[ROCK] No, it probably won’t feel like the first time, especially without Rochester-born vocalist Lou Gramm, but Foreigner is celebrating 40 years this summer with an extensive tour and a newly released compilation entitled—wait for it—40, that includes (you guessed it!) a total of 40 songs released between their 1977 debut and now. It includes all 16 of their tracks that penetrated the Top 30 on Billboard’s singles chart.
[ROCK] This is unusual: a Rotterdam based band with a penchant for classic sounds that references everything from Jefferson Airplane to The Bee-Gee’s. With co-ed lead vocals and a folk-pop core, they’ve toured extensively through the Netherlands and have built a sizable following in the process (the band has over 35,000 Facebook followers).
[INDIE] Indie rock band Foxygen is a duo, but their latest album, Hang, was recorded with a 40-piece orchestra. It’s evident as soon as you click play on the first track, “Follow the Leader,” that this, like most of Foxygen’s previous releases, is a retro-nostalgic affair—and their use of pianos, horns, and vocal chorus groups, are an essential part of getting that sound right.
[FUNK] The Public Presents returns to Nietzsche’s this month with a humungous band from New York City. Burnt Sugar Arkestra are no strangers to Buffalo, but this time around they’re set to deliver their impressive Prince tribute set. The 12-piece band has been active since 1999, delivering a cosmic combo of jazz, funk, and rock, but after the death of the Purple One, the band decided to add a tribute set to their repertoire, which they pull off with cosmic perfection.
If the Trump family are the Bluths, Donald, Jr. is Gob.
There’s a building on Main Street in Buffalo that many musicians here would recognize. The three story building located at 1689 Main Street is a meeting place for local musicians, full of band practice spaces—drive by at any time of day and you might see some musicians smoking cigarettes on the roof, looking north down main street toward Record Theatre, maybe hoping to find their music in a store like that one day. On the third floor of the building, which was once a pie factory, there’s a recording studio known as Mammoth Recording Studio.
Last week before the G20 summit in Hamburg, President Trump gave a speech in Poland that seemingly recast American ideals, and our role in the world. Trump’s Stephen Miller/Steve Bannon-fed Weltanschauung eschews the optimism and idealism of democracy and liberty in favor of something more exclusionary, authoritarian, and sinister. Trumpism isn’t so much about freedom, but about a “West” where hatred and fear fuel an epic clash of civilizations, which can only be won through sheer force of will.
[POP] If you’ve been following pop band Mother Mother since their formation in 2005, you might feel a bit weird about seeing them referred to as a pop band. There’s no doubt that that’s what they are—now. But when the Vancouver-based band released their debut album Touch Up in 2007, they weren’t exactly a pop band. Of course, there were aspects of pop music, but it was also really weird.
[TRIBUTE] May 8, 2017 marked the 40th anniversary of the Grateful Dead’s show at Cornell University’s Barton Hall—one of the Dead’s most famous shows, in part due to the widely circulated soundboard recording of the performance, which this year received a remastered official release. In honor of that classic show, Buffalo’s premier Grateful Dead cover band, Workingman’s Dead will recreate both sets of the show on the stage at Larkinville as part of the Live at Larkin summer concert series.
[ART PARTY] A joint pop-up art and music show featuring enegmatic experimental hip hop artist Jeremy Jermaine Jerome and visual artist Thomas Webb will take place at the new spy-themed boutique store, Free Agent, located at 704 Main Street. Jerome will debut music from his latest musical project titled vows, while Webb will display a series of dark, surreal paintings in mostly black, white, and gold. The event, dubbed Out of Nowhere, happens this Sunday, July 16.