Album of the Week

Root Cellar – Fermentations

June 26, 2025

For Buffalo’s Root Cellar, the act of creation is a patient one. The chamber quintet’s debut album, Fermentations, arrives via Erie’s Infrasonic Press with a backstory as interesting as its sound. The six expansive tracks were captured live in two distinct sessions at Revolution Gallery, separated by over a year. This lengthy process, engineered and mixed by Shaun Mullins, has produced a remarkably cohesive, hour-long album that breathes with the energy of its live origins yet feels brilliantly intentional in its construction. It’s a fitting title, as the album documents a sound that has been allowed to bubble, evolve, and mature, settling into something complex and potent. Fermentations is our album of the week.   The band’s “post-jazz” description is a starting point, but it hardly covers the ground they explore. The group, formed in 2017, operates at a compelling intersection of influences. There’s the structural sensibility of post-rock outfits like Tortoise,[...]

Science Man – Monarch Joy

June 12, 2025

Stage dive for cover because Buffalo’s diabolical Science Man returns with his latest hardcore punk abomination, Monarch Joy.   After a 5-year banishment touring the Rust Belt countryside, local scenester heavyweight John Toohill’s project has evolved from the lone multi-hyphenate and a drum machine to a full-blown and fully-realized ensemble. Recorded and mixed by Toohill and John Angelo, and mastered by the latter, the LP marks Science Man’s latest experiment as his most cohesive and focused work to date.   Monarch Joy is sutured together with chunks of hardcore punk, garage and noise rock and injected with expressionistic themes of moral decay, sacrifice and religion’s influence on society. Toohill breathes life into his bastard creation with barking vocals that rage with the ferocity of a feral, caged animal.   The record opens with the unsettling instrumental track, “S.C.I.M.N.” Featuring a grotesque cacophony of screeching horns, droning guitars and tumbling drums,[...]

Jerry Big’s World Famous Band – JBWFB

May 29, 2025

If the walls of Rochester’s music venues could talk, they’d likely be buzzing–quite literally–about Jerry Big’s World Famous Band. This trio–Jared Effman on bass and backup vocals, Yassir Ahmed on guitar, and Max Wakeling handling drums and lead vocals–might be a newer name on the scene, but the word spreading about their super-tight garage punk and explosive live shows is well and truly deserved. Their new self-titled EP, JBWFB, which hit the streets on April 25th, is a four-song affirmation of this burgeoning reputation, delivering a sound that’s far bigger than the sum of its three parts. JBWFB is our album of the week.   Right from the start, JBWFB makes it clear that this isn’t background music. It’s a full-frontal assault of garage punk grit and melodic hardcore urgency. The production feels immediate and raw, capturing the kind of live-wire intensity you’d expect in a packed, sweaty club. Ahmed’s guitar work is a thrilling[...]

The Ant Hill Kids – All Together Now!

May 22, 2025

Buffalo lofi-folk act The Ant Hill Kids have surfaced again with their second full-length album, All Together Now!, which officially saw the light of day back in March. This collection finds the group digging deeper into their unique “cult-folk” niche, a space where the unstructured spirit of freak folk meets the unhurried, reflective nature of slowcore. From the get-go, the album wraps you in a warm, fuzzy blanket of lo-fi production. It has that unmistakable, intimate feel of a passion project born in a bedroom or basement, where the raw edges are part of the charm. All Together Now! is our album of the week.   All Together Now! takes a noticeably moodier path than the band’s 2024 self-titled debut. The Ant Hill Kids embrace this darker vibe, building their songs around an instrumental core that feels both earthy and subtly inventive. Acoustic guitars pull double duty as the primary instrumentation and[...]

Bug Day – Six-Legs Inexperience

May 8, 2025

Rochester’s Bug Day has unofficially entered the album arena with Six-Legs Inexperience, a unique debut that landed earlier this month. The record sees the noise rock group expanding on the intriguing avant-garde leanings of last year’s UFOs by the Lake EP, now lacing their sound with a sharper post-punk edge. It’s an interesting release, structured more like an EP-and-a-half, with six original pieces paving the way for three distinctive cover tunes that tip the band’s proverbial hat to a fairly diverse range of influences. Six-Legs Inexperience is our album of the week.   One of the most striking qualities of the new album is Bug Day’s ability to shift dynamics on a dime. The band navigates changes in intensity with an almost deceptive ease, often within the confines of a single song. “The Best Excuse” showcases this early in the tracklist, patiently drawing listeners in with a slow burn before[...]

