Latest Posts

The Bandcamp Era

November 17, 2015

Car Seat Headrest recently rolled out a “Greatest Hits” of sorts. Well, the bandcamp lo-fi version of what a greatest hits compilation would be. The album is called Teens of Style and it raises at least a couple of interesting questions: What do we do with all this lo-fi music laying around Bandcamp that previously independent artists released, now that those artists are being signed? What does this mean on a greater scale, for artists and fans, as windows like Bandcamp are becoming a standard within certain genres? There have been a lot of irrelevant questions posed to these guys from different angles, mostly pertaining to the “pressures” of having a wider audience, having to work with other people, and all kinds of ridiculous questions that really stereotype people like Will Toledo (Car Seat Headrest) and Mat Cothran (Elvis Depressedly) as introverted guys who wouldn’t know how to make or perform[...]

King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard – Paper Mâché Dream Balloon

November 10, 2015

If you haven’t heard of King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard, here’s a short history of the band’s existence. They formed in 2010 in Melbourne, literally as a side-project/joke band. They released the hard-hitting 12 Bar Bruise in 2012. It was mostly garage-ey psych punk revival. The next year saw two completely different, completely amazing albums released from the band. The first, Eyes Like The Sky, was a spaghetti-western themed album that really is in the realm of spoken word. Float Along- Fill Your Lungs was the second that year, which was more of a pure psych-rock album complete with time changes, lofty melodies, and of course, a 16 minute long song. 2014 saw the band drop two more albums, and in early 2015, Quarters!, a collection of four ten-minute songs that was just recently nominated for “best jazz album” of all things, as a part of the ARIA awards, was released[...]

Tonight: Moody Cosmos

November 7, 2015

Tonight at Curly’s, we have a banger of a show for you to check out. Sonny Baker, Moody Cosmos, Kimmy, and Dreambeaches will be be convening at the basement venue for a good mix of music with all kinds of influence, from surf to psych to shoegaze. Moody Cosmos is a relatively new psych/krautrock outfit currently residing in Fredonia. It’s the most recent brainchild of Peter Cahlstadt, who also happens to be the creative force behind Fredonia’s Mooses. Sonny Baker is bringing his solo act to the show, along with Kimmy, and also the surf-ey alternative outfit Dreambeaches. This one’s an early one; doors are at 6pm with Sonny Baker going on first. Cover is $3.

Tonight: Soul Patch

October 30, 2015

Keith Buckley is a man of many talents. Of course, you may know him as the local guy who yells a lot as the singer of hardcore act, Every Time I Die. Other than that, he leads a fairly simple life: getting tattoos, hanging out at the Pink, giving out wise and loving advice in The Public, writing for Comedy Central shorts… and of course, dressing up like Kurt Cobain and covering 90’s alternative hits. You can see the latter of those things happen tonight at Mohawk Place as Soul Patch headlines buffaBLOG’s now annual Halloween party. Soul Patch is of course fronted by Keith, with Steve Micciche (also of ETID), Niko Georgiadis, Joey Dynamite, Jeff Schaller, and Jessika Schreiber joining the party. Sixties Future, who have been making plenty of waves locally in 2015 with their indie-alt rock sound, will be opening. If you haven’t seen them yet, now[...]

Tonight: Shellshag

October 21, 2015

Tonight at Sugar City, Brooklyn lo-fi punk act Shellshag brings its tour to Buffalo for a visit. Also on the bill are local outfits Mallwalkers and Kharlos, and Rational Anthem all the way from Florida. It’s going to be a mixed bag of punk, for sure. Rational Anthem considers themselves pop-punk, while Don Giovanni Records’ Shellshag is more lo-fi garage punk. Kharlos and Mallwalkers also fall into that garage category, with Kharlos mixing some Thee Oh Sees vibes into their sound. The trio just released its debut cassette last month (check it out here), while Mallwalkers have begun studio work on the follow up to 2013’s Shake the Rust Off. All in all, four bands that will no doubt put on a killer show, and well worth the price, as Sugar City shows always are. The show starts at 6:30pm $6 will be due at the door.

