Latest Posts

Alberto Alaska Debuts First Full Length Album, Possession

August 28, 2015

Alberto Alaska is a band with creative intention and control, and those qualities manifest themselves pretty apparently in both their recorded material and live performances. They don’t shy away from investing in their sound and there’s something laudable to be said of that. For roughly the past year and a half, the Rochester based quintet has plugged away in Buffalo’s own GCR Audio recording studio to perfect their first full length release, Possession. With distinct strains of 90’s era alt-rock woven in, the band’s signature heavy riffage style and soaring, ethereal vocals have made a bigger and better comeback on the new release. It tastefully mirrors bands like Circa Survive and Hrvrd but manages to maintain a feel of its own. The album itself is a true exemplification of the congruous relationship these guys have formed between purposeful art and unrelenting attention to sonic detail. Skillfully disembodied is the vibe[...]

Dumb Angel Readies Antenna, Shares “In Sun”

August 18, 2015

About four years ago, members of Rochester act the Instruments Band began recording the debut album for their new project, Dumb Angel, a trio featuring now Howlo band mates Justin Pulver (Europa & the Great Red Spot) and Ben Morey, in addition indie pop artist Blake Cooper. The threesome finally completed work on the album, titled Antenna, nearly a year ago and will be celebrating the release of the record next month on September 18th. Antenna will be available to purchase/stream via Dadstache Records and pre-sale orders are already being taken here. In preparation for Antenna‘s release, Dumb Angel premiered the record’s first single, “In Sun,” today. Fans of Howlo should be immediately drawn to the song’s nervy opening guitar line, but where as the former seemed to focus on crunchier alt-rock sounds, “In Sun” brings an easy going vibe and lo-fi guitars to the table. Think a straight forward Yo La[...]

Hieronymus Bogs – The Angel

August 17, 2015

With a name like Hieronymus Bogs, eclecticism is almost expected. The Rochester folk artist and group of musicians that embellish his craft—the appropriately-named Bogs Visionary Orchestra, or BVO—harbor few inhibitions and fully live up to their respective monikers. Bogs’ unique vein of rootsy outsider folk enmeshes poetry and performance, nearly evading traditional classification altogether. The end result is an art form equal parts unconventional and embraceable, a sonic tizzy of spoken-word poetry and folk-tinged orchestration. On his latest release, a nine-track collection of songs and poems titled The Angel (titled after a William Blake poem of the same name), Bogs (and company) keeps the instrumentation delicate and organic while his often interpretive lyrics remain soaked in folklore. The album’s title track introduces the main theme with a tenderly played piano backdrop, Bogs singing longingly over top—“I dreamt a dream, what could it mean?” The very opening line captures the album[...]

1809 Studios Releases Latest Session feat. MD Woods

August 14, 2015

The 1809 Sessions series has been quietly building up an eclectic collection of installments featuring bands from in and out of the Rochester area for nearly a year now. Next up to bat for the Macedon based studio is sister city folk act MD Woods, the ongoing project from singer/songwriter Nicholas Lee Moore. Moore made waves at the blog office earlier this summer when he released the fantastic second installment of his Young & Vain series, and just today, his stark performance of “Low and Behold” at the 1809 Studios was released. Take a few mins to catch up on the entire lineup of past 1809 Session clips here, but first, watch MD Wood’s session below.

Comfy // Skirts Split

August 10, 2015

It can be difficult to view a split release as a singular piece of work, and in some sense, it’s much more common and appropriate to view each artist’s contribution of songs as an individual creation. Comfy and Skirts’ latest joint EP release from Miscreant and Dadstache Records seems way more accessible as one harmonious album than usual. These two bands work well on their own, but are also incredibly compatible with one another. To me, Comfy is the unkempt, rebel of a sibling and Skirts is the slightly more ordered, quirk-ridden one. Both are deliberate in their sound. Both are equally expressive. I saw Comfy, a lo-fi garage pop band out of Utica, for the first time at Nietzsche’s not too long ago. Their live performance involved swaddling a fake baby fashioned from a blanket full of red string and disassembling it in a frenzied manner (the fake baby was[...]

Hawker M. James Debuts “Pleasure Part”

August 7, 2015

After rejoining the Demos following a short absence, the ever busy Rochester musician Mike James (Longwave, Mikey Jukebox, the Mercies) has released a new track today under his Hawker M. James moniker, the first single from his upcoming solo LP. Titled “Pleasure Part,” the song was produced by electronic musician Joel Ford (Ford & Lopatin) and finds Jame’ merging fragile, Elliott Smith-esque vocals with tense and atmospheric synths. The track also features contributions from James’ Demos band mate Jason Milton. Hawker M. James is set to drop on October 17th as part of the annual Cassette Store Day event. In the mean time, listen to “Pleasure Part” below.

Reel Time Records Drops Split 7″ from the Televisionaries & the Fox Sisters

August 6, 2015

Rochester’s the Televisionaries and the Fox Sisters have unleashed a split 7′ EP of garage punk and psych soul jams on the appropriately named Reel Time Records that is seven minutes of pure reckless, demented bliss. This is real John Waters soundtrack music: classic, prehistoric rebel rock… the mythic, sexualized early rock’n’roll that terrified the Concerned Citizens groups your grandparents belonged to and informed early punk. Fast, loose, and joyfully unhinged, this three song equivalent of vodka, Redbull, and speed is a thrill. Enjoy.

