Latest Posts

Tonight: Jeffrey Lewis & Los Bolts

August 5, 2019

Tonight NYC anti-folk punk poet laureate Jeffrey Lewis and his band Los Bolts will be headlining an excellent lineup at beloved DIY space Sugar City featuring Welks Mice, Hop Hop, and Derick Evans and the Dream Beam Magic Team. A noted writer, graphic artist, and quasi spiritual heir to downtown intellectual singer songwriter luminaries  like Lou Reed and Jarvis Cocker, Lewis has been banging out his poetic underground lo-fi indie rock for more than twenty years, most of them on the legendary Rough Trade label, and tonight’s show at Sugar City will be intimate and sweet. Opening this early show will be the ever delightful literal good vibes of Welks Mice, Buffalo hip hop all-star Hop Hop, and deep dive existential performance art outfit Derick Evans and the Dream Beam Magic Team. Doors are at 6:30pm so plan accordingly and cover is $10.

Kelli Bobbi Releases Debut “Cruising”

June 19, 2019

Steak And Cake Records has a fresh new video and single out that’s destined to be your jam of the summer that’s also more than a little bit mind blowing. Going under the cheeky alias Kelli Bobbi, label mastermind and genuine artistic polymath Brandon Schlia and Jazmine Frazier (aka Hop Hop) go above and beyond on “Cruising,” a supernaturally crisp slab of urban funk that feels super good in your ears thanks to some choice next level grooves, frequencies, and techniques from each half of our dynamic duo. The video, directed by Schlia, is chill, pleasantly trippy, and a swell drive around town. If there’s more where this came from, yes please.

Tonight: Stay Gold 2018

December 14, 2018

This year’s edition of the Burchfield Penney Art Center’s Stay Gold Community Art Party is tonight and they’ve outdone themselves with the music lined up for their annual shindig, now heading into it’s third year. Coinciding with M&T’s free admission Second Friday at the Burchfield, Stay Gold features site specific installations by a dozen Western New York artists and music performances from a thoughtfully diverse and eclectic selection of local acts very much worthy of attention, covering a wide range of genres for your art party pleasure and giving party goers a snapshot of the area’s art and music scenes right now. Stay Gold 2018 will be featuring the funky and soulful jazz of The Frontstreet Men Organ Trio; radiant soul singer Curtis Lovell, who wowed the audience at Sugar City’s 10th Anniversary Party; the bluegrass Americana of The Brothers Blue; Kokoneetz, aka Andrew Kothen of dreambeaches and The Shallows; the lyrical and technical[...]

Tonight: Ava Luna

December 5, 2018

Soulfully innovative indie group Ava Luna performs tonight at Mohawk Place! Since 2007, Ava Luna has been garnering attention for its creative blending of genres, ranging from soul and R&B to reggae and psychedelic with heavy synths. However, Ava Luna’s recent release, Moon 2, has amassed recognition for being vastly different from its earlier works; most attribute this change to Carlos Hernandez stepping back from his leadership role, allowing his bandmates to contribute more creatively during the recording process. The result: an extraordinary album of stellar extraterrestrial sounds. Ava Luna creates its own world through which it easily maneuvers listeners in this album. Maggie Lange of Pitchfork puts it perfectly, stating in her review, “It’s an electro-funk that plays on a gravity plane where everything is a different weight, sounds melt more deeply and float off more easily.” Listening to Moon 2 is like being projected back in time, yet[...]

Hop Hop Delivers Video For “Scratch”

October 2, 2018

Premier Buffalo MC Hop Hop has a video for her latest single “Scratch” that’s a perfect showcase for her art and skills, and the city itself. Shot and edited by producer and co-conspirator Brandon Schlia, “Scratch” is an earworm in video form and a clever bit of DIY guerrilla filmmaking , utilizing a whole lot of the important new public art that’s sprung up over the last few years all over the city, our newly re-purposed post industrial decay, and various tasteful West Side doorways and rooftops as backdrops for the irrepressible brilliance of Hop Hop, who will most definitely not be defined by an old white guy like me anyways, so I won’t even try it (not that I’d try it anyway). From “The Freedom Wall” on Michigan and East Ferry to the Betsy Casanas mural on Niagara Street and the trusty Elmwood Avenue 24 Hour Store, “Scratch” is an inclusive,[...]

