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Bryan Johnson and Family Return with New Single

Local surf rockers, Bryan Johnson and Family, returned earlierr this month with a new reverbed-out single “Next Wave.”  On the Fam’s new single, the guitar is a wonderful blend of janglyness and smoothness. The bass thuds along joyfully while the hi-hat swarms about your head like a feather-down pillow. The xylophone-esque lead does the song well – it adds to the Hawaiian feels. “Next Wave” is a welcome return from the Buffalo staples. Check it out.

Tonight: Herd Fest Day Two

Tonight we launch into the busy portion of Herd Fest with day two of the festival. Tonight programming spans across five venues. Earliest show starts at 8pm at Mohawk Place with gravelly indie rockers via Syracuse, Bridge Under Fire, dreampop synth artist Daniel Robinson, sunny Bryan Johnson and Family, indie-pop act Comfy, industrial goth duo and the heavily anticipated psych set by Ex-Pat. $5 cover. At about 9:30pm, Milkie’s launches into their set programming, with emo revivalists from Rochester (and formerly of Michigan), Charmer. After that are straight rock band The Soft Love, psych-rock act Deadwolf, stripped down indie original Moody Cosmos, and rounding out the night is comedy act Wood Bois. If you are a fan of Flight of the Conchords or The Cure, then you should mark this set down. $5 cover. If you get there before 9:30pm, you might be able to catch WWE Hall of Famer[...]

Tonight: Hank & Cupcakes

What better way to start a weekend early than with Hank & Cupcakes? The Brooklyn-based duo brings genre creation to the next level with their fresh electro-tinged disco punk rowdiness, and their live show is no joke. Perhaps you caught their high-energy display earlier this year at Rochester’s Bug Jar; the end of the night yielded a sweaty, smiling crowd in varying degrees of undress. Their return to WNY tonight at Nietzsche’s should be no different—a true testament to the duo’s penchant for #partylife. Be there or be boring. Opening slots on tonight’s bill include Scajaquada Creeps, the reigning survivors of last year’s Queen City Music Lottery, and Bryan Johnson & Family, local surf-pop royalty in their own regard. Fun will be in full supply tonight. Doors at 9pm, music starts shortly after. $5 cover.

Tonight: Gillian

In elementary school, I had this friend named Gillian (spelled the same way). She was a fearless girl careful coordinate every outfit, had every hair on her head neatly trimmed, was clear and concise, but was also totally unafraid to throw down on the monkey bars, make up  Britney Spears songs by herself at recess and live in an eccentric bubble of her own. All of this comes to mind because it seems to be an adaptive description for Gillian the band (hear me out on this one). The quintet has a sound that’s super cohesive and well thought out, but entirely daring at the same time. It’s a cool fusion between 70’s disco and 80’s power rock, all housed under an undeniably catchy umbrella of indie dance pop. The alternating male/female vocals add a fresh and sonically pleasing dimension to it all. The New York City band recently released[...]

Herd Fest 2015: Day 1

This past Thursday night, local haunt Mohawk Place hosted the opening ceremonies to Herd Fest 2015, featuring performances from Bryan Johnson & Family, Attic Abasement, Pleistocene, and DJ sets from Mohawk regulars, Transmission Dance Party. Herd Fest photographer, Canadace Camuglia, was on hand to catch all of the action. Browse through some select photos below and visit Herd Fest’s facebook page for a full gallery of day 1. Check back in all this week for the remaining festival galleries.

buffaBLOG Opening Ceremony

Even before last year’s inaugural Herd Fest was complete, we were already starting to think about what we wanted to do differently for year two. Shuffling up some showcases and venues were near the top of the list, but the first priority was to expand. And that’s exactly what we did, taking a two day, seven showcase festival and pretty much doubling it. In doing so, we were able to feature more acts, different genres, and team up with some of the most creative minds in the Buffalo music scene. Tonight at Mohawk Place, we will kick the festival off with our “opening ceremony,” the blog’s featured showcase. As with all of ours shows, we like to mix local and out of town acts on the bill, so joining local lake-poppers, Bryan Johnson & Family, will be Rochester’s Attic Abasement and a late add to the festival, Pleistocene. And we[...]

