Latest Posts

Joe Mason – I Sold My Soul For Five Dollars

With so many colleges concentrated along the 90 from Rochester to Fredonia, intense winters, and a long time epicenter for sonic exploration in Dave Fridmann’s Tarbox Road studio in the woods outside Fredtown, Western New York should totally be a hotbed for modern psychedelic music and for fans of music that makes ears feel WEIRD. Those fans just got something else to feast on in the form of a collaboration between Moody Cosmos and Joe Mason, Mason’s sophomore release I Sold My Soul For Five Dollars. Alternately bright and dark, and joyfully freaky all over, this album is seriously aural cotton candy for your brain. Swinging from outsized kaleidoscopic bursts of sound on jams like “Crazy Legs” and “Wide Eyes” (featuring Moody Cosmos) and “Alright” to the spaced out minimalism of chilled cuts like “Come Back” and “Waiting For The Day,” I Sold My Soul For Five Dollars keeps everything sweet[...]

Joe Mason Releases The Feels EP

Multi instrumentalist and songwriter Joe Mason released one of the more infectious local debuts last year when his infectious, melodic self-titled LP, which earned Album of The Week honors here at buffaBLOG. With vocals similar to Broken Social Scene’s Kevin Drew, hazy synths, and soulful rhythms, the artist’s dense arrangements feel vibrant and evocative, bringing a sense of wonder to the listener. The straightforward, patient songwriting style present throughout Mason’s releases is present on his latest EP, titled The Feels, a five track effort with a psych-pop flavor and melodic instrumentation. Opening track “Stay The Same” begin with a sonorous synth and offers a spacious sound defined by reverb-heavy, soulful vocals and beaming keys. “Pretty Sun” sonically reflects its’ namesake with reflective melodies and dusty percussion, which along with “When I’m Away,” presents a dream-pop oriented sound previously unheard from the artist. In contrast, the immediacy of the title track takes[...]

Joey Mason Releases Music Video For “Left On The Beach”

Last week, the Williamsville born, multi-instrumentalist/psych-pop musician, Joey Mason, revealed a new music video for the track, “Left On The Beach,” which is set to be included on Mason’s forthcoming spring release, Lazy Beach Baby. According to Mason, the majority of the album is the “full band trying to emulate the late 50’s/early 60’s doo-wop/surfy sound.” The new single, paired with the unseasonable music video by trippy visual artist, Daniel Mcinerney, is very sunny, sounding like a glitchy Youth Lagoon, while the clip brings the viewer on a digital cruise inhabited by The Sims. Watch the video for “Left On The Beach” below, and keep an eye out for Lazy Beach Baby sometime this April.

Joe Mason Releases Video For “The Sun”

Late last week, Joe Mason released the music video for “The Sun,” a cut of Ariel Pink-esque, stoner pop-rock off of the musician’s self-titled debut album. Directed by avant-garde producer, Lesionread,  the clip shows Mason venturing in a Blues Clues set with an Uncle Sam hat on, amongst many other hijinx. Mason just released a new EP last Friday as well, titled Dirty Softies. You can listen to it over on his bandcamp page, and in the mean time, watch the video for “The Sun” below.

Tonight: Quarterbacks

There’s a ton of great bands that call New Paltz home, and Quarterbacks is one of ’em. And they’ll be coming to visit us at the Hive today as an 11th hour addition to their tour, along with fellow New Paltzers Fraternal Twin. These last minute shows scare the hell outta me, because how can you be sure that people will even know that they should go? And Quarterbacks is certainly worth catching. Can’t help but compare Quarterbacks to Frankie Cosmos, maybe I’m a hack. But, like Frankie, Quarterbacks on the record is usually a single person (here, Dean Engle) singing poignant lo-fi folk tunes in an observational style that kinda make you wanna smile as you cry a single tear. And, like Frankie, Quarterbacks live is a different beast: Engle is joined by pounding, driving rhythm section and the songs take on new life (at least, if this Shea[...]

Joe Mason – Joe Mason

As technology has gotten more sophisticated and more accessible, it’s become harder to to nail down a bedroom record. I mean that in the sense that it sounds like it was recorded in someone’s bedroom, not in the sense that you could throw it on and screw. Excepting the people who seek out obsolete technologies, the bedroom record is no longer something you whisper into a four-track recorder while your parents are asleep. You get 255+ tracks, a whole Internet full of sounds and samples and maybe your own apartment. Which is great in its own way. I don’t necessarily agree with the notion that more music getting made is an unmitigated good, but I’ve heard some excellent tunes that never would have gotten produced if the cost of recording were greater than zero dollars. That said, some of the best creative advice I’ve ever heard was to “set limitations[...]