Latest Posts

Northern Spies Share Christmas Single

December 22, 2015

Christmas is, among other things, the look of joy on children’s faces, spending time with loved ones, and a primal religious observance. It’s also Christmas shopping after doing a few shots, office party ragers, and going to mass with a rampaging buzz to get through primal religious observances. In short, Christmas can be a holiday of divergent extremes, and Rochester power poppers Northern Spies have embraced this duality with a special holiday single featuring an austere and almost reverential “Christmas Must Be Tonight” backed with the rowdy “Big Legged Christmas (Slight Return).” Northern Spies didn’t mess around. “Christmas Must Be Tonight” is all Dylan and the Band and Sunday school and what Christmas used to be about, with bluesy guitars, soulful organ, and some lovely, searching vocals. “Big Legged Christmas (Slight Return),” however goes for a nasty, vamping blues jam that is all about hollering, and doing your own damn thing on[...]

Guest Picks: Jon Lewis

December 11, 2015

For our Best of 2015 coverage, we once again decided to reach out to some friends of the blog to get an idea of what made the year in music so great for them. For the next installment in the guest series, Rochester singer/songwriter Jon Lewis submitted his year end list. Yesterday, under his Mr. Loops moniker, Lewis released his children’s music album Meet Mr Loops, which is currently available to order here. The musician will perform with this band this Saturday, December 12, at Small World Books. Make sure to follow all of the blog’s year in review coverage throughout the month of December. I was flattered and intimidated when asked to compile a “Best of 2015” list. I’m an outsider to most music and this year in particular, I only attended a handful of shows and stayed blissfully ignorant to many new releases. I am always gravitating to the saturated emotions[...]

Top 20 Rochester Tracks: 10-1

December 10, 2015

It’s that time of the year again where we rack our brain, scan our playlists, and check all of our posts for all of the songs that we’ve covered from the 585 from the past year. It seems like just yesterday we were jamming out to Kitty Snowpants and discussing when JOYWAVE was going to break (spoiler: they did). This is our fourth year of tracking our favorite songs of the year out of Rochester. Now, I am sure there are amazing songs that we’ve brushed over or haven’t even heard coming out of the city. This list is subjective obviously, this is a blog. Regardless, I think Rochester’s scene this year has been the strongest it has been ever, pumping out consistent jams which is giving Buffalo a run for its money. On Tuesday, we posted our first half (20-11) of our favorite tunes. Here are our top ten songs[...]

Top 20 Rochester Tracks: 20-11

December 8, 2015

It’s that time of the year again where we rack our brain, scan our playlists, and check all of our posts for all of the songs that we’ve covered from the 585 from the past year. It seems like just yesterday we were jamming out to Kitty Snowpants and discussing when JOYWAVE was going to break (spoiler: they did). This is our fourth year of tracking our favorite songs of the year out of Rochester. Now, I am sure there are amazing songs that we’ve brushed over or haven’t even heard coming out of the city. This list is subjective obviously, this is a blog. Regardless, I think Rochester’s scene this year has been the strongest it has been ever, pumping out consistent jams which is giving Buffalo a run for its money. Without further adieu here is the first half of buffaBLOG’s top Rochester track of 2015. 20) Animal Sounds[...]

Susanna Rose – Snowbound

December 7, 2015

Though this album was written during and inspired by last winter’s brutal reign (as detailed by Susanna Rose’s Bandcamp), there is something inherently warm and inviting about Snowbound. It takes a minimalistic look at some of life’s most tender moments — parting with a lover, suppressing a broken heart, convincing yourself of your own independence. Susanna possesses an incredible ability to be conversational through her writing. It almost feels as though a longtime friend is seated next to you, sharing her worries and shedding small wisdoms. On “Working Girl,” the opening track to the album, she sings “Oh, I want to go home / where the wind blows / and I’m not in an office every day / I can’t live this way…It’s time to go / because I’m going crazy here in my troubled mind / I need natural light / I need loving at night / I need a passionate life”. I’m sure every 9-to-5’er[...]

