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Tonight: Alex Berkley & Sonny Baker

Tonight Nietzsche’s will be set to host a fairly low-key night, featuring two of Buffalo’s best singer-songwriters doing what they do best – singing and playing original songs. On the line up is the man of a thousand bands, Sonny Baker, performing his Jim James-style ballads that have been perfected over his close to ten years in the Buffalo music scene. Also set to perform is Elmwood Village introspective songwriter, Alex Berkley. Perhaps Berkley will debut some of his newly-written tracks from his Fun-a-Day project? Get there around 8pm and there is no cover. [soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/190882198″ params=”auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true” width=”100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]

Tonight: Andy Pothier CD Release

I thought about writing a little blurb describing Andy Pothier, but I think he said it best himself. Referencing his new album, In Headlights, Pothier states, “Some of the records that mean the most to me have very little to them – the goal was something very minimal and subtle and I like to think that with In Headlights it’s in the same vein.” He’s pretty dead on – I’d recommend Andy Pothier to fans of Bright Eyes, Bon Iver, or even Modern Baseball. He’ll be bolstered tonight by two other solo acts, Sonny Baker and Damian (the latter clinched the top spot on our Best Songs of 2014 list), as well as The Observers and Tapered Creek. This show most definitely has a Mohawk Place vibe – doors are at 8:00pm. [soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/173079134″ params=”color=ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false” width=”100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]

A Hotel Nourishing – Empty Gesture EP

For those of you who still cannot comprehend how A Hotel Nourishing is just two people—guitarist Sonny Baker and drummer Cameron Rogers—you’re not alone. I, too, have struggled with this concept since the band’s conception over seven years ago. Anyone who has seen the duo play a live show knows what I am talking about; it sounds like there are four or five of them onstage. Yet with a single guitar, a pedal or two, and a drum kit, the pair pulls off a sound so rich and intricately arranged that your double take will do a double take. That roughly equates to a quadruple take, mathematically speaking. This past Friday saw the release of A Hotel Nourishing’s long-awaited Empty Gesture EP, a six-song scorcher that, like their 2007 debut Deux Ex Machina, features that familiar original blend of “almost” math rock and post-punk artistry that made them so buzzworthy[...]

Tonight: Graph Rabbit

Graph Rabbit is a dreamy indie rock act based out of Brooklyn that combines the talents of Austin Donohue, a filmmaker as well as musician and composer, producer Allen Farmelo (The Cinematic Orchestra, Talk Normal), experimental pianist Shy Kedmi, and sound engineer Valgeir Sirgurosson (Bjork, Sigur Ros). You get a blurry, fairy-tale-Icelandic vibe when you listen to the band (performing live as a duo) with some Thom York influences thrown in for good measure. Graph Rabbit’s debut LP, Snowblind, is literally defined as damage to the eyes caused by excessive exposure to highly reflective snow fields. You go blind and you can not see. Now that’s a concept Buffalo can wrap its head around. Using analog synths, glockenspiel, strong vocal leads, and lots of sleigh bells, Snowblind tells the story of an aimless wanderer searching for harmony. The LP is all about escape, and Graph Rabbit make an effort to transport[...]

Tonight: Steak & Cake Records Presents Parlor Trix #1

Local DIY label, Steak & Cake Records, is set to present an evening showcase featuring some of Buffalo’s very best up-and-coming talents in the comfort of the CEO’s living room (410 Potomoc). If the lineup correlates with the order given on the event page, first up is Joey Mason, an East Aurora raised one-man band who teeter between Phoenix influenced psych-pop with a healthy dose of Strokes vibes mixed throughout. Next is Sonny Baker, a musician that by now needs no introduction or writeup because he is mentioned here weekly via one of his many projects (solo, A Hotel Nourishing, Wooden Waves, Lazlo Holyfeld, Alex Berkley and the Atlanta Falcons). Just expect that he will be playing guitar and singing tonight. Third on the lineup is mumble core savant, Damian Weber. Fresh off the heel’s of March’s incredible You Don’t Need It (recorded with Steak & Cake), Weber will be[...]

Sonny Baker, Nicholas Reynolds, and Jack Topht w/Little Cake

The latest installment of our buffaBLOG Video series is a more intimate affair of a show. Following the afternoon’s Porchfest showcases, we hosted a party, well birthday party, over at Colonial Circle and invited a few of the blog’s favorite acts – Sonny Baker, Nicholas Reynolds of Space Wolves, and Jack Topht with his Little Cake – to serenade us in front of the setting sun and well into the night. Check out the video below, shot and edited by Lesionread, featuring performances from all three acts.

Tonight: Sonny Baker

Speaking of Sonny Baker, the singer/songwriter will be playing an electric set over at Buffalo Iron Works this evening for the happy hour crowd. A member of Lazlo Hollyfeld, Wooden Waves, A Hotel Nourishing, and Alex Berkeley & the Atlanta Falcons, the long time Buffalo stalwart has been a staple in the local scene for what seems to be much longer than his age would allow. Expect some cuts from his various solo EPs, including his most recent, Mangled in the Front, while you down some Iron Works poutine. Baker hits the stage tonight at 6pm. No cover. Photo Credit – Jeannette Chin