Alvin Risk was one of the first producers signed to OWSLA, the high-profile record label started by Skrillex, in addition to releases with Steve Aoki's Dim Mak Records and also London-based Ministry of Sound. A prominently known dubstep producer and DJ, he also carries out his vocal talents as a singer. If you don't have plans for Valentine's Day, After Dark Entertainment is bringing him through for a show at The Waiting Room on Feb. 14.
Editor's note: If you missed any of this week's selections, you can check them out here.
Mac McGuire Album: Phosphorescent - Muchacho Muchacho, Phosphorecent's latest and best release to date, opens with the angelic "Sun, Arise!," itself bookended by the closing "Sun's Arising," Matthew Houck wastes no time in letting the listener know this is an album of awakening. What is found in between is Houck's journey of redemption, religion, and love, highlighted by the successful pairing of both conventional alt-country elements (mariachi horns, pedal steel slide guitar, violins) and non (synths, subtle electronics, dubby beats). Muchacho features a stunning one-two punch, maybe the best of the year, in the weary and reflective "Song for Zula" and the powerful show stopper "The Quotidian Beasts." The former, which would take top song honors if not for my selection below, features a wandering, Johnny Cash quoting narrator who feels to be "disfigured" by love and will be damned if he "opens [him]self up that way again."
Song: The National - "Sea of Love"
Like fellow Brooklynites The Walkmen, The National seem to have mastered the art of aging gracefully. Those “Mr. November” days are long gone, while family and a potentially soon-to-be post-rock ‘n’ roll life seem to be the band’s focus these days upon the release of their latest album, Trouble Will Find Me. On the tense and building “Sea of Love,” though, the men in The National remind everyone that they aren't going soft quite yet in their most thrilling and immediate song since “Abel,” and maybe best since “Slow Show.” While rocking out is great and all, it’s the little things that make this track really stand out: the welcoming heartland harmonica, the haunting backing harmonies, and those passionate pleas to “Joe” to “don’t drag me in” during the song’s thrilling conclusion. The great music video certainly didn't hurt either.
Joe Speranza
Album: The Lone Bellow - The Lone Bellow
Picking an album of the year is a very, very difficult thing to do and without some kind of aggregate it is impossible to do objectively. So all you loyal Daft Punk and Vampire Weekend listeners, and all you Kanye West martyrs, keep that in mind as I explain my choice.
Back in January, I wrote a gushing review of The Lone Bellow’s debut album in which I actually included the line “listening to The Lone Bellow is a potentially life-altering experience.” I wasn’t on drugs and I haven’t quit my job to follow them on tour, but it’s fair to say that my initial bewilderment with how good they are has quietly devolved into casual fandom. I’ve relaxed quite a bit since I proclaimed that “every so often, a band comes along that might just change everything.”
They haven’t exploded like I fearlessly predicted they would, but the release of their album was very important to me and it’s why I’m calling it the album of the year – so far. I previously called them a “kind-of country-sounding band,” which is – I can admit it now – inaccurate. They are very country. And I’m okay with it. And I never thought I’d type that.
The reason they appealed to me back then – and this is doing a disservice to the quality of the album from beginning to end – was that they were a Brooklyn-based band that had just recorded a country album. I grew up outside New York City, in a place where admitting you liked country music was not only frowned upon but a serious character flaw. It was wrong to like country music. So naturally, The Lone Bellow intrigued me. It was finally “okay” for me to listen to country music. And that’s great, because The Lone Bellow is just a beautiful album. The harmonies and buildups are perfect, and – if I can make an intangible tangible – you can hear how much this album meant to them. For more specific details and to read why I loved the album check out the initial review, but what you need to know is that there was a lot at stake for these guys and they really came up big.
The Lone Bellow has easily had the most profound effect on me this year; in case you care, I almost picked Indigo Meadow by The Black Angels – which was a huge return to form for them – but I already knew they were great. The Lone Bellow came out of nowhere and is the sole reason I now consider country music if not decent, tolerable. That’s a pretty big feat, so cheers to them.
Song: A$AP Rocky & Skrillex - "Wild for the Night"
In the same way people remember where they were and what they were doing during major, catastrophic events, I remember where I was and what I was doing the first time I heard “Wild For the Night” by A$AP Rocky and Skrillex. I was driving on that uneven stretch of road around the 219/I-90 merge where you start to think your car might just fall apart when all of a sudden, I heard the unmistakable, ghoulish voice of A$AP talking about his pistol and his morning routine. I thought okay, whatever, if my tires blow at least I’ll go out listening to a decent song. This was also around the time when I was deciding whether or not dubstep sounded better or worse than a fax machine and whether or not Skrillex was a genius or a joke. The 45-second mark of the song – the transition from the talking-with-your-mouth-full voice of A$AP to the button pressing brilliance of Skrillex – settled it pretty quickly; “Wild for the Night” literally made me smile and figuratively made everything clear: Skrillex is the shit and dubstep goes quite nicely with rap.
