Preview

Tonight: The Public Picnic Fundraiser

March 26, 2015

The Public Picnic, a new collaborative project between Silo Session and the Public, will host its first fundraiser tonight at Mohawk Place, hopefully shedding a bit more light on the summer, Silo City located events curated by the live session series and still fresh, weekly publication. One tap tonight for musical merriment will be a trio of the city’s finest songwriters: Alex Berkley, Sonny Baker, and Laura Buckley. The Evil Things, a long time duo featuring Pine Fever band mates Andy Pothier and Levi Van Cleve, will come out of a long hibernation for a special performance this evening as well. Music begins this evening at 8pm. Event runners are asking for a donation of $5-$8 at the door.

Tonight: The Get Up Kids

March 25, 2015

The Get Up Kids are just one of those quintessential emo bands. They have had an everlasting effect on the scene, helping ushering in a new era of bands in the genre. Tonight, the long time group is bringing it’s tour to Buffalo with a sold out show at Waiting Room. You might remember last year when one of the opening bands, PUP, put on one of the most incredibly fun live sets played in Buffalo, period. Opening alongside with PUP is indie outfit Restorations. This is an incredibly stacked lineup that you won’t want to miss. Doors at Waiting Room will open tonight at 6:30pm.  If you didn’t get your hands on tickets, you might be out of luck as this show is already sold out, but if you scrounge Facebook this afternoon, you might be able to find a ticket for sale.

Tonight: Newish Star

March 24, 2015

Whenever Mac assigns me to write a preview, I quickly listen to a few songs to get a feel for each band and go on writing. I mean, I am sorry, I only have time to listen to so much. It is actually a little unusual that I will get so caught up in the music that I just go and listen to a band’s new cassette from start to finish. This is what happened with Newish Star, playing tonight at the Glitterbox with a host of other bands. For those unfamiliar, Newish Star plays guitar driven music reminiscent of Jawbreaker and Archers of Loaf. The trio’s latest cassette, How Soon We Forget, was released this month. It is excellent. Hailing from New Paltz, Diet Cig also recently released an excellent cassette of earnest, guitar music featuring declamatory vocals. The group is currently on tour in support of the release, Overeasy. Over easy happens[...]

Tonight: Torche

March 23, 2015

Following the release of its highly acclaimed February album, Restarter, Miami’s stoner/sludge metal heroes, Torche, makes its way to Buffalo tonight to Mohawk Place for a night full of riffing. Opening the show will be Florida band WRONG, followed by Philly shoegaze outfit Nothing. This is sure to be a very loud show, so bring your earplugs along to this one. Doors open at 8pm, and tickets are $17 at the door.  Beware though, as of this morning, there were only about 70 left, so try to make it as doors open.

Tonight: Mt. Eden

March 21, 2015

Named after their suburban Auckland hometown, New Zealand production duo Mt. Eden have been making music together since their early teens, first dabbling in hip hop before being turned on to dubstep after hearing UK producers Skream and Benga at a festival. In 2009, the pair started to make waves in the international electronic music scene when a fan posted “Sierra Leone,” their remix of Freshlyground’s “I’d Like” to Youtube and the track quickly amassed millions of views. This rise in profile led to a deal with New York label Ultra Music in 2013 which released their Walkingonair EP later that year, a seven track release that established Mt. Eden’s ability to craft tracks that can be both abrasive and melodic with a bittersweet sentiment.  Tonight, the duo will perform at Buffalo’s Waiting Room in anticipation of their spring album release and subsequent summer festival touring. Having developed their live show over the[...]

Tonight: Scajaquada Creeps

March 21, 2015

Tonight Nietzsche’s is going to be hella crazy all night long thanks to the Scajaquada Creeps and friends’ PJ Party (“all of the fun of a sleep over without the sleep”). The Creeps have rounded up a murderers row (without the murderers) of freaks for you to party and get naughty with into the wee hours, including Queen City Music Lottery spawn BEASTCOAST, local hip gurus Little Cake & Jack Toft, Soul Butchers, and DJ/Master of Ceremonies Pat Kewley. Remember this is a pj party, so it’d be downright crass to not show up in your finest pajamas, so you’ve been warned. This 21+ show features a $5 cover and kicks off more or less at 10 PM and goes until ?

Tonight: The Lopez

March 20, 2015

Tonight should be a rowdy one for Buffalo’s growing DIY scene with two legit out-of-towners plugging in their amps in The Northrup’s basement. PIttsburgh-based duo, The Lopez, is set to head to play headline, if that’s the proper term for a tiny basement show. Self-coined as “snot rock,”  The Lopez’ playful keyboards, fuzzy guitars, and a bouncy drum machine concoct a fun sound that fits somewhere in the middle of a vein diagram of Le Tigre, Sheer Mags, and The Buzzcocks.  Also set to play are Dallas-based punk-group Slimy Member, with local support from feminist-garde Boy Scouts, spooky low-fiers Space is Haunted, and the gripping wails of Jamie and the debt. Get there around 7pm with $5 in your hand to get The Lopez to Cleveland and Slimy Member to Brooklyn.

