Latest Posts

George Hollow – “New Boy George”

December 2, 2016

Pittsburgh’s George Hollow works off of his roots in the psychedelic and country to pump out uniquely twanged hip hop. Single “New Boy George” comes from Hollow’s Dreams of an Insomniac project, and is a showcase of dope flows, clever words and smooth sounds. The beat combines a little bit of chipmunk sampling with some dazzling piano and delicate guitar plucks. It’s lush but has the boom bap that lets Hollow handle it with the tenacity of a traditional emcee. The track is autobiographical, as Hollow discusses his past and present, his hopes and dreams, and his ideas and vices. Give Dreams of an Insomniac a listen and check out “New Boy George” below.

Novi Nov – “Thinkin’ Bout Ya”

June 1, 2016

Pop-rap, or rap produced with commercial intent is a relatively polarizing genre. Everybody has heard a joke about Pitbull or Flo Rida sucking (even though “My House” bangs). In that same vein though, it’s hard to ignore the catchiness and charisma that an artist like Fetty Wap carries with him on all those singles. Pittsburgh rapper Novi Nov comes from the world of one of the most commercially successful rappers of the last few years in Wiz Khalifa. Though he hasn’t reached that status, he’s churning out some simple, enjoyable rap tracks with memorable, sing-songy choruses to plant into listeners’ heads. His latest single “Thinkin’ Bout Ya” describes a lady who won’t escape Novi’s thoughts. The chorus is a ton of fun and Novi doesn’t hold back on verses, switching between rapid and melodic flows. Light-hearted, commercial music is often the most fun, and that’s what Novi goes for and[...]

Future Islands at Mr. Smalls (8/8/14)

August 11, 2014

This past weekend a couple of minor (okay, very minor) Buffalo imports hit up the Steel City as part of the Quad City Blogger Tour while one of Pittsburgh’s best-bred acts, the splice king Girl Talk, invaded Canalside. Hitching a ride with Buffalo Eats, a couple of us buffaBLOGGERS took full advantage of the wonderful accommodations that our host city, and more specifically the staff at Visit Pittsburgh, supplied. Between exploring some Pittsburgh attractions (the museum of megalomaniacal Andy Warhol may have been our favorite), and a lot of good eating and drinking (did I mention we traveled with Buffalo Eats?), we somehow managed to make a musical weekend out of it. Friday night in Millvale, about a ten minute drive across one of Pitt’s many bridges, we hit up Mr. Smalls for a sold-out performance from Baltimore’s Future Islands. It’s a super-quick ride over the river from downtown Pittsburgh[...]

Future Islands

August 8, 2014

A about a month or so ago, we were reached out to by Visit Pittsburgh, the Steel City’s travel bureau, inviting us down to the city this weekend for something called a Quad City Blogger Tour. Bloggers from Buffalo, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, and Columbus – the Quad Cities – were invited to check out the city, and write about their experiences. Seemed easy enough. Our long time blog buddies, Buffalo Eats, were also asked to come so we decided to make a road trip out of it. With Donnie and Ali (the Buffalo Eats crew) on hand, food and drink will be a flowin all weekend, but we needed some music hook for our writing. Lucky for us, one of 2014’s buzz bands, Future Islands, will be playing at Mr. Smalls this evening, so that helps us out quite a bit. The Baltimore based, post-punk/new wave act blew up this year[...]