Latest Posts

Robbery Club – SHARP AIR / ALONE

April 5, 2024

Robbery Club is Buffalo-style punk rock done right. The group is hot off a killer set on a stacked show at Casa Di Francesca’s on March 7th, and a debut release of two singles released just a few days prior. It may seem like Robbery Club is coming out of nowhere, but that’s not the case. Members within the current lineup have been impressing the local scene with their aggressively catchy blend of pop-punk and emo for quite some time under their previous title, Ghostpool.  Check out our 2018 review, which touched on the “crunchy guitars and hooks aplenty” in their debut EP. Just one nostalgic stream of their 2019 track, “Bug,” will guarantee it to be stuck in your head all day. It’s a chokehold angsty emo melody on a song that still feels punk as hell. Their debut tracks as Robbery Club, “SHARP AIR” and “ALONE” build upon this[...]

Jaugust – Be My Echo, Always

March 26, 2024

Buffalo’s latest electronic duo, Jaugust, specializes in a catchy, relatable indie-pop sound inspired by early 2000s electronica-meets-emo bands like The Postal Service, American Football, and The Appleseed Cast. The duo is composed of Nick Sessanna of the Buffalo indie-emo band Cooler (check out our previous review) and Anthony DelPlato of indie meets alt-pop act Everything in Waves (previous reviews here). Their debut release, Be My Echo, Always, came out on September 8th, 2023. The project’s opener, “Racing the Shadows,” is a perfect modern take on upbeat synth-pop. It’s a “running away” song that sounds like the band is trying to beat out past mistakes by turning a blind eye to them. The second verse, however, dives into what Jaugust is running from – the project’s main theme, and its source of conflict. Jaugust tends to keep lyrics pretty generalized to heartbreak as Sessanna sings of things like being haunted by[...]

Garden Closet – cicada breath

February 19, 2024

Shoegaze is thriving. Scenes in eastern cities like Pittsburgh, New York City, and especially Philadelphia are having surges of creativity and success, yet the sound is relatively untouched in Buffalo. Garden Closet is often in a scene of their own in the 716. The three-piece leans hard into the heavy and dark side of shoegaze, drawing on influences from both classic 90’s bands and the genre’s contemporary forerunners. The lead singer, Kay Stuitje, said: “When I started this project I was really inspired by a movement in shoegaze that’s highly localized in Philadelphia… bands like They Are Gutting A Body of Water, Knifeplay, Bleary Eyed… all those bands. They’re doing this cool shoegaze sound that’s less polished, [and] less clean than a lot of shoegaze that you hear.” “jaundice,” the lead single for the group’s debut project cicada breath was released as a demo in 2022. The album features an updated[...]

Well Kept Things – Weathered For Better

February 15, 2024

Buffalo emo-rock outfit, Well Kept Things, has an interesting history. The group got traction in the local scene with well-loved releases in 2015 and 2016, before they ended up shelving the band for seven years. Check out this older post from 2015 about the band in their early days. It seemed unlikely that the group would ever get back together, but when one of the members, Kody Fintak, moved back to the Buffalo area, the Well Kept Things spark was back in full effect. After this long period of inactivity, the group returned with a release, Weathered For Better, on December 14th. The intro “Pick Scratch” is heartfelt, goofy, and catchy, three common ingredients that make up many great emo tunes. The band mentions that they drew inspiration from Latterman, a melodic punk four-piece from Long Island while recording the intro song with Jay Zubricky at GCR audio. Loud call-and-response[...]

Pinch Kitten – Curly Sue

February 5, 2024

Pinch Kitten is Buffalo’s latest artful and insane punk band that refuses to be boxed in. They go by “Buffalo Barf Punk,” an absurd tag that feels fitting for the group who enjoy playing misfit mixed bills, polar shifts in their sound, and constantly rotating vocalists. The volcanic intro track, “Sour Punch” is a loud rager that builds toward an even louder energy of pure punk detonation. Even on the intro, Pinch Kitten, along with Curly Sue’s first vocalist, Koala Manne, already sound like they’ve damn near lost it and are ready to tear everything down around them in a fiery rage.  A new vocalist, Calvin Hardick, arrives in a similar manner on “Hippie Poems.” This character is just as angry, but instead, their bratty, more lyrical delivery juts out at an even faster pace. “Curly Sue,” also sung by Hardick, is a self-affirming indie song which feels both like a[...]

