Latest Posts

Joywave – How Do You Feel Now?

April 20, 2015

Since the band’s inception, Joywave has been somewhat of a buoyant hot air balloon, steadily gaining altitude with every move they make. These Rochester natives can more-than-safely say that they’ve stepped beyond the realm of the local music scene, and even the regional music scene. They’ve saturated the alt-rock airwaves, successfully pinned a number one song on the alternative Billboard charts, been name dropped by Tony Hawk on Twitter, and have late night TV performances on both Seth Meyers and Jimmy Kimmel tucked neatly under their belts. The explanation for this rapid emergence is simple. Joywave is a lure that will reel you in one way or another — if the incredibly catchy synth lines don’t get you, the adrenalizing dance beat or the slick mystique of singer Daniel Armbruster’s falsetto will. Their recently released full length album, How Do You Feel Now?, strongly supports this claim. The album opens[...]

Mario Bee and Mike Gerbino Announce Point of No Concern EP

April 14, 2015

Two former Rochester-based artists, DJ Mario Bee and rapper Mike Gerbino, are set to release their debut collaborative EP, Point of No Concern on April 20th. Featuring an assortment of hip-hop, electronic, and grime beats, the five-track record abrasively touches on subjects like the middle-east, prostitution, global warming, and Facebook. Well known for his work on HBO’s Brave New Voices poetry special, Gerbino is an accomplished spoken work artist in addition to his hip hop endeavors, while Mario Bee began his career DJing and producing in both Rochester and Buffalo before moving to New York City where he now gigs frequently throughout the city and the East Coast. The pair are also having a release party for the EP this Saturday at Leftfield Bar in New York if you find yourself in the area Check out the project’s first single, “Eliot Spizter,” below.

Blue House

Blue House Records Live Session with Pizza Club Productions

April 14, 2015

It’s always encouraging to see creative channels come together in a DIY fashion to support one another. It’s the existence of this kinship that gives birth to cool collaborations and a robust local art scene. Fredonia is somewhat of a hatchery for this dynamic, which agreeably led Blue House, the solo project of Long Island native Danny Palladino, to team up with Fredonia based Pizza Club Productions in recent weeks to film their second Cool Little Music Session. Pizza Club Productions is the ongoing live music video series started by Joe Cardina, Cam Gordon, Chelsea Newton. and Eric Lemke. The group aims to unite music and visual fronts to showcase bands all over the area through well produced videos. Blue House, a fairly new endeavor, is one of the handful of artists to be featured so far. With subtle vocal embellishment, bare-boned arrangements, and quiet reflectiveness, Blue House comparatively calls[...]

Amateur Radio Club – The Laughing Vulcan and Her Dog

April 13, 2015

Rochester’s got some new digs. Ian Egling, formerly of the band SPORTS, and now performing solo under the moniker Amateur Radio Club, just released his debut late last March. The eight track album, titled The Laughing Vulcan and Her Dog, is heavy on the electro pop stylings and draws influence from the synthy jams of yesteryear; snap judgements conjure Bowie and Depeche Mode. Further critical listens reveal a certain modern charm that, when paired with the unambiguous vintage flair, gives this release a unique sound worth diving into. The Laughing Vulcan and Her Dog is our Album of the Week. Vulcan opens strong with the catchy and intimate “SOMEWHERE SUMMER,” making the most of a cheeky synth line layered with electric piano and bouncy drum beat. The synth solo towards the latter half serves as the sweet icing on an already delicious cake. “On and on, on and on…” sings[...]

Tonight: BRC and RRC Present UNITY!

April 11, 2015

The Buffalo Rage Community and the Rochester Rave Community have joined forces to present a quarterly event of music and local talent that will encapsulate the title itself: Unity. Talent from the two cities will share stages at Waiting Room, with each community drawing a crowd of loyal followers. The last BRC event held at the venue was so full to capacity and was energetic beyond belief, there was a line winding out the door which is hard to come by for Buffalo events these days. The lineup for tonight is stacked and there will be a taste of any genre. For those that hoop, poi, glove, and any other visually stimulating trip trick toy, the BRC and RRC encourage you to bring them. Note: Just please be mindful and respectful of those around you. Sneak a peak at the time slots below. 8-9pm: MatKa B2B Chucks 9-10pm: Miosi B2B[...]

