Latest Posts

Tonight: KOPPS’ Y2K End Of The World Dance Party

June 7, 2019

The state of the world got you down? Are all of the trendlines pointing to a big honking anxiety attack? Well get ready to dance away all of your mounting apocalyptic fears away by celebrating and commemorating the last time we all thought the world was going to end, in the one place I want to be when the end comes, the beloved Mohawk, with some tasteful DJ sets from Tom Burtless (Humble Braggers) and Jacob Asher (Ben Bailey of Joywave)  and a special performance by Rochester electro trash disco gods KOPPS. Go back in time to the turn of the millennium with all the hottest 1999-2000 jams and a Y2K costume contest for the sexy party people dressed to impress, so be sure to leave your smartphones at home (just kidding). Doors are at 8:30pm, music starts at 9pm and cover at the door is $12.

KOPPS Unleash New Video for “Hott”

August 20, 2018

Beloved blog favorites KOPPS are back with a deliciously evil video for “Hott” that lives up to it’s name and the trashy and sexy aesthetic you know and love from them. Yes, our friends from down the 90 have gone Hollywood on us… and it is good, hitting us with a super shiny video clip featuring Joywave’s Daniel Armbruster, a budget, some vaguely McLuhanesque media commentary, an international cast of dancing fans, and some demonic hoodoo that beats that spicy new Vice produced Gaspar Noe movie to the punch and confirms again that Mrs. Patti is truly a magnificent front woman and hellaciously good at leading us all into sin. Sure their masked drummer and that brown ABBA turtlenecks and powder blue trouser ensemble will haunt your dreams and possibly make you reevaluate your views on Swedish socialism and the works of Stieg Larsson, but at least those freaky dreams[...]

Joywave at the Town Ballroom (03/07/17)

March 12, 2018

This past Wednesday, our neighbors down the 90, Joywave, finished up a very lengthy full US tour with a stacked show at the Town Ballroom.  Buffalo’s own Humble Braggers opened things up, followed by Joywave collaborators and boisterous Rochester natives Kopps.  Low key pop act Sasha Sloan was also on the whole tour as well, and delivered a sweet set to get the crowd ready for Joywave.  When they finally took the stage, they ripped through tracks from their whole discography, and they drew a huge crowd that packed the room.  Check out some photos from the night below, shot by blog photographer, Brendan O’Connor. Humble Braggers Kopps Sasha Sloan Joywave

Tonight: Humble Braggers

December 9, 2017

Armed with some new tunes, synth pop heroes Humble Braggers headline an insanely stacked, can’t miss show tonight at Nietzsche’s that features some of the region’s best bands.  It’s a red hot Buffalo/Rochester showcase, with our friends KOPPS and The Demos representing for the 585, with KOPPS rocking their ever satisfying trashy electropop and The Demos bringing the glam power pop. Local garage rockers Ugly Sun are also thrown in their for good measure and will be sure to provide some righteously melted faces. Cover is $8 and doors open at 9pm. I Know Better, I’m No Better by Humble Braggers

KOPPS Drop “Baby I’m Dead Inside”

May 3, 2017

Rochester electro darlings KOPPS are back with a new single that accurately/regrettably/inevitably captures the zeitgeist, the sweet electronic poison that is “Baby I’m Dead Inside.” Trading their trademark trashed glitz for simmering, low key electronic funk punctuated by crunchy, fuzzed out guitar riffs, KOPPS find a new brand new slowed down groove for Patricia Patrón’s sultry disco diva vocal stylings to bewitch the faithful into helpless submission. Check out “Baby I’m Dead Inside” below and keep an eye on KOPPS- they could be busy this year.

Tonight: Kopps

April 29, 2017

Rochester electro-pop outfit Kopps return to Buffalo after a near yearlong absence from playing New York’s Queen City. The band has remained very active over the past year, playing a slew of dates with Joywave and pumping out four new singles (one of which we will be featuring later in the week). As usual, expect Kopps’ live performance to be tight, complete with synched dance moves and smooth transitions, making the band ‘s vibe come across extremely professional. Kopps’ slot should be the icing on the cake for a stacked bill. Also set to perform are synth act fresh off the release of their new album, Humble Braggers, recently-out-of-hibernation indie rockers M.A.G.S., and cloud pop outfit Mutual Friends. Doors are at 9pm with a $6 cover.

KOPPS Share New Single “I LOL @ U”

November 18, 2016

Right now during these surreal and uncertain times, when we needed something like this the most, KOPPS has delivered a sonic judo chop to the senses with their bonkers new single “I LOL @ U.”  A riot of 80’s electronica, 90’s sass, ulterior motives, and super sweet ear candy, this psychedelic head rush from our good friends from Rochester doesn’t play around. That goes for the accompanying lyric video, which is beautifully executed and viciously trippy (if not unduly mean to ice cream), proving again that KOPPS is the whole package. You can catch KOPPS December 3 at Anthology in Rochester when they join Joywave, The Demos, Harmonica Lewinski, Mikaela Davis, Secret Pizza, Pleistocene and pretty much the rest of Rochester’s indie scene to play a benefit for Tim Avery, a booker and essential scene impressario battling cancer. Tickets are $20. Show goes 2pm to midnight.  

