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Neon Indian – “Annie”

May 26, 2015 Cliff Parks

Summer is definitely starting to jump, with show announcements and new music, and Neon Indian (aka Alan Palomo) is doing his part with his first new material since 2011’s excellent Era Extrana in the funky and reggae flavored “Annie.” It’s been far too long since we’ve been treated to the expressly psychedelic sounds of Alan Palomo, and even longer since we’ve seen him live in these parts (5 years since Soundlab), and even though there’s no word yet on a new album, this delightful morsel just might be enough to hold you over until beach season.

THICK WINTER BLUD Releases Music Video for “Garden Face”

May 26, 2015 Nick Sessanna

Wondering what to do with all of those leftover Memorial Day condiments? Take a page out of THICK WINTER BLUD‘s book – they made the best of their surplus in the music video for the new song, “Garden Face.” TWB excels at keeping things simple; think the best parts of I Can See Mountains mixed with ear-candy pop rock along the lines of Third Eye Blind or Guilt Show-era The Get Up Kids. There’s also a subtle “Banana Phone” reference… For all you Ebaumsworld alumni.

Hania Yiska – The Beauty Within

May 25, 2015 Ronald Walczyk

You could be listening to one of two different artists if you’re giving our latest album of the week a spin. Well, kind of. One of Rochester’s primo electronica artists, Jeffery Hull, writes under a slew of various pseudonyms, his name contingent upon the style and mood under which he is writing. For the purpose of this article, which highlights his latest release The Beauty Within, I’ll be focusing on two: Hania Yiska, which explores his sonic creations with vocals layered on top, and Mad Hugs, which is the artist’s instrumental side of things. It should come as no surprise that Hania Yiska and Mad Hugs are actually very similar; both projects are brainchildren of the same brain. Yet, where there are obvious and innate similarities, there are also small differences that mark an interesting variety in Hull’s electronic craft. While Yiska delves into vocal territory with a pseudo-experimental fervor[...]

Eskimeaux – O.K.

May 21, 2015 Brendan O'Connor

I remember a couple of years ago when I stumbled across a collection of demos from Eskimeaux on an “album” titled Igluenza. Eskimeaux was a name I had heard mentioned constantly, being interested in many bands in the budding lo-fi scene out of Brooklyn. I almost instantly fell in love with the innocence, honesty, and simplicity of those demo recordings. Digging farther back into the project’s catalogue, I could tell that founding member Gabrielle Smith was certainly onto something from the beginning. When Smith first started what would become Eskimeaux, she was making tracks which were much more avant garde in nature, featuring ambient, drone inspired, experimental electronics. Out of these humble beginnings, Smith began to embrace more of a bedroom pop, glo-fi sound. After enlisting the help of members of the art collective, Epoch, including Felix Walworth of Told Slant, the project really seemed to find itself After seeing[...]

Faith No More – Sol Invictus

May 19, 2015 Tim Fenster

Even while experi-metal rockers Faith No More helped inform so much heavy music of the 90s and early Aughts, they always seemed to be miles removed from it. In the early 90s they were too abrasive for the alt-rock crowd, too weird and unpredictable for grunge, and by the late 90s too arty for the likes of KoRn and System of a Down, the nu-metal freaks they’d helped inspire. But the group still maintained a sizable cult following that’s proven impervious to critical panning and total lack of chart hits – sans “Epic” and “Midlife Crisis” – and one that only seems to have grown since their temporary disbanding in ’99. It seems only now the band’s getting the dues they deserve, and they couldn’t have proven themselves with a finer, so-called “comeback” disc than Sol Invictus. Rather than try and build on their enormously varied body of work, the[...]

Teenage Satan Releases Latest Song “She Was My Ocean”

May 19, 2015 Mac McGuire

Experimental bedroom project, Teenage Satan (now performing under the name Kimmy), sneakily dropped a new song a couple days before the fully fleshed band open from Krill last night at the Glitterbox. Fronted by local writer, Dan Bauer, the now four-piece’s latest tune, “She Was My Ocean,” sounds like Bob Dylan fronting mewithoutyou. With a newly expanded band, and new name, keep an eye out for future releases from Teenage Satan/Kimmy at the band’s bandcamp page. Listen to “She Was My Ocean” below.

The Slums Debut New Song “Craw”

May 18, 2015 Nick Sessanna

Something about the word “craw” reminds me of The Slums – it’s almost as if I can envision them using the word regularly in conversation. Regardless, I think we’ll all be seeing the word “craw” around more often now. Fresh off their show with PILE this Sunday, The Slums have pumped out another half-hardcore, half-garage rock anthem. These dudes have been buzzin’ around town for just about a year now – articles and blogs are mentioning The Slums at every turn. If you’re late to hop on the bandwagon, imagine the dirtiest, sludgiest rock song from the 1950s with a whirling dervish for a front man… I hope that’s an apt enough description. “Craw,” the lead single off the band’s upcoming summer album, is available for your streaming pleasure below. Enjoy.