Tonight: Harmonica Lewinski

Tonight, Allentown will be the place to be as Nietzsche’s will be hosting the monumental first showcase of buffaBLOG’s own Yace Booking Company, featuring a stacked line up of WNY talent and buffaBLOG favorites. Headlining the showcase will be Rochester based retro-surf / garage rock act Harmonica Lewinski, but that’s just part of the fun. Opening the evening will be Syracuse based psychedelic indie-electronica act, Phantom Chemistry, along with two local hard hitters: lake poppers Bryan Johnson & Family and closing with the infamous funk punk outfit, Mallwalkers. The show is set to take off at 10pm, and the cover is only $5

Tonight: Landlady

Brooklyn’s Landlady will headline Mohawk Place tonight accompanied by Buffalo favorites Aircraft, Bryan Johnson & Family, and the JUST added Wax Mice. The New York natives are lead by Adam Schatz, the eccentric driving force behind the bands art-rock sound. The group is highly accredited, as its most recent album Upright Behavior was not only reviewed on Pitchfork, but received a positive rating of 7.4. Landlady has a unique sound, often including wind instruments, violin, and alike. Upright Behavior is the band’s first full length album, but its EP, Keeping to Yourself, might be the group’s strongest work, with distinction between songs, and in many ways a better understanding of themselves as artists. I’m not saying Upright Behavior sucks, I’m just pissed many have hailed it as the better work. Landlady’s “old stuff” has just as much to offer. Tonight is not just a night of music.  It is also a fundraiser for[...]

Tonight: M.A.G.S.

Tonight may be a contender for one of the busiest music days in Buffalo in recent memory. Adding to an already bloated 4/18 is a showcase at Nietzche’s. Scheduled to play is pop-punk trio, American Low, Brooklyn’s psych-pop outfit The Midnight Hollow, indie rockers M.A.G.S., and the surfy Bryan Johnson and Family. Doors are at 9pm with a $5 cover.

Today: Del Paxton

In case you’ve been ignoring our Still Diggin’ posts, today is Record Store Day.  As a sort of celebration, local independent record boutique Black Dots will be holding a show at the shop. Unlink every other show at Black Dots, instead of being held inside, the bands will play playing outside on a patio above the garage connected on the side of the shop. Genre wise, this showcase really hits all ends of the spectrum. Playing will be local indie lake-pop act, Bryan Johnson and Family,  avant-garde Black Dots signee, Cages, as well as indiemo rockers Del Paxton. This show will serve as the official release show for Del Paxton’s 7” split with Gulfer, out on Topshelf Records. The forecast is looking great for today, so its sure to be a great show.  If you have some spare time during your busy record store shoping,  Cages will be opening the[...]

Tonight: The Public Presents The Tins

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[...]

Tonight: M.A.G.S. EP Release

M.A.G.S., better known as wunderkind Elliott Douglas’ solo project, will be releasing its highly-anticipated debut EP tonight. Chasing the positive reception from a two-song demo released late last year, Douglas has been hard at work on Cellophane, a six song EP full of garage rock with an indie-pop tinge (think Cloud Nothings or Tokyo Police Club’s earlier days). Cellophane comes to us via Admirable Traits Records. As if that weren’t enough, support tonight comes from The Slums (featuring Douglas’ ex-Malones bandmate, Steven Floyd), Kharlos (ex-Merchants and a current Space Wolf), and everyone’s favorite lake-pop band, Bryan Johnson & Family. A copy of Cellophane will be included with admission, which is $10. Doors are at 8:00, see you at Mohawk Place.

Tonight: Bryan Johnson & Family

The folks over at Admirable Traits have put together a juicy bill for the first weekend of 2015, a line-up stacked with local greats to take place at Mr. Goodbar at 10pm. If you’re like me, come January 2nd, a serious break from the holidaze is needed. That’s exactly where Bryan Johnson & Family comes in. Armed to the teeth with energetic surf-pop songs, these kings-of-all-things-fun will clean your holiday slate and teleport your tired soul into that sweet, sweet summer breeze. I can almost smell the toxic waters of Lake Erie already. Also on tonight’s bill you’ll find the electro-pop stylings of ambient rockers Humble Braggers and the delicious raw-retro sounds of Rochester post-punk duo Buffalo Sex Change. First Friday of 2015 + Mr. Goodbar’s tantalizingly extensive beer selection + just a buck-a-band cover? Don’t be a fool.

Tonight: Red Show

Dreamland, the new gallery/arts cooperative on Franklin near Edward, is taking Buffalo by storm. Located in an classic Buffalo building on the border of Allentown and downtown, it’s daring but welcoming ethos and welcome sense of mischief has made it a hub of avant-garde activity, and it’s glorious front room doubles as gallery and performance space that’s one of the most fun in Buffalo. The Terror Pigeon/Rich Aucoin/Lesionread show at Dreamland a few weeks back was an exuberant adventure in communal joy, and tonight, the good times continue with Sqajacuada Creeps, Lesionread, and Bryan Johnson & Family taking the front room over and painting it red. OK, not really, but they’ve swapped all the light bulbs for red ones, and everybody’s dressing in red (golden gold is also OK), including the audience, and those white walls are going to drink it up. Doors open at 7, bands start at 8,[...]

Bryan Johnson and Family – Cool Your Jets

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[...]