Tonight: Lesionread

March 20, 2015

Lesionread, the brainchild of local performance art prodigy, Shawn Lewis, is as much of a physical experience as it is a musical statement. His newfangled approach to electropop marries sensory stimulation with authentically catchy production (pepper in a little haphazardness for good measure). Lewis cites influences from the likes of Death Grips, Bjork, St. Vincent, J Dilla, and a slew of other artists that are fairly distinct from one another. Surprisingly, I feel as though I can differentiate the hodgepodge of influences in his music, though the blend may seem chaotic at times. Somewhere in that Frankenstein-esque mix, you get a pretty confident sense that he has a knack for organizing that chaos. The show is a “re-release” of his latest album, Lesionread’s Great Hits! Vol. 1, as the original date for the album release was postponed due to sub-zero weather conditions back in February. Equally dynamic openers, Ay Fast,[...]

Tonight: Defiance, Ohio

March 16, 2015

Tonight is the night. The wait is over. No more weird smells at Ocean Gardens. Sugar City is fully repaired and ready for action. To open up the musical side of the new venue, the DIY collective is hosting its first legal show tonight with a lineup headlined by folk-punk veterans Defiance, Ohio, on the road for the first time in two years, along with the touring bands Purple 7 and High Dive. For local talent, Mallwalkers will be bringing the funk punk as always, and Softlines will be opening up the show. You will want to get there on time, not only to check out the local bands, but also because there are over 200 people RSVP’ed to this show on facebook and the venue may hit capacity. Doors open at 6pm, and music starts at 7pm sharp, and the show will be over by 10pm. Entry is $8[...]

Tonight: Taking Back Sunday

March 16, 2015

103.3 The Edge has been the talk of the town lately, having hosted a local-themed barnstormer a few weeks ago headlined by Made Violent. Tonight, the station presents Long Island’s Taking Back Sunday, a band that, at this point in its career, probably doesn’t need introducing. The emo titans have been slugging it out for the past 15 years or so – and after six full lengths, two top ten Billboard debuts, and more member changes than you can count, it’s no wonder tonight’s show is sold out. Support tonight comes from The Menzingers and LetLive. Unfortunately, traditional ticket purchasing methods are out of the question because they are all sold out. Doors are at 6pm which gives you plenty of time to improvise. Happy ticket hunting! [soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/56446421″ params=”color=ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false” width=”100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]

Tonight: Cursive

March 15, 2015

Following the deluxe reissue of their hugely popular album The Ugly Organ, indiemo heroes, Cursive, announced a spanning tour which reaches its near end at Mohawk Place tonight. Reviews from this tour have been nothing but positive. Opening the show will be first See Through Dresses, and then Beach Slang. If you caught Beach Slang last year at the Mohawk Place with Cheap Girls, you know that their set is not to be missed. Doors open at 8pm. If you did not snag tickets in advance, you’re out of luck. This show is completely sold out.

Tonight: EOTO

March 14, 2015

With EOTO, String Cheese Incident percussionists Jason Hann and Michael Travis explore some extremely far-out places, using live instrumentation and then looping it to improvise intensely psychedelic grooves right on the spot. Their songs weave seamlessly through Drum and Bass, Electro, Dubstep, House, Glitch Hop, and Eastern Music, forging its own brand of heady, abrasive livetronica. Backed by a truly astounding light show that’s dead-focused on bending minds, EOTO is an absolute trip. Hann once describes their performances as an “all improvised alien disco party.” Indeed, it’s music that sounds like it shouldn’t come from planet Earth. Catch it tonight at the Town Ballroom. General admission tickets are $25, and the doors open at 8pm. Opening the show is Toronto DJ ill Gates and Baltimore live act ELM.  

Tonight: Harmonica Lewinski

March 14, 2015

Harmonica Lewinski first played Buffalo almost a year to the date at our fourth birthday party last March. A last minute dusting of snow made driving pretty difficult that night, and the Rochester based band nearly didnt make it off the I-90. Luckily, the garage/surf/punk outfit showed up just in time to play maybe the best set we have featured in the blog’s near five year existence. If you weren’t lucky enough to catch the group at our bday last year, you get another chance this evening. Later tonight at the Hoyt House, the group will return to Buffalo in support of its newest tape, Naked Brunch. Opening for Harmonica Lewinski is the ever evolving psych garage act, Sleepy Hahas, and Dead Wolf, the latter have absolutely no info listed on them, so your guess is as good as mine. The event page lists the start time at 8pm, and[...]

Tonight: Royal Tongues

March 13, 2015

Head on down to the Waiting Room tonight to celebrate the release of Patterns And Shapes, the debut EP from Buffalo indie pop duo, Royal Tongues, along with Wild Things, Parade Chic, and American Low. Royal Tongues (Aaron Bonus, Justin Gammella) haven’t been around for long, but this tight collection of irresistible electropop jams and the amount of action the songs getting online (almost 200,000 streams of the EP’s closer “The Balance”) suggest they might not be long for Buffalo. This all ages show featuring some of Buffalo’s hottest up and coming bands taking over Studio at Waiting Room starts early with doors at 6pm, and $10 gets you in.

Tonight: The Public Presents The Tins

March 12, 2015

The Public, in cooperation with The Good Neighborhood and Music Is Art, is bringing another stacked showcase to Nietzsche’s tonight. The Tins will be headlining the show with their signature melodic synth-driven indie pop sound. The event, in addition to supporting the Music Is Art foundation, is also functioning as a send-off for the band as they gear up to play SXSW in Austin, TX in the coming week. If you haven’t already heard, the guys are in the process of making a new album and documentary style film to pair with it. Unfortunately, cash rules everything. With such a large undertaking, they’ve created a Kickstarter campaign to help alleviate some of the expense burden. If you want to hear and see some cool stuff from them in the near future, head on over to the Kickstarter page, which you can find here, and donate what you can. Opening the[...]