Showing posts with label Buffalo Bands. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Buffalo Bands. Show all posts
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Local Artist Spotlight: Lesionread


Lesionread is a Buffalo electronic group, led by Shawn Lewis, that wants to succeed! So bad! Every reverberated beat cries for attention: please-please; please-please; please-please. I'm projecting the Lesionread Facebook profile—where the most obvious cute, banal pleas to friendly listeners resound—onto the music a bit, but something within it says it, too. I like attention, so I think understand this kind of music. It's a little obnoxious, but it's also refreshing and gritty. It's music for people who harp because they're genuinely interested in stuff. It's music for inventive, hyper kids, for newly radicalized readers, short-distance travelers, and forgetful lovers. Distracted by its own sound, it manages to get inside your head like good pop music, but is undeniably anti-social.

 The wacky explosions of dislodged, swimmy beats sound like they were extracted and recorded from old public television shows or beat speakers. A very young man's lyric is strewn throughout many of the tracks, but it's angry, and drops into dark, ever-deepening pits where it usually breaks a leg.

 Lesionread reminds me of Gang Gang Dance when they were weird in a break-out, we-don't-give-a-fucking-shit stage of music-making. The more I listen, the more I like it. So much so that I feel comfortable likening it to Thom Yorke's work. Of course you can't seriously compare anything to Radiohead or Animal Collective, so I'll just say this: for a low-fi, misunderstood, alternative psych project, the music is incredibly rad and oddly relatable. 



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Local Artist Spotlight: The Tell Tale Signs


The Tell Tale Signs is like a crisp deck of cards, the jokers so intact they’re practically stuck together. Andy Kohler on lead vocals and guitar, Jay Galvin on drums, and Taylor Belling on bass guitar, TTTS is a band that likes to joke around. The Buffalo trio recently released two tracks from its forthcoming album—due out this summer—,“Us vs. Them” and “Amazon.” Especially on the latter track, we get sprayed by the waves of an impeachable shore, where leaves the size of cows drop from the canopy, and the sun shines bright behind a pair of dark glasses. How can this band cross into such dense territory without getting snared? I think it’s because these are serious musicians.

Their sound is really rich, and Kohler’s voice is so reminiscent of an era, you’ll swear you’re listening to something old. It's a raw revival of 60s garage rock right at the bluesy moment The Animals and The Who start flying off their mod, white handlebars into the mucky waters of 70s psychedelia. Plus, the band is extremely tight, which will make a great studio album and (more importantly) screaming live shows. The music is full of loud, concrete-floors-with-a-few-carpets-down drumming, pressed-into-the-microphone shouting, shockingly sweet harmonies on voice and keyboard, really wet guitar, and exceptional rhythmic energy. The Tell Tale Signs is the leader of a fresh pack, bound to litter the scene with surprises.


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