Well Born Boot – Riverbottom Nightmare

July 10, 2023

Buffalo-based band Well Worn Boot takes influence from stylized, western country music within the frame of a ’70s shake rock band. The group draws inspirations from Jethro Tull, AC/DC, GWAR, The Grateful Dead, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Primus, American Legends, Korn, and SlipKnot. In the event that you book the band, you’ll be able to expect uproarious shaking music punctuated by woodwind playing, showiness, humorous comedy, puppetry, and most of all… excitement. The band released their first debut full length ten track album on June 16th, Riverbottom Nightmare, as a mission statement to what their fans can expect to hear from this one-of-a-kind group. The venture of the project begins off solid with the primary opening track, “Boys In The Band,” as the first minute contains shimmering guitar riffs alongside deafening pounds coming from the drums. Not only is it a six-minute track filled with hype about the group themselves,[...]

Hundred Plus Club – Doom and Bloom

June 12, 2023

Buffalo-based band Hundred Plus Club (HPC) stays on par with their poppy, story-driven music in their latest three-song EP, Doom and Bloom. The band teamed up with Admirable Traits Records yet again to record this project which joins the ranks alongside a number of excellent singles, EPs like 2016’s For You and 2017’s Everybody’s Friend, and a split with their fellow Buffalonians in Cooler.  The opening track and lead single “Garden Cruise” dives into the problems of love (in whatever form it may take) – within the first few lines lead singer Zain Shirazi exclaims, “Love makes, Love makes us cry.” He sings with such a cold and calculated pain that if you close your eyes and imagine yourself alone at night, you’d feel like you can run through a brick wall head on. Essentially, that is the picture that the band tends to draw for their fans; being able[...]

Dreamhouse. – violencewave

May 17, 2023

The latest release from local electronic artist, Dreamhouse. is titled violencewave. The album is a forlorn stare into the causes and effects of violence in light of the racially motivated 2022 Buffalo shooting. Regarding the tragedy, Jordan Walker, the beatmaker behind Dreamhouse., said: “I was driving around North Buffalo. It’s not really over there, but it’s about a five-minute drive if I took the right streets.” His girlfriend let him know there was an active shooter at Tops, and that was all he knew until he saw the full news coverage. After this intense experience, Walker dove headfirst into the main theme of violencewave, expressing his feelings while discussing humanity-wide violence. While creating this auditory collage, he sourced samples that represent the inescapable anxiety surrounding violence. The ambient intro track, “dreamers intuition,” features an undulating airy melody, glittery sample splashes, and a toaster oven-like dinging sound that signals the palatable[...]

Speed Dial – i, DUMBASS

April 9, 2023

Speed Dial bassist, John Carr, comically shout-sings through a low-fidelity telephone crunch, “What up, what up, what up bitch, it’s the dial.” On the other side of the call, the distinguishing lark is met with a gaggle of laughter, a proper greeting to the Buffalo four-piece’s debut EP, i DUMBASS. “Cannonball Waterslide” introduces themes of separation and identity. There is an energetic sense of freedom, but a remaining confrontation as lead singer, Cooper Taylor sings, “I like to think that you don’t know the half of what you claim you do.”  Flaunting a newfound sense of self over saucy guitar lines, Taylor is no longer bogged down by “judgements and assumptions.” Even still, a tender moment and some feverish guitar noodling and lyrics about self-improvement, show that moving forward isn’t that simple. In the remainder of the track, gang vocals shout prior lyrics back at Taylor while his head still[...]

Cooler – Doom Spiral

March 13, 2023

Cooler, a Buffalo-based three-piece, creates deeply personal, ethereal indie rock fit for the most intimate of moments. Doom Spiral, the group’s 2023 release, is their best work to date. The album centers around themes of opposition and devotion while persistently shifting between a confessional love story. Throughout the project, distance between people is a constantly developing undulation. Cooler braves this emotional disparity while engaging in intricate heart-to-heart discussions. The group fills out their already-strong sound with layers of carefully-laid, familiar guitar lines, sludgy bass flavors, and newfound sleek electronics, resulting in a sound they describe as “dreamo.” The album’s intro, “Gentleman,” was the first recorded with their current lineup, currently consisting of Alley, Jake, and Nick Sessanna. Breaking through the mist, the song’s flagship guitar line is as sentimental as it is catchy, while Alley’s reserved, melancholic delivery dazzles amidst lyrical dejection. “Succulents” is a meditative groover that aims to[...]

MIMIC – A Thief, Not A Liar.

