[ALT COUNTRY] For Chuck Ragan—former frontman of the Florida-based, post-hardcore outfit, Hot Water Music—going solo meant leaving one of the greatest punk bands of the decade, packing away the angst, and embarking on a country-tinged folk journey. The quest seemed crazy, but his latest release, Till Midnight, melodically screams that he made the right decision.
[PUNK] Hailing from Connecticut, rising emo-punk quartet, A Will Away, will play on Sunday, December 14 at The Forvm. Some of their tracks have the fierceness of punk rock, with quick riffs and punchy drumming; while their acoustic-guitar driven ballads are dripping with emotion and backed by Matt Carlson’s powerful vocals. Their arrangements combine low vocals with strong instrumentals to dish out catchy tracks that undeniably translate into their live shows.
[INDIE ROCK] Local indie rock band, Den of Lions, will play a free Sabres post-game show at Buffalo Iron Works on Tuesday,
[PUNK] Baltimore’s the Ravagers spew good old fashioned three chord punk rock. The cover of their latest record, 2013’s Livin in Oblivion depicts the four piece band rocking Joey Ramone hair-dos and riding a giant rat through an allyway, fists in the air. I think that says it all. The Ravagers come to Mohawk Place on Thursday, December 11 with Buffalo weird-core band Fleshy Mounds.
[ARTS] On the fourth floor of an unassuming factory loft building along the cobblestone streets of the lower embankment, the Buffalo art community presents exhibitions and events every three weeks or so in the largest part due to the personal engagement and fellow feeling of John Mckendry, owner and facilitator of Hi-Temp Fabrications. For the next three weeks the work of 12 area artists including Nick Sardynski, George Gilham, Andy Russell, Chris Main, Patricia Pendleton, and more, will grace the walls and floor space with a full range of creative expression. These “pop u
It wasn’t Bill Murray’s finest moment.
To begin with, St. Vincent, the movie he was at the Toronto International Film Festival to promote, is nothing to be terribly proud of. Murray gives it his all, which is always worth seeing, but everything about the production seems to have been designed with one goal in mind: to snag its star an Academy Award.
When author Leslie Feinberg died on November 15, the country lost a fierce warrior for justice and equality, and Buffalo lost a living connection to its history and to a local legacy of activism.
On Saturday, December 6 at 8pm, friends and supporters of Feinberg will gather at Hallwalls Contemporary Arts Center to read from her writings and share remembrances. The list of readers comprises an impressive collection of current crusaders for progress and change—a promising indication that Feinberg’s lifelong work has left an indelible impression.
[ELECTRONIC/DANCE] Chicago house music and Bad Boy Bill are practically synonymous. The jackin’ house DJ began producing house records during the Chicago house boom in the 1980s. Since then he’s has become a founding member of the popular dance music downloading website, Beatport, and continues to churn out house and electro tracks while perfecting his complex turntablist skills (he’s been known to juggle up to six turntables at a time and has competed in many DMC competitions).
[HIP HOP] Wearing an oversized t-shirt, a sleeve of tattoos, and a few gold chains, rapper Lil Debbie looks a bit like a female version of Riff Raff. In fact, she credits Riff Raff as the one who got her into the rap game. “He bullied me into it actually… I thought I’d go a whole different lane but he was relentless and finally I just did it to make him happy. But that song ‘Brain Freeze,’ opened me up to a whole new world and what I was really meant to do,” she says.
[FUNK] The people over at Duke’s Bohemian Grove Bar have put together a solid line up of funk allstars to pay tribute to the legendary James Brown as part of their Organic James Brown concert series. This Friday, December 12 Toronto trumpeteer Brownman will take the stage with the James Brown house band: Eric Crittenden, Zuri Appleby, Michael DiSanto, Griffin Brady and DeRay Jackson.
[JAZZ] On Thursday, December 11, Pausa Art House will host an evening of performances by three UB Music Department faculty members. First, Tonal Nuages will make their debut performance based on the work of visual artist Kathleen Sherin, followed by a discussion by Sherin on her recent work. UB Assistant Professor of Piano, Eric Huebner will perform Gyorgi Legeti’s “Etudes for Solo Piano;” before Geroge Caldwell wraps up the night with a performance with his trio, which includes John Bacon Jr.
[JAZZ] What is jazz? Is it the traditional contrabass soaked stylings of Juini Booth or the avant-garde performace art of Buffluxus? Yep. But it can also be the wild electronic improvisation of one man band, Jeff Repeater, and the solo electronics of David Kane. And what the heck, even the pop-tinged sounds of Buffalo Music Hall of Famer, Joe Rozler.
[ELECTRONIC/DANCE] Some might say that Bro Safari represent everything wrong with dance music today. The project is kinda goofy—down to a name that sounds like it was the result of a Wu Tang Clan name generator—his biggest singles are called “The Drop” and “That A$$,” and ugh, he’s American. But Bro Safari was on the scene before the EDM bubble blew up. The man behind the moniker, Nick Weiller of Atlanta, was perfecting drum and bass beats as a member of Evol Intent since the early 2000s.
Wooden Waves – Wilder Dreams (LP)
Recommended If You Like: Dinosaur Jr., Yuck