Johnny & the Man Kids – Everything is From Now On

April 24, 2025

Buffalo’s Johnny & the Man Kids have been a reliable source of garage pop goodness for about a decade now, and their foothold in the local scene is both established and well-deserved. Following up on 2023’s It’s Nice to Meet You Again, the now five-piece indie rock outfit of siblings Johnny, Jake, and Tyler Marciniak along with Andi Pszonak and Alex Bogart have returned with Everything is From Now On, their latest EP and our album of the week. It’s another welcome entry from a band that has gotten deservedly comfortable in the realm of indie rock, showcasing their unique ability to blend songs that feel light and easy with astonishing levels of heart.   That brand is immediately apparent on Everything is From Now On. The EP confidently navigates the band’s strengths, from the riff-driven energy of opener “The Way Things Go,” to the layered, party-like atmosphere of “Mr.[...]

Bad Bloom – pepper

April 17, 2025

If you’ve been keeping tabs on the Rochester scene, you likely know Bad Bloom. The band just dropped their latest EP called pepper on April 11th, finding a home on Boston’s Candlepin Records tape label. The four-track EP delves into the hazy, mood-driven sound the band has all but trademarked – a space where shoegaze fluidity meets dream pop’s shimmer, accented by rougher, grungy edges. For the four-piece, originally formed in Queens before relocating to WNY, pepper continues to build on a sound that has earned them a following that spans the width of the state and beyond.   Recorded locally at Wicked Squid Studios, pepper finds the band leaning more intently into the core principles of shoegaze, resulting in a sound notably thicker and fuzzier than that found on Bad Bloom’s 2023 self-titled EP. At the heart of the band are songwriters Kate Rogers (bass, vocals) and Jay Trovato (guitar),[...]

Kitchen – Blue Heeler in Ugly Snowlight, Grey on Gray on Gray on White

April 10, 2025

Since 2016, James Keegan’s buzzing musical project, Kitchen, has steadily carved out a distinct space in Rochester with its consistent output of introspective lo-fi folk. Now, Kitchen delivers its most substantial chapter yet with the arrival of Blue Heeler in Ugly Snowlight, Grey on Gray on Gray on White, the recording project’s sixth full-length album, comfortably venturing into double album territory across 20 diverse tracks. The sprawling and remarkably cohesive collection explores the corners of Keegan’s sonic range and unique songwriting styles.   The album primarily operates within a spectrum bookended by hushed, intimate acoustic pieces and more fleshed-out, full-band indie rock arrangements. The lo-fi aesthetic, a hallmark of Kitchen’s work, remains central, lending an air of closeness and immediacy to the recordings. Whether it’s a solitary acoustic guitar and Keegan’s refreshingly unvarnished vocals or a more layered composition, the production often feels like a private performance. This intimacy gets[...]

Foothands – Off of the Roof

April 3, 2025

Buffalo-based songwriter Erik Happ, operating under the solo moniker Foothands, recently unveiled his third EP, Off of the Roof. Self-released on March 10th, this six-song EP follows 2021’s Gentle but Firm and 2023’s Year of the Year, further developing the project Happ launched after his time in groups like False Pockets and Pomelo. The release continues the trajectory of his distinctive brand of intricate acoustic math rock and snags our album of the week.   The defining characteristic of Off of the Roof is its intricate density. Happ masterfully layers acoustic guitar lines, creating complex rhythmic patterns and rich textures that often feel like output from a fully-kitted band. Comparisons could be drawn to the rhythmic propulsion of The Dodos, the textural layering of early Animal Collective, and the melodic acoustic sensibilities of Owen, yet the combination feels distinct, especially for the WNY region.   Listeners familiar with Foothands’ earlier[...]

HitGRL – Are We Sure About This?

March 27, 2025

Fredonia-based HitGRL makes their formal introduction with the release of their debut EP, Are We Sure About This?, which landed as a self-released five-song set on March 1st. The first official outing from the band – comprising Sarah Burke (vocals), Katherine Wynn (cello, vocals), Ryan Terry (guitar), Michael Tumbaco (bass) and Gordon Hall (drums) – immediately signals a creative approach that resists easy categorization. While rooted in alternative rock, their sound readily pulls from the grit of grunge alongside the melodic and sometimes atmospheric leanings of indie rock, establishing a broad sonic canvas right from the start. Following the release of the single “BREAK U” in February, this collection serves as an initial exploration of the band’s dynamic range and emerging musical identity.   The EP establishes its stylistic range immediately through contrast. It opens with “Becoming Someone,” a track leaning into indie and beach rock sensibilities, carried by a[...]

