Latest Posts

Must See Shows (1/29/25-2/4/25)

Thursday, January 30 @ 8pm Wishy @ 9th Ward   Indiana-based indie quintet Wishy makes a stop at the coziest basement venue in town this Thursday.  Formed in 2021, the project has exploded onto the blogosphere with their accessible shoegaze sound that rivals some of the most buzzed-about college radio standouts. Wishy is touring in support of their latest full-length release, Triple Seven, which came out during the dog days of summer via Winspear Records. Fans of Wild Pink, Girl Scout, or Ducks Ltd would be into this one. Local one-man R&B psych-pop act Ex-Pat opens the night up. The fun starts at 8pm with an $18 cover. (photo by Alexa Viscius)  Planet Popstar by Wishy Friday, January 30th  @ 6pm Mohawk Place’s Farewell Show Night 2 Well, it’s happening again. Mohawk Place shuts its doors for the second time in buffaBLOG history. In 2013 with the initial closing, there was[...]

Ex-Pat – We Are All Explosives

Nostalgia is often guarded by the thick, indeterminate fog of our own memory. Ex-Pat, a Buffalo recording artist, wades through this fog. His time-warping artwork is genuine, soulful, and full of personality. Echoing the most gossamer, faded shades of 90s shoegaze and downtempo, while melting around your ears like a good-as-gold nugget of 50’s doo wop, Ex-Pat is a notable blend, indeed. His sweepingly good 2015 track, “Confusion,” exemplifies his dream pop experimentations (Check out our previous feature on AM 1400). This song excels in a fibrous synthesis of natural and electronic. It offers a soft-on-the-ears mix of creamy synths, while effectively steering into a folksy, way-down-a-country-road harmonica solo. His latest work, We Are All Explosives, is a four-song project halved by recent creations and older archives. The time-capsule of feeling freely drifts through Ex-Pat’s artistic chronology. Its whispery intro track, “The Call to be Happy,” is a minimalist construction[...]

Tonight: Night Slaves

Inventive industrial act Night Slaves will be celebrating the release of their newest LP THREE AND A HALF with a show tonight at Revolution Gallery. Anchored by core members David Kane and John Toohil, the group has recently expanded to include Lucy Bell, Ryan McMullen, and Kelly Mourdant. Their sound is an amalgam of 60s garage rock, psychedelic Brit-pop, darkcore, and just a smattering of sardonic post-punk sensibility. While previous releases, such as 2018’s Night Slaves III, have leaned more heavily towards the darker industrial side, their new album finds the group embracing a new sound. Their new single “ABSOLUTE” is a deeply infectious dance track, much in the spirit of “HandClap” by Fitz and the Tantrums. It will be interesting to see the direction this album takes, but I for one am excited. Providing support will be psych-chamber pop group Parade Chic, and lo-fi dream pop artist Ex-Pat. Revolution[...]

Tonight: Aweful Kanawful

With lineups so consistently solid that it’s hard to tell who the intended headliner is, Nietzsche’s has been the place to be on recent Friday nights. This weekend, that trend continues with local acts Ex-Pat, Aircraft, and VR Sunset, along with a special visit from Rochester’s Aweful Kanawful. Here’s what to expect from each, in two sentences or less. Ex-Pat’s lo-fi synth pop is so soothing, it might as well be a blood pressure medication. Upon hearing the reverberating, ethereal guitar, keys, and falsetto, your breathing will slow to the beat of the music, your sneakers will melt into the floor, and you’ll float into a blissful waking dream – trust me, I’ve been there. Aircraft is perfect for trying to surf on Lake Erie (good luck). Springy, yet sinuous guitars, deeply layered harmonies, and beach-y drums build a kaleidoscope of psychedelic surf-rock that’s so fun and consuming, it’s honestly[...]

Tonight: Another Michael

Everyone knows more than one Michael. In elementary school, we reduced the identities of the various Michaels in our class to their last initials – a Michael I., a Michael D., a Michael R., and a Michael N. Another Michael is playing tonight at Mohawk Place tonight, namely another Michael D. Michael Doherty, an Albany expat and newly Philadelphia-based singer-songwriter who normally plays with a full band, has traded his usual lineup this summer for a more intimate solo tour of the American northeast with Bruiser and Bicycle, who are touring in support of their 2019 album Woods Come Find Me. Another Michael is hard to pin down. Even without a list of bands in front of them, any listener can tell this group pulls influence from all over the place, spanning genre and time. Doherty’s versatile vocal style vacillates between powerful clarity and celestial resonance, often breaching R&B territory.[...]

