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Still Diggin’: Record Store Relationships

April 13, 2015

With Record Store Day quickly approaching, I’m reminded how much the record industry has changed. What was one a booming industry has needed the adrenaline shot of Record Store Day to keep many of the institutions we hold dear afloat. And the act of buying records, which was once a rite of passage, has turned into a niche hobby. But for me, record stores played a massive role in my childhood. More than simply a place to pick up that new Wolf Parade 7′ or an Of Montreal shirt, these were places where I could meet people who actually liked the same things I did, these places were special. And no record store was more special to me than Toronto’s Sonic Boom. Before changing owners, locations, and even being immortalized in film over the past five years, Sonic Boom was something magical in its original Bloor street location. My first[...]

Column 29: The Influence and Legacy of The Breakfast Club

April 3, 2015

As the 1970s came to a close, pop music found itself at a crossroads, Power rock bands like AC/DC and Led Zeppelin had ruled the back end of the decade, inspiring a generation of cartoon-ish imitators that would produce the Hair Metal of the 80s. But meanwhile, the start of a new movement was bubbling under the end of the late 70s, a generation was growing up on the angst and melancholy romanticism of bands like Joy Division and The Cure. This new sound would set the template for what would become the New Wave music of the 80s. This new musical movement would come to envelop and define the youth culture of the era. It should perhaps then be no surprise that young audiences were rejecting the simplistic archetypes and false emotion of the bubblegum high school movies of the time. This was until John Hughes. Drawing upon inspiration[...]

Tonight: Divers

April 2, 2015

With temperatures reaching the mid-60s, today offers Buffalo’s first real taste of spring this year. And I couldn’t think of a more perfect bill to celebrate the dawn of the new season than that at Curly’s (note: not the Lackawanna restaurant) tonight. The bill is headlined by Portland-natives, Divers. The band has made a huge impact in its home city, know for raucous live shows and is fresh off the release of the impressive new album, Hello Hello. Divers has an Americana punk sound that reflects artists like the Gaslight Anthem, Ted Leo, and Okkervil River, perfect anthemic rock for such a summery day. Divers will also be joined by a trio of local acts. First off, the melodic retro-punkers, Unwelcome Guests, who are playing their last show before embarking on a West Coast tour. Also make sure to get there early for the lo-fi slacker rock sounds of Difficult Night,[...]

Five Year Rewind: Staff Picks – Part 2

March 21, 2015

Since the blog debuted on March 28th, 2010, with a truly horrible post about a Passion Pit show (sorry Bill), our ever revolving staff of writers and contributors have spun hundreds of albums and songs, and attended more shows in and out of Buffalo than I dare to count. To commemorate our upcoming five year anniversary this Saturday night. we have assembled a cast blog writers from past and present, each discussing their favorite albums, songs, shows, and even some memories since the blog’s inception. Today is Part 2. – Mac McGuire Matt Moretti (Staff Writer) Favorite Album: Kanye West – My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy (2010) A masterpiece of a hip hop record, and probably my favorite of all time. The buildup included weeks of some of the best free music we’ve heard, in Kanye’s GOOD Friday series. It featured some of Kanye’s best songs of his career: his best rapping on “Gorgeous,” perhaps his[...]

Column 27: 50 Shades of Problems and a Grey is One

March 4, 2015

Over the past month, 50 Shades of Grey has been a near inescapable pop culture phenomenon. The film broke all kinds of box office records, its cast has been everywhere in the media, and has been the subject of all kinds of controversy. The film also banked a lot of its marketing on the strength of its soundtrack. Each 50 Shades of Grey trailer teased that the film would feature a reworked version of Beyonce’s “Crazy in Love,” and it seemed as if a single from the soundtrack was released every week leading up to the film’s release. So for a movie that promoted its soundtrack that heavily, does it live up to the hype? The answer to that question is a bit complicated. The soundtrack itself features a host of really beautiful songs from some of best upcoming names in contemporary pop music. British R&B singer, Laura Welsh, provides one[...]