Maybird Releases Music Video For “Two Horizons”

April 6, 2015

In the midst of recording new material, the Rochester bred psych folk act, Maybird, released the music video for “Two Horizons,” a track found on the group’s debut release Down and Under. The band currently splits time between Brooklyn and WNY, and for the clip, director and VICE news contributor, Michael Faller, choose to focus on the citizens of the band’s adoptive new city, recording intimate shots of both the young and old, at work and at play, some touching and some humorous, all while occasionally catching the breathtaking city skyline on film. The video feels like a moving collage of the Humans of New York photo series. Take a minute to watch the video for “Two Horizons” below and keep an eye out in the near future for new music from Maybird.

The Televisionaries Drop Latest Track “AGAVE”

March 23, 2015

Despite this last blast of winter, summer is coming (we think), and with that, we have a seasonable new song from Rochester surf trio, the Televisionaries. Titled, “AGAVE,” the track is set to be included on the band’s forthcoming sophomore album sometime in the near future. Just don’t mistake that intro for “When The Saint Go Marching In.” You can catch the Televisionaries in their live (and free!) glory along with Buffalo’s finest surf acts, Aaron & the Burrs and the Hamiltones, next week on Friday, April 3rd. No matter what the weather looks like outside that evening, thoughts of sunny skies and tiki drinks will be in the air in the Glitterbox basement. Listen to “AGAVE” below. Surf’s up.

Blue Falcon Drops New Single, “S.A.D. (Seasonal Affective Disorder)”

March 17, 2015

After an extended lull out of Rochester, our sister city’s music scene had a sudden surge last week with the release of some quality, blog worthy material. One of those bands, Blue Falcon, released its latest single during the tail end of last week. Titled “S.A.D. (Seasonal Affective Disorder),” something I would have to assume most WNYers were hit hard with this past, insufferable winter, the song has a laid back Mac DeMarco meets Earlimart slacker feel, a bit of a departure from the band’s blues-rock sounds on its previous EP, First Flight. No word yet on whether the single is going to be included on a future release, so in the mean time, listen to “S.A.D. (Seasonal Affective Disorder)” below.

Scope & Figure Shares First Single From Forthcoming EP, Exemplary Sports Magic

March 16, 2015

Late last week, Rochester quartet, Scope & Figure, released the first single from its forthcoming EP, Exemplary Sports Magic, set to be released on May 1st via Dadstache Records. Titled “Cincinnati Fire Kites,” the track is pretty different from last spring’s single “Entropy Knows Best,” sounding like clean mathy indie rock (think Minus the Bear meets Two Door Cinema Club with a hint of Early November). The band seemed to take a nod from fellow Roch math rock act, Fowls, distancing its from the robust, folkier sounds of the previous single. Look for the Scope & Figure full EP to drop this spring. In the mean time, listen to “Cincinnati Fire Kites” below.

Genesee Live Premieres Latest Session feat. Northern Spies

March 11, 2015

These past couple weeks have been really busy for us at the blog with our many various projects coming up (Herd Fest, our fifth birthday, plus many others that still are developing in our board room). Due to this, it took us a little bit to share with our loyal readers Rochester’s Genesee Live’s 21st session, with Northern Spies. You may remember Northern Spies from our brief track write-up we did in January. In early March, Northern Spies debuted its full-set recording at WITR Studios (a la the stellar session with Attic Abasement). Some faces may look familiar in Northern Spies, as they’ve been around the scene for a bit having participated in Joywave, the Demos, Cottage Jefferson, and Kopps. The half hour session is a healthy mix of 60’s power-pop, and even branches out to The Unicorns-esque Americana. Check it out below.