OHS – Long Legs

May 18, 2015 Ronald Walczyk

It stands to say that Sam Snyder is about as DIY as they come. The Rochester-based musician, commonly referred to as “Overhand Sam” on the local band circuit, is the emblematic jack-of-all-trades—writing, playing, recording, and engineering his own sonic outpourings. But his musicianship is not the only facet that defines him—Snyder also runs a local record label / production team hybrid called Turtle Phonic that records artists in his attic studio and subsequently promotes the shit out them. (Have a look at #turtlephonic on Instagram.) Snyder’s latest release under his OHS moniker—a “mini LP” titled Long Legs— is a stylistic potpourri, drawing influence from a grand multitude of artists and ultimately cohering into his most stimulating material to date. It’s tough to lay down an all-encompassing classification on such an eclectic bunch of tracks, though most of the songs share elements of psychedelia at its most basic of definitions. Sam[...]

The Tallest Man On Earth – Dark Bird Is Home

May 13, 2015 Ronald Walczyk

“Every day a growlin’ storm, but they’re kind somehow…” chirps Kristian Matsson, or The Tallest Man On Earth as he is so endearingly known, on the title track of his newest record Dark Bird Is Home, his lyrics still soaked with the stoic isolation that so beautifully sets the man apart from his contemporaries. While modern ‘folk’ artists (I’m looking at you Mumford and Sons, Lumineers) set their scopes on hand-clappingly accessible sing-along hits, Matsson continues to write songs for himself—unearthing his inner poeticisms and bearing them over songs with increasingly lush instrumentation. Though I’m reluctant to compare Tallest Man to anything that can be considered “modern,” his newest album does re-embrace the full-band jubilance of 2012’s There’s No Leaving Now. That’s not to say Dark Bird is without the profound simplicities that Matsson is known for, but the album does strike an interesting balance between the two. That balance[...]

Snoop Dogg – BUSH

May 12, 2015 Tim Fenster

Snoop Dogg sure is having one hell of a late-career rediscovery. After more than two decades in his revered gangsta rap persona, the D-O-Double-G reinvented himself as a peace-loving, rastacap-wearing reggae crooner for 2013’s Reincarnated. After that he had a brief stint as SnoopZilla, for his one-off 7 Days of Funk album with Dam-Funk, and a longer stint as DJ Snoopadelic, a phase which pretty much explains itself. For his latest project, BUSH, the unlikely hip-hop chameleon teamed up with Pharrell Williams for an upbeat set inspired by old-school funk, disco, and modern EDM music. Think Kanye’s 808s filtered through the jazzy funk amalgam of To Pimp A Butterfly’s production. What you end up with is the funnest, most-focused set of Tha Dogg’s career. The record opens with “California Roll” – a piece of sunny, Golden State-loving funk set over the bass-line and rhythms of “Drop It Like It’s Hot.” It’s[...]

Yes YES Drops Latest Song “Korean girls”

May 12, 2015 Mac McGuire

Buffalo’s most interesting man, Michael Ersing (aka Yes YES), continues to make Korea his new home. The always fascinating folkie has been making the most of his time overseas, appearing on Korean shows Hey Rookie and BalconyTV over the past year, and just last week, Yes YES dropped his latest song, the understated “Korean girls.” Featuring a very Andrew Bird like whistling intro, a melancholy Ersing delivers a bare bones, Jeff Buckley-esque number. Give it a listen below.

Space Cubs – The Fire And Things Forgotten

May 10, 2015 Steven Knapp

The Fire And Things Forgotten, the celestial debut full-length from Buffalo born electronic musician Suzanne Bonifacio (who records as Space Cubs), is the result of what the artist refers to as a “journey of creative reflection and change” that included a move to Chicago before settling in Charlotte, North Carolina. Drawing comparisons to experimental pop artists like Bjork, Grimes, and Jessy Lanza, Bonifacio’s strength as a songwriter lies in her ability to forge melodic, blissful sounds from underneath an uneasy, murky veil of reverb and restless percussion. Mostly recorded during a period where the artist found herself living in the middle of Pisgah National Forest, the album successfully conjures the remote, ruminative circumstances of its creation, as is apparent from the atmospheric opening cut, “Back Lies,” with its siren-like vocals and inviting melodic elements. The following track and lead single, “The Eye,” is perhaps the strongest display of Bonifacio’s classically trained vocal[...]

Mumford & Sons – Wilder Nights

May 5, 2015 Tim Fenster

Though the de facto leaders of the folk revival movement, Mumford & Sons have always been arena rock as much as anything. On songs like 2009’s “Little Lion Man” and “I Will Wait” off their GRAMMY-winning sophomore effort Babel, frontman Marcus Mumford brought a dramatic edge – and of course, huge singalong choruses – that practically demanded a huge starry-eyed audience. For their third effort, Wilder Mind, they embrace their inner pop – and populist – impulses, and, of course, plug in. And while they do deserve a kudos for a radical departure from a very successful formula,the results are anything but bold. With help from The National guitarist Aaron Dessner, the group employs a slow building and moody approach that replicates a watered down approach of that group’s style. They also add Coldplay-esque sentimentality, loads of boring chords that’d find home in a Snow Patrol songs and splashes of[...]

Sixties Future Premieres Debut Tracks

May 5, 2015 Mac McGuire

New to the scene, Buffalo four-piece, Sixties Future, debuted its first two tracks this morning. Featuring Mo Halliday, the former bass player of Sleepy Hahas, the quartet dropped the double single, “Skeleton”/”Shot” via soundcloud. Of the two, “Skeleton” is the stand out track, kicking off with a very “Heroes”-esque melody and featuring bassy National-like vocals and some retro organs. We hear a lot of Teddybears in the song. Both tracks can be streamed over at the band’s soundcloud page. Listen to “Skeleton” below.

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