Column 26: Kingsman: The Secret Service and the Changing British Identity

February 26, 2015

If you’ve seen early trailers for Kingsman: The Secret Service, you’ve no doubt seen what appears to be the most stereotypical British movie ever made. The film riffs on British cinema’s history of the gentlemen spy with Colin Firth, an actor who’s made a career out of playing characters of class and high society. The trailers project the idea of a film that will play note for note into the American image of British culture. Which is why the film’s soundtrack is a part of the larger surprise that Kingsman turns out to be. Contrary to the film advertised, the movie’s embrace of British culture is wholly contemporary. Our protagonist, Eggsy, comes not as the product of some prestigious university, but the council estates of Millwall, a character who spends his days rooting for his local football club and getting pissed up at the pub. While this doesn’t sound radically different,[...]

Kendrick Lamar – “The Blacker the Berry”

February 13, 2015

It’s not that often a song comes along and actually makes my jaw drop. Every once in awhile, I come across a great song, but it’s rare one is so powerful to shake me to my core. And that’s why I feel so compelled to talk about the new Kendrick Lamar single, “The Blacker The Berry”, because it is that kind of song. A discordant guitar plays over what sounds like repetitious chanting as the track begins, immediately creating an intense hellish atmosphere reminiscent of the production of Kanye’s recent Yeezus album, all before dropping a beat that wouldn’t be out of place on an old Wu-Tang record. Then Kendrick’s voice arrives, full of righteous anger and vitriol. Over the course of three verses Kendrick takes up the role of a young black man who has watched violence rip apart his culture, violence that ceaselessly plagues the black and poor[...]

Tonight: Tiny Desk Concert Contest Concert

February 12, 2015

For years, the NPR Tiny Desk series has been home to many artists from T-Pain and Macklemore to Adele and Foster the People. Some of the biggest artists in music today have played in the small cramped studio that NPR calls home. And thanks to NPR’s extensive reach, the search for new fresh talent has made it’s way to Buffalo. Tonight at Mohawk Place, there will be a showcase for Buffalo’s entries in the contest which includes some of Buffalo’s best bands, both young and old, like Parade Chic, the Observers, Applennium and Tiny Rhymes. Will NPR offer a Buffalo band this amazing opportunity to extend its reach? We’ll have to wait to find out. But either way, tonight’s showcase should be an incredible show of Queen City talent. The show at Mohawk Place starts at 8pm and tickets are $5 at the door.

Column 25: Chris Rock asks “What’s your Top Five ?”

February 11, 2015

With the last few months being the Oscar-obsessed prestige movie season, it’s easy for a lot of films to get lost in the shuffle. And sadly. perhaps no film seemed to get more overlooked than Chris Rock’s Top Five. While other filmmakers were releasing their maudlin war dramas and period-era biopics, Chris Rock quietly released the best comedy of 2014. More than that though, Top Five is a film that passionately embraces music, in a way unseen since John Cusack looked a camera dead-on and channeled the words of Nick Hornby in High Fidelity. The film takes it’s name from a point of discussion that reappears throughout the film, “Who are your top five rappers of all-time?” There’s a sharpness and candor to the dialogue in these scenes that’s rare when music is discussed in film. As characters take shots at each others’ picks and passionately defend their own, I[...]

Tonight: 12th Annual Cure vs Smiths Dance Party

February 7, 2015

Tonight is the latest in an ongoing battle, a war stretching back to 80’s Britannia before finding a contemporary home in Buffalo. This is The Cure vs The Smiths Dance Party. Originally stemming out of the indie/new wave-centric Transmission Dance parties, the Cure/Smiths’ night, which began at Mohawk Place over a decade ago, has become an annual Buffalo tradition. With the temporary closing of Mohawk and the event’s growing popularity, the clash has found many different homes in recent years, the latest at Buffalo Iron Works. Tonight, as he has for years, DJs Bill Page and Jason Draper will spin nothing, but the biggest hits to the most obscure deep cuts from the two iconic 80s bands. And while to some an entire night of wall to wall Smiths and Cure may sound like a cause for “Panic,” I can assure you, it’s “Just Like Heaven.” The undercard begins at 9:30pm[...]

