Nashville-based electro-pop duo, CHERUB, is set to bring their party jams to Delaware Ave this evening, playing the bottom floor of The Waiting Room (aka not the Studio). Formed in 2010, CHERUB gained national recognition via their Hype Machine-approved smash-hit, “Doses and Mimosas.” Also on the bill is Mystery Skulls (for fans of Simian Mobile Disco, Boys Noize) and ForteBowie (instagram R&B). Tickets are $20 today and get there around 7pm.
Brooklyn-based electro-pop solo artist, Computer Magic, shared with the internet this week a blizzard inspired gem titled “Dreams of Better Days.” Originally a Sullivan County native (we had to look it up too), Computer Magic should be used to the snow. Regardless, the (another word for electro pop) songstress spun the time where the city was crippled by the biggest snow storm of all time (oh yeah, it wasn’t). The elegant yet tense “Dreams of Better Days” recalls Au Revoir Simone, a touch of Metric, and even Buffalo’s long lost project, Love Scenes. Check out “Dreams of Better Days (Don’t Pass Me By)” below.
If you’ve been listening to the buffaBLOG Podcast over the past two weeks, then you are well aware of my latest audio obsession, “Maiden (Glas House),” by Rochester’s Theodore Maxwell Robinson Carr. For those unfamiliar with Carr’s previous works, he was operating as a solo acoustic solo artist, with sounds that were somewhere in between an early Bon Iver and an endearing Bright Eyes. Most recently, Carr was dabbling in jam-tronica project, Poetry for Thieves. His tenure with Poetry for Thieves must have inspired him for his latest three-song batch, which land somewhere in between Ghostland Observatory, MGMT, and Joywave. Carr will be playing some songs from the project next Friday at the Bug Jar under the band, Fyrewerx, sharing the stage with Brian Kozlowski (Heroic Enthusiasts) and Dexter Redic (Roots Collider). Check out “Maiden (Glas House)” below. [soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/186171983″ params=”color=ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false” width=”100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]
We’ve been admiring from a distance San Francisco/Miami-based independent label, Father/Daughter Records, since its super impressive co-curated lineup with Miscreant Records at the co-presented 2014 CMJ party at Silent Barn. The label’s upcoming release which we are buzzing about in the office is from New Paltz-based duo, Diet Cig. With obvious comparisons to Swearin’, Quarterbacks, and Waxahatchee, Diet Cig is undoubtedly a band that should be on your radar in 2015. Coincidentally as of drafting this post, I just saw they are playing a show at the Glitter Box on Tuesday, March 24th along with Newish Star in support of the duo’s February 24th EP release, Over Easy. So see you then.
Cincinnati-based indie rock quartet, Day Camp, will be making a stop in Buffalo tonight with support from local trio, Boy Scouts. With a tape release right around the corner (February 13th to be exact) via Rochester-based tape label, Dadstache Records, Day Camp has been making the rounds throughout upstate NY. Obvious comparisons for the band are The Get Up Kids, Tugboat Annie, and Mineral. Comfy was supposed to be on this gig but have since been removed. Don’t worry, I have a feeling we will be hearing from them fairly soon. Tonight’s show is at Northrup. That’s probably all you need to know.
Being a music blog living on the internet, we get lots of tips on up-and-coming bands all over the world, upwards of 150-200 a day. This week, we got a hot tip on a rising band out of Philadelphia that just so happens to have the drummer of one of our favorite Rochester-based acts, Stephen Roessner of Pleistocene. Led by Matthew Stone (Saxon Shore, Soporus), Williams Shift released its first single off of the trio’s forthcoming full-length, We Were Wonderers, titled “The Heads And The Bodies.” With a March 24th release date via Burnt Toast Vinyls (who have an impressive list of past collaborations including mewithoutYou, Sufjan Stevens, and Unwed Sailor.) “The Head And The Bodies” is quite the tease for what the upcoming release consists of. The song is a shoe-gaze packed three minute song about having your head cryonically frozen. Yes really.
It’s rare that the buffaBLOG office comes to an absolute consensus. Our most recent agreement came when we all were blown away by last December’s Newish Star performance at Duke’s as part of our annual holiday showcase/party. With that being said, we were delighted late yesterday when we received word that Newish Star released its new single, “Magnetic Personality,” off of a forthcoming full-length, set to be released “soon.” “Magnetic Personality” is a catchy 90’s pop-punk spliced Archers of Loaf-esque diddy about having a persona that people flock to. It also reinforces what everyone knows, north means up, south means down. Duh. Newish Star has a gift for putting together a song that makes you want to listen to it over and over again, even if it’s just over a minute.
Buffalo-based electro-pop trio, Ad Astra, debuted the project’s first track this past week, to which we were very excited to post about. With past works in the band’s resume including buffaBLOG favorites, Ignorant Owl and FOTISPORN, Ad Astra already sounded promising. The band’s first single, “Pretty Pictures,” features producers Thomas L. Hunt and Wyle Lukow delivering a futuristic synth song with just over a minute and a half growing introduction capped off with Amanda Terranoli’s dreamily gentle LIGHTS-like voclas. With obvious comparisons to Purity Ring, chilled out Crystal Castles, and even Phantogram, Ad Astra is definitely a band that should be on your radar in 2015. Perhaps they can start playing live with gigs with Passion in Constellation? Listen to “Pretty Pictures” below.