Hop Hop – Scratch

June 4, 2018

Hop Hop (aka Jaz Frazier) has delivered us from evil and boredom and into the future on her inspired and hypnotically irresistible new EP Scratch, and it’s our enthusiastic Album of the Week. A precision MC that bends time and space with her impeccable flow so that every consonant, vowel, word, and complex thought comes at you as if it (and you) are suspended in space like the visual effects in The Matrix movies and given a chance to inspect and savor all of it, Hop Hop does not play on Scratch, sharing and going deep while giving you the funky beats and jams you need. A concentrated headrush, Scratch comes at you fast with a fully realized sound that fills your ears with all kinds of incredible sonic sweetness courtesy of the pristine and ambitious production from Jaz and Brandon Schlia. There’s a fine sense of whimsy at work[...]

11 Acts to Catch at Trimania 2018

April 13, 2018

Trimania returns Saturday, April 14th for its every three year take over of the TriMain building.  The multi-faceted program is a hard dive into the local arts and music scenes, allowing the opportunity for the regional creatives to convey their art and the thousands of attendees to consume it. The event will almost overwhelm your senses, with artists, poets, musicians, and DJs performing in various rooms and  corners throughout the six stories of the building. With that, here are 11 musical performances we suggest checking out Saturday night. 8pm Hop Hop @ Insight International (Suite 556) Experimental hip hop artist Jaz Frasier performs under the moniker Hop Hop to deliver smart lyrics with abstract instrumentals Scratch by Hop Hop 9pm Little Cake @ First Floor Stage Avant garde multi-instrumentalist and front woman Little Cake dips her toe into a variety of genres and styles to produce an undoubtedly commanding performance.[...]

Tonight: dreambeaches

October 13, 2017

Beloved Buffalo baroque indie surf pop band dreambeaches are back with their eagerly awaited second EP Disappearing Act, and they are rightly celebrating it’s glorious overabundance of riches with the people tonight at Milkie’s on Elmwood. Fearing Friday the 13th is for suckers, and if you’re going out you might as well go out strong kicking it with dreambeaches and a tight lineup including visionary MC extraordinaire Hop Hop, psychedelic rockers Bold Folly, and garage rocker Jack (aka Brittany Costa). Tickets are $10, which includes a hard copy of the EP if you’re into that sort of thing, and doors open at 8pm. Disappearing Act by dreambeaches

Tonight: Interstellar Vibrational Travel Experiment

May 26, 2017

Tonight beloved art space Dreamland will play host to the Interstellar Vibrational Travel Experiment (IVRE), a multidisciplinary multimedia excursion beyond the limits of space, time, and corporeal location. Conducted by Wren Williams & The Sons Of Luther, HOP HOP, and Rat v Cat v Bat, audience members/test subjects will be expanding their consciousness and  journeying into the beyond without changing coordinates via curated stimuli, theoretical vibrational frequencies, and the power of shared, communal experience. Reality challenging science isn’t free, so a donation of $5 (for science!) would be tremendously appreciated and a genuine boon to humanity.  Audience members/test subjects are encouraged to be present for departure by the appointed zero hour of 8pm; arrival is scheduled for 11pm but please be aware that time is entirely subjective. Good luck.

Tonight: Sammus

November 27, 2016

Thanksgiving holiday weekends in Buffalo really are a war of attrition beginning Wednesday and running through Saturday and into Sunday. Dreamland isn’t done yet however, hosting an evening of experimental/underground hip hop from Upstate New York featuring Ithaca’s Sammus along with Buffalo’s Hop Hop and We Stole The Show. Sammus (aka Enongo Lumumba-Kasongo) is a virtuoso behind and in front of the boards and an intellectual heavyweight, so be prepared to dance and ponder many, many things while enjoying material from her debut album Pieces In Space. Doors open at 6pm, music begins at 7pm, and admission is $6 or whatever you can pay (but don’t be stingy). Pieces in Space by Sammus