Album of the Week

M.A.G.S. – Cellophane

February 23, 2015

“Tonight was beautiful.” posts Elliott Douglas, the musical fulcrum behind Buffalo’s hottest new indie rock outfit, M.A.G.S. The three-word post hits Facebook at 3:11 a.m., shortly after (and undeniably in reference to) the band’s highly successful EP release party at Mohawk Place. The show was destined for success from the day it was announced; M.A.G.S. has picked up a noteworthy amount of buzz around Buffalo since self-releasing a handful of demos late last year, and the bill—rounded out with other big Buffalo acts such as Bryan Johnson & Family, The Slums, and Kharlos—was solid gold. Armed with their riot-of-a-good-time Cellophane EP and a fresh spot on the roster of Admirable Traits Records, M.A.G.S. is here to stay. Cellophane, as a whole, is the purest representation of Douglas’ ability to write hook after hook… after hook. Each of the expertly-arranged tracks brims with personality, whether it’s rhythm guitar played with the perfect amount of upstroke pep or a bass shred[...]

Harmonica Lewinski – Naked Brunch

February 16, 2015

Rochester deviant surf rockers, Harmonica Lewinski, are back with a hot new EP Naked Brunch (Reel Time Records) that’s sharp, delightfully nasty, and our Album of the Week. Four hot cuts of off color 60’s inspired psychedelic surf rock engineered to make you feel funny while riding your long board or shaking your thing at a swingers party later that night, Naked Brunch offers some interesting glimpses into what this always entertaining band of misfits might have up their sleeves down the road. While “Titty Citty” and “Black Pussy Blues” are restatements of the HL ethos: wildly careening, off kilter surf rock that’s over the top lewd and sleazily dangerous, “Har Har Bizarre” blows everything up with some superbly wicked vocals and some joyfully licentious lyrics reveling in all manner of bad behavior. Naked Brunch ends with the straight up garage rock of “Boy On Fire,” a super tight single that clocks in[...]

the gifted children – my museum pieces

February 9, 2015

For a band that’s been around for almost 20 years, it’s commendable that the gifted children are still on their A-game. The Rochester art-rock collective is fresh off the release of my museum pieces, a genre-spanning full length that channels the likes of The Decemberists and self-referential influences Guided By Voices. Highlighted by swirling instrumentation, rich harmonies, and the eclectic  songwriting style the band is known for, my museum pieces is not only a noteworthy collection of songs, but a captivating story record that has more than earned buffaBLOG’s Album of the Week. Taking a look at the roster/credits for the album on the band’s bandcamp page is dizzying to say the least; an impressive seventeen musicians contributed in some way to the album’s eleven diverse tracks. Much in the spirit of Broken Social Scene, the gifted children have a perpetually rotating cast of musicians that varies from record to[...]

Sparklebomb – Bring in the Night

February 2, 2015

Last year, I was taken aback by just how haunted I was with Funeral Beats, the debut cassette from Sparklebomb, the alias of Angie Conte, one of the city’s more unique and intriguing electronic musicians. Mixing synth beats and textures with samples from found phone recordings, the mini album was a seance, a conjuring of ghosts that has stayed with me since I heard it. So when I heard there would be a follow up tape, Bring in the Night, I was excited to see what Conte had in store next. As I sit with it now, this new tape is as much a step forward as it is an exciting return to these haunted spaces. On the whole, there is something much brighter about Bring in the Night than the anxious spaces of Funeral Beats. This is not to say the sense of anxiety that hangs over the synth drones has been fully excised nor[...]

Andy Pothier – In Headlights

January 26, 2015

Delighting local music fans and folk lovers alike, Andy Pothier’s new album dropped earlier this month, highlighted by an intimate release show at Mohawk Place soon after featuring the likes of Sonny Baker, Damian, and others in support of the Pine Fever drummer. In Headlights, Pothier’s third release to date, and this week’s Album of the Week, is an heartfelt look at life’s ups and downs, covering everything from what it’s like to be twenty-one to what it’s like to be in (and out) of love. Many of the album’s eight tracks feature pretty, mellow instrumentals that lay a great foundation for Pothier’s earnest vocals. Musicians Billy Fortier and Sharon Mok (Tiny Rhymes) contribute background vocals throughout the album, creating sweet harmonies that make for an enjoyable listening experience. “Twenty-One Years” is notable in this regard. Album highlights, for me, include “The Lucky Ones” for its pretty guitar strumming and “Oh, to[...]

