Latest Posts

Many Eyes – Combust

October 16, 2025

Buffalo hard rockers Many Eyes return with Combust, their new explosive, yet all-too-familiar sounding EP that will leave you seeing and hearing double.   Behind the band is the legendary Buffalo vocalist, Keith Buckley, who formed Many Eyes after the very ugly and very public breakup of veteran hardcore favorites Every Time I Die back in 2022. As ETID went their separate ways, Buckley stepped out of the shadows and surrounded himself with the talents of guitarist Alan Hague, bassist Sean Vallie and drummer Nick Bellmore. The four-piece debuted with a series of singles leading up to their 2024 freshman full-length, The Light Age. On Combust, Buckley and crew lay down four new tracks that build upon their wayward metallic hard rock repertoire. With a volatile fury of hardcore and metal influences, strap yourself in for grungy rhythmic changes intertwined with down-tuned riffs, chunky basslines, wrecking ball drums, and earsplitting[...]

Stephen Babcock – “Hockey Town”

October 14, 2025

The Bab-man strikes yet again – the latest in a series of Buffalo-adjacent singles, “Hockey Town” trades Buffalo Bills mania for the quiet and stoic life of a Buffalo Sabres fan. Sure, the Sabes have become a long-struggling team that are now essentially a farm team for the rest of the league (e.g. Eichel, O’Reilly, Okposo, Reinhart etc.)… Bit I digress – if you were around in the late aughts, the Sabres were an absolutely electrifying team that brought honor and glory to our Rust Belt locale. Babcock brings a similar prestige with his understated, almost folksy approach to “Hockey Town,” evoking small-town nostalgia with an approach not unlike Sam Fender or Catfish and the Bottlemen a la his signature twang and ultra-clean production.   Check out “Hockey Town” via the YouTube embed below. Spotify and Apple Music exist too.  

Roy Flush – “Buggin’ Out”

October 13, 2025

The Eastside of Buffalo continues to produce some of the most compelling artists in the 716. One of our favorite new acts is rapper Roy Flush, who brings a street sensibility to each of his bars. “Buggin’ Out” is one of his recent highlights. It’s a great track to explore Roy’s mindset and his experiences, as each line drips with authenticity. Verses describe his connections within the prison system, intimidation with a purpose and the gravitational pull of the streets.  A voice representing a conscious asks Roy on the hook about his behavior, and his poignant response is essentially that it’s just the way things have to be. Roy’s anchored on the beat by a melancholic soul sample that really grounds Roy’s street diary. Its sweetness counters Roy’s aggressiveness and creates a perfectly well-rounded sonic experience. Give it a spin below. Check out Roy’s latest run of singles on Spotify.[...]

Soul Butchers – Second Death

October 9, 2025

Buffalo’s Soul Butchers have always been a force in the local scene, known for their high-octane live shows that leave ears ringing and soles smoking. Three years in the making, their latest full-length album, Second Death, has finally arrived, soaked in all things that give the four-piece rock band their signature snarling edge. The 13-track effort is another blistering document of the band’s unique blend of noise rock and garage punk, bottling the raw energy of their stage presence into a calculated and surprisingly diverse collection of songs this time around. Second Death is our album of the week.   The album’s sound is immediate and raw, not unlike previous Butchers releases, but this time around the band recorded and engineered the entire project themselves before handing it over to John Angelo for mixing and mastering. The result: an album on which the band had the breathing room to do[...]

Urge Surfer – Misnomers

October 3, 2025

Urge Surfer, the moody electro-pop project of Jordan Maelyn Smith and Chelsea O’Donnell, are back with their third release, a three-song EP they’re calling Misnomers. Continuing their trend of creating literate music with a well-thought-out thesis, Misnomers picks up where previous release Alphabet Archive left off. Where AA dove into themes of language and self-identity, Misnomers explores “how misunderstandings can lead one through the haze of heartache and awe.”   Smith and O’Donnell’s chemistry is on full display right from the get-go, as lead song “Responsible” dissects relationship ennui. Dark instrumentals become an immediate theme – more of a dirge than a melt-your-face single, “Responsible” pairs a gently-plucked acoustic guitar with bitcrushed electronic drums. O’Donnell’s one-of-a-kind vocal is set off by a feature by Sheena Ozzella of Lemuria fame – about as close to a Buffalo legend as you can get.   “Public Exits” gets a lot grittier – a sludgy bass feature takes center-stage[...]