BØRNS – Dopamine

October 21, 2015

Hey, did you like Foster The People’s Torches? …No? Well boy oh boy, do I not have the album for you. This time around, it’s from Garrett Borns. Birthed in Michigan, and better known as his stage name BØRNS, Mr. Borns has released his full first length album, Dopamine, that has somehow garnered a huge amount of anticipation, thanks to two things. firstly, illuminati recruiter Taylor Swift (she instagrammed a picture of the upcoming album giving it high praise), and secondly, his single “Electric Love,” which has received a ton of play on alt radio stations. So, here’s the reason for the Foster the People comparison. Lead singer’s last name “creatively” shoved into the band name. Oddly huge amount of fame from a catchy single, and only an EP to support, preceding an overly promoted album release. Falsetto vocals. Huge anticipation for an album that’s hailed as “different” in the[...]

Tonight: The Moth & The Flame

October 15, 2015

The Tralf seems to be the place to be right now, at least in terms of October gigs. Tonight, the venue plays host to alt-rock rising stars The Moth & The Flame. TMTF are currently out on tour in support of their recently released EP, Young & Unafraid, whose title track has seen a ton of success as the band’s first release with Elektra Records. Tonight’s performance is a last minute addition to the group’s tour, and will be  a part of Alt Buffalo’s ongoing “You Saw Them First” series. Local acts The Get Money Squad and Wolf are set to open. Doors open at 7pm with a $10 cover.

Neon Indian – VEGA INTL. Night School

October 13, 2015

After what seemed like a relatively boring end of summer in terms of new releases, we’ve got a bunch of goodies coming out from indie icons. Seasoned veterans (Wavves) and 22 year future bedroom stars (Alex G) have both put out new stuff this month, but we’re going to talk about something in between: Neon Indian’s VEGA INTL. Night School. Okay, this album is just good. Neon Indian has always sounded like a classic arcade video game turned sentient and shoved into a studio. VEGA INTL. Night School follows suit in this regard, just in a more hi-fi, more dance oriented way. It’s like Tron: Legacy. Sorry, let me clear that up. Not everyone liked that movie. Actually, most people hated it. I liked it, because it sucked. It’s gonna be a cult classic in a few years just because it was so bad. That’s not even remotely close to the[...]

Avicii – Stories

October 6, 2015

The scene starts out black. Forceful, bright MIDI grand piano chords play. The scene fades in. A tattered pair of old sneakers are walking down a sidewalk “Where there’s a will, there’s a way,” the lyrics tell you as the MIDI instruments break into a full MIDI arrangement. The camera pedestals upward from the ankles of your tan work pants (Levis, of course) as you walk hurriedly towards your destination. From your Levi pocket, that your right hand is stuffed into, runs a white chord (your Samsung Galaxy S3 stock headphones, of course) that droops across the baggy green work polo you’re wearing. The small red logo on the shirt reads the same as your destination that lay ahead– Budwey’s. As you get closer to work on an overcast and cool fall day, you begin to dread your first task– clocking in and taking off your headphones. You remember that[...]

Mac Miller – GO:OD AM

September 22, 2015

Finally. You log onto Spotify. You click the search bar. You frantically type in “mac.” You realize you could have probably just typed in “M” because what bigger “M” artist is there than Mac Miller? Your hand starts to shake as you click on the name, which may as well have been inscribed in #ffd700. After a quick scroll, you’re in. You try and double click on the intro track, “Doors,” but you miss the second click and have to repeat the process all over again. You miss the second attempt.“Fuck,” you utter to the empty room. You take a sip of the Miller Light classic logo aluminum bottle-can that you’ve fetched from the mini-fridge. It was originally intended for the most serene listening experience, however, now it’s become a tool to calm your nervous hands, just as it did at Alfred a couple years ago before that huge exam.[...]

