Latest Posts

Harmonica Lewinski – “Rat Race”

January 10, 2025

Grab your boogie board and catch a psych-rock wave with Harmonica Lewinski’s beachin’ new single, “Rat Race.” If your new year’s resolution is to listen to more groovy music, this is the perfect place to start as these veteran Rochester scenesters and buffaBLOG mainstays kick off 2025 with a helluva luau. This instrumental track is a punchbowl of surfy guitar riffs and jungle drumbeats spiked with the band’s signature weirdness. Drink it in below and let this fun-loving five-piece bewitch you with the sounds of a party on the wrong side of the beach; the side where you might find skeletons clinking piña coladas or Uncle Fester sunbathing.   Harmonica Lewinski’s “Rat Race” is streaming now on Bandcamp, Apple Music and Spotify.   Rat Race by Harmonica Lewinski

Tonight: Well Worn Boot

November 10, 2018

Cosmic forces beyond our limited human capacity for understanding are aligning tonight in Allentown when beloved but currently defunct hillbilly psycho cowpunk outfit Well Worn Boot reunite for one night only at Nietzsche’s with an absolutely stacked all star bill. Prepare your mind and body for a potentially Jodorowskyesque (or is it Schlesingeresque?) journey that will test everything you have as you venture up the unholy mountain, urged upward by Fredtown steam folk punk foursome Mr. Boneless, also reuniting for the evening; Rochester freakazoids Harmonica Lewinski and experimental acoustic duo Green Schwinn before the deranged masked men of Well Worn Boot unleash god knows what upon those in attendance and doing whatever they’re going to do to us to break on through to their own twisted version of enlightenment. Will it be legal? Maybe. Will it be preposterous, twisted, and not soon to be forgotten? Without question. Doors are at 8pm and cost of[...]

Tonight: Harmonica Lewinski

September 21, 2018

Tonight Rochester Hell raising gang of malcontents Harmonica Lewinski make a welcome return to the Queen City opening for local legends The Irving Klaws and fellow Rochesteronians The Fox Sisters at Nietzsche’s. Frankly, this is a pretty bonkers lineup, featuring the aforementioned Rochester hellraisers, plus the hard charging, R&B party up fun of The Fox Sisters, as well as the raunchy and intense fun of The Irving Klaws, so this show might be exactly what you need after this extraordinarily wacky week. Also, this show is so not whitebread that the only suburban Millennial gentrifiers you’ll have to put up with are the ones you pass on Allen on your way to the show. Cover is $5 and doors are at 10pm. Lewinski Grind by Harmonica Lewinski

Harmonica Lewinski Releases New Track “Pyramid Scheme”

August 2, 2017

Rochester based sleaze rockers, Harmonica Lewinski have released a new single titled, “Pyramid Scheme” which comes almost a year to the date after the release of their last full length, Head Honcho. It bares mentioning that the cover art for the single is not an entirely apt description for the music but seems to be another example of irony the band puts to use.  In some ways “Pyramid Scheme” follows this ironic trend by being a valiant reproduction of 50-60’s style surfer/rockabilly with less of the blues/country twinge the original genre typically used, and instead they add to the mix stuff that could be out of the Detroit garage-rock scene. Check out “Pyramid Scheme” below. Pyramid Scheme /// Risky Bizness by Harmonica Lewinski

Tonight: Harmonica Lewinski

November 11, 2016

Rochester retro rockers Harmonica Lewinski make a trip west on the 90 to stir up some trouble and some lewd and lascivious thoughts at Milkie’s on Elmwood. True Rochester and local favorites, you know you’re in for rowdiness at a HL show, especially with local ne’er-do-wells Deadwolf and the newly rechristened Johnny & The Man Kids (aka Pepperoni Boys, aka Spaghetti Boys) opening the show. Come hear songs from Harmonica Lewinksi’s full length debut Head Honcho and cope with… things through some dangerous and properly delinquent rock and roll. It will make you feel good. Or less bad. Cover is $5 and doors open at 9pm. Head Honcho by Harmonica Lewinski

Harmonica Lewinski Releases Video for “The Slug”

April 19, 2016

Rochester garage-rock group Harmonica Lewinski has released a strange new video, on par with the act’s established demeanor. Harmonica Lewinski has made a name for itself with this aesthetic of lo-fi and trippy rock ‘n’ roll. Their latest single ‘The Slug” is the first taste of their forthcoming album Head Honcho, and their newest material since last year’s Naked Brunch. It calls to mind the sounds of the underground surf rock of the sixties combining it with modern garage punk influences. The single’s video companion really helps bring to life the slimy, DIY nature of the tune. Sure to be a hit at your next sleazy basement party, check out the video below.

Top 20 Rochester Tracks: 20-11

December 8, 2015

It’s that time of the year again where we rack our brain, scan our playlists, and check all of our posts for all of the songs that we’ve covered from the 585 from the past year. It seems like just yesterday we were jamming out to Kitty Snowpants and discussing when JOYWAVE was going to break (spoiler: they did). This is our fourth year of tracking our favorite songs of the year out of Rochester. Now, I am sure there are amazing songs that we’ve brushed over or haven’t even heard coming out of the city. This list is subjective obviously, this is a blog. Regardless, I think Rochester’s scene this year has been the strongest it has been ever, pumping out consistent jams which is giving Buffalo a run for its money. Without further adieu here is the first half of buffaBLOG’s top Rochester track of 2015. 20) Animal Sounds[...]