Dr. Dog at Town Ballroom (1/21/15)

January 23, 2015

Wednesday night, Dr. Dog returned to Buffalo for their latest in a long list of memorable area performances. For a band that almost seemed to make Mohawk Place a temporary home on their stops through town, there’s been something inspiring in the sight of the crowds growing with each successive show at Town Ballroom. And with the Philly-based band touring in support of their new live album, Live at the Flamingo Hotel, it gave the band the perfect chance to put on a “greatest hits” show of sorts. With an arsenal of eight albums worth of gems behind them, the band came prepped with a set designed to please fans of every era of the band. Dr. Dog has always walked a fine line between indie rock and the Beatles inspiration they wear on their sleeves, and that was a line they felt safe crossing back and forth throughout the[...]

Column 24: The Oscars, Best Original Song, and Dreams of What Could’ve Been

January 21, 2015

And so Oscar season officially begins. With the announcement of last Thursday’s nominations, the annual awards campaign has kicked off. While there were notable surprises and snubs in every category, let’s get to the one that matters to readers of this blog though, Best Original Song. Lost Stars – Adam Levine (Begin Again) Grateful – Rita Ora (Beyond the Lights) Glory – Common & John Legend (Selma) I’m Not Gonna Miss You – Glen Campbell (Glen Campbell : I’ll Be Me) Everything is AWESOME!!! – Tegan & Sara and The Lonely Island (The LEGO Movie) That is the field for this year’s Best Original Song winner, which to me, could not be more depressing. In a year that was so uncommonly great for music in movie, to look at that crop as the “best” of the year seems so falsely representative of what the year was. There’s been a lot of[...]

Column 23: Jonny Greenwood and the Not So Groovy Tunes of Inherent Vice

January 15, 2015

Over the past few years, it seems filmmakers are increasingly turning to pop artists to score their films, leading to successful partnerships like that of David Fincher & Trent Reznor. Another fruitful collaboration that deserves mention is that of Paul Thomas Anderson and Radiohead’s Jonny Greenwood. The two first teamed for Anderson’s 2007 film, There Will Be Blood, and created not only a masterwork of a film, but also one of the most original and powerful scores of the last decade. On Inherent Vice, Greenwood returns again for his third collaboration with Paul Thomas Anderson. The film recalls an era of the past, the early 70s’, when the free-loving groovy hippie subculture was reaching it’s end in the shadow of the violent Manson family murders. The period also defined by the Nixon years when public officials came to be seen as paragons of corruption. This lead to a new time[...]

Column 22: The Cotton-Candy Cultural Critique of Spring Breakers

January 8, 2015

(Warning: This article contains some spoilers) As I look through my Facebook feed, there’s two articles that seem to repeatedly pop up in my feed over the past month, the Vice article “This Sad Generation Doesn’t Know When the Party Stops” and articles about Iggy Azalea’s appropriation of black culture. And while one wouldn’t think the two could be related, the two keep bringing me back to perhaps the most divisive film in recent memory, Harmony Korine’s Spring Breakers. To say that Harmony Korine’s film speaks the language of music is an understatement. Korine’s film not only understands the music it features, but also the culture that surround it. Music is intrinsic to the film’s very existence; and while there are moments of pop or rock music, there are two genres that provide the focal point for the film’s sonic soundscape: EDM and Trap Rap. In recent years, EDM music[...]

Column 21: A Look Back at the Music Related Films of 2014

January 2, 2015

While 2014 had it’s fair share of amazing films and music, I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t exactly a classic year for either. Which is odd, because while both may have been lacking, the convergence between the two this year has been extraordinary. Whether it was great original songs, stellar soundtracks, or in the stories themselves, music has been everywhere this year. Most interesting this year has been the slew of films actually about music. While every year seems to bring along biopics or docs, this year has produced a host of films actually about music and it’s effects on interpersonal relationships. Films like We Are the Best and God Help the Girl acted as a celebration of the bonds created through music. These films explored the nature of relationships created on the foundation of a shared appreciation of music and how strong said foundation can be. Sometimes[...]