ice bar – ante meridiem

January 19, 2015

There is something to be said about the type of songwriting that doesn’t require a full band to make it work. Making use of just an acoustic guitar and her voice, Rochester singer songwriter Camille Tharp, or ice bar, as she is so endearingly known, has put out ante meridiem, a collection of wonderfully emotional acoustic songs recommended for those who enjoy the likes of Sharon Von Etten or Daughter. Despite their simplicity, each of the EP’s five tracks channel a strong element of genuineness that makes it abundantly clear that a lot more went into ante meridiem than what initially meets the ear. It is that emotional authenticity that makes these songs such heavy-hitters, and with that, I welcome you to our Album of the Week. ante meridiem, in living up to its name, really capitalizes on the mellow vibes of early morning with delicately-plucked acoustic guitar progressions that would[...]

The Traditional – How To Live Without Blood

January 12, 2015

“So I’ll sort through the shorts of this ashtray of my past and smoke one for every time I was happy… I’ll smoke one if I’m lucky.” Harsh, maybe… But it’s just one of many curses that fill How To Live Without Blood, the latest release from Buffalo’s own The Traditional. Singer/bassist Anthony Musior is no doubt this band’s songwriter, filling these songs with powerful personal references and thinly veiled attacks about the heaviest of subject matters. Musior, or “Mewsh” as most of the world lovingly knows him, has been working towards this moment for a long time. That’s not to take any of the onus off of guitarists Ryan Bennett and Mike Bienias, or the pristine backup vocals of drummer Jon Coric… Collectively, The Traditional is one of the hardest working bands in Buffalo. But with only an EP and a split to their name, How To Live Without Blood feels[...]

Teenage Satan – Teenage Satan II

January 5, 2015

After a brief holiday hiatus, buffaBLOG’s Album of the Week feature is back in business. For the first time since the distant days of 2014, we have selected a local (or quasi-local) album, EP, or collection of songs that we find to be worthy of merit, and posted it up here for your listening pleasure. This week, for the first week of the new year, our collective ears were caught by the lo-fi bedroom folk songs on Teenage Satan’s second self-titled EP. Teenage Satan (aka Dan Bauer) doesn’t fully abandon the electronic nature of his first effort earlier last year, but he does take a bit of a departure on Teenage Satan II in the sense that he unplugs and picks up an acoustic guitar. The result is a little experimental, a little electronic, but decidedly folk-tinged this time around. Favoring humble organ tones over unearthly synths, Teenage Satan II[...]

Wooden Waves – Wilder Dreams

December 8, 2014

It’s a cliché to say that a band’s latest release shows “signs of maturation.” On one hand, it usually doesn’t mean anything: you’re just saying they’re older than they were yesterday. On the other hand, it makes an incorrect assumption about progress. It implies that the band was one thing yesterday, is something else today and is working towards becoming some perfected version of itself in the future. This kind of assumption might give us a framework for making sense of things, but it’s not actually how reality works. Seeds grow, fruit ripens, but bands? People? They change, but there’s no perfect end point to work towards that is more valuable than the present. Accepting that realization is closer to maturation than the acquisition of any object or the accomplishment of any goal, and the struggle for that acceptance is at the heart of Wooden Waves’ Wilder Dreams (One Percent Press).[...]

Mountains and Valleys – Mountains and Valleys

November 17, 2014

This week’s AOTW feature comes at us all the way from Syracuse. We here at buffaBLOG are finding it increasingly difficult to ignore such compelling music from artists in WNY’s surrounding areas, and thusly, are expanding our reach. This week, neo-folk troubadour Merritt Harris and his collaborative project, Mountains and Valleys, has caught our ear, and for good reason. The indie-folk collective has just pulled the sheet off of their self-titled debut—a beautiful and cohesive collection of songs unmistakably suitable for those with curious, introspective souls. Also notable is the fact that the record is a full twelve tracks in length and each track holds up strong. In today’s digital age of online-only 3 – 6 track EPs, splits, and singles, it’s refreshing to see a full twelver every now and again, and the amount of work that went into this one is palpable—to say the least. Mountains and Valleys’ sound[...]