Tonight: Rochester Invasion Pt. 2

October 3, 2015

In what is shaping up to be one of the hottest weekends of local music since Herdfest, there exists a bill so Rochesterian, it just might work. Well—actually—it has worked already once before. Tonight, Nietzsche’s will host part two of our Rochester Invasion series, featuring more of the finest talent our neighboring city has to offer. Joining us tonight we have 60’s-tinged party-all-the-timers Harmonica Lewinski, tongue-in-cheek lounge crooners Passive Aggressives Anonymous, multiinstrumental virtuoso Sam Snyder (or OHS, his endearingly shortened project name), and stone-cold rock and rollers The Ginger Faye Bakers. Each of these four acts bring their very own compelling flavor to the table, so don’t miss out. Swing by after Porchfest, the party doesn’t start until 9pm. This lineup is stacked, so bring five bucks so we can get our Rochester friends home safe and sound after closing time.

Tonight: Harmonica Lewinski

May 29, 2015

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: Harmonica Lewinski

March 14, 2015

Harmonica Lewinski first played Buffalo almost a year to the date at our fourth birthday party last March. A last minute dusting of snow made driving pretty difficult that night, and the Rochester based band nearly didnt make it off the I-90. Luckily, the garage/surf/punk outfit showed up just in time to play maybe the best set we have featured in the blog’s near five year existence. If you weren’t lucky enough to catch the group at our bday last year, you get another chance this evening. Later tonight at the Hoyt House, the group will return to Buffalo in support of its newest tape, Naked Brunch. Opening for Harmonica Lewinski is the ever evolving psych garage act, Sleepy Hahas, and Dead Wolf, the latter have absolutely no info listed on them, so your guess is as good as mine. The event page lists the start time at 8pm, and[...]

Harmonica Lewinski – Naked Brunch

February 16, 2015

Rochester deviant surf rockers, Harmonica Lewinski, are back with a hot new EP Naked Brunch (Reel Time Records) that’s sharp, delightfully nasty, and our Album of the Week. Four hot cuts of off color 60’s inspired psychedelic surf rock engineered to make you feel funny while riding your long board or shaking your thing at a swingers party later that night, Naked Brunch offers some interesting glimpses into what this always entertaining band of misfits might have up their sleeves down the road. While “Titty Citty” and “Black Pussy Blues” are restatements of the HL ethos: wildly careening, off kilter surf rock that’s over the top lewd and sleazily dangerous, “Har Har Bizarre” blows everything up with some superbly wicked vocals and some joyfully licentious lyrics reveling in all manner of bad behavior. Naked Brunch ends with the straight up garage rock of “Boy On Fire,” a super tight single that clocks in[...]

Harmonica Lewinski Drops New Single, “King MTN”

January 8, 2015

Rochester surf punk delinquents Harmonica Lewinski dropped a new single last week on the brink of 2015 billed as a “hidden gem” on the single’s Bandcamp page, and they’re not lying. Clocking in at over 5 minutes long, “King MTN” takes on an almost epic feel in spite of it’s gloriously louche and trashy vibe, calling to mind David Lynch, vintage John Waters, and Link Wray. The ideal soundtrack for wreckless driving, smoking in the bathroom, and making out in the bushes, “King MTN” is free, nasty, and a fine way to get 2015 started off right. Enjoy.

buffaBLOG Rochester Showcase @ the Bug Jar (11/22/14)

December 1, 2014

A little over a week ago, the blog luckily escaped #snowvember to put on our first showcase in Rochester at the Bug Jar. On hand for the evening were three of the 585’s finest in the Absolutes, Buffalo Sex Change, and Harmonica Lewinski, in addition to Buffalo’s Mallwalkers and DJ Tight Mike. If you happened to miss the show, or are still a little fuzzy on the details, check out blog photographer Greg Jones‘ full gallery here.

Tonight: buffaBLOG Rochester Showcase

November 22, 2014

With #Snowvember loosening its grip on the Buffalo area, we are busting out of the city for the night and zeroing in on the Bug Jar for the blog’s first Rochester showcase. For tonight’s show, we are flipping the script. Normally, we invite a Rochester act into town to with a join the stage with some of Buffalo’s best, but for this evening, we are bringing the 716’s punk funk army and one of the Queen City’s finest, Mallwalkers, along to join a bill of the cream of the crop of Rochester local music. If you missed any of our week long look at tonight’s bill, take a minute to catch up below: The Absolutes Buffalo Sex Change Mallwalkers Harmonica Lewinksi Also, keeping the party going in between sets will be DJ Tight Mike, host of our weekly buffaBLOG Podcast. Expect a nice mix of indie and electro, in addition[...]

Harmonica Lewinski

November 21, 2014

I last saw Harmonica Lewinski at our fourth birthday party, and I was struck by just how good they were at what they do. There’s some apocryphal story about the Clash that’s relevant. I can’t find it for fact-checking, and maybe I dreamed the whole thing, but it went something like this: Joe Strummer, let’s say, gathers the whole crew in their practice space. He says it’s time to get serious about who The Clash is and what they’re trying to do. He draws a line on the ground in chalk, or something. On one side of the line: the members who view themselves as entertainers. On the other: the members who view themselves as musicians. Tense moment, until Paul Simonon sticks his little English tongue out and plants one foot on either side of the line. Probably didn’t happen. And when faced with that kind of decision, most people[...]