Latest Posts

Dean Chatham Brings Wake Forest Experiences to Buffalo

College is a fun time for so many more reasons other than partying. In my experience, every decision you make either means nothing or ends up being way more important or influential than you could’ve ever imagined. New Buffalo-based rapper, Dean Chatham, has taken off with this idea of sorts on “Year 2.” Drawing inspiration from his experiences a year and a half into his Wake Forest education, Chatham jumps between his drive to succeed as a student and the inevitable urge to live the college life, especially being that he’s now a rapper. Chatham condemns himself and his classmates at times on the track for their university vices, rapping “My generation livin’ too fast, drop class for shot glass, I’ll be lucky if I pass.” But he knows he’s as scatterbrained and undecided as any 20 year old, going on to say “I’m in college, young and reckless is[...]

Purity Ring – “Begin Again”

Montreal electronica duo Purity Ring made a fairly huge splash a few years back with the groove heavy and hypnotic Shrines, and blew local minds when they played the Town Ballroom in 2013. On March 3rd, they’ll be back with the much anticipated sophomore effort, Another Eternity, ideal for the coming spring, and for taking your mind off of the inevitable Garth Brooks in Buffalo mania we’ll all be suffering. Purity Ring have also released the album’s second single, “Begin Again, included for your enjoyment, along with a pleasant flashback to their 2013 show at the Town Ballroom. “Begin Again” “Lofticries,” April 23rd, 2013 at the Town Ballroom.  

Ad Astra Debuts First Single

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.

Passive Aggressives Anonymous Drops New EP

In yet another installment of buffaBLOG’s ‘we missed a lot of good music over holiday break and now we’re playing catch up’ series of posts, I find myself unabashedly swooning over the satirical croon-rock songs on Passive Aggressives Anonymous’ new EP, Not so long songs of longing. For those of you unfamiliar with the Rochester quartet, think the tongue-in-cheek lyrical prowess of Father John Misty meets the charming sounds of Yo La Tengo. There, somewhere in the middle (and probably off-center a bit), you’ll find Passive Aggressives Anonymous. The five songs on Not so long songs of longing are all full of finely-tuned nuances that one may miss out on upon first listen. Singer John Valenti’s theatrical baritone is easily appreciated over the smoothness of the lounge-like instrumentation, but an attentional listen-through reveals an enjoyable irony in the music’s romantic nature. Take “Grinding” for example: “Let’s spend the night grinding…[...]

Symphonic Electronix Drops New Single, “Lila”

Electro-psych producer, Symphonic Electronix, has been dropping music on his bandcamp page since 2011, but it wasn’t until yesterday, after stumbling upon the new single “Lila,” that I started paying attention. The song itself is hard to peg. There is some Tame Impala, latter day Beatles, abstract Joy Division, maybe even some Tortoise all sprinkled in there. I’m still looking for a better comparison, but regardless, it’s a great tune, something that wouldn’t sound too out of place on a future Steak and Cake compilation. Anyways, take a listen to “Lila” for yourself below.

The Traditional – How To Live Without Blood

“So I’ll sort through the shorts of this ashtray of my past and smoke one for every time I was happy… I’ll smoke one if I’m lucky.” Harsh, maybe… But it’s just one of many curses that fill How To Live Without Blood, the latest release from Buffalo’s own The Traditional. Singer/bassist Anthony Musior is no doubt this band’s songwriter, filling these songs with powerful personal references and thinly veiled attacks about the heaviest of subject matters. Musior, or “Mewsh” as most of the world lovingly knows him, has been working towards this moment for a long time. That’s not to take any of the onus off of guitarists Ryan Bennett and Mike Bienias, or the pristine backup vocals of drummer Jon Coric… Collectively, The Traditional is one of the hardest working bands in Buffalo. But with only an EP and a split to their name, How To Live Without Blood feels[...]

Panda Bear – Panda Bear Meets the Grim Reaper

Since his 2007 album Person Pitch, Noah Lennox’s Panda Bear has been the gateway drug into Animal Collective. Both outfits feature the same qualities: zone-out repetition, upfront rhythms, a swirl of ineffable sounds, and summer camp sing alongs. Their success both lies in combining something confusing with something instantly gratifying, a perfect distillation of modern times. But where Animal Collective’s music seems to occupy a beautiful but more chaotic place, Lennox has always gone for the sweet spot. Originally too hesitant to bring his own songs into the group, Lennox did so upon the urging of other members, and it all eventually came to a head on Merriweather Post Pavilion. Now it seems like Lennox’s music as Panda Bear, at least popularity wise, has surpassed that of his band’s. Following 2011’s Tomboy, an album Lennox wanted to revolve around just guitar, rhythm, and drums, on Panda Bear Meets the Grim Reaper,[...]