Ryan Wolf Album: Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Push The Sky Away Perhaps the first contemporary album to use Wikipedia and Miley Cyrus as artistic references without sounding shallow or smugly elitist, Push the Sky Away feels immediately prescient. Nick Cave and company demonstrate their continued awareness of the developing world we inhabit, crawling in its search for knowledge, placing faith in man’s flawed faculties while the Internet gathers and spreads human-generated information that may or may not reflect reality. As the all-knowing Google emerges as a man-made idol, Push the Sky Away returns to the flesh, favoring physical bodies and blood. Finding mystic qualities in seemingly neutral modern technology, Cave’s low-key, mid-tempo pastiche is deeper, darker, and more frighteningly astute than superficial listens suggest.
Song: Vampire Weekend - "Ya Hey"
Throughout Modern Vampires of the City, Vampire Weekend exchange class-focused secular musings in for serious religious introspection. On the record’s boldest, most full-frontal grappling with the spiritual, indie-pop royalty meets its Maker, addressing complaints, doubts, and praises to Yahweh (or “Ya Hey,” according to the inverted Outkast song title). Concealed within Exodus’s burning bush, God refuses to reveal his identity or “name,” obscuring the cosmic plan “through the fire and through the flames.” Earth’s searching onlookers may be left schismatic and confused, but Vampire Weekend’s fusion of inspired chants and chipmunk crooning sees beyond vicious ironies and mortal “mistakes” in this 21st century open letter to the Creator.
Nick Torsell Album: Disclosure - Settle I’ve been having trouble keeping up with the amount of great music coming out this year. Not because I haven’t been paying attention, but because it seems like every time a record takes hold of my mornings and nights, a new one knocks it from its place, clamoring for attention. The past two months have been unbelievably rewarding for me listening-wise, with three of my favorites releasing excellent additions to their catalogs. Boards of Canada, Daft Punk, and Kanye West, whose music has meant very different things at different points in my life but all had an enormous impact on me, all came through, and I’ll be digging through their newest records for years to come. But my record of the year is from a group who more than lived up to my high expectations after following their steady stream of remixes and singles, Disclosure. Settle, the 22 and 18 year-old Lawrence Brothers’ debut record, is body music, joyful and confident in a way that finds a way into your subconscious, coloring the daily rhythm of your routine. Settle is crowd-pleasing in the best way, endlessly appealing and diverse and never once pulling back from the throttle.
San Fransisco based electronic group The M Machine opens for Markus Schulz tonight at the Statler Towers. Producing and succeeding under the wing of Skrillex, The M Machine was signed to his label, OWSLA, and have since released some EPs and various remixes. They have an intriguing sound. They produce a genre that blends high-energy dance instrumentals with indie-type vocals. Comprised by Ben Swardlick, Eric Luttrell, and Andy Coenen, their success has grown greatly over the past few years. And to be opening for big-name trance DJ and producer Markus Schulz is an honor. If you already have your tickets for the show, be ready for a spectacle. According to the Facebook event page, tonight has outgrown Rendezvous and will be held instead upstairs in the Golden Ballroom of Statler City. And be sure to get there for headlining opener, The M Machine.
This blog post is an vehicle to reach-out to the readers of buffaBLOG who like Electronic and Dance music. The Drum Machine Report is a preview of events and commentary about things involving EDM and Buffalo. Many times I’ve chilled up here on my high-horse and used this opportunity to express my opinions about genre nomenclature and respecting others taste in music, and I implore you to allow me to do so right now. I overheard a young gentleman inquiring of a group of younger gentlemen if they had ever heard of “trap” music. They kind of seemed dumbfounded so the first man listed of some examples of music they may have heard of, Bassnectar? Excision? Diplo? Drop Rari? What! What is that? You can’t do that! I’ll grant that he wasn’t particularly categorizing these all as being “trap” necessarily, but THIS is my problem. I understand that he was just being nice and trying to connect something recognizable for the kids, but this is why young people say Skrillex is Dubstep and Deadmau5 is House. Why must these constrictors be shackled on to on an artist by people and media? I hate genre names, yet they are a necessary evil. For example Two Fresh is playing tonight at Duke’s, how would you describe them? Hip-Hop? Electronica? Trap-House? I don’t fucking know! I definitely wouldn’t have described them as Trap-House when I saw them three years ago at Camp Bisco! I would’ve said they were Hip-Hop fusion, and I would have been wrong, because it doesn’t fucking matter! If you like a certain kind of music than you like it. It does not matter what other people call it or how you describe it to them--even if you love Skrillex (sorry Sonny you’re always my go-to). I’ll come down now and just humbly ask everyone reading to respect music and how everyone chooses to appreciate it.
