Latest Posts

Louis Bijoux Releases Debut Album

September 9, 2014

One of the more interesting releases we have come across this week is the debut project from Rochester based pop musician, Louis Bijoux. That’s about all we could find on the guy. His first release, Bijoux, is a collection of lo-fi, Cure-esque post punk backed by off-beat, Wesley Willis melodies, in particular on track four, “Tetra Town.” The album’s stand out song, the playful “Owe Ya,” sounds like Ariel Pink if he had to play an 80’s prom Check out the full album at Bijoux’s bandcamp page here, and if you know more about this project, let us know. Listen to “Owe Ya” below.

Death From Above 1979 – The Physical World

September 8, 2014

What do you do after mysteriously and quietly disbanding one of Canada’s most buzz­worthy acts? Well the answer turns out to mysteriously and quietly reunite and record an amazing sophomore album. Death From Above 1979 is back with a decade of experience behind them, and it shows in The Physical World. The guitar hits hard, the lyrics bite down, and all of the tracks feel gritty. The album is fresh while still accessible to the fans that have worn out 2004’s You’re a Woman, I’m a Machine. There is a mix in The Physical World that will hit a lot of different cords. I hear flashes of the White Stripes, Them Crooked Vultures and even Fall Out Boy, but all blended together in a way that creates its own unique sounds. The duo does not betray its roots with the new album, and that is exceptionally clear in their radio releases “Trainwreck 1979” and “Government Trash.” If[...]

Interpol – El Pintor

September 8, 2014

After nearly twenty years of creating music, inclusive of a four year hiatus, New York City’s Interpol has produced an astonishingly flat album: El Pintor. At best, El Pintor is pedestrian; at worst, it is banal, unimaginative, and something of a cop-out. Perhaps it was the hiatus (2009-2013) that threw the band off kilter. Quite possibly, they are losing their touch, or maybe, after gathering such an ardent fan-base for nearly two decades, they merely stopped trying. Reminiscent to a bad amalgam between The Strokes and R.E.M., it sounds promising. The ultimate result, however, lacks any novelty. Upon first listening through the album, I initially had the impression that I had heard it somewhere before. This is, of course, because the album is indistinguishable from any other run-of-the-mill alternative rock album out there. In fact, what is probably most disheartening about El Pintor is not necessarily that it’s bad, but that it left me with no[...]

JOHNS Drop Exclusive New Track

September 8, 2014

Buffalo trash rockers, JOHNS, have just dropped a new single on their Bandcamp page. The song, titled “Palace of Ill Control,” offers the first taste of the band’s forthcoming LP Grift Marks. The new album has an anticipated winter release via Peterwalkee Records, the label responsible for Mallwalkers’ Shake the Rust Off. (It has also been rumored that PW is to have a hand in cross stitch’s new 7 inch—fingers crossed.) JOHNS’ new single hits pretty hard and sounds like something you might hear if you decided to bust out an old Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater game—a driving punk rock number fit to grind the tops of buildings to. The cryptically charged lyrics are sung with an urgency that brings stampedes and landslides to mind. Better be along for the ride. Check it out below.

Alpha Hopper – Let Heaven and Nature Sing

September 8, 2014

The title of Alpha Hopper’s Let Heaven and Nature Sing hints at harmony and order, and despite the fuzz and the dissonance, the album churns like a fantastic machine, pistons and gears lifting and pulling in sync. The two main drivers: the jagged, restless guitar work of John Toohill and Ryan McMullen and the stressed-out, frustrated vocals of Irene Rekhviashvili. Drummer Doug Schneider is no slouch either, holding things together behind the noise. But it’s the interplay between Rekhviashvili’s strung-out shouts and the guitars’ driving crunches that gives Let Heaven and Nature Sing much of its character. Take opener “Western Walk.” It starts off with an uneven stomp of a guitar riff which mimics the heavy steps of a drunk on a mission. Before your ear can adjust to the rhythm, Rekhviashvili comes in with her own off-kilter croon, filling spaces you didn’t even realize were there, drawing out and[...]

Handsome Jack Premieres First Single from Do What Comes Naturally

September 5, 2014

A slow week here in Buffalo finally got better today as some new music came to our attention. Long time Buffalo blues rockers, Handsome Jack, have released the first single off of their forthcoming album, Do What Comes Naturally. Titled “Echoes,” the track is a heavy, road house slow burner, touching on influences from the Rolling Stones to the Black Keys, and is best served in a dark bar with a shot of whiskey or two. Do What Comes Naturally is currently available for pre-sale on iTunes and will be officially released on October 7th via Alive Naturalsound Records. In the mean time, listen to “Echoes” below.

Cottage Jefferson – B-Side

September 1, 2014

So, all good things must come to an end. Damn you, Chaucer—right again. Cottage Jefferson, Rochester’s favorite fuzz band, played what they announced to have been their final show back in May. Thankfully, that hasn’t stopped the quartet from tying up loose ends and putting out one last hurrah of an album. Titled B-Side, the exceptionally nostalgic 10-track album is a warm embrace, a phantom limb, a fist in the air. The songs have a good range of feeling and style without sounding scattered, sitting contentedly between the twinkly mood-jams of Built to Spill and the lethargic thickness of Dinosaur Jr. The record opens with “One Verse, No Chorus,” a gleeful three-chord jam with noodle guitar breakdowns, crunchy chords, and (despite what the title describes) what I consider to be a very catchy chorus. The song has a very casual feel to it and no shortage of hooks. For most,[...]

