Latest Posts

Soft Cough – Soft Cough

July 13, 2015

Geneseo’s Soft Cough has been hard at work. Their tunes may be slackish (deliciously so, I might add), but I wouldn’t jump to call them slackers. The garage-pop quartet takes a well-deserved pride in the flourishing Geneseo music scene that they support, and that support does not go unrequited. Over the past year the band has developed quite a following in the college town to which they call home base, following a barrage of house/living room/basement/campus/other shows, many of them self-organized. There is a commendable DIY ethic surrounding these guys, and it is that ethic that shines through and makes their fresh self-titled debut such a charming effort. Now, on to the music. Recorded by the band members themselves in the living room of Mute City (their house), and mixed by Ben Freiman (their drummer), the sound is naturally lo-fi in nature. And lo-fi is as lo-fi does. But let[...]

The Huckleberry Fins Return with New Single and Video

July 13, 2015

We got pretty hyped back at the end of 2013 when we came across the Rochester surf trio, The Huckleberry Fins. The group’s French Kiss flavored “Wild Blue Yonder” was like fire over at the blog office (ranking #10 on our favorite Rochester songs of the year), and we couldn’t wait to here what would come next from the threesome. After flying under the radar for what was quickly approaching two years, the band is back with a great new single and an accompanying music video for the track “The Sun is Setting.” The song could easily be included on a future Captured Tracks compilation as it brings to mind early Beach Fossils, while the video find the Huckleberry boys showing off some skate boarding moves through the streets and parking garages of Rochester. “The Sun is Setting” is the first single on the band’s upcoming 11-track LP, Pipe Dreams,[...]

Passive Aggressives Anonymous Releases New Single “Many at Once”

July 10, 2015

Tongue-in-cheek, Rochester crooner John Valenti and his band Passive Aggressives Anonymous have released a new single this morning, titled “Many at Once,” the follow up to the group’s late 2014 EP, Not so long songs of longing. If this is your first introduction to Valenti, think laid back Father John Misty showmanship meets Jens Lekman heart on his sleeve charm. Valenti and crew have the ability to romance you right off your feet, all while grinning ear to ear. PAA’s whimsical new song details the pros to keeping your options open when it comes to the opposite sex, all while striking riffs and fluttering strings back the dreamy, lounge ready number. In other Valenti news, the songwriter recently directed a clip for Kingston, NY musician Shana Falana. The video features appearances by fellow Roch musicans and Valenti buddies Buffalo Sex Change and just premiered yesterday on Paste. Check it out here.[...]

Pappy Stardust Drops All Around Sound‘s First Single

July 10, 2015

Buffalo psychedelic rocker Pappy Stardust (aka Steve Leszyk) has dropped a new single, titled “Ebb Rider (The Wave),” in advance of his upcoming full length release All Around Sound,  due September 5th. It’s a mind shredding face melter that should not be listened to while operating heavy machinery. Consider yourselves warned.

The Color Waves Drops Debut Singles

July 9, 2015

The Color Waves is cross Atlantic collaboration between fellows Scots Gary Hoggan (formerly of Butcher Boy) and Alison Eales. Hoggan moved to Buffalo a few years back, while Eales still calls Scotland home. Yesterday, the dreamy, jangle-pop pair released two tracks from its upcoming 7′ Chirology. Both songs, in particular the co-lead “Rose,” are darkly beautiful, and fans of Low, Belle & Sebastian, The Sleepy Jackson, and The Radio Dept should give the songs a spin. Keep an eye out soon for physical release of Chirology through Cloudberry Records (pre-orders are currently on sale here), and in the mean time, listen to the intimacy exploring title track below.

Tape Drive (Anthony Del Plato) Posts Debut Song

July 8, 2015

Anthony Del Plato is a man of many talents. Between his solo work, his collaboration with Brad Kujawski, and even an incredible cover of Stepfriends‘ “Strangers, Friends, and Pictures,” Del Plato has been a consistent fixture on our year end best-of lists. Today we share with you a new project of his: Tape Drive, born out Del Plato’s hopefully temporary inability to mic things up and get loud. Tape Drive is an instrumental electronic project. His first song, simply titled “Untitled Tape,” is two and a half minutes of ambient drums, bells, and soft piano. The track is chilltronica music for fans of The Album Leaf, Telefon Tel Aviv, or The Appleseed Cast. Check it out below.

Sonny Baker Premieres First Single from Upcoming Full Band EP

July 7, 2015

Today we have a release from Steak and Cake that is certainly worth noting. Sonny Baker, member of a bazillion other bands (Lazlo Hollyfeld, Wooden Waves, A Hotel Nourshing, etc.), has released the first single from his new project that’s bound to rock your face off. The song is called “You’re a Disaster/I’m a Disaster,” and will be featured on his upcoming, full band EP, Flesh It Out. It’s very reminiscent of old Japandroids: loud, simple, lo-fi, and just plain fun. The single opens up loud and throws dynamics out of the window. Immediately, we have the framework for the song  — a droning rhythm guitar with a short repetitive riff floating on top of it. The first verse comes in hot with slightly distorted vocals. There are a couple of different time changes in the song giving it a tiny bit of a math-y feel, but overall this is[...]

MD Woods Drops Volume Two of Young & Vain Series

July 7, 2015

“Folk” has gotten a bad rap lately. It’s easy to blame bands like Mumford and Sons and Of Monsters and Men—some of the so-called pioneers of the neo-folk movement—for saturating the genre with their pseudo-inspirational pop-folk tedium, formulaic songs custom-tailored for the mainstream. (Does M&S bashing ever really go out of style?) But mainstream disenchantment aside, folk is just one of those genres I can’t help but hold near and dear to my heart. The truthfulness of a good folk song is a special weakness of mine, and it’s refreshing to know that some artists can still do the ill-fated genre a little justice. With that said, it is my pleasure to introduce Young & Vain Vol. 2, the newest release from Rochester singer-songwriter MD Woods. Building on the warm and earnest foundations of last year’s Vol. 1, Vol. 2 delivers four more solid tracks to Woods’ four-part Young &[...]

