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Cake at Canalside (7/25/15)

July 27, 2015

In a summer that’s been made certifiably awesome by a whole bunch of shows from obscure bands in intimate locations like Mohawk, it was crazy refreshing to be able to sing the f***ing SHIT out of a bunch of songs that have weathered through my ever-changing tastes in music, and I’m sure I can’t be the only one with this train of thought. First of all, the intro. Who else but Cake has the gall to pre-construct a five minute, constantly building and never climaxing introduction to precursor their show with? It’s great, and I can’t find a Youtube clip, so you’ll just have to bear with me and probably go see Cake for yourself if you haven’t witnessed this gimmick yet. Then, the band walks out to the Kerfuffle crowd and with the first chord I easily recognize as “Sheep Go to Heaven,” the song that got me into[...]

Aqueous at Buffalo Iron Works (4/18/15)

April 19, 2015

Aqueous returned to Buffalo, the city they call home, for an energetic sold out crowd at Buffalo Iron Works last night. Last November, I made the mistake of telling guitarist Mike Gantzer that as far as “jam” bands go, I could really see Aqueous climbing to the top.  He said “Thanks man, but we’re not a “jam” band.  We’re a ‘Compositional Groove/Rock’ band and that’s the style we’re going for.”  After a few Heady Toppers at Burlington’s infamous Nectar’s, hearing this really threw me for a spin.  After a little time to  process what Mike said, it made perfect sense.  Regardless of how you might classify Aqueous, they fucking jammed hard last night, and the crowd reacted. The band heralded the night as “Aqueous does Cake” or as fans immediately coined “Cakequeous.”  With an opening set of exclusively originals, the band kicked off with “Underlyer” and “Complex Pt. 1.” The two juxtaposed[...]