Tonight: Past Life

Philly’s indie rock sweethearts Past Life breeze through Buffalo tonight with a stacked lineup at Sugar City. The four-piece is currently riding the wave of their recently released EP The Loudest Sound, featuring their stalwart single “Apollo” at the forefront. Banding together in the city of brotherly love, Past Life’s music has a connectivity that boasts of childhood camaraderie and intuition, even with just two years as a band under their belt. Meeting wispy falsetto with bleary distortion and spirited group vocals, these headliners promise a kinetic show saturated in guitar rock and sweat. Past Lives are joined on tour with Montreal’s Molly Drag, whose dismal crooning takes a page out of the Teen Suicide-Dandelion Hands book. Michael Hansford’s dusky melodies and morose lyricism provide a form of catharsis that gradually lulls you into introspection, which will likely be found on his upcoming album Thumper, out this September. The two acts are joined[...]

Ex-Pat – Does Life

Rolling solo when it comes to creative projects, especially music, comes with perks. For starters, you’ve got virtually unlimited creative space to wander around in. And with nobody to answer to but yourself, the exploration of that space becomes entirely unhindered and worth the wander. That musical wanderlust makes all too much sense to Ex-Pat, or Patrick Weil, whose experimental dreampop is a headtrip, a vacation, and a bit of sonic time travel all rolled into one package. His newest album Does Life hones in on a certain soulful airiness and polishes it as much as the lofi designation will allow. Does Life is our album of the week. Ex-Pat’s signature is as hazy as it is deliberate, much akin to the experimental stylings of Ariel Pink and the lofi tremble of newer artists like Elvis Depressedly. Does Life is decidedly less noisy than previous endeavors, focusing now on a[...]

Tonight: Floral Print

Tonight, an eclectic array of musicians is slated to play Sewing Souls Studios. The fashion & costume design studio and multipurpose venue will host a night of quirky and experimental music. Five different acts will be gracing the stage, four of which are from the WNY area. Headlining the night is Floral Print, an experimental rock band from Atlanta, Georgia presenting elements of pop psych jazz and indie in a deconstructed manner. Buffalo native Little Cake (Ana Vafail) is an eccentric project combining classical, pop, comedy and spoken word with a show tunes inflection. Jesse Kaufman is a dark electronic and noise artist hailing from the West Side. Rounding out the evening are Patrick Weil’s lo-fi soul project Ex-Pat and Marilla based lizard rockers Planet Three. Doors are at 7pm with music starting at 8. There is a $3-$5 suggested donation at the door. running joke & alice arm by[...]

Tonight: Edgar Clinks

Lo-fi lovers are in for a treat tonight.  Edgar Clinks will be bringing their lo-fi indie sounds to Mohawk Place with a stacked supporting lineup. The band is coming down from Rhode Island, and recently dropped a tight single, titled “As My Daydreams Swim By.” As far as locals go, we’ve got Jesse Kaufman & The Spirit of Little Baltimore, Sparklebomb, as well as Ex-Pat, a weirdo solo act via SUNY Purchase. Doors are set to open at 8pm, and its only $5 at the door. As My Daydreams Swim By by edgar clinks

Tonight: PineSheets

New year, new doom ‘n’ gloom…and I mean it in the best way. PineSheets had me reeling after an enigmatic set at Mohawk Place last year and I couldn’t quite put my finger on why at the time. The solo project is headed by Joseph Vita, an Albany native who released a full length, Parade, under the PineSheets moniker this past month. The album is sparse, dark and a little seductive. The most intriguing component is how non-linear each song reveals itself to be. On first listen through, Parade doesn’t make immediate sense. Not all of the lyrics are discernible, there’s no obvious song structure, and not a ton of predictable melodies are used. The pith of these songs, however, is not the immediacy or the configuration. To me, it’s the play on quotidian ambiance. It’s like soundscape commentary for the day-to-day downer in all of us. There is also something so oddly comforting[...]

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[...]

Ex-Pat Releases New Album AM 1400

I am fully convinced that it takes a truly tasteful musician to pull off a disorienting, downtempo lo-fi sound. This tasteful disorientation seems to be second nature to Ex-Pat, Buffalo’s two-man dream pop act. Frontman Patrick Weil has found a comfortable home within this unique realm of music and showcases it perfectly on his new release,  AM 1400. In the same vein as Elvis Depressedly or Salvia Plath, Weil explores astral guitar tones, time-worn synths and hazy, almost indiscernable vocal lines. Even still, there is enough accessibility to it to have it settle in around you slowly and hang warmly in your surroundings. At only four songs in length, you’d think this collection of tunes would be a cinch to get through but it really isn’t, and not at all in a bad way. It radiates this sensation of time crawling, which gives the listener space to really mull over the textures of[...]