If you were one of the roughly 250 people to go to Diarrhea Planet last fall at Mohawk Place, then you were one of the lucky ones to witness undoubtedly one of the best performances in Buffalo in all of 2014. This afternoon, after hearing mumblings on the street for months, it was finally confirmed that Diarrhea Planet would be coming back to Mohawk Place on Monday, March 30th. Between Cursive, Torche, and Diarrhea Planet all at Mohawk in March alone, we might be crashing upstairs for the month. Does anyone wanna go halfs on a practice space? Tickets go on sale this Friday at noon at Ticketmaster.
We must admit, we love a good dance party. Luckily the fine folks over at Hardware are giving us the opportunity to throw our own next month. On Friday, February 13th, buffaBLOG will be curating the front and back room of the Allentown bar supplying Buffalo with all the hits and hot jams your after 40 hour work week has been craving. The lineup consists of local hip-hop producer, Cove, mashup extraordinaire Teenwolf, electronic visual artist, Projex, and front room regular, Camaican Sensation. All in all, this is a great opportunity to show off all those dance moves you’ve been practicing while snowed in this winter. Get there around 10pm and the doors are $5. [soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/10776103″ params=”color=ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false” width=”100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]
Wow, ususally Friday afternoons are pretty boring in the blogosphere. We can thank After Dark Entertainment to jolting us out of our swivel chairs accompanied by a “Holy Shit!” Just about ten minutes ago, After Dark announced emo staples, The Get Up Kids, will be playing the Waiting Room on Wednesday, March 25th with up-and-coming indiemo act, PUP. Tickets go on sale January 15th on ticketfly.com for $18 advance/$22 day of, but I really wouldn’t be surprised if this sells out well in advance. You won’t want to miss this one. Nothing else cooler can happen on a Wednesday night.
There was a dark time in my life where I lived in Iowa. Moving from Buffalo to basically the middle of nowhere, knowing absolutely zero people in the state, I was adventurous and looking forward to the next phase of my life. Since I knew absolutely zero people in Iowa, I tended to hang out by myself a lot. I beat Grand Theft Auto V twice, went on a lot of walks, and tried basically every restaurant in the city limits. What is really up with Papa Murphy’s? That is the most backwards restaurant I ever encountered. I called ahead to order a pizza, showed up and they gave me a raw pizza. I thought it was a prank. IT WAS THE SAME PRICE AS A REGULAR PIZZA AND I HAD TO COOK IT! Back on track, during this time I felt removed from anything in the music scene, jealously[...]
If you can’t tell by now, this week is going to be a catch up week for all of the super cool stuff that has come out during the end of the year whirlwind. Today’s “Oh man I should have posted about this three weeks ago” song comes from Rochester’s Northern Spies. Formerly performing under the name Blankets, the quartet hasn’t been around for very long, only forming as a band in spring of 2014. In mid-December, Northern Spies got around to sharing their debut three song EP titled Nothing But Static. The just over twelve minute EP is full of soft-spoken hesitant indie rock with power pop hooks that make it stay in your head and never leave. Check out “No Time To Lose,” and stick around for the other two songs.
One of the dilemmas I come across while writing for this blog is to what to categorize each artist in our internal database. For example, Space Cubs was raised in Buffalo, but now calls the backwoods of the south her home. Should I still categorize her “Buffalo” or should this be “New Music?” Should anyone who has ever lived in Buffalo always be considered Buffalo? Regardless, former Buffalo-based spacey electronica songstress, Space Cubs, the performing/writing moniker of Suzanne Lee Bonaficio, released a new single titled “The Eye.” Normally we are on top of these things, but with the year end round-ups, personal responsibilities, and all-around burning out of contributing to a blog, we missed it. “The Eye,” much like others in Space Cubs’ repertoire, is a new age climber topped soothing vocals. What’s different about “The Eye” is that the vocals are a little more R&B tinged, almost like a[...]
For a while, Kharlos was a pretty tight lipped secret. After the intense word-of-mouth from their first show, we were very curious about their sound which was being described as “awesome” and “sick.” The band is not really into the social media game, preferring the music to speak for itself. Regardless of their internet presence, Kharlos is composed of the guitarists/singer from defunct (?) grunge-act, Merchants (Ben Maries and Steve Gordon), along with Space Wolves/The Hamiltones drummer, Chris Scamurra. Fans of Diarrhea Planet, Wavves, and Bass Drum of Death should consider themselves Kharlos fans. Also on the bill is Poindexter, a band that could have easily been on Kung-Fu in the late 90’s, and rock and roll vets, The Good. Doors are at 8pm with a $5 cover. Did I mention this is at Mohawk Place? It’s at Mohawk Place.