Tonight: of Montreal

September 14, 2015

of Montreal is coming back to Buffalo tonight (this time to Babeville’s Asbury Hall), along with their infamous choreographed circus brigade, as a part of their current tour supporting their most recent release, Aureate Gloom. Okay let’s be honest: you already know about of Montreal. Your friends have told you about the strange costumes and the small army of performers and dancers that will take the stage. You’ve probably even taken a liking to a couple of their songs; you’re just afraid of having to “make the commitment” and listen to a whole of Montreal LP (or all thirteen). I’m here to tell you that you don’t need to do this– just go to the show tonight and enjoy the strage combination of a live show, visuals, and performance art. Yes, sure, I didn’t know most of the songs after my first time seeing the band two years ago. But[...]

Pappy Stardust – All Around Sound

September 14, 2015

Whether or not “Pappy Stardust” is a silly homage to a David Bowie album doesn’t really matter, Steve Leszyk, the man behind Pappy Stardust, has released a killer LP called All Around Sound, this week’s Album of the Week. “Space Gospel” is what the band’s Facebook page describes its genre as, and I dare you to find a better descriptor than that. The music features blues riffs swimming around under a ton of distortion and compression, while managing to stay heavily melodic. And while the album has an extremely uniform sound, each song is still completely it’s own entity. All Around Sound carries the heavy blues-driven riffs akin to those of early Black Keys, combined with Tobacco-like compression and in-your-face noise, and Guero-era Beck interludes. It’s all tied together with a hint of Mac Demarco-esque “no fucks given” attitude buried in there, one that especially comes out on “Memory Of You,” the[...]

M.A.G.S.

September 1, 2015

M.A.G.S. is the main project of Elliott Douglas, the multi-faceted Buffalo musician who has been a member of, by his count, about 14 different bands in the area over the years. Somehow distantly related to Jimi Hendrix, through marriage or something like that (you can hear his story about his relative in the interview halfway through the session), Douglas effortlessly fronts the his three piece band with creative little guitar riffs and vocal belts that sometimes come out in focused and graceful yells. Bassist Andy Wesner and drummer Adam Lilley complete the trio that create a sound that could fool you into thinking they had something crazy, like four members in their group. However, as this handy buffaBLOG session will show you, they only need themselves to “rock out,” no matter the venue. Even if it’s outside of a warehouse at dusk on a hot summer night. Oh, and it’s[...]

Planet Three

August 18, 2015

Planet Three is a band best described by drummer Nathan Zak in a craftily worded Facebook message to us: “From a farm laden land known as Marilla, three musicians lived less than a mile from each other for nearly a decade until they formed the lizard rock outfit dubbed Planet Three. With guidance from their local witch doctors, the three were able to conjure up a potion of tasty riffs, proggy changes, and a shoegaze atmosphere. Their ever-expanding sound along with their stage show is a theatrical, over-the-top glam party hosted by the ghost of Marc Bolan. Although their future is unclear to them, presently they are searching for more genres to work into their own formula.” We shot this edition of buffaBLOG sessions in Nate’s basement out in Marilla. Thanks to Shauna Presto, Andrea LoPiccolo, Jason Paton, Charles Tyrie, and Joe Cardina for working on this one. Special thanks[...]

Frame and Mantle

August 4, 2015

We have a new project for you, and it’s called buffaBLOG Sessions. The aim of this project is to take up-and-coming artists, whether they’re Buffalo born and raised or just passing through the area, and feature them in intimate locations around the city. Each bi-weekly session will feature one of these bands performing two songs, with a more-than-casual interview cut into the middle. Our first band is Frame and Mantle. They’re out of Erie, PA and recorded with us right before their show last month at Mohawk Place, a show that kicked off their first tour (10 stops all over the Northeast). We recorded it upstairs in a warehouse on Rhode Island Street (special thanks to Joe Cardina SR. for the location). Check out tunes from Frame and Mantle here and watch their buffaBLOG Sessions clip below.