Tonight: Kopps

March 4, 2016

Kopps, a four piece electronic dance group from Rochester, have proved themselves to be a potent force within the electro-pop scene. They are yet another Rochester band to break through the regional seal and go national (I like to think of them and Joywave as partners in crime on the road to success). Just recently, their sultry jam “Thermometer” was featured on the Netflix revival of Full House, aptly named Fuller House. How many people can say the gawky but loveable Kimmy Gibler busted a move to one of their original songs? The band has no doubt found their niche and are unbreakably confident in their sound, but at the same time they aren’t totally defined by their genre either. Each and every show, they dish up something fresh, along with infectious beats, sweat and a whole lot of sexiness for good measure. The rest of tonight’s bill is stacked to[...]

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[...]

Tonight: The Tins

November 7, 2015

Even with the year nearly complete, the Buffalo music scene still has a couple new releases to look forward to before the calendar turns, and one of those is from the Tins. While recording their forthcoming full length with Robby Takac, set to drop in 2016, the pop trio managed to pump out the self recorded EP Love on Strike as a place holder. The EP’s first single, the rising “Summer Jazz,” was already shared couple weeks back via Brooklyn Vegan, and you can expect the band to premiere the rest of the album when they take the stage later on at Nietzsche’s Joining the Tins this evening will be Rochester’s ready-to-break, electro dance rockers KOPPS (who may or may not have a good buddy joining them tonight…), reshuffled Buffalo synth rockers Humble Braggers, and Brooklyn’s hypnotic post-punk outfit, the Midnight Hollow. Doors open at 9pm tonight with a $7 cover. Make[...]

Tonight: Joywave

October 9, 2015

The series of great shows making their way to Buffalo this fall continues tonight as local heroes return for another glorious homecoming. It was just a little over a year ago that Rochester’s Joywave were just starting to make small waves outside of the Western New York music scene but little beyond that. Then came their breakthrough single, “Tongues.” The song almost immediately begun rotation on alternative radio around the country, and the band’s sudden popularity even scored their debut album a spot on the Top 40 charts and catapulted them to appearances on late night shows such as Jimmy Kimmel and Seth Meyers. Joywave now returns to the music scene that birthed them with their collection of infectious synthpop jams. If the band’s live show is nearly as high-energy and fun as their record, then tonight’s show show should be nothing short of an absolute blast. But while Joywave might be riding the[...]

KOPPS – The Sound of Music

September 27, 2015

One of my favorite shows this year was easily !!! with Rochester’s KOPPS downstairs in the Ninth Ward at Babeville this past May. If the acoustics in Asbury Hall are dodgy, the acoustics in that brick basement are downright sublime, and that was a show you felt in every cell of your being, the energy created by both bands a thing felt that night. After being dogged by sound issues earlier in the week at Waiting Room, KOPPS in particular sounded spectacular, getting the crowd moving and playing new songs pointing to an even denser, ambitious sound to go with their never secret weapon, vocalist Patricia Patron. This latest iteration of blog favorite KOPPS is on full display on The Sound Of Music, a four track EP co-written with Joywave’s Daniel Armbruster released last Friday via Cultco which fulfills those ambitions and then some. “My Gold” was a huge hit live[...]

KOPPS Drop Latest Single “My Gold”

September 1, 2015

I had been hearing the buzz for awhile, especially after the group’s much hyped Joywave collaboration “Tongues,” but it wasn’t till seeing KOPPS earlier this year that they made an impression on me, and what an impression they made. Taking the stage before !!!, the Rochester quartet laid down the gauntlet with an impressive arsenal of dance-punk jams that shook the room. Now KOPPS is back with its newest and perhaps most impressive single yet, titled “My Gold.” It’s worth mentioning the production on the track, which was handled by Joywave front man Danial Armbruster, as it might be the breeziest the band has ever sounded. That’s not to say “My Gold” is not a banger though. With it’s propulsive bassline and hard-hitting beats, the track is an absolute belter of a single. Check it out below.

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.

Tonight: !!! (Chk Chk Chk)

May 22, 2015

The beautiful old bricks that bless the Ninth Ward at Babeville with sublime acoustics will be vibrating with all sorts of sexy funky future sounds when !!!, blog favorites KOPPS, and Groove Cereal take it over tonight. Sacramento, California’s dance-punk outfit, !!! (or, Chk Chk Chk, a reference to the 80’s classic The Gods Must Be Crazy), is in town promoting 2013’s Thr!!!er, with a follow up in the wings, while this show will also be KOPPS second show in Buffalo this week, having played Waiting Room Monday night opening for Priory at one of the Alt Buffalo’s $1.07 shows. Even though their set was plagued with sound problems, the unstoppable Rochester darlings overcame the static and utterly owned the audience, and the show. I’ve never been to a show at the Ninth Ward that didn’t sound absolutely wonderful, so tonight ought to be a genuine treat. Plus, dancing. Buffalo trip-hop[...]