Rattlesnake Jake – Oh, How Easy

March 20, 2025

Rattlesnake Jake, the moniker of Buffalo-based songwriter Jake Marciniak, has unveiled their debut EP, Oh, How Easy, a vibrant collection of five tracks that navigate the complex terrain of love, loss, and self-discovery. Released independently on March 1st, the EP arrives as a welcome spring offering, it’s colorful wildflower cover mirroring the warmth and eclectic energy found within. Following a single released last November, the EP introduces Marciniak as a main player in the power pop scene. Oh, How Easy is our album of the week.   Oh, How Easy showcases Marciniak’s self-sufficient approach, as they wrote, recorded, and produced the entire EP themselves. The sonic landscape traverses a range of genres, from the punchy power pop of “Needed,” to the emotionally charged indie rock of “Three Little Words,” which incorporates synth alongside massive group vocals. Album opener “Through the Walls” dives immediately into the EP’s themes, showcasing the artist’s[...]

Alex Berkley – 28 Days of Fun 4: 30 Second Songs

March 13, 2025

This week’s Album of the Week spotlight shines on a delightful, recently re-released gem from Buffalo’s own Alex Berkley: 28 Days of Fun 4: 30 Second Songs. Berkley, a respected figure in the local songwriting scene, is known for his stripped-down folksy bedroom pop, and this album perfectly encapsulates that aesthetic. 28 Days of Fun 4 is the fourth installment in Berkley’s “Fun-a-Day” series, a project where he commits to writing and recording a song every day in February. This particular iteration, originally a somewhat hushed release on SoundCloud back in 2017, found it’s way to Bandcamp this past February to join Berkley’s first three Fun-a-Day installments. A self-imposed challenge of keeping each track around 30 seconds long finds Berkley embracing the fleeting on this go-around, a move that distills the songwriting to a playful, honest core.   The Fun-a-Day project itself has roots in the Buffalo arts community, originating[...]

Survey Channel – Functional Gloss

March 6, 2025

Buffalo’s ever-evolving electronic music scene continues to yield fascinating projects, and Survey Channel, the alias of Matt Donatelli, stands firmly at the forefront of its ambient exploration. With Functional Gloss, Donatelli delivers his fifth full-length album, adding another meticulously-crafted chapter to a discography that has steadily blossomed since his 2019 debut, Mulberry. In the intervening years, Survey Channel has has become synonymous with a particular brand of thoughtful, exploratory electronica, gathering a respectable following from such a prolific output over the past six years. Functional Gloss is our album of the week.   At its core, Functional Gloss operates within the realm of ambient electronica, yet it’s an ambient experience imbued with a restless energy. While certain tracks embrace beat-driven structures, the album as a whole resists easy categorization, comfortably inhabiting the spaces of IDM while pushing against the conventional boundaries of electronic music. Listeners familiar with titans like Boards[...]

Rotten UK – Age of Chaos

February 27, 2025

Grab your leather jackets and bullet belts because Rochester metal punk veterans Rotten UK are back with a vengeance on their sophomore full-length album, Age of Chaos.   Bandmates James von Sinn, Matt Sexxx, Anarchy Jake, and Fran Damage violate your speakers with their distinct style of 80’s UK crust punk forged with gothic undertones, thrashy power chords, and dominating drums. von Sinn’s vocals are straight from the depths of a London dungeon as he shouts and howls songs of revolution, horror and the occult. Their snobbish, drawling delivery adds a thick layer of anarchistic attitude that rounds out Rotten UK’s throwback speed metal sound.   Age of Chaos doesn’t waste any time melting your face off with the opening track, “Annihilation Desecration.” It’s a hyper shot of pure adrenaline that will get your heart pounding. Like a runaway rollercoaster, Damage’s frenetic kick-snare drums propel the track at warp speed[...]

Robbery Club – Loot

February 20, 2025

Punk rock will never die – and Buffalo four-piece Robbery Club (RC) are here to prove it. Doesn’t it feel like nobody wants to start up a guitar band anymore? Nobody told RC – and while this isn’t their official debut (and they’ve formed from the ashes of previously-beloved act Ghostpool), it’s a much-anticipated continuation of what promises to be a beloved oeuvre. They’re calling this one Loot, a perfectly succinct, five-song drop of songs made to play at unreasonable volumes in a sweat-soaked basement. Top it off with a healthy dose of existential dread and you have yourselves our album of the week.   The EP kicks off with “Bitter Pills,” an adrenaline-soaked blast of fun emo punk energy – what else? Spitfire guitars, punched-up drumming, and gritty bass will be the calling cards throughout this EP – for a batch of punk songs, you don’t need much else.[...]