Album of the Week

Delplato & Kujawski – Strings & Chords

April 14, 2014

I am treated to the best of the best of local music from week to week. Over the past few years, I have had an opportunity to objectively review and appreciate a wide variety of music that comes my way. That being said, nothing ever seems to grip me like a release from Anthony Delplato. This time he has a partner, Brad Kujawski. Together, Delplato & Kujawski have put together Strings & Chords. I might have already had a biased opinion going into this review… but let’s just say Deplato & Kujawski didn’t let me down. “We Sail” starts off sounding like We Have The Facts And We’re Voting Yes-era Death Cab For Cutie. Two clean guitars with a slight warble play in sync through most of this song – I was actually expecting nothing more than a pretty instrumental opening track… Not that there would have been anything wrong with that[...]

Mapmaker – Critical Path

April 7, 2014

Mapmaker is probably one of the more underrated bands in Buffalo’s catalog. Their new release is called Critical Path and, while putting the finishing touches on this review on this fine Sunday evening, I realize what a real barnburner it is. The production is lo-fi, but not disarmingly so. It’s equal parts punk, emo, and indie rock. I’d like to compare them to The Gaslight Anthem but it’s not quite Americana enough… and I’d love to make a comparison to The Get Up Kids but it’s a little too punky to be flat-out emo. Maybe I’m allowed to call it “old school emo” like Sunny Day Real Estate or Mineral. Either way, they occupy a unique spectrum in that regard and I really enjoyed this particular Album of the Week for that reason. Critical Path kicks off with “Preoccupied,” an apt opener full of passionate yelps and fast guitars. That’s[...]

Failures’ Union – Tethering

March 31, 2014

When I mentioned to people that I’d be writing up the new Failures’ Union release, Tethering, I generally got one of two responses.  The first was that these guys were staples over at Mohawk Place. The association makes sense: that’s where the band got its start back in 2004. “We started out in a practice space above the bar, and that tiny room, along with the bar itself, were our homes for many years,” said Failures’ Union bassist Jason Draper.  With Mohawk gone, the band and the city are still feeling the hurt. Failures’ Union has only played four local dates since the venue closed its doors. Draper pointed out that some venues, like Spiral Scratch Records and the newly-resurrected Sugar City, have stepped up to the plate since, but that “it’s a band-aid to a problem that needs some stitches.” If the music scene is going to flourish once again, it needs a[...]

Damian – You Don’t Need It

March 24, 2014

“Play ‘Soul Night‘!” There are maybe twenty or thirty people crammed into Damian Weber’s living room. The request came from a guy standing in the doorway, but all over the room, people begin to signal their approval. Up front, Damian Weber, bashfully charismatic, looks down at this guitar and sighs that he isn’t sure if he quite recalls how to play it. But the shouts continue, and Damian acquiesces, playing the song perfectly from start to finish. He remembers every word, and so do many of the people in his house. Camera phones come out to catch the key bits. “I can only dance if my rock ‘n roll is made by a weirdo,” he sings. Through the doorway behind him, I can see two people swing dancing through his dining room. “Soul Night” is the title track from Damian’s debut album. This article is about his new album, You Don’t[...]

Unwelcome Guests – Wavering

March 20, 2014

Scrolling back through our past posts on local favorites Unwelcome Guests, it’s hard not to notice a recurring theme: nobody is quite sure how to place them. On the surface, it seems like it shouldn’t be so hard. Guitars, bass, drums, vocals: this is the stuff of bands since Buddy Holly. But where one person hears the Buzzcocks, another hears the Gin Blossoms. Personally, the first thing I thought when I started listening to their new album, Wavering, was Jawbreaker, and even then, I’m not sure exactly why. Whatever the reason, Unwelcome Guests are the musical equivalent of that thing from Harry Potter that shows you whatever you want to see. This is a good thing. It makes Wavering one of those rare albums that could, potentially, please everybody, at least everybody into rock music (Luke Bryan fans, go home). It mostly sheds the occasional country vibe found on Unwelcome[...]