St. Vincent

March 5, 2015

Grammy Award winner St. Vincent returns to Western New York less than a year after her spectacular show last April at Babeville for a sold out show tonight at Rochester’s Water Street Music Hall, and I can’t lie to you, I am vibrating at a higher frequency with anticipation. St. Vincent, aka Texas native Annie Clark, has been steadily building momentum ever since her debut in 2007, and with her eponymous album last year, she found commercial and critical acclaim while confirming that she’s today’s Bowie; ie an ever evolving and shape-shifting artist willing to take her art apart and build something new and better (or at least interesting) with each iteration (until you put out Glass Spider). St. Vincent will never do that to us. The last time around, Annie took the Babeville audience to church, literally, filling the majestic space in the main room at Asbury Hall with[...]

Joywave Premieres Music Video for “Somebody New”

February 25, 2015

Rochester’s Joywave (or JOYWAVE, we don’t really know these days) is becoming dangerously close to being too big for our regional coverage categories, but the five-piece continues to remain loyal to WNY, in particular its home town of Rochester. The group frequently comes home for special appearances at the Bug Jar, the band’s home away from home, so at least for now, we will continue to cover them within our Rochester posts. Last week, we posted that the band finally announced the release of its debut album, How Do You Feel Now, set to drop on April 21st, and just yesterday, Joywave premiered the music video to the LP’s first single, “Somebody New,” via Stereogum. The clip finds the Joywave boys hitting the streets with a crew of skateboarders doing some rather aggressive moves that rival some The Office level parkour feats. No confirmation on whether the band performed its[...]

Cool Little Music Sessions Premieres w/ Mooses

February 24, 2015

It was only a matter of time before another live video session series popped up in the WNY area. With 1809 Sessions, Wonk Sesh, Genesee Live, Quiet Country Audio, and Silo Sessions already in place, lets add Cool Little Music Sessions to that list. Based out of Fredonia’s Pizza Club Productions studios, the series hopes to film local and touring musicians rolling through the college town. For the first installment, the freshman series featured Fred town psych quartet, Mooses, who performed two songs from its debut EP Tales from the Elephant’s Nest:  “In Case They’re Wondering” and “Bette Davis,” the latter just so happened to be our second favorite song out of Buffalo in 2014. Sponsored by Cool Little Music Shop, the video was shot and edited by Joe Cardina, along with additional production contributions from Chelsea Newton, Cam Gordon, and Eric Lemke. You can watch the full clip below, which includes a[...]

Gay Angel Releases First Installment of floral

February 19, 2015

We first stumbled upon Jake Bellissimo’s Gay Angel project in the summer of 2014, impressing us enough to select his song “Gloria!” as one of our favorite Rochester tracks of the year. The chamber pop musician is what you would call ambitious, collecting one of the biggest cast of musicians for his album places i’ll eat, people i’ll eat I have seen on a WNY release, maybe ever. Bellissimo decided to up the ante on his latest work, an expansive four part, 100-track project that would make Sufjan Stevens blush. The first album, floral, pt. 1, was just dropped a couple days ago on bandcamp via Roch label Drunk With Love Records. The remaining albums hope to be released by the end of April according to Bellissimo. For the first floral installment, Gay Angel has continued to hone his orchestral sound, with influences ranging from Owen Pallett to Beirut to[...]

Joywave Annouces Debut LP, How Do You Feel Now?

February 17, 2015

After exhausting every ounce of airplay out of the breakout single, “Tongues,” Rochester’s synth pop five-some, Joywave, have finally announced the release of its debut full-length How Do You Feel Now?, set to drop on April 21st via Cultoco Music/Hollywood Records. The band has a couple area appearances coming up between now and then, including opening for Big Data, whose hit single, “Dangerous,” featured Joywave frontman Dan Armbruster on lead vocals, on Saturday, April 4th at the Showplace Theatre. The five piece is also set to appear on Jimmy Kimmel Live! on Monday, March 2nd The band’s latest single, “Somebody New,” has been getting some serious burn on Alt-Nation lately. Originally included on the 2014 EP, How Do You Feel, which also featured “Tongues,” the song will be the lead off track on the forthcoming LP. Listen to “Somebody New” below.