Latest Posts

Dadstache Releases House Majority EP

July 20, 2015

It’s easy to play off garage rock as “easy.” Just get a couple of guitars, some loud shitty amps, your friend the drummer, and a buddy’s basement, and boom, you have a band. However it’s not that easy — try and tell that to John Dwyer or Ty Segall. Today, we have a release from House Majority out of Rochester. You see, they’d probably also be offended if you told them that, as their a pretty killer garage rock EP was just released in the physical form via Dadstache Records. House Majority rings true to classic garage rock. All four songs are high energy pieces with no frills. Just straight rock ‘n’ roll, reminiscent of the Stooges. Garage rock is facing a mild revival in some circles with guys like Ty Segall and Parquet Courts seeing the light of day. With songs like “And I Say” (the fourth song off[...]

The Loner(s) – I Wish Shit Would Stop Spinning

July 20, 2015

To a certain degree, there is something voyeuristic about any deeply personal album that someone decides to put out in the open. But it’s the combination of James Keegan’s forthright lyricism and “bedroomy” sound quality that provokes something especially voyeuristic. I Wish Shit Would Stop Spinning is the recent full length release from The Loner(s), a one man band out of Rochester. You can put this album on and have it totally stitch itself into the background while simultaneously feeling like your ear is pressed to James’ wall, listening to him play muffled guitar and grapple with some form of despondency. There are little foot notes under all 10 songs on Bandcamp that detail what day each song was recorded and how the song was recorded — all have been recorded on a digital portastudio or 4-track cassette recorder. I don’t get the immediate sense that perfect sonic balance is[...]

ASLaaVeNaMeDot Releases “Sacrifices”

July 15, 2015

Buffalo rapper ASLaaVeNaMeDot, or A Slave Named Dot, is a grinder, and he’s trying to get his smooth flow and reflective bars some recognition. His latest track “Sacrifices” discusses that chase. The thoughtful construction of “Sacrifices” makes more that just a struggle-rap song. The hook “I guess I gotta die to get my shit played” can be interpreted as a double entendre referencing the hard work that goes into “making it,” along with the unfortunate phenomenon we see in music (and hip hop in particular) of romanticizing fallen artists. Recurring gunshot ad-libs create a sense of hype that pairs perfectly with the mellowness of the song’s primary horn sample. This is a pretty cool song, effortless where it could be forced, dynamic when it could get stale.  Peep the song below, and check out ASLaaVeNaMeDot’s Lets Play mixtape, released earlier this year.

Animal Sounds Releases New EP

July 15, 2015

Animal Sounds is an instrumental quartet out of Rochester. The foursome’s new EP, Fling Mingus, is a three-song, funk-tinged adventure through twinkly guitars and interesting rhythms. Since releasing a debut demo last summer, Animal Sounds seems to have ditched some of its funk background for an “indier” sound. Still, “Money Is A Mind Game” is a great example of AS’s genre-defying tunes, blending mathy, Minus the Bear-like emo with a tinge of classic rock like Blue Oyster Cult and a pinch of start/stop fury of a band like Buffalo’s A Hotel Nourishing. Check it out below.

The Ginger Faye Bakers Drop Latest LP Smoke Signals

July 14, 2015

Smoke Signals, the second album from Rochester power trio the Ginger Faye Bakers, is a sinful and ridiculously enjoyable slab of instant classic rock that’s ideal for late night reckless driving, going camping with a case of Genny Cream and [redacted], and cutting school to get wasted. It’s also a perfect example of the amazing music floating around the increasingly local-centric internet in the post music industry 21st Century. Driven by a death metal guitar sound that swings between the heaviest Queens of the Stone Age and the glorious Black Sabbath riffage of Tony Iommi, and wild vocals reminiscent of Black Mountain’s Stephen McBean, Smoke Signals is like so many releases from our neighbors on the 90 East — heavy on tunes and riffs, and irresistible. The Baker boys (Nathan, Timothy, and Billy) take it even further however, taking illicit joy in their pleasantly dangerous heavy duty abandon. There’s a[...]

Tame Impala – Currents

July 13, 2015

Thanks to a Facebook post from my friend Matt, it has come to my attention that “Tame Impala is the Instagram of rock bands.” This comes as a part of a multiple-hundreds of words rant from this album review of Currents. First of all, if you read it, Will Neibergall writes a solid review of the CD, and he makes a point that can be argued for or against. It’s short and to the point, and it sparked a good ol’ Facebook discussion that I’m sure my friend Matt’s going to be notified of for the next couple days. And it definitely has been getting it’s click throughs and complaints. However I’m here to deconstruct it. “Tame Impala is the Instagram of rock bands.” It irks me to hear this bouncing around in my head. There are tidbits of the review and Mr. Neibergall’s analogy that ring true: “Instagram used to[...]

Passion in Constellation Releases Summer Anthem in “Tropical Love”

July 13, 2015

Alright, I am going to make a bold prediction. Passion in Constellation will be in the top ten for our annual end of the year top twenty countdown for songs coming out of Buffalo in 2015. For buffaBLOG top twenty historians, Passion in Constellation made a blip on our countdown last year at number sixteen with his collaboration with relatively undiscovered singer Cara Doyle. The pair reunited to strike gold once again, releasing the dance track “Tropical Love” this past weekend and it’s been on a 24-hour loop at the blog headquarters. Passion in Constellation is the production moniker for Buffalo-based electro-pop producer Chris Alan. Throughout the past two years under the Passion in Constellation name, Alan has progressively improved (but he started out awesome with the single “Sunlight,” so there was a bit of a lead start), proving the producer has a real ear for what translates. With Passion in[...]

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 &[...]