For almost a decade now, the influence of the Strokes has been in question. Some bloggers have called the New York City-based band the most influential American band of the 2000s so far, who ripped the attention away from cringeworthy nu-metal bands early in the decade. Some beg to differ, calling into question their “indie-ness” or staying power.
[INDIE] A line up of dreamy indie pop bands is slated for a show at Babeville’s 9th Ward this Saturday, February 3. Heading the show are indie pop band The Leones, lead by singer/songwriter Justin Bachulak. They’ll be joined by Buffalo-based indie rock bands Dreambeaches and the Demos, and Richmond, Virginia’s Minor Poet.
[COMEDY] The NSFW podcast Guys We F****D, hosted by Krystyna Hutchinson and Corinne Fisher has a pretty simple format: the two hosts interview a gentleman that one of them has slept with. It’s most definitely a comedy show, but it’s also, as they like to call it, an anti slut-shaming podcast, broadcasting the message that women should be able to have sex with whoever they want whenever they want and not have to worry about being called a slut.
[JAZZ] Saxaphonist Jon Lehning, along with vocalist Alex McArthur, pianist George Caldwell, Harry Graser on keyboards, bassist Anthony Henry, and drummer Alec Dube perform a wide range of music from jazz star Wayne Shorter’s catalogue drawing from some of his most influential recordings, interpretations by other jazz artists as well as their own arrangements and material from his time with Weather Report. Friday, February 2 at Pausa Art House.
[JAZZ] For what it’s worth, Project Trio might be the most popular chamber music ensemble in the country. The Brooklyn based trio specialize is a variety of musical genres including classical, jazz, hip hop, and rock, as well as folk styles, and have done arrangements for pieces by everyone from Thelonious Monk to Guns n’ Roses.
[ART] First Friday at the Albright Knox turns to a theme of dance with scheduled docent-led tours all day and two talks in the evening on French artist Henri Matisse and jazz, with live jazz and drink specials in the café. Meantime, down at the Indigo Gallery on Allen Street, an exploring opening from Caroline Doherty and Gareth Lichty with work that uses archetypal objects, video, and performance with large scale sculptures and wood-cut panels.
[ROCK] There’s a pretty big gap in Big Wreck’s discography that begins after the release of their 2001 album The Pleasure and the Greed and lasts until their reunion record, Albatross was released in 2012. But since their reformation, the band has been nothing if not consistent in their releases and the quality of them.
[PUNK] Get your noise-punk fix at Mohawk Place this Saturday, February 3. A solid line up of mostly Buffalo-based noise punk and indie bands is set to take the stage. Out-of-towners Fragile Rabbit of Easthampton, Massachusetts will be joined by Buffalo mainstays Slow Mutants, Facility Men, and Alpha Hopper. Don’t miss this one.
[BEER] The venerable West Side startup brewer, Community Beer Works, announced it would be resurrecting Buffalo’s strongest historical beer brand, Iroquois Beer, a regional, easy-drinking, American light lager. There are layers inherent in such a project, and one of those is the racist appropriation of Native American culture.
[ELECTRONIC/DANCE] If you slept on this one, then sorry, you’re too late. Tickets to this concert have been sold out for a few weeks, and rightfully so, because Marshmello puts on a pretty spectacular show. The EDM DJ from Philadelphia not only brings with him a whole bunch of hyper future bass and trap bangers, but an extensive lighting rig that includes something called a “waterfall”—who knows, maybe an actual waterfall—as well as an occasional video occasional intro by Will Ferrell.
[TRIBUTE] A bunch of guys from a bunch of local indie rock bands take on the music of 2000s indie rock darlings The Strokes. For more info, check out our interview with Different Strokes in this week’s paper. Support comes from the Eaves, the Good Neighbors, and the Dance Yrself Clean DJ crew, this Friday, February 2 at Duke’s Bohemian Grove Bar.
[INDIE] “Dudes playing riff hitting jams,” is how Rochester indie rock band California Cousins bill themselves and it’s pretty damn accurate. More specifically, loud, head bobbing indie rock that lands somewhere along the emo/pop punk spectrum is what you’re in for. Check them out at Sugar City this Wednesday, February 7 with Caracara, The Weak Days, and honey.
[INDIE] There’s something amusing right off the bat about a band that names itself SMUG—call it sarcastic irreverence. The punky, local alt-rock trio — Craig Perno, Zach Russell and Travis Perno — is busy readying a debut album which you can surely sample material from at their Mohawk Place gig on Friday, February 2. They’re joined by the ethereal drone of Cooler and the more pop-leaning Total Yuppies. Nylon Otters kick things off sometime after 8pm.
[BLUES] They call him Taz because he rips it up. Fourteen year old blues guitar prodigy Brandon “Taz” Niederauer got a big break a couple years back, landing the lead in the Tony Award-nominated Andrew Lloyd Webber Broadway production, School of Rock, at the Winter Garden Theatre.
[METAL] Formed as a vehicle for the solo work of sometimes Ozzy Osbourne sideman Zakk Wylde, who now also fronts a Black Sabbath cover band called Zakk Sabbath, Wylde played most the instruments on the first few Black Label Society albums despite his intention to form a proper band. Later releases have gone farther to highlight contributions from other players, but the lineup has been a bit of a revolving door along the way.
[ROCK] Red Dirt rockers, Whiskey Myers, from Palestine, Texas come bucking and snorting back to Town Ballroom on Friday, February 2 for their Hurry Up and Wait Tour. It’s just a week or two short of a year since they were here supporting Mud, their fourth disc, out in Fall of 2016 on the Wiggy Thump label (with some distribution help from Thirty Tigers).