The Weeknd – “King of the Fall

August 29, 2014

Weeknd season is here! The often-mysterious new age crooner is back with another X-rated RnB jam, now complete with a truly Weeknd-esque video. Abel walks without emotion through the streets of Toronto, likely in pursuit of the drugged out models that are featured in nearly every video of his. Being that it’s his second new video in a week, the Weeknd seems to be scheming towards some kind of release before the year concludes. He made waves with his hilariously vulgar feature on Ty Dolla’s “Or Nah,” and right now his relevancy may be even higher than when he dropped his solid, but disappointing studio album Kiss Land around this time last year. “King of the Fall” hopefully hints that the Weeknd will own the season’s sound waves in a manner that he did in 2011, back when his whole aura was still a mystery. That’s one of the things that’s interesting[...]

Applennium Releases “Old Maples”

August 29, 2014

So we may have let one slip under our radar. Earlier this year, local mood rockers Applennium stealthily dropped a new track on their Soundcloud page—a grooving song sounding like something off of Bombay Bicycle Club’s latest. The danceable track, titled “Old Maples,” is a bit of a stylistic departure for the band, leaving behind the dreamy folk twang of earlier material to capitalize on a peppy house-beat with a fat, juicy bassline. A rhythmically-played palm-muted riff and distant jangle-chords add a pleasing airy element to the track while the band’s chillingly good male/female harmonies round out the haunting number. Never a dull moment from this band—earlier this year they played a mind-blowingly good set for the Harvest Sum showcase of Herdfest, and wound up contributing a song to the label’s 2014 summer compilation, available here. Better six months late than never, enjoy Applennium’s “Old Maples” below. (You know, if[...]

Maurice – “Wxcked Girls”

August 27, 2014

RnB’s newest face comes from Ottawa, Canada. Emerging onto the music scene with a popular YouTube channel of covers, Maurice has the talent to be considered contemporaries with the likes of Frank Ocean, James Fauntleroy, and the rest of the biggest names in the genre. “Wxcked Girls” is one of three new tracks released by the 17 year old in conjunction with a feature on Noisey. On the track, Maurice alternates between pure singing and a hybrid rap with veteran skill, evidence of the artist’s original dream of becoming a rapper. It’s also revealed in the article that Maurice is a high school football player that fits his basement-studio recordings in between practice, school, and homework.  Without the music even being Maurices’s sole venture, the product is already there. Take this as an introduction to a young artist already ahead of the curve.

midnight Releases Followup Single

August 26, 2014

Rochester R&B crooner, midnight,  is back with his followup single to last spring’s slow jam of the season, “Adonis.” His latest single, “1v1,” sticks to the same format, sensual falsetto vocals over downtempo electronic backing. Although the song title sounds like it’s about a basketball game, I’m pretty sure it’s about banging. Fans of Kanye’s A Twisted Dark Fantasy, D’Angelo, and How to Dress Well would be the pretty hip to have this on their playlist. [soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/164874486″ params=”color=ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false” width=”100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]

Supergoner Post New Material

August 26, 2014

Buffalo quartet, Supergoner, posted late last week their new song”Glass Cannon.” The single is a 90’s flavored indie rock gem that encapsulates the vibe and feel of the era. Fans of Cloud Nothings, Dinosaur Jr., and Superchunk would dig this sound. Half of the members of Supergoner are formerly of defunct rock band, Concubine, so that’s why the vocals sound semi-familiar. Check out “Glass Cannon” below. [soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/164059325″ params=”color=ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false” width=”100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]

Brimstone Blondes – AGE OF CONSENT

August 25, 2014

Almost every song on Brimstone Blondes’ new album, AGE OF CONSENT, is a take down of some sort. The targets change and their crimes run the gamut from exploitation to allegations of rape, but lead singer Matthew Danger Lippman feels pretty much the same as he’s pointing his finger: a little superior, a little fascinated, a little impotent and a little weird. He separates the world into the exploiters and the exploited and stands, alienated, on the outside, passing judgment. Consider the opening track, “The Photographer,” an indictment of creepo photographer Terry Richardson, who has been accused of sexually harassing and exploiting his female subjects (or maybe an indictment of a younger imitator, given that the age mentioned in the song is 12 years off). Lippman is disgusted by Richardson the “ironic pornographer,” but he’s also seemingly fascinated by the fact that he has “all the girls” right up his sleeve. Despite the sex[...]

moverealfastSTOP Release Final Single

August 25, 2014

moverealfastSTOP announced that they would no longer be going forward with the musical project, which was born out of Queen City Music Lottery that took place last spring. As a parting gift, the band released their final single, “The Words Song.” The song is a mix of Lesionread’s delicate vocals, playful bass, purrs, and Cross Stitch’s Joleen Bolger’s accented yelps, and tempo-changes. moverealfastSTOP was one of more promising Lotto bands, and with the announcement of the absolution of the project, this puts added pressure on Scajaquada Creeps, who seem to be the last remaining active project from the lottery.

Cottage Jefferson Prep Final Album, Release “Trapper Keeper” Single

August 21, 2014

Rochester’s Cottage Jefferson appeared to call it quits earlier this past May  with an advertised final show  at the Bug Jar. One day after the group played their final show, they posted that they had enough material to produce one last album to be released later in 2014. Cottage Jefferson’s final album, titled B-Side, had its first single premiere this morning via CJ’s bandcamp page. “Trapper Keeper” continues the foursome’s crunchy, college rock tendencies, and should please fans of Yuck and minimalistic Dinosaur Jr.. You probably won’t be seeing Cottage Jefferson touring in support of the album. Members are scattered all over the state now, playing in different projects such as blog favorites Routine Involvements, Pleistocene, and Faux Leather Jacket. Look out for the full length when its released in full on September 4th. In the meantime, here’s “Trapper Keeper.”