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Brandon Santini

[BLUES] Granted, there aren’t as many releases vying for spots on Billboards Blues Album Chart as there are on the mainstream ones, but that doesn’t lessen bluesman Brandon Santini’s good fortune, having his brand new album The Longshot debut at #7 early this month.  It’s a collection of songs that finds Santini embracing more of a blues-rock hybrid than ever before and paying homage to heroes like The Allman Brothers. The Rolling Stones and Creedence Clearwater Revival, while still making good use of his trademark harmonica.

Ana Popovic

[BLUES] Although Ana Popovic hails from Belgrade, Serbia, her musical affinity is for American blues, something handed down by her father… and she’s cultivated an audience here by playing Buffalo at least once a year. Before going solo, she fronted the band Hush, melding a blues sensibility with funk grooves that proved to be a hot European touring commodity until disbanding in 1998. Her solo career eventually landed her in Memphis,  where she has since made her home  and where her second album, Comfort to the Soul, was recorded.

Laura Jane Grace and the Devouring Mothers

[ROCK] Laura Jane Grace affectionately refers to the debut release from her Devouring Mothers trio, Bought to Rot (Bloodshot records), as her “Scorpio” record – redolent in sex, drugs, and rock ’n’ roll. The 14 track set, which has garnered praise from outlets far and wide – The New York Times, Stereogum and NPR among them — is being celebrated for the balance it achieves between familiarity and broadened musical horizons. Coming from a solid punk footing throughout the Against Me!

Single Mothers

[PUNK] It took over five years for the ballsy Ontario punk outfit Single Mothers to finally release a debut full length – 2014’s Negative Qualities — due to recurring lineup issues and front man Andrew Thomson having taken some time off from the band to mine for gold (no joke!). The time away did nothing to mellow Thomson’s laundry list of resentments and irritations, and that’s a good thing since the ferocious tunes these guys churn out require some demons to keep the fire burning.

Buckethead

[ROCK] Buckethead lands somewhere between myth and reality, fiction and truth. The virtuosic guitar, known for wearing a bucket on his head to hide his identity—at one point he switched to a plain white bucket from a KFC bucket, which begs the question of whether or not that was some kind of ingenious marketing cross over  or some kind of commentary on the eating habits of Americans—is a master at what he does. His music, of which there is tons, defies genre and convention, often moving from funk to progressive metal or bluegrass in a single turn of chord.

Big Mood: Redux Edition

[ELECTRONIC/DANCE] Big Mood, the electronic music dance party held regularly at Duende, is back again this month, this Saturday, April 13. This time they’ll be featuring the residents of underground dance music collective, Redux. Detroit’s IYB comes in for this one along with Buffalo-based DJs A.MO, and 2ZB. If you’ve been to this before, you know how it goes down: these events start relatively early, at 9pm, and goes until 2am. 

Lynda Barry at Canisius College

[LECTURE] The New York Times described Lynda Barry as “among the greatest conjoiners of words and images, known for plumbing all kinds of touchy subjects in cartoons, comic strips, and novels, both graphic and illustrated.” She is giving a reading and talk Thursday, April 11 at the Montante Cultural Center at Canisius College at 7pm. Free and open to the public.

Mychajliw, Dixon and the Violence Brigade

It should not come as a surprise to anyone that in the era of Donald J. Trump, millionaire, American politics have become incredibly dumb and unconscionably threatening. There exists in the world zero excuse — none — to threaten violence or bodily harm on one’s political opponent. I don’t care if you’re a Democrat, Republican, or a member of some corrupt or washed-up marionette fusion party, under no circumstances is it ok to threaten someone over a political point of view. 

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