Latest Posts

Top 20 Rochester Tracks: 10-1

December 10, 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. On Tuesday, we posted our first half (20-11) of our favorite tunes. Here are our top ten songs[...]

Howlo & Pleistocene Team Up for Halloween Split

October 28, 2015

Halloween is always a fun time to track new music out of Western New York as bands get into the holiday spirit and share some new spooky flavored tunes. And right on cue, early this week, two of our favorite Rochester acts, Howlo and Pleistocene, teamed up to release a timely split LP, Ghost Walk. The childlike harmonies on Howlo’s menacing opening cut, “All Hallow’s Eve,” make comparisons to Dead Man’s Bones hard to ignore, while later on, the four piece dips into some 90’s nostalgia on its cover of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer theme. Pleistocene’s half is decidedly lo-fi featuring some eerily haunting and rather sweet cooing from Katie Preston. The quartet’s split contributions feature some surfier vibes than its normal catalog as the LP stand out track, “Natura Combo,” sounds like the band has been hanging out with Harmonica Lewinski a bit as of late. The two bands will be playing cuts[...]

The Young Couples Release Debut Single

September 21, 2015

Rochester is always bringing us tasty tunes these days. From the neighboring land of indie gems comes the Young Couples, a hodge-podge super group of sorts led by former SPORTS front man Ian Proper which features contributions from members of Howlo, Pleistocene, Passive Aggressives Anonymous, and Amateur Radio Club. The debut single “Carnivores” from the band’s upcoming debut EP is an upbeat fusion of styles. It’s a little Vampire Weekend-ish with a unique 80’s inspired twist of their own. The super singable chorus and crunchy guitar solo makes it the perfect cruise-around-in-the-T-Bird-I-don’t-have type of song. Definitely expecting awesome things to come from TYC. Listen to the single below and keep your eyes and ears peeled for their upcoming release near the end of 2015.

Dumb Angel Readies Antenna, Shares “In Sun”

August 18, 2015

About four years ago, members of Rochester act the Instruments Band began recording the debut album for their new project, Dumb Angel, a trio featuring now Howlo band mates Justin Pulver (Europa & the Great Red Spot) and Ben Morey, in addition indie pop artist Blake Cooper. The threesome finally completed work on the album, titled Antenna, nearly a year ago and will be celebrating the release of the record next month on September 18th. Antenna will be available to purchase/stream via Dadstache Records and pre-sale orders are already being taken here. In preparation for Antenna‘s release, Dumb Angel premiered the record’s first single, “In Sun,” today. Fans of Howlo should be immediately drawn to the song’s nervy opening guitar line, but where as the former seemed to focus on crunchier alt-rock sounds, “In Sun” brings an easy going vibe and lo-fi guitars to the table. Think a straight forward Yo La[...]

Howlo – Howlo

August 3, 2015

As many-a musician will attest to, putting out a full-length is hard work. Howlo has been hard at work. That claim goes beyond basic syllogism; the work is plainly evident in the music itself. The Rochester four-piece just put out its s/t full-length debut, 11 tracks of unadulterated feel-good indie pop, and it was worth the wait. Howlo, musically speaking, continues on the catchy indie-rock sentiments of singer/songwriter Ben Morey’s solo material, namely 2013’s aptly-titled Pleasant. Fellow Howlonians Christine Benincasa (bass), Jane Bryant (drums / vox), and Justin Pulver (guitar / vox) round out the sound with inviting male/female harmonies with serious melting power, and song contributions that add to the record’s air of dynamicity. Some of the album’s scrappier moments conjure Pixies comparisons while the vibe-ier, docile tracks call up the soft exactness of Yo La Tengo, but in the grand scheme of things, Howlo is an entity all[...]

Tonight: Rochester Invasion

July 25, 2015

As part of Infringement Festival, buffaBLOG has put together a sort of “Rochester Invasion” if you will. We are bringing a bunch of our favorite Rochester bands to Buffalo tonight for a night of music and co-mingling. We’ve curated a genre-spanning selection of some of Rochester’s finest, including: electro-synth masters KOPPS; the powerpoppers in The Demos; surf-tinged garage from Buffalo Sex Change (PS, nice name guys); dreamy 60s-poppers Howlo; all rounded out by Hannah Weidner and the Doorway Talkers. Nietzsche’s is the place to be tonight. The show starts at 9:00pm and is VERY reasonably priced at $5. We Buffalonians will bring the wings to snack on if you Rochester-bros will bring some Kodak film on which to capture our debaucherous night. Ah, unity. See you there.

Howlo Announces Debut LP, Shares “Bleary”

June 15, 2015

We awoke this morning to the pleasant news that one of our favorite Rochester foursomes, Howlo, is prepping the release of its debut, self-titled LP for late July. Comprised of busy songwriter/producer Ben Morey, Justin Pulver (Europa and the Great Red Spot), Jane Bryant, and Christine Benincasa, the group shared a couple album teases over on its bandcamp page to keep us busy until next month. The first, the newly recorded “Blanka,” was on the band’s short and sweet Attic Tapes EP last spring. Howlo‘s second tease, though, comes in the form of the fantastically dreamy “Bleary,” the first new recording we have heard from the band in over a year. Led by the sweet and tender boy/girl vocals of Morey and Bryant, the song is a melancholy cut of 90’s jangle pop, recalling the likes of Polaris, Flake Music, and early Cloud Nothings. Simply put, “Bleary” is one of my[...]

Faux Leather Jacket’s Trevor Courneen Launches Audible Handshake Podcast

May 26, 2015

Late last month, Trevor Courneen, member of Rochester’s alt-country outfit, Faux Leather Jacket, launched a new podcast series titled Audible Handshake. The first two episodes featured interviews/chats with fellow Rochester musicians Katie Preston of Pleistocene and Howlo‘s Ben Morey. “I wanted to start the podcast because for the past few years that I’ve lived in Rochester, I’ve met a lot of cool people,” begins Courneen. “People in the music scene, the art scene, the food scene, etc., I consider many of them friends at this point, but the truth is, I know very little about them beyond what they do. Katie and Ben are exceptions to this obviously because I’ve been good friends with them for a few years (which is why they were the first two, I knew I’d be comfortable and it would get me used to the process).” The podcast is more than just friendly talk with musical friends, but[...]

Ben Morey Releases Howlo Project EP

April 29, 2014

Rochester’s Ben Morey appears to be trying to rival Buffalo’s Sonny Baker for busiest musician in WNY. Between his inviting solo work, including this solid live session with Genesee Live, and being a featured member of fellow 585 acts like Dumb Angel, New Socks (we think), and the Wallpaper, his latest project Howlo, released its three song EP, Attic Tapes, via bandcamp this weekend. Howlo’s sound is reminiscent of a pre-diva Kevin Barnes/of Montreal, equally lo fi and catchy. Listen to the capturing “Blanka” below.