Buffalo is notorious for its confusing weather, and weather confused citizens.  While visiting Californians may still be shivering in their long underwear tonight, Broadway Joe's will be soaking in the glorious 46 degree weather with a beach party, complete with punk n' tots.

Mayday! will be performing, and their heavy hitting B-52's esque track "Blood Bath" could be this event's party anthem. With such delicious song titles as "Shark Sandwich" and "Illegal Alien vs. Child Predator," they're sure to give an electrifying performance, so you best wear a swimsuit made of rubber.

The reverb drenched tones of Aaron and the Burrs will propel attendees they ride the waves and surf the crowd. Embrace the ocean of thrashing instrumental surf rock.

The Televisionaries out of Rochester will round off the set with dirty, gritty surf punk.

Start the weekend tonight with music to break down sandcastles to.  Admission is a cheap five bucks, and cheaper if you show up in beachwear attire and don't skimp on the sun lotion.

Doors at 9PM, Surf's up at 10.

A hybrid of experimental electronic and offbeat performance art, Lesionread has just released her new EP. Dogs was released in two parts, the first containing Lesionread's avant-electronic at its finest, and Pt. 2 being a collection of jumbled and contorted love songs. The EP will be for sale at the show in the form of a Lesionread flash drive. Dogs is a perfect showcase for Lesionread's successful marriage of soul gripping vocals and playful, violent electronic chaos.

Dogs Pt 1 heads off with the track "If/Then/Therefore" which is the most inspiring song I've heard in a long time. Lesionread shows determination in the face of opposition and disbelief, and kicks snow at it. This one will bobble around your head for quite a while, perhaps motivating you to step out of your boundaries and pursue your dreams. The track "Snowball Fight!" has a backbone comprised of dancy- brainwave, and stands strong as the EP's only instrumental.

Dogs Pt 2 may be the most accurate aural representation of the actual experience of love that I've ever heard. The highs, lows, excitement, confusion and anxiety are all present. On SoundCloud, lyrics are available for all of the songs except the one titled, "I Want to Fall in Love." Instead, the curious party is privy to this interesting message:  "(YOU WISH YOU COULD READ THESE LYRICS BUT NO THEY ARE PERSONAL I'M NOT GUNNA TYPE EM UP ON BANDCAMP."

This statement could be in place for nearly all of the tracks, as many of Lesionread's lyrics come across as the innocent, slightly awkward mental narrations of a torn lover with a shredded heart. You can connect with the songs on a basic human level, even as the instrumentation glitches around you like a bad tape, teasing at different strains while consistently remaining danceable. If Aphex Twin had a kid cousin who was a soulful singer, the music would sound sort of like this.

Tonight's performance (hint: click hyperlink for more info) consists of Lesionread, UVB-76, Kristachuwan, and Copy Manager, and promises to be a mind bending adventure the likes of which may never be reproduced. Lesionread is constantly topping her strange live performances which are thrashing wild and unpredictable. Past shows have contained props, lights, silly string, projectors, and audience interaction. If you walk through the door, you'd better be prepared to play. Come out to the show tonight and expect nothing less but to leave with a lust for enjoyable insanity.

Entrance is free, with a recommendation to donate or support the artists by purchasing their work.

The Gypsy Parlor has become well established as a colorful venue in it's few months with the Buffalo music scene, so perhaps now would be a good time to take a rest from the wonderfully garish decor with a "Black & White" party. Of course that isn't the point at all, given that the outrageous music line-up is rash with colorful rascals, madmen and vagabonds.

All of whom will party harder than you, but hey, who doesn't like a challenge?

The rules are simple; Dress in white, or dress in black,  (Or cow-print, in the case of Well Worn Boot.) Honestly, that's probably the only rule outside of 'drink, dance, and tip your bartenders.' Keep with the theme folks.

Your delightful entertainment for the evening will be provided by:

Mr. Boneless is a band full of right gentlemen and play what occasionally sounds like Americana/Rockabilly on speed. They can cool their jets and serenade you with a ditty, or bring out the bigger guns and shake the place up like an Etch a Sketch.  If you miss them this time around (why would you do that?) or feel like collecting Boneless tickets, they will also be performing during the mayhem that will be buffaBLOG's Fourth Birthday Party. You'll currently find them earnestly waiting to rock your face off, passing the time with a game of 'Go Fish.'

Aside from being a staple in any good Buffalonian's liquid diet, Bourbon and Coffee is also a jazzy, improvisational spoken word group. Allow their words to free you from your mortal pain and human limitations. I once heard them cover the X-Files theme and things got downright bizarre.

Well Worn Boot will rile things up by siphoning your women and courting your booze. There's some fine musicianship behind their bawdy outlandish attitude, and it's a treat to watch a band comprised of characters from a farmer's peyote nightmare. Prepare to drop your jaw and probably a lot of other things.

Right out of Rochester (or perhaps outer space) Routine Involvements is a duo that plays fuzzy, chugging, garage rock. Equal parts sensitive and snarky, they bring passion to the music and infuse it with rhythm that could only be powered by alien technology.

The curtain is pulled back at 9PM, and they'll be patting you down for five bucks at the door, so make sure you can pay the man or you may never see your friends again.

Madcap magician, tinkerer, and creator of some of the most unique and bizarre noises ever to grace your eardrums, That 1 Guy puts on one hell of a show. When the mysterious and good spirited madman comes to town, his performance is never one to pass up. That 1 Guy has made almost yearly appearances in Buffalo for the past few years now, occasionally alongside the masked guitar virtuoso known as Buckethead. He has also played in the Ninth Ward courtesy of local music heroine Ani DiFranco