Howlo – Howlo

August 3, 2015

As many-a musician will attest to, putting out a full-length is hard work. Howlo has been hard at work. That claim goes beyond basic syllogism; the work is plainly evident in the music itself. The Rochester four-piece just put out its s/t full-length debut, 11 tracks of unadulterated feel-good indie pop, and it was worth the wait. Howlo, musically speaking, continues on the catchy indie-rock sentiments of singer/songwriter Ben Morey’s solo material, namely 2013’s aptly-titled Pleasant. Fellow Howlonians Christine Benincasa (bass), Jane Bryant (drums / vox), and Justin Pulver (guitar / vox) round out the sound with inviting male/female harmonies with serious melting power, and song contributions that add to the record’s air of dynamicity. Some of the album’s scrappier moments conjure Pixies comparisons while the vibe-ier, docile tracks call up the soft exactness of Yo La Tengo, but in the grand scheme of things, Howlo is an entity all[...]

Maybird Debuts Second Single from Turning Into Water

July 29, 2015

The Rochester/Brooklyn based psych rockers in Maybird have debuted the second single from their upcoming EP Turning Into Water, which is set for release in September. The song, titled “Big Sun Explosion,” is both lyrically and musically tight. Starting with a catchy guitar riff paired with high note xylophone, I can’t help but hear major influence from MGMT or Tame Impala with a little John Lennon twist. Lyrically, the Lennon influence really shines, using an attractive rhythm and melody as a foundation for the song’s beautifully written lyrics. In romantic fashion, Josh Netsky’s words serve as a Whitman-esque poem of transcendence with nature. “I saw a sight to see flying away from me, a wall of mirrors projecting it’s disappearance.” Netsky suggests breaking down the barriers of consciousness and seeing life as it truly is, and most importantly observing nature as it is around him. He later confirms that he has found beauty[...]

Genesee Live Premieres Latest Session feat. Hannah Weidner & the Doorway Talkers

July 28, 2015

If you didn’t make it to the first installment of our Rochester Invasion shows (yes there will be more), then you missed not one but two sets from the Doorway Talkers, the full band project from singer/songwriter Hannah Weidner, on Nietzsche’s front room stage. Backed by members of Secret Pizza and Passive Aggressives Anonymous, the Doorway Talkers gives Weidner to nice vehicle to flesh out the Joanna Newsom-esque folk numbers taken from her debut LP, Comfortable Existence, which we selected as our Album of the Week last fall. This morning, Hannah and crew were the latest act to be featured in Genesee Live‘s video sessions series. After a quiet summer, the series is back with a clip that captures the four piece delivering a pleasant, living room (and just a little kitchen) performance. Check out the full session below.

The Huckleberry Fins – Pipe Dreams

July 27, 2015

Surf rock. It’s becoming harder and harder to avoid the corny blues based riffs and clean reverberating guitars of the brand. So it’s no surprise that our album of the week is a pure surf rock band out of Rochester. The Huckleberry Fins had a release party this past Friday for their debut LP, Pipe Dreams (Dadstache Records), and all I can say about it is this: Pure. Surf. Rock. That’s it. There’s your review. Another hard day of work here at the buffaBLOG office! But seriously. If you don’t have a soft spot for surf rock, you have no idea what is cool, and you probably don’t like to have fun. This album is not for you if that’s the case. It’s almost completely made up of instrumentals. It’s the soundtrack to any cool guy’s life, whether he be driving his hot rod with a hot babe in the passenger[...]

OHS Releases Video for Alternate Take of “Coma”

July 27, 2015

Maybird and Thunder Body’s Overhand Sam Snyder, or OHS, just released the music video to his song “Coma,” a track from his Album of the Week selected EP Long Legs. The video is actually soundtracked by the tape version of the slow burner, which is a touch more organic and stripped down than its celestial Grizzly Bear-esque counter part featured on Long Legs, and finds Snyder sounding rather Sam Beamish. The clip doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, and I suppose it really shouldn’t as its a collection of sometimes eye catching found footage with some minor connections (rocket launches and crashes, flower blooms and decays) taken from Archive.org. Snyder is set to finish his month long residency at Rochester’s Flour City Station this evening. For those in the area, stop by at 8:30pm. Watch the video for “Coma” below. OHS Coma from Studio 73 Productions on Vimeo. OHS-[...]

Hieronymus Bogs Releases First Single from The Angel

July 21, 2015

Man what is in the water in the Genesee River lately? We have been doing this blog for over five years now, and over last couple, expanding our focus past just Buffalo and into other areas of WNY. With that said, I have never seen such a run of quality new music than we have out of Rochester over these last few months (and more is on the way). One of those acts, which until now has sadly flown under our radar, is folk musician Alex Bogs, who performs under the moniker of Hieronymus Bogs. Yesterday, Bogs released the startling first single from his upcoming new album The Angel. “I Wonder” is a wonderfully haunting mix of Devandre Banhart freak folk, subtle touches of Antony and the Johnsons’ theatricality, and the vulnerability of Buffalo’s own Andy Pothier. The Angel should be a nice addition to what is shaping up to be[...]

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[...]