Westside Gunn – HEELS HAVE EYES 2

October 2, 2025

Westside Gunn always delivers what he promises. Back in his pushing days on the seedier sides of Buffalo, that was crack or another illicit substance. Throughout his steady rise to the top of the rap game, it’s been addicting gun impersonations, endless pro wrestling references, and depictions of high fashion items that you’ll never own yourself.    Throughout a decade of increasing notoriety, the Griselda member’s collaborative CV includes the likes of MF DOOM, Danny Brown, Tyler, the Creator, and Rick Ross alongside some of the greatest beatmakers we’ve had going (Alchemist and DJ Premier to name a couple). Gunn and Griselda’s status has grown, but their essence remains the same – Buffalo scenes and faces have graced the covers and lines of countless pieces from the group through the years, with at least one significant project dropping every single year since 2016.    Gunn’s high workrate continues through 2025,[...]

Besta Quadrada – S/T

September 25, 2025

Buffalo’s Besta Quadrada are back to break some balls with their brand new bratty and in-your-face self-titled debut LP.   Founded just two years ago by bassist Carol Mags (Outrage Factor) and guitarist John Toohill  (Science Man, Alpha Hopper), the two set out to form a band with an abrasive sound akin to Black Flag and the Jesus Lizard. After recruiting drummer Steve Kerfian (Science Man), the final and pivotal piece of the puzzle fell into place with the addition of vocalist Bailey Arena, who surprisingly had no prior experience as a singer nor performer. With their line-up set, the band fast-tracked their first EP, 2023’s The First Four Weeks and Besta Quadrada was born.   On their full-length follow-up, the band serves up ten new unapologetic garage and egg punk tracks that reek of apathy and attitude. The songs are short, but fierce with Arena’s distinct and snobby vocals[...]

Spiria – Amateur’s Garden

September 18, 2025

Listening to Amateur’s Garden, the second album from Buffalo’s art pop duo Spiria *, feels like stepping into a secret world. It’s a space that’s both carefully tended to and wonderfully overgrown. You can tell that siblings Mikayla and Johnny Manke spent a lot of time with these songs, having written them over a few years before recording them in the summer of 2024. The result is an album that doesn’t rush – one that builds intricate, personal worlds and is more concerned with texture and feeling than easy hooks. It’s an invitation to get lost for a while, and its our album of the week.   The duo officially formed Spiria in 2022 after a lifetime of musical bonding. Their sound is built around the interplay between Mikayla’s piano and passionate, introspective vocals, and Johnny’s dynamic, expressive drumming. They move freely between ethereal, ambient textures and jazzy, experimental passages,[...]

Wylie Something – Up Through the Rust

September 4, 2025

If you ask Buffalo songwriter Jacob Smolinski, the creative force behind Wylie Something, his music is tied directly to the calendar. “Everything is seasonal to me, revolving around periods of time in our quad seasons of B-LO, NY,” he explains, comparing the seasonal vibes of previous Wylie releases. “Dimes was early Spring. Picnic? Summer. But sometimes… you get something evergreen.” His latest EP, Up Through the Rust, released August 29th, is one of those evergreen moments, but one that feels perfectly suited for the here and now. “It just sounds like early Fall to me,” Smolinski says, and he’s right. The five-song collection is a hazy, scrappy, and distinctly satisfying slice of slacker rock that feels like that first truly crispy day after a long, hot summer. Bust out those denim jackets, folks. Up Through the Rust is our album of the week.   This release, his 14th in 11[...]

deb. – “Ankle Weights”

August 29, 2025

deb. Is it a statement? Is it a person? Is it a defunct, ’90s-era retail store in the McKinley Mall that specialized in prom dresses?   It’s actually a newish Buffalo band with a pedigree you might recognize – members of Previous Love, Canetis, Slow Animals, and Animal Sounds came together to create this super tight super group… And they’re creating sounds that are exactly what you might expect from these particular members. Springy, watery indie-pop with the perfect polish for 103.3 The Edge – think Young The Giant, The 1975, or Still Woozy. Eternally-nice eternal-front-man Brendan Orr shares the spotlight with his very capable bandmates this time around, including bassist Erik Corrie; lead guitarist Dakota Lord, and drummer John Perdue. They’re happy to share their “deb.ut” single, “Ankle Weights” – it won’t be hard to identify all the sugary-sweet melodies here, but keep your ears peeled from vocal performances[...]

