RSS Feed

The Albrights

[ROCK] As far as homegrown rock music goes, The Albrights are easily one of the stand out bands of the last decade in Buffalo. That’s why it was so unfortunate when the four-piece band called it quits last year. This opened door for new projects for the individual members of the band, including bassist Matthew Crane, a military veteran who in that time co-founded the group VeteransRespond, a group of military veterans who made it their mission to support the Water Protectors at the Keystone Pipeline protests at Standing Rock.

Future States with Orations

[INDIE] Future States is a study in subtleties. Hailing from Montreal, the five piece pairs carefully placed and delicately played instrumentation with a curious penchant for improv. On last year’s full length, the amusingly titled Casual Listener, a distinct personality emerges—one that likes to trick you into thinking you know where you are and what’s probably going to happen next, and then delights in taking an unexpected turn.

Beams

[INDIE] Looking for something delightfully organic and unassuming? Beams, a seven-piece from Toronto, delivers the goods with their earthy blend of rootsy, alt-folk that’s cut with tinges of lo-fi indie pop. The outcome is simultaneously familiar and new, featuring dual fem vocalizing from Anna Mernieks and Heather Mazha set against a backwoods string-stew of banjos, lap steel, and mandolin with occasional flourishes of brash electric guitar.

Ghostface Killah and Slick Rick

[HIP HOP] When hip-hop initially began to permeate mass consciousness, so much of it consisted of boastful rants about why one MC’s rhyme schemes were superior to another. It took a while before artists with more poetic grace began to emerge: writers that were able to blend the boastful template with worthwhile storylines. Both Wu-Tang’s Ghostface Killah and Slick Rick (the latter famously name checked in the late Amy Winehouse’s “Me and Mr.

Five Must-See Acts at Cobblestone Live

[INDIE] The first ever Cobblestone Live music festival happens this Saturday, July 15 and Sunday, July 16. The two day festival features a couple dozen bands, from nationally known, to regionally rising, and up and coming locals, with a focus on indie rock and jam bands. With such a massive line up spread across three stages, we thought we’d save you some research time and highlight a few must see acts.

Parsonsfield

[FOLK] Hailing from western Massachusetts, Parsonsfield is a folk band that delivers emotionally heavy yet pop-sensible Americana music. Their latest album, 2016’s Blooming Through The Black was recorded in a warehouse in an industrial section of Farmington River in Collinsville, Connecticut. What drew the band to the setting was its “reverberant, reactive space,” and having to sweep away a few layers of sawdust didn’t stop them from turning it into the recording studio of their vision.

Brit Floyd

[TRIBUTE] This may be sacrilege to Pink Floyd fans, but rather than spend a lot of money to see Roger Waters perform songs by his old band when he appears here in September, you’ll probably have just as good a time with Brit Floyd, and without having to sit though any Waters solo tunes.

Interview: The Doobie Brothers

The Doobie Brothers have been “Rockin’ Down the Highway” for over fifty years. And even during their mid-1980’s hiatus, guitarist Pat Simmons kept moving with that theme, opening a vintage motorbike shop with author William Craddock, a celebrated fixture from the California biker scene during the 1960’s countercultural heyday. Simmons, 66, is the only Doobie that’s been constant throughout the groups incessant lineup changes, sticking around during the Michael McDonald years when co-founder Tom Johnston took off (he returned in the late 1980’s).

Ziggy Marley

[REGGAE] Fun fact: this guy wrote the theme song for Arthur, the cartoon with all the aardvarks. That’s hardly the most recognizable aspect of Ziggy Marley, though. He’s also Bob Marley’s eldest son and leader of the band Ziggy Marley and the Melody Makers. His birth name is David, and it’s been said that Bob Marley nicknamed him Ziggy meaning ‘little spliff.” Ziggy, however, stated to a magazine once that people began calling him Ziggy after “Ziggy Stardust” was released because he’s such a big David Bowie fan. Either way, it stuck.

Vessel: Fragmented Fiction, Solid Soundtrack

[ART PARTY] Multi-talented artist Halley Marie Shaw is presenting a creatively diverse night of dance, poetry, performance art, and music in her show titled Vessel: Fragmented Fiction, Solid Soundtrack with creative direction by Angela Christina Lopez. The first two acts will feature multiple artists transforming into different characters from “Vessel,” which is a series of poems and flash fiction written by Shaw.

Spotlight: Midnight Snack

Buffalo’s first Cobblestone Live! Music Festival is coming up quick, and will feature 35 bands and artists from all over the place. Amongst the lineup is Midnight Snack, an indie pop band that mixes eclectic sounds with a ton of cool instruments. Originally forming in Boston in 2014, the band is now based in Asheville, North Carolina. 

Dirty Smile

[INDIE] A bunch of talented local indie rock bands come to Nietzsche’s this Saturday, July 8. Making their debut are Violet Mary, alongside indie rockers Mecca of Allen St., and headliners rock and roll band Dirty Smile with special guest Nathan Cronk.

Hidden Hospitals

[INDIE] Formed from the Buffalo-based, Equal Vision Records signed band Dameira and the Upstate New York based band Kiss Kiss is Hidden Hospitals. Since 2011, the band has released two EPs and a full length record, 2015’s Surface Tension, which has landed them shows along side bands like Hot Rod Circuit, Cartel, Kevin Devine, and the Used. Now based out of Chicago three-piece band’s moody yet poppy form of indie rock might grab the attention of fans of The Postal Service, Muse, or Radiohead.

Pages