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Tonight: The Soft Love

January 17, 2015

What the hell is The Soft Love? The band has no recorded material to its name, has never played a show (although that will end after tonight), and yet, at the time of this posting, has over 80 RSVPs to this evening’s event page. Well, we do know some info about the band. The four-piece is made up of members of the recently departed Son of the Sun and former Mohawk greats, The Thermidors, so the pedigree and benefit of the doubt is certainly on the band’s side. And according to member Jeremy Franklin, the quartet will be tapping into some of that darker garage sound ala Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, so he’s got me listening. You can find out what the hype is all about tonight at Nietzsche’s as The Soft Love will make its live debut supported by Rochester’s The Absolutes and DJ Lulu, so I suppose we can[...]

Tonight: Aircraft Welcomes The Future

December 31, 2014

Tonight the future will be now when blog favorites Aircraft, The Tins, Equality Knowledge & Light (Dr. Ooo, Sleep Close Death, Goodman Brown, Truey V, WZA, and Whoizzy), and Lesionread polish off 2014 and ring in 2015 at Nietzsche’s. This all star line up will be transforming that well worn and venerable Allentown venue into a psychedelic starship that’s going to take us all into the future and showcase some of the finest and forward thinking acts in Buffalo. $5 gets you in the door, champagne at midnight, plus some of the best hip hop, psych-pop and future pop in the city. Music starts at 9:30. See you there.

Tonight: The Irving Klaws

October 31, 2014

All Hallow’s Eve in Allentown… when the weird go pro and Halloween gets back to it’s primal roots, and there’s no better place to let your freak run wild than at the Nietzsche’s Halloween Party featuring local freaks The Irving Klaws, Small Smalls and ronaldraygun. Billed as a “freakshow tribute to music from the movies,” there is no way it’s not going to be bonkers (especially with the wonderfully sinful Irving Klaws involved), but if you throw in giveaways and a costume contest with a $100 prize, a bonkers time is guaranteed. $5 gets you in and the wildness jumps off from 10 PM.

Tonight: JPNSGRLS

October 24, 2014

Tonight marks the unofficial start to Halloween Party season here in Buffalo, but it should be noted that a decidedly less spooky option is going down tonight if you haven’t put a costume together yet. Vancouver’s JPNSGRLS will make a stop on their international tour to famed Allentown go-to, Nietzsche’s this evening. Self-described as high voltage garage-pop, the band’s set is full of energy and crunchy, head bobbing tunes. Think Hot Hot Heat mixed with Two Door Cinema Club and Foals, and you have a good start. Also on the bill is a fresh out of hibernation American Stories and Lockport’s Dark Eyes 55, with Allentown mainstay, Shaken Stylus, spinning choice records between sets. Music kicks off tonight at 9pm. $5 will get you through the doors.

Tonight: Zak Ward EP Release Show

October 18, 2014

Join Niagara Falls native, and former Son of the Sun front man, Zak Ward at Nietzsche’s tonight for the much-anticipated release party of his latest EP, That’s What You Get (think Woods, M Ward, early Wilco). Ward, who calls the record “his best work to date,” will be accompanied by a live band, featuring guitarist Sonny Baker and SOTS drummer Brandon Delmont. Tonight’s show, also features two openers, including an acoustic set by Buffalo’s own Sleepy Hahas. Rounding off the bill is folk/rock Chicago duo Joyeux. Doors for the show are at 9pm, with Sleepy Hahas slated to perform at 9:30pm. Ward and crew take the stage around 11pm. Don’t be late for what the Buffalo News is hailing as one of the four best club shows of the weekend.

Tonight: Soul Butchers

October 16, 2014

It’s going to get hella weird tonight at Nietzsche’s when some of Buffalo’s (and beyond) more out there bands – Soul Butchers, Bike Cops, and Supergoner – unleash some high octane pre Halloween wildness. There’s something delightfully skeevy, dangerous, and wrong about Soul Butchers, whose 18 Wheeler EP makes for excellent reckless driving music, while Chicago  thrashers, Bike Cops, and 90’s rockers, Supergoner, will round things out with more music from the wrong side of the tracks. Doors open at 9pm and expect a modest cover.

Tonight: Filmstrip

October 15, 2014

Cleveland’s Filmstrip is an interesting band to listen to because they sound like guys who could explode into cathartic-but-too-obvious fuzz at any moment, but who choose not to. It’s reductive to call a band “mature” just because they aren’t ear-splittingly loud, so let’s just call them patient. Besides, “mature” indicates at best that they’ve totally figured themselves out, and at worst that they’re past their prime, and none of that is true. Their three most recent singles showcase the band tinkering with a few sounds: slower, melodic indie rock on “Stuck on Explode,” something like Neil Young & Crazy Horse on “Up on the Promenade,” and countrified punk a la The Men on “Waiting on a Train.” Hard to say where they’re headed, exactly, but I think the maturation is ongoing and that the best is yet to come. So check ’em out tonight at Nietzsche’s with local psychedelic doomsurfers[...]

Tonight: Shilpa Ray

August 23, 2014

Shilpa Ray has a long and passionate history with the city of Buffalo. The NYC resident has played our little nook for years, both as a solo act and as the front woman for Her Happy Hookers. Since her visits began nearly a decade ago, Buffalo has embraced her with open arms, perhaps because, as the old saying goes, real recognizes real. Shilpa is an artist’s artist; a commanding lyricist, powerful stage presence, and a unique entity in todays mish-mash world of categorized phonies. An infusion of blues, punk, rock’n’roll, and soul is perhaps the only good way to describe her sound. Look to 2011’s Teenage and Torture for assurance and to have your mind absolutely blown. Girls got pipes. Tonight, Shilpa will be playing Nietzsches, her main stomping grounds since Mohawk closed, along with the fast-rising duo, She Keeps Bees. As both are known for their eclectic and moving live shows,[...]