February 13, 2023

Just before Last Call Entertainment’s BJ’s Fest 2022, the now repurposed Eerie Shores Instagram posted a cryptic announcement. The dive-bar event would be the band’s final performance under their original SUNY Fredonia-born title. A following series of posts transitioned the band’s beloved moniker to a new name, MIMIC. With Eerie Shores in the rearview, “The Longest Road,” is a refreshing introduction to A Thief, Not a Liar. The winding acoustic heartwarmer steers into an EP-defining riff. The dramatic debut single, “Careless,” meets deep-seated anxieties with a relentlessly optimistic attitude. Normalizing this way of thinking, the band says that the song is about “finding happiness in areas of negativity; literally seeing rain and walking into it with a smile.” The music video, shot and edited by Brett Ballachino, reinforces these themes. The lead singer, Alex Vasiloff, finds relief from daily stress by making time for friendship. The gang take the wheel,[...]

Carpool – For Nasal Use Only

February 7, 2023

Since Carpool’s 2020 release of Erotic Nightmare Summer, the Rochester band has played on Audiotree, added a synth player, toured the country, worked with content creator, hate5six, and yelled “quit a job and fuck every single cop” wherever they went. That’s quite a streak for the underdog emo act, nicknamed Carpy for short. Carpool also became experts on saltines, see tour announcement for more information. The group’s emo-rollercoaster-rock sound oscillates between sugary indie-rock, walloping pop-punk, and derailing math pop fluidity. The moshpit-fuse band throw their weight behind important messages, whether they are handing out police abolition zines or approaching tough lyrical topics like substance abuse, mental health and failing relationships. Their latest work, a five song EP titled For Nasal Use Only, challenges listeners while expanding upon their familiar sound. More danceable than ever, Carpool inject their gravely relatable tunes with upbeat synth ebullience. The lead single and intro track,[...]

Neetchy Band – NO POZER

January 31, 2023

Throughout history, art often strikes a delicate balance between humor and depth. We’ve all got that one friend, always authentically themselves, goofy one second, and deep as hell the next. While listening to Neetchy, a sneering chuckle could easily turn sentimental. With no effort to fit in, the boundary-pushing artist has been doing it his way since 2015 with projects like Cotton Candy Mountains, Songs For, and About You, and Jerry, amongst others (see our previous features on both The Old Me and Y’all Need a Drink). Throughout this time, Neetchy has developed a cartoonish pop rap finesse, emphasizing sticky melodies, did-he-just-say-that lyrics, and his own enigmatic character. Unafraid to try new things, the fringe artist’s early discography draws upon cloud rap, southern hip hop, R&B, and dance-pop along with a host of related sounds. After a few years worth of hip hop releases, an alien-autotune-country sound burgeoned within Neetchy’s[...]

Kod!e – Cycle of Man

November 15, 2022

On October 1st, 2002, an artist named Kod!e was born into a life of makeshift homes & painstaking anxiety. To celebrate making it 20 years through this journey of life he calls the Cycle of Man, Kod!e decided to drop a 13 track album titled just that on his twentieth birthday, October 1st 2022. The alt rock/hyperpop inspired album has distinctive vocal textures. On tracks such as “Burn This Town” and “STAY AWAY,” the Buffalo-based artist’s vocals carry similar timbre to a chainsaw in a horror film. Respectively, on tracks like “What is wrong with me” and “Descending,” Kod!e’s voice floats through the atmosphere he’s engineered for himself. The wide range in dynamics and delivery over Cycle of Man is what distinguishes Kod!e from peers in the Buffalo alt rock/hyperpop demographic. A music video with scenes ranging from a cemetery to a Buffalo loft for track six, “I Knew it[...]

B-rent – Everything For Paige

May 25, 2022

Somewhere in the up & coming hip/hop scene in Buffalo, a voice can be heard with sounds of sincerity; the voice comes from B-rent on his debut LP: Everything for Paige. The album resembles something like a modern day Shakespeare tragedy reflecting the beauty in despair. He shows his fans what rock bottom has taught him before he reaches the mountain top he’s climbing. The fuel to the flame of “Everything For Paige” was unmistakably gifted from his late sister, Paige Casillo. Tracks like “This Broke” resemble how hollow a heart that was once full still beats with as much purpose as the percussion in his music. While tracks like “Exposed” demonstrate how to run through problems (or brick walls)  head-on. The theme of the eleven track LP burns the brightest on track 10, “WITH ME, WITH YOU,” as B-rent belts out lines like “freestyle flows ain’t no need for[...]