We Were Blank – BLANK

August 28, 2025

Wouldn’t it be really funny if our review for We Were Blank‘s latest album, BLANK, was just… *blank?*   …   BLANK is out as of August 8th, 2025. Check it out on Bandcamp for a very reasonable “name your price” option, or, find it on your favorite streaming services.   Just kidding.   We Were Blank has been kicking around Buffalo for a while now. They’ve been both a three-piece and a quartet, born out of a Craigslist ad and having too much time on their hands… But perhaps the most important part of their existence is that they simply continue to make music. Buffalo musicians have this habit of borrowing musicians from other bands – you may recognize some of that happening here with fellow emo-ish act (and frequent buffaBLOG feature) Amateur Hockey Club. Whatever it takes, right? Either way, these guys ended up with BLANK – a five-song EP bridging[...]

JOEYB – anything can come apart.

August 25, 2025

JOEYB’s latest album’s leading song is “the murder of john lennon,” but was originally named “anything can come apart,” the title of the upcoming musician’s complete second LP. The sounds in the singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist’s first track can be compared to that of Alex G – think “The Same” of the seminal indie rocker’s album Race. The “big” first song that accompanies both of JOEYB’s albums features the same kind of intent, featuring explosions of metamorphizing sounds, on what is otherwise a wonderful combination of guitar work and vocals.   While anything can come apart can be catalogued as an over arching indie rock, other tracks call to mind Phoebe Bridger’s work as an indie folk artist. Take “new year,” a carefully finger picked song, that shows anything can come apart is full of carefully embedded craftsmanship. There are also moments where JOEYB blends feedback and heavier sounds which can[...]

Astronaut Head – Meek Moon

August 21, 2025

A musician’s evolution is rarely a straight line. For Buffalo’s Jessica Stoddard, the path to the ambient dream pop of her Astronaut Head solo project has been a long and patient one, winding from quirky piano pop at Buffalo open mics to full UK tours as a keyboardist for a Scottish indie rock band. Along the way, a different sound was brewing – one built from looped vocals, electronic textures, and cavernous reverb. The result is Meek Moon, a five-song EP where those years of private experimentation finally take the lead.   The EP’s sound is deeply indebted to a certain Scandinavian chill, favoring atmosphere and texture over immediate hooks. Opener “batshit” makes the Björk comparison impossible to ignore, not just in Stoddard’s vocal leaps but in the contrast between its crisp electronics and a restless, jungle-like percussion. Shifting on a dime, the percussion vanishes completely on “egg the snake.” Instead[...]

Stephen Babcock – “Osaka”

August 20, 2025

It’s a Bab-man summer – Stephen Babcock that is – and our Rust Belt bub is back with yet another banger. Inspired by a late-night moment in Japan, “Osaka” details what it means to get lost, grow up, and let go. Bab/Bub keeps it simmering on “Osaka,” trading his acoustic guitar for a driving bass part, but still keeps that bubbling-under vibe that makes his music so listenable. Keep your ears peeled for some spicy harmonies, and an appreciation for the super tight drum sound that gives the whole affair an extra intimate vibe. Fans of The American Analog Set, MJ Lenderman, or Jack Johnson will surely get down with the vibes here.   Check out “Osaka” in all the usual spots.   Stephen Babcock · Osaka

Amateur Hockey Club – “UPPERCASE!”

August 8, 2025

Stalwart Buffalo-based emo-punks Amateur Hockey Club are back with a brand new song, “UPPERCASE!,” found on the recently-released (August 1st, 2025) three-song-EP of the same name. The title-track is built around a jaunty lead guitar riff and razor-sharp vocals, playing around with pop-punk undertones, but mostly adhering to a Motion City Soundtrack meets Third Eye Blind kind of power pop… aka “IPA-rock,” as they’ve affectionately (and somehow accurately) deemed themselves. Even though the song’s about battling negative self talk, it’s a fun and engaging ride across its 2:41 run time, which includes a guitar solo, some tasty self-deprecation, and lots of energy.   Check out “UPPERCASE!” on Apple Music, Spotify, or the Soundcloud embed below.   Amateur Hockey Club · UPPERCASE!