Tonight: The Found

August 6, 2014

The Found don’t play all that much these days. With members relocating out of the city, it’s rare to come across a local, or any gig for that matter, from Buffalo’s psych infused garage rockers. But the planets aligned just right this evening, so head over to Nietzsche’s to catch the band as they return to a 716 stage. If you are new to the Found, the band’s sound ranges from the Rolling Stones and Deep Purple to more modern acts like the Black Keys and Monotonix, save the antics. Check out their most recent album, 2012’s 4, over at their soundcloud page to brush up. Providing support for the Found this evening are Handsome Jack, a band that is the living embodiment of the Dazed and Confused soundtrack. The long time Buffalo act has a new album set to drop this fall so listen up for some fresh material[...]

Harvest Sum

June 19, 2014

Back in 2006, I really didn’t know much at all about Buffalo’s local music scene. I just graduated from college and returned home to figure out my next move. While working part time at UB, my boss turned me on to this band he liked from this local label. He told me a guy he went to high school with played guitar in it and I should check it out. Said it had some poppy Wilco vibes going on. He burned me a copy of the Old Sweethearts’ Arms of the Town and I was hooked. I didn’t know there was local music that could affect me like those bigger bands that stopped in our city once in a blue moon, if we are lucky. I wanted to find more acts like this. I started visiting Mohawk Place on a semi-regular basis. Being from Amherst, I never went into the[...]

Tonight: Big Neck Fest

June 12, 2014

According to Bart Hart, it all started in 1994. It sounds like the beginning of a campfire horror story. A story that the ‘bro’ antagonist tells to get the big breasted cheerleader scared. However, Hart’s story is a bit more seedy and endearing, consisting of a bar called Ashbury Alley, punk rock, and of course Buffalo. Formerly the Rust Belt Show, the Big Neck Fest returns with its annual festival for the 15th year. Presented by Shaken Stylus and Queen City ex-pat record label, Big Neck Records( now based in northern Virginia). Tonight, Big Neck Fest will commence for its Day 1 festivities at the Allentown staple, Nietzsche’s. Big Fest isn’t just any  rock show. This is a festival that managed to bring Jay Reatard to Buffalo in its first two years back in 1999 and 2000, and this year isn’t any different. Headlining Day 1 will be Chi Town’s[...]

Tonight: The Goods

May 28, 2014

Over the last few months, the eclectic musical exports of Fredonia have caught our attention with bands like fuzz-rock trio Zealot and psych-pop outfit Mooses being featured here at buffaBLOG. The latest addition to that growing list are funk-rock band The Goods, a three piece consisting of Nate Schwartz on guitar, vocals, and saxophone, Sam Pavlovich on Bass, and drummer Colin Gray. Having played regularly throughout the Fredonia area as well as a handful of appearances at the upstairs venue of Buffalo’s Mr. Goodbar, the trio brings their experimental, melodic blend of jazz, rock and funk to Allentown tonight for a headlining show at Nietzsche’s.  Their self-titled debut EP, released this past December, features four tracks ranging from guitar-driven pop-rock, to groove based funk and straightforward, riff-heavy rock. The record is currently available for download on Bandcamp along with a recently released update of the sprawling, sax-centric jam “Earthman“. Music starts at 10pm,[...]

Tonight: Marco Benevento

May 16, 2014

Much like the rambling drags of his jazz-infused keys, Marco Benevento has wandered among the ranks of a star-studded list of musicians with whom he has shared both stage and studio. Anastasio (Phish), Chamberlain (Pearl Jam), and Traver (Rubblebucket), just to name a few. Through his genre-transcending sets steeped in everything from elegant classical compositions to psychedelic jams and vibrant dance electronica, Benevento creates a free-flowing experience of a live show that one should find themselves hard-pressed to miss. He’ll be bringing it all to Nietzsche’s tonight at 10pm, $15 Door

Tonight: Night Birds

May 15, 2014

Before heading to Canada for a couple gigs, New Jersey’s Night Birds will make a quick stop at Nietzsche’s this evening, not Broadway Joe’s as originally planned. The band plays a brand of fast-paced raucous surf-punk that is pretty well-received in our city. They also wouldn’t sound out of place on an early Tony Hawk Pro Skater game. Providing local support tonight will be instrumental surf trio Aaron & the Burrs as well as the crispy new post-punk act Orations. Show kicks off at 8:45 sharp. $6 will get you through the door.

Tonight: ElectroRespect 7 – A Tribute To Mark Freeland

May 3, 2014

Tonight, a cavalcade of musicians and Freeland devotees will be converging on Nietzsche’s for ElectroRespect 7: A Tribute To Mark Freeland to get their freak on and support the upcoming tenth anniversary edition of the Buffalo Infringement Festival. Ed Koban, Funk Monster and Woman, David Kane, John Toohill, Disobedient Quartet, JeffRepeater, Aversa Army, Lemonade, Gumwads, Moonpowder, and blog favorite Lesionread are coming together to honor and remember fallen local musician/artist/hero/Pride of Kenmore Mark Freeland, who we lost in 2007. Doors open at 9 PM and $5 gets you in, with proceeds benefiting Infringement and its 10 years of daring DIY art happening excellence across our city. Musical wildness, respect, and raising money for a good cause… you can’t go wrong.