Well shit. Now let’s tell you about what’s going on this weekend.
thursday 1/24
mnm presents with toats orig present: two fresh
9p
$10/21+
DUKE'S BOHEMIAN GROVE BAR
253 allen st. Buffalo, NY
Coming from a show in Toronto last night TWO FRESH will be performing at Duke's tonight thanks to MNM presents. Toats Orig will be in the building brining the flavor of Buffalo party culture. Supporting acts include DR.OOO, MARIO BEE, and QUINTON BROCK. Check out some music from Two Fresh below along with the new music video from Dr. Ooo to put you in the mood.
saturday 1/26
9p
$10/21+
OHM ULTRA LOUNGE
948 main st. Buffalo, NY
Frosty Tone presents N-TYPE. This is a big wan for all the Dubsteppers. Among those in the UK Dubstep scene from eight years ago this lad is respected by the best and loved by the fans. He played the famous Fabric Nightclub in London less than a week ago and is playing here at OHM on Saturday--Yup. So show the respect if you like-a the Dubstep and underground Bass music.
There are a few other events continuing this weekend that are worth mentioning that may be for your tates including: Toats Orig--Anything Goes at Sinful Nightclub on Saturday hosted by Buzz Trillington and Shooter McNappin and also The Guestlist Party on Friday featuring DJ D-Star at Nektar. Also Saturday night is the NDRGRND party by Igloo Music at a location yet to be disclosed! This party is going to have two rooms featuring many styles of House and Dance music for an epic all-night rager, but if you don't have a ticket you're probably out of luck as this word-of-mouth party sold-out. Happy and safe partying to all and thank you for respecting each other. Much Love.
Big ups to everyone who made it through last weekend alive. Shout out to those still recovering from the craziness that was Memorial Day weekend. Ya did good Buffalo, for the most part. On Friday at the Town Ballroom Roni Size was scarcely attended for someone being billed as a Drum and Bass legend. It's not that he isn't that. It's a lack of interest and knowledge in Drum and Bass from the younger generation of concert goers. Simply put, the kids just aren't listening to it at the moment. The older stuff that is. The preference of raver kiddos is perverted Dubstep. It has become so perverted in fact, that Rolling Stone The Big Issue featured a blurb with Skrillex about dissecting "the drop." Making broad claims about the DJs device, a la revealing the magicians secrets, that this is how all DJs fool you into liking their music and going apeshit wild at a show. The author seems to generalize said "drop" as a device used all the time by DJs of every genre in EDM. Skrillex even talks about how his fans want that solo kick-drum buildup climaxing with a glitchy saw-wave laser gun. No. No! NO! That's wrong, that's only Bro-step. The popular lens through which people see Electronic Dance Music is one depicting tricks (fake DJs) and treats (drugs), and although none of us want that to be accurate, how far is that actually from the truth? We found love in a hopeless place. True respect for those guys doing it the right way. Totally. Originally. Guy's like Munchi, like Heartbreak, like Jon fucking Kwest, like the Freshmore crew. Keeping it real. Staying in shitty hotels. Speaking matter-of-factly. Being real as fuck. Great job Queen City Cartel in organizing the first "Field Day" on Allen st. It was a great time, and there is a great foundation for an event that can only get better. An event that continues to rule, and also the talk of last weekend was the Capsized! boat cruise on the Miss Buffalo II. Once again, THE BEST way to kick off summer. Something about that party brings out the very best (worst) in folks. Thanks to Alexi Delano, another down-to-earth guy, who shared everything he had to offer Buffalo. There's rumblings of a QCC boat party in mid-July so look for that to be announced soon. Also coming up next weekend is the NuSkool Pirates ELATION event. check back next week for a preview on that. This weekend is a bit light (thank god), but there's one highlighted event and a few new things to mention below:
saturday 6/2
10p-4a
21+
DBGB'S
253 allen st. Buffalo, NY
Cool Deep House and Techno show this Saturday at Duke's featuring BLUE BUDDHA out of Pittsburgh. I can tell you that he is a Minimal Techno specialist, taking a lot from guys like Alexi Delano. So if that type of heady sophisticated party sound is your jam, then you'll wanna check his set out. Also on the bill will be BRANON CHASE, PAUL KUENZI, SYSTMTK.DELETION, and TRAKBENDERS with ROB DECKER. I recently listened to TRAKBENDERS Field Day 2012 promo, and it really puts you in a Summertime frame of mind. Listen below.