Newish Star – His Excellent Ray

July 6, 2015

I was pleasantly surprised to receive an email from bandcamp the other day, noting that a band that I follow had a new release, and even more pleased when I saw that band was local indie/punk tinged act Newish Star. I don’t think I’ve ever talked to someone at buffaBLOG that wasn’t into NS, and that is for a good reason. Since its beginning, the trio has been able to produce some of the catchiest tracks that I have heard out of a local band, and with each release, the band has managed to show an extreme amount of progression. With that being said, it comes as no surprise that I love His Excellent Ray as well. The band’s description for its latest EP is “six songs inspired by ‘Dr. Dude and His Excellent Ray.'” No big surprise here given the trio’s bumper fondness, but “Dr. Dude and his Excelent[...]

slowshine – “Solid State”

July 6, 2015

I think it’s no secret at this point that I split my time between Albany and Buffalo. The drive sucks, but it definitely keeps my life interesting leading two completely different lives. One of the things I’ve liked about Albany life is being able to discover all the local bands/scene. Although there is are like two legit venues for indie bands to play in (with an additional two DIY venues that I know of), the quality coming out of the region is pretty remarkable with what seems to be little support. This brings me to the band slowshine, an Albany-based three piece that I first discovered when researching the 17 Best Bands to check out at Move Festival.  Consisting of the songwriting partnership between Noah Bondy and Cameron Castan, and a rotating drummer, the duo seems to be on the bill for every great indie show coming to the capital region. In[...]

Teenage Satan Drops Video for Cheerful Medley

July 2, 2015

Speaking of new local music videos, experimental folk act, Teenage Satan, has just released an accompanying clip for its latest EP, Cheerful Medley. The bedroom project of Kimmy’s Dan Bauer added to its steadily growing catalog near the back end of June with the 2-track release, and just yesterday, paired the songs with a John Heim produced video featuring cuts from old home videos and films. The frequent pensive and worried looks match well with Teenage Satan’s off-kilter pop sounds. You can stream the two tracks at Teenage Satan’s bandcamp page here. Watch the video for Cheerful Medley below.

Aircraft Releases Music Video for New Single “Dig A Little Deeper”

July 1, 2015

Aircraft has been paying its dues for quite some time now, especially after 2013’s debut LP Sonic Boom made some waves in the Buffalo scene and cemented the four-piece as both great songwriters and nuanced psych-poppers. Two years later, the group is about to release its follow up, an EP titled 7 Gems from the Sparkling Void. Yesterday saw the premiere of the EP’s first single, “Dig A Little Deeper,” via Pure Volume, and today, the track’s music video has debuted. The aptly-titled seven-song release is a perfect representation of Aircraft’s ethereal, occasionally surf-tinged space rock and is bound to propel the band to heights unknown. Local dynamo label Admirable Traits will be releasing 7 Gems from the Sparkling Void on August 28th, while the band’s release show is tentatively scheduled for August 29th with Rochester favs Pleistocene and new rock-saviors, Sixties Future. Watch the video for “Dig A Little Deeper” below. Video by Jeff Mace and[...]

MileHighMuzik Drops Visuals for “Smile”

July 1, 2015

The MileHighMuzik crew is always releasing something. The rap workaholics closed out last year with “Juugcember,” a stretch of 31 song releases for each day in December. In the half year since, they’ve been giving Juugcember tracks like “Red Carrera” video treatment. Their latest visuals accompany “Smile,” a track loaded with some great verses from the crew, a killer chipmunk sample in the beat, and a smooth neo-soul effort from Teddy Bear Casanova. As always, new MileHigh is on the way. Group leader M-A is already working on tracks for the group’s upcoming project Juugly. Check out the vid below and stay tuned for more from the hip hop group.

Neil Young and Promise of the Real – The Monsanto Years

July 1, 2015

Sure, in writing it sounded like a good idea, or at the very least a ballsy and righteous one. Neil Young, one of rock’s most dedicated social and environmental activists, dedicating the space of an entire LP to taking down one of the most controversial corporations in modern America, Monsanto Company, your trusted neighborhood manufacturer of carcinogenic PCBs, genetically-modified farming seeds and various herbicides. But political art – be in poetry, literature or music – is a delicate balancing act, and usually necessitates a less-or-more approach. This is the central problem for Neil Young and Co. on The Monsanto Years: he drives home the same points so heavy-handed and incessantly that his message grows dull and befuddled long before the record’s end. Attempts to clarify his argument – on “A Rock Star Bucks A Coffee” he addresses legislative efforts to have GMO foods labeled, and the company’s responding lawsuits –[...]

Victory For Poland Re-emerges with “Summer Solace”

June 30, 2015

Its been a minute since we heard from former high school all-stars Victory For Poland. A couple summers back, V4P, along with fellow underage acts like Brimstone Blondes and the Cascos, seemed like the next wave of great Buffalo bands. Then college happened. Since then, front man Tylor Colby put out a solo album on LIPS Records and future V4p material seemed less and less of a possibility. That is until late last month. The band announced a self-titled LP was in the works and teased that a single would soon be released. That single, “Summer Solace,” was just dropped last night. First of all, the song is bouncy as hell, and as for Colby, he seems to have developed a snarl similar to that of Joseph D’Agostino (Cymbals Eat Guitars). Plus, those horns give it just a touch of a ska vibe. Give “Summer Solace” a listen below and keep[...]