North Collins – North Collins

November 23, 2015

You know the saying—“Another day, another rad album of the week from Rochester.” Pretty sure that’s how it goes. At any rate, it holds true this week; Rochester pop-folk duo North Collins having dropped a wonderfully-composed nine tracks of lush experimental folk. With its uplifting male-female harmonies and striking, appropriate orchestration, the self-titled debut fits nicely on a shelf between an Illinois-era Sufjan Stevens and indie-folk contemporaries Mates of State. When Mac first sent me the link to the duo’s bandcamp, I thought perhaps he was making reference to the project’s name; North Collins is also the name of a town neighboring my hometown of Eden, a Buffalo suburb. “Heh, a suitable listen for an Edenite,” I thought, as I opened the link and plugged in my headphones. All novelty aside, North Collins is the real deal. From the very first track, “Western Sky,” I was drawn immediately to the[...]

common rituals Release Debut EP, form

November 10, 2015

The wistful melodies pervading the music of Rochester Lo-fi/indie pop artist common rituals offer a warm, understated pop sound with alluring instrumentation. form, the musician’s debut EP, includes hazy synth work on tracks like “Spring Break” and “October” which along with spacious percussion make for an immersive listen. The jazzy “Intermission” is reminiscent of French downtempo band Air and provides one of the most atmospheric moments of the release while the acoustic “Maybe (Solar Sky)” leans more towards direct singer/songwriter fare. Listen/download form below.

Mr. Will Shares Debut EP Motel Pools

November 4, 2015

Look out Rochester, a new force is on the radar. Multi-instrumentalist / producer / all-around music man Mr. Will (born Will Smillie) released his impressive debut EP Motel Pools, a sprawling easy-rider of a record blending elements of indie pop and psyche rock, late last month. It’s one of those records that doesn’t take time to warm up to; the warmth is already there—just pull up a seat and get yourself settled in. From the slow-burning balminess of the title track that opens the EP to the fiery fretwork of “Where Does the Light Go,” Motel Pools, produced by Smillie himself, covers a lot of ground and covers it well. After one spin, the listener is treated to hints of wide-ranging influence including My Morning Jacket, Dr. Dog, Mikal Cronin, and more. The hooks are plentiful, the solos could sear a steak, and the resulting package is cohesive, easy to listen[...]

Genesee Live Releases Latest Installment feat. Drippers

October 30, 2015

We haven’t checked in with Rochester’s Genesee Live for a minute, so we were happy to see the live session series released its latest installment this morning, this time featuring the psych-rock trio, Drippers. The act may be new to some of our blog readers because as to my best recollection, we have yet to cover them, but I am kicking myself for sleeping the group up until now.  Fans of janky Queens of the Stone Age, retro psych rockers like the Black Angels, or a heavier Ariel Pink may have a new favorite local in Drippers, and Gl’s video is a great introduction. Check out Drippers’ clip below, and for past installments of Genesee Live, visit their Youtube here to catch up.

Howlo & Pleistocene Team Up for Halloween Split

October 28, 2015

Halloween is always a fun time to track new music out of Western New York as bands get into the holiday spirit and share some new spooky flavored tunes. And right on cue, early this week, two of our favorite Rochester acts, Howlo and Pleistocene, teamed up to release a timely split LP, Ghost Walk. The childlike harmonies on Howlo’s menacing opening cut, “All Hallow’s Eve,” make comparisons to Dead Man’s Bones hard to ignore, while later on, the four piece dips into some 90’s nostalgia on its cover of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer theme. Pleistocene’s half is decidedly lo-fi featuring some eerily haunting and rather sweet cooing from Katie Preston. The quartet’s split contributions feature some surfier vibes than its normal catalog as the LP stand out track, “Natura Combo,” sounds like the band has been hanging out with Harmonica Lewinski a bit as of late. The two bands will be playing cuts[...]