A few new nights are getting started this weekend including DSTAR headlining Factory Fridays at Skybar, Fusion Fridays at Noir with SWAGGLEROCK, and SUNGLASSES MIKE on Friday nights at Purple Monkey. Those are the new Chippewa options for Friday in the summertime. Also SWAGGLEROCK on the patio at SOCIAL on Saturdays, always a fun time.
Stay sassy Buffalo, your Facebook fodder makes for hilarious entertainment. Much Love.
Source: Herrera, Monica. "Big Science The Drop." Rolling Stone: The Big Issue 31 May. 2012: p.21. Print.
The fact that I'm posting about this cover says something, because I am not the biggest Skrillex fan in the world. When it comes to my relationship with dubstep, I would file my status under "it's complicated". Determined not to let an ignorant fanbase get in the way of objectivity, however, I gave this cover a listen. It's been a few months since it's been online, and chances are you may have seen it already, but sometimes you have to be dragged kicking and screaming to acknowledge the latest internet sensation.
When you get past thoughts like "how long does it take to perfect that red hair dye?" and "what the fuck is the bassist doing with that glove?", you have to appreciate the technical precision that Pinn Panelle display in their treatment of Skrillex's "Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites". These former Berkley students have polished this turd so hard it's become a diamond. If watching the daughter from Roseanne hobble around behind his laptop was as much fun as watching these musicians tackle his material, you might even catch me at a show.
M83 - Hurry Up, We're Dreaming: If you have ready anything I have written in the past year, it should come as no surprise of what my album of the year selection was going to be. I don't think I have been as excited as I was with the anticipation of a new M83 release. Hurry Up, We're Dreaming came at a very pivotal time for me. I was in need of a new album to listen to on repeat one hundred times. This beautiful album(a two discer by the way), could not have been more complete. Each song is as amazing as the one that proceeds it. Anthony Gonzalez, while holding to his roots, went a different route this time around. Gonzalez's vocals only got better and he ventured in to eighties style shouting that really gives this album that little bit extra to make it great.
Cut Copy - Zonoscope: My second favorite album of the year and possibly my favorite Cut Copy album to date. Fans were hoping for another In Ghost Colours but were treated to something completely different. I know some fans were disappointed but they obviously were missing how great this piece of art really is.As buffaBLOGGER Brian mentioned in his best of, Zonoscope really gave Cut Copy a more full band sound and hopefully means great things to continue to come.
"Cinema" by Benny Benassi(Skrillex remix): This gem came out at the turn of the year and began the year of Skrillex. This screamo front man turned DJ/Producer has climbed the EDM ladder with the greatest of ease. Unfortunately, this popularity also comes with hate and he is despised by many. Personally, I stay away from listening to the hate and will continue to rock this remix as long as I continue to love it.
"Midnight City" by M83 (Hurry Up, We're Dreaming): "Cinema" may not be a song per say but rather a remix it was still my favorite. On the full band song front, "Midnight City," was just a breath of fresh air and still gives me chills when I hear the beginning notes. The track has such a life defining undertone and really tugs at the heart strings for the entire 4:03.
"You are a Tourist" by Death Cab For Cutie (Codes and Keys): Another lovely single from Ben Gibbard and the boys in Death Cab. The rest of the album has some other good tracks, but this one really hit home for me. The line "If you feel just like a tourist in the city you were born, then it's time to go," I feel really speaks to Buffalo and some of the people who don't appreciate living here as others do.
Cut Copy at The Sound Academy (04/07/2011): Now I know this show wasn't in Buffalo and they did play here a couple months later, but just two short hours up the QEW, magic was made. Some buffaBLOGGERS and I went up to Toronto to see Cut Copy for our first time and boy did they deliver. Everything was perfect, awesome venue, incredible lights, great people and the giant lit up door that the band entered the stage from. The boys rolled through both In Ghost Colours and Zonoscope almost effortlessly. The moment that stands out the most for me though was the very first note of "Lights and Music" and I spiraled in to a moment of pure bliss followed immediately by pure energy and intense jumping.
Honorable Mention
Skrillex and 12th Planet at The Town Ballroom (10/11/2011): There is no question that when the Skrillex mothership tour was coming to Buffalo, I'd be lying if said I didn't scream like a little child and run around my apartment. As I said before I do not care who likes or dislikes Sonny Moore, I do and his music makes me happy. 12th Planet started things and had people losing their minds. He even had to play a bit longer than he expected and did so in a wonderful fashion. The giant curtain opened and there was the spectacle that is Skrillex's stage. Skrillex did what he does so very well and took us long in to the morning at the Pure after party with both gentlemen spinning together at the same time.
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