Brian Bishop Releases the Intimate Rock Songs for Slow Dancers

Last month, Ithaca based singer/songwriter, Brian Bishop, quietly released a startlingly intimate and powerful collection of original folk songs. Rock Songs for Slow Dancers covers a vast expanse of territory and each song seems to takes on a different mental landscape or setting, from the open and pastoral (“Meadow Love”)  to the maze like surroundings of a library, “Library Love Song,”  from the recesses of desire (“Wake Up”) to the detachment of an individual in a soundless glass elevator (“Like A Child”).  Bishop’s penchant for songwriting and his impressive lyricism is heard throughout.  Definitely an album to explore from start to finish, especially highlights “Wake Up” and “Flowers.”

Harmonica Lewinski Drops New Single, “King MTN”

Rochester surf punk delinquents Harmonica Lewinski dropped a new single last week on the brink of 2015 billed as a “hidden gem” on the single’s Bandcamp page, and they’re not lying. Clocking in at over 5 minutes long, “King MTN” takes on an almost epic feel in spite of it’s gloriously louche and trashy vibe, calling to mind David Lynch, vintage John Waters, and Link Wray. The ideal soundtrack for wreckless driving, smoking in the bathroom, and making out in the bushes, “King MTN” is free, nasty, and a fine way to get 2015 started off right. Enjoy.

Another M Gets a Clean Rerelease from Sammus

In June of last year, female rapper and Ithacan Sammus dropped Another M, a project reimagining the tale of classic video game character Samus Aran. The main character in the Metroid series, Samus was the first female protagonist for many gamers. Samus’ identity was ambiguous as she marched through the game, defeating anything in sight on her path of heroics. The artist Sammus drew parallels between herself and the character that had surprisingly profound affect of gender stereotypes on Another M. To kick off the new year, Sammus gave us another chance to discover a very cool, yet powerful project with a release of the clean version. The production of Another M has a distinct video game feel to it, a testament to Sammus’ past venture as a producer for games. It’s filled with arcade synths and blips and bloops, along with noises that sound just like action queues in a game. It’s as if[...]

Jacob Peter Releases Wind Song

Still catching up from the holiday lull, personally. Takes a lot out of you to get through another year and there’s some stuff that got lost in the mix. Jacob Peter’s Wind Song, for instance. He sent this over a while back and I’m just now getting to write it up. Jacob plays guitar with Humble Braggers, but his solo EP is a different beast. Much folkier, for instance, and much moodier. There are some very catchy pop songs on here (like the opener, “Stella”) but it’s definitely at its most interesting in its broodier, more Jeff Buckley-esque moments  (for example, “The Line Between Us and Being”). Check out the rest of the EP here. [soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/177561709″ params=”color=ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false” width=”100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]

Northern Spies Debut Material

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.

The Afterbirth Tycoon Releases Purgatory On Parade

Power trio, the Afterbirth Tycoon, have been at it for nearly a decade, however in the past year,we have seen more activity from the outfit. Late last spring, the three piece released Late Bloom, a 10 track studio recorded release, and then last week, they hit us with another garage blue nugget in the form of the six track, Purgatory on Parade. The EP was recorded with Matt Smith at his Hi-Lo Studio earlier this summer, and mastered by John Angelo at Slave Pit Studios in Richmond, VA. “Matt is actually going to be moving,” guitarist/vocalist Jason Pitcher says, “so that will be the last session in his barn, but I hope to continue working with him wherever he lands. It’s always a good time working with Matt: no stress, lots of laughs, and I never hesitate to ask his opinion.” For the most part, Purgatory picks up where Late Bloom left off.[...]

Teenage Satan – Teenage Satan II

After a brief holiday hiatus, buffaBLOG’s Album of the Week feature is back in business. For the first time since the distant days of 2014, we have selected a local (or quasi-local) album, EP, or collection of songs that we find to be worthy of merit, and posted it up here for your listening pleasure. This week, for the first week of the new year, our collective ears were caught by the lo-fi bedroom folk songs on Teenage Satan’s second self-titled EP. Teenage Satan (aka Dan Bauer) doesn’t fully abandon the electronic nature of his first effort earlier last year, but he does take a bit of a departure on Teenage Satan II in the sense that he unplugs and picks up an acoustic guitar. The result is a little experimental, a little electronic, but decidedly folk-tinged this time around. Favoring humble organ tones over unearthly synths, Teenage Satan II[...]

Space Cubs Releases New Single

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[...]