The Front Bottoms

October 22, 2015

The Front Bottoms carry the unique ability to put listeners through the emotional wringer and have them come out on the other side embracing a limitlessly carefree attitude. Through charm, wit, innuendo, pointed imagery and melodies that nest themselves neatly in your ears for a seemingly infinite amount of time, this four piece has been able to use that ability to develop into a captivating indie-pop force. The band’s recent full length release, Back On Top, is somewhat of a power statement. It’s undoubtedly different than previous releases but it still retains the same characteristics mentioned above. Even people who initially expressed reservation toward the album have come to love it in some way — in almost an exclusive, “this album was written for me” type of way. Tunes like “West Virginia” and “Cough It Out” showcase the creative risks the band is taking instrumentally and melodically, but there’s still this inherent somber hopefulness[...]

Damp Child Releases Debut Album Artism

October 20, 2015

Rochester trio Damp Child create lush, contemplative tracks with a stream-of consciousness-style that places emphasis on texture and atmosphere above conventional structure. Their debut release, Artism, features reverb-laden vocals, abstract guitar tones, and a dream-like quality with at times unintelligible lyrics that add to its melancholic aura. Opening track “Ironically Tumescent” is perhaps the record’s closest moment to resembling pop with its warm, infectious melody and resonant acoustic guitar strums. Other pieces like “Schizophrenia,” “Before I Die,” and “Underwater Dolphin Factory” present a post-rock style, as the band pensively and patiently unfurl their soulful, experimental sounds. “Inspector 11” blends glitchy, otherworldly percussive elements with celestial guitar lines and hypnotic vocals, making for one of Artism‘s more immersive moments. Despite their free-form, sketch like nature, the songs on Damp Child’s debut are full of instances where captivating ideas come together in a way that’s equally disorienting and ruminant. Listen/download Artism below. Artism by Damp Child

Glenwood – Long Days, Lonely Nights

October 19, 2015

Winter is coming. I realize it might sting a little to read that, but just know that you have options. You can pretend it’s not coming, approach the chilly days with an air of nostalgic denial, imagining yourself back at (the now endangered) Canalside concert series under the Thursday sun or swimming at your own risk in the chancy waters of Lake Erie. Or, if you’re like me, you deal with the cold snap and find something to warm yourself up. The acoustic songs found on Long Days, Lonely Nights, the October debut from Rochester folk outfit Glenwood, deliver a certain loneliness—as the title suggests—but at the core of each track are the warm embers of something that once was. Those embers serve as the perfect heat source for the chilly seasonal shift, songs self-proclaimed as “whisky-drinking tunes that are there for you on those rough nights.” The description holds[...]

Hawker M. James Shares Latest Track, “Here’s A Love Song”

October 16, 2015

Hawker M. James, the solo moniker of Demos’ drummer Mike James, is prepping to drop his new, self-titled cassette, set to be a part of this weekend’s Cassette Store Day batch of special edition releases. And to whet the whistle of Hawker fans, the long time Rochester musician shared the first single from the cassette, “Here’s A Long Song.” Whereas James’ previous track “Pleasure Part” teetered more into a moody and atmospheric Roxy Music territory, the catchy “Here’s A Long Song” is led off by some glammy riffs and toe tapping percussion. Fans of Guided by Voices and The Soundtrack of Our Lives should dig the new single. Copies of the limited edition tape, which will be self released on James’ Bête Noire label, can be purchased at Rochester area record shops Record Archive, Lakeshore Record Exchange, and The Bop Shop starting tomorrow, while the digital version of Hawker M. James will hit the webs sometime this[...]

Passive Aggressives Anonymous Release “Ninja” Music Video

October 13, 2015

Rochester tongue-in-cheek crooners Passive Aggressives Anonymous have premiered the music video to the previously unreleased song, “Ninja.” A heartbreaking tail of a ninja who can’t take a hint, the PAA front man John Valenti and crew deliver the slightly creeper-esque number in the most charming way possible. The clip was shot by Alex Freeman of Studio 73 Productions and directed by Valenti himself, and features cameos by the just-asking-for-it members of Buffalo Sex Change as Valenti’s ninja wisely keeps his stealth skills at bay inside Rochester’s Small World Books. No word on whether the track will show up on a future PAA record, so in the mean time, watch “Ninja” below. Ninja from John Valenti on Vimeo.