[INFRINGEMENT] By the time you read this, the 2016 Infringement Festival will be into its second week, and if you’re a glass half full kind of guy like me, then you’ll realize that there is still much more infringing to be done. Here we’ve listed some of the more notable events happening this week but, as always, we encourage you to sift through the Infringement Festival schedule, which can be found in its entirety here.
[FILM] Presented by Catholic Health, Tuesday Night Flix is a free outdoor film series at Canalside. On Tuesday, August 9 they will feature Joe Johnston’s 199os family flick, Jumanji. With the rise in technology, the game-gone-wrong concept has undergone a more pixelated horror treatment in recent years. But let’s not forget the true terror that a swarm of wild animals, natural disasters and a ruthless hunter can bring.
[BLUES] With a firm grasp on the blues of the 1950s and 1960s, Jared James Nichols is a human anachronism. Nichols and his Swedish bandmates, Eriik Sandin and Dennis Holm, are a force to be reckoned with. Marked by Nichols’ smooth and soulful finger picking, they boast an earthy sound that plays beautifully live. In concert, the deep connection these guys have to their music makes for an incredibly moving experience.
[POP] It’s been a while since the mainstream pop scene has enjoyed a strong girl band, but 5th Harmony is honorably carrying the torch – once held by the likes of the Spice Girls and Pussycat Dolls – boasting female empowerment along the way.
[DANCE/ELECTRONIC] Chad Cisneros and David Reed met online and bonded over their appreciation for trance productions and admiration for the genre stars like Tiësto and Ferry Corsten. After a year of online chatting, they took things to the next level and began making music together as Tritonal. This dynamic duo has since been on the rise, with two albums, countless singles and remixes, a 41-city sold out North American tour and four Billboard Dance top 10 singles.
[ROCK] The Lone Star State’s self-professed purveyors of “red dirt metal,” Texas Hippie Coalition dispense with the more melodic, southern-fried-friendly aspects of their sound in favor of a something more menacing on much of Dark Side of Black (Carved Records), out last April. Front man Big Dad Ritch supplies ample aggro-growl, while Timmy Braun (drums) and John Exall (bass) churn out a bottom-end that’ll have the foundation next door trembling. Guitarist Cord Pool is joined on tour with new addition Nevada Romo to deliver twice the six-string crunch.
[INDIE] Brooklyn by way of Maryland indie-pop trio Prinze George’s debut full length, Illiterate Synth Pop sounds much like it’s satiny, pink-hued balloon cover art looks: warm, alluring, a bit dreamy.
[POP] Now well into the second year of touring 2015’s Glitterbug (which was initially intended for release on 2014), Liverpudlian dance-pop mavens The Wombats are finally making their way to Buffalo next Monday, August 8, for a gig at the Waiting Room. Key songwriter and front man Matthew “Murph” Murphy has revealed the blend of fact and fiction at the album’s core, admitting that his life was running somewhat smoothly when it came time to write new material.
[INDIE] Best Coast is really shorthand for west coast, a reference to the sunny musical spirit at the California duo’s core. Their 2010 debut Crazy For You was an unexpected indie hit, penetrating the Billboard 200 and selling 10,000 copies upon its initial release. Sounding something like Lana Del Rey fronting a lo-fi garage band, the blend of bright melodies with lyrics that revel in ennui, confusion, and uncertainty has become Best Coast’s stock in trade.
Donald Trump critics on the right and left have been hectoring the candidate to do what every POTUS hopeful in recent history has done - release some tax returns. There’s no law requiring that he do so, but it’s a tradition and Trump’s rejection of it raises questions about transparency and what it is that he’s hiding.
Our man in Philly, Marquil from EmpireWire, puts pen to paper at the DNC for day three. Follow him at @EmpireWireNY.
Breakfast speeches began with Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown reading a long list of thank yous.