Bryan Johnson and Family – Cool Your Jets

November 10, 2014

Local cult leader, Bryan Johnson (that is why he calls his band ‘Family,’ right?) is one of the hardest working musicians in the city. His band has been a mainstay at local shows for years and with good reason, they are jittery, poppy crowd pleasers. And with the weather quickly cooling, the band has released a last burst of sunshine with its latest EP, Cool Your Jets. Joyful might be the quickest way to describe the bulk of Johnson’s music. Most of the songs on Cool Your Jets move quickly, featuring a bouncy beat and jangling guitars. That beat becomes the driving force behind the EP and really is one of the key features of the band’s unique sound. Impressively, Bryan Johnson and David Hamilton’s guitar playing is equally percussive, driving that bounce forward, and complimenting it well. In step with this is Johnson’s own good natured vocals. The EP evokes scenes of late[...]

101010 – We Are The Movie

November 3, 2014

Another month, another farewell album. Listening to an album known to be a band’s last is always a bittersweet experience, and 101010’s We Are The Movie was no different for me. The Buffalo band, having formed in 2012 from the ashes of Americana act Vox Humana, are no longer playing together, but, as a final gesture of good faith, decided to digitally release their swan song album for the fans of their decidedly post-rock loudness. Each of the respective members will be focusing on different projects beyond 101010’s dissolution; keep your ears to the ground. Though the curtain has called for 101010, We Are The Movie satisfies, and should not go unrecognized. Enter our Album of the Week. We Are The Movie explores the various intricacies of post-rock and shoegaze, landing somewhere between the cosmic thickness of 90’s band Hum and the hard-hitting fervor of Chevelle. But the album doesn’t[...]

Handsome Jack – Do What Comes Naturally

October 27, 2014

There is always a lot of talk about the hardcore and punk scene in Buffalo, but what about the blues? Bands like Johnny Nobody, Mr. Boneless, and in particular, Handsome Jack? As for the latter, the Lockport four-some hasn’t released a proper full length since 2011’s Super Moon, but in Do What Come Naturally, which Handsome Jack celebrated the release of this past Friday at Mohawk Place, the wait was certainly worth it. Once again, my brothers from another mother  prove that Buffalo’s got soul. Do What Comes Naturally is a red-eye flight and a universe away from Super Moon. I guess you could say the boys did some growing up. Where as Super Moon sounded like an overly extended ballad, Do What Comes Naturally is rough and hard around the edges. The band, now cocksure and headstrong, lays it all out on the table, letting the listener know exactly what they are working with.” From the[...]

Zak Ward – That’s What You Get

October 20, 2014

Like a lot of people, I’ve always had a tendency to associate the music I listen to with a certain season. Sometimes there are objective reasons for this, certain sounds do traditionally pair well with particular times of the year, and sometimes it can be entirely subjective, such as when you only relate an album to a certain month because it just happens to be the first time you listened to it. Zak Ward’s new EP, That’s What You Get, released just this past weekend, would seem to qualify on both fronts as it’s an album that easily evokes the feeling of an early fall and happens to have arrived just as we’ve probably finished seeing 60 degrees in Western New York until 2015.  (The cover of the album might also help to inspire this autumnal connotative value with what looks to be a canvas brushed with a palette of[...]

Europa & The Great Red Spot – Inside Voices

October 13, 2014

This week brings us yet another Rochester Album of the Week nod. Europa & The Great Red Spot‘s Inside Voices is a wonderfully understated LP full of fuzzy lo-fi gems. Riding mysteriously on a heavy space theme, it might as well be the sound of Europa itself spinning around Jupiter. Album opener “Din” is an immediate highlight. Falling somewhere on the spectrum between TV on the Radio and Local Natives, “Din” is a simmering slow-burner, with beautiful lyrics that touch on love, space, tattoos, and conflicting weather patterns. It’s a fitting introduction for an album full of hazy, lo-fi beauty. Another great dowsing rod for this band is the title track, “Inside Voices” – a six-minute, almost-instrumental epic worth getting lost inside. E&TGRS specialize in songs like these – swirly synths, shy guitars, and a pleasant, washy mix. On the other hand, “Redshift” walks the line of psychedelic – think the[...]