwalker” and “Radio,” brat’ya’s ability to craft memorable hooks from a wide range of textures makes Nightwalker an immersive listen that reveals a focused collection of compelling pop. While the direct, synth-led leanings are reminiscent of artists like Passion Pit and M83, the dense bass and vibrant drums bring to mind Toro y[...]

Orations – Wych Elm

April 3, 2017

Following up on their previous EP, Incantation, Buffalo quartet, Orations, have released their debut 12” LP, Wych Elm on March 17, through Custom Made Music. Showcasing the variance in 80’s post-punk, Orations’ debut is in part a look back, a revivalist endeavor so to speak, while also being a record that stands on its own merits. Orations is Jess Collins on vocals, Paul Morin on guitar, Jason Draper on bass and melodica, Matt Chavanne on drums and percussion, with additional help from Aaron Ratajczak and Rick Wright. Present on Wych Elm are some of the various iconic sounds that made up a chunk of the post-punk sonic aesthetic from the 80s. Like the jangly, sometimes airy and dreamy guitar, the dark, low, rhythmic bass, and the often brooding, dour vocal delivery. The reproduction of the genre is flawless and the band really wears their influences on their sleeves, including bands[...]

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[...]

Humble Braggers – I Know Better, I’m No Better

March 13, 2017

Humble Braggers have one of the more distinguishable sounds in Buffalo. Max reverb, slick guitar riffs, high-reaching vocal melodies and signature 80’s synth samples are this band’s M.O., and have been from its inception. The trio’s debut full length, I Know Better, I’m No Better, doesn’t stray from the familiarity of this, which when boiled down to recognition and consistency, plays to their advantage in a lot of ways. It’s a special thing when an album can make you experience a sensation that isn’t auditory. Many of the songs tackle uncertainty within oneself, a lack of control between oneself and another person, or a festering anxiety over that lack of control. Even the song titles are quite telling (i.e. Fight, Losing It, Burden, Weight). The heaviness of the diction is juxtaposed with the lightness of the sound. The collective work of songs feels a bit like a back and forth[...]

Del Paxton – All Day, Every Day, All Night

March 6, 2017

What’s left for us to say about Buffalo hometown heroes Del Paxton? Dylan England, Zach Schoedel, and Greg McClure have been keeping our hearts thumping in odd time signatures for the last four years. That span of time has seen the trio rise from basement-shredding all-stars to their current gig, a coveted spot on the Topshelf Records roster. At the advent of last year, Del Paxton bundled up with Jay Zubricky at GCR studios here in Buffalo. Those sessions eventually became their first full-length, All Day, Every Day, All Night. Album opener “My Other” is a nod to Buffalo city-living, referencing the maze of one-ways that one might encounter on the wrong side of Richmond Avenue. From song one, it’s obvious that stylistically, Del Paxton have stuck to their guns, and rightfully so – it’s what has made their previous two releases so enjoyable. Their brand of mathy, indie-flavored emo specializes in time[...]

CD-ROM – _001

February 27, 2017

Rochester synth punk outfit, CD-ROM offer up a multi-textured and infectious on their debut EP titled, _001. Assembled together like Voltron from various Rochester bands, Green Dreams, Leus Zeus, and Sports, CD-ROM consists of Jesse Amesmith on vocals, Nate Briscoe on bass, Trevor Amesmith on drums, Mike Turzanski on mono synth, and Kevin Burns on poly synth. _001 was self released by the band on February 18th. With a run time of almost 25 minutes, _001 is pretty dense for a debut EP, and that’s a plus because there’s a lot to unpack with this record. For one the group does not have a traditional punk set up going. There’s really not much of a guitar to speak of. Instead it’s synths trading back and forth that are backed by solid drumming that keeps the tight rhythms locked in. The bass here is really interesting because at times it’s in[...]

Newish Star – American Angelica Tree

February 21, 2017

It’s been over a year since local low-fi/indie group, Newish Star released their last record, 2015’s You Missed Everything – Part II. After ending their tour and with little noise coming from the trio in terms of new releases, there was the possible fear that we’d never hear anything from them again. Another tale of a local Buffalo outfit that ended up splintering band members and kind of fading off into the distance. But no, that’s not what this is about. Because on February 13th, the band put out a brand new release titled, American Angelica Tree. To say that it’s just a new release from the band wouldn’t quite do it justice. It is a collection of songs from the band released for us all to hear and enjoy, true, but really, it feels more than that. After a flurry of releases in 2015, it’s altogether possible that the[...]

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[...]

Wren Williams & The Sons of Luther – Venom & Sugar

February 6, 2017

Rochester native Wren Williams has been an active WNY musician since the early aughts, but has recently been making lots of waves in our lovely, Buffalo music scene… With the help of his backing band, a trio of cousins affectionately named “The Sons of Luther,” Williams dropped an ambitious full-length last month in the form of the 11-song Venom & Sugar.  Venom & Sugar is a telling title; the album starts out biting and menacing and gradually morphs into something sweet and pretty. Vitriolic songs “Inevitable Collapse” and “Conspiracy Theory” kick off the album with a one-two punch, introducing the listener to the band’s indie rock ‘n roll vibes with a hint of glam. The album has strong themes of duality and touches poignantly on issues of mental health, something the outspoken Williams should be proud of. Eventually the listener is greeted by the meat-and-potatoes triad of “Psycho Maniac,” “Out Of Touch,” and “Saving Grace.”[...]

Green Slime – The Vesta Rose EP

January 30, 2017

Buffalo two piece, Green Slime construct an energetic throwback experience on their new EP, The Vesta Rose, a follow up to their self titled full-length LP from September. Blending together grunge, indie, and pop-punk, the duo consisting of brothers, Eric Ellman on guitars/vocals and Blake Ellman on drums, aim to recall a particular moment in rock history while also adding a bit of modernity. Green Slime’s primary vein on this new EP is grunge, and it’s something the band is able to manipulate well. The tone of the guitar has a guttural quality to it that really captures that 90s grunge grit that became a staple of the genre. Especially here, that tone is needed, not only to evoke the genre, but in order to fill up all the sparseness that exists. As a two piece, the band consists only of a guitarist and a drummer. Unlike a group like[...]

Mallwalkers – “Dial ‘M’ For…”

January 23, 2017

Funk punk collective, Mallwalkers are back from their hiatus, or self imposed exile? Either way, they’ve returned and have brought with them to Buffalo a new LP,  “Dial ‘M’ For…” which is a follow up to their debut record, 2013’s Shake the Rust Off. Classic cinema fans will pick up the reference to the Hitchcock thriller, but unlike the director’s affection for putting his audience through a series of tense moments and plot twists, Mallwalkers places anyone who listens on a dance party crazed ride full of moments to get your heart pumping. A riotous mixture of musical genres ranging from hardcore, ska, funk, indie, soul and surf-rock, Mallwalker’s sound is hard to pinpoint. Even with their embracing of the funk musical aesthetic being as it is, they don’t sound anything like George Clinton and Parliament-Funkadelic. Instead, the band collaborates together to create a sound that’s very much their own.[...]

Hot Tip – Hold Me, Closely

January 16, 2017

Hailing from Buffalo, Hot Tip delivers a cohesive collection of electrifying cuts on their new 12″ LP, Hold Me, Closely. Formed in 2013, Hot Tip is made up of Katherine Goewey on vocals, drummer, Irene Rekhviashvili, both from the band Pang, guitarist, Stephen Floyd from the Mallwalkers, and bassist, Keely Guiliano from Cross Stitch. Hold Me, Closely was one of those late 2016 releases that needed to be talked about in 2017. The quartet is not one to fall neatly into a singular classification of what it means to be a punk band, that would be too easy. That would be too boring. Instead, what makes the band interesting is the fact that they fill Hold Me, Closely with a balanced assembly of different punk/rock elements. The band prefers to describe themselves as “free punk,” as they’re not just one styling of the genre. They are made up of splatterings of hardcore,[...]

Slumbers – Come Over

December 12, 2016

I drove home in the snow tonight (Sunday). And no, not just a dusting, Buffalo’s first semi-legitimate accumulation this December. The roads were mostly awful; it took me about double the amount of time it normally does to get home from work. But amongst all the fishtailing, wheel spinning, and “am I even on the road right now?” moments, I was strangely calm and collected. With Rochester’s Slumbers keeping me company through my Ford Taurus’ surprisingly decent speakers, my commute was less of a treacherous nightmare, and more of a snow-covered field of dreams. Slumbers’ debut release Come Over is our Album of the Week. Slumbers fills an interesting niche in the Rochester music scene. Their simmering blend of dreamy indie rock is soft without the malleability of other low-volume projects. Vocal duties are expressly shared, and the harmonies are swirling and plentiful. Members Claire McClusky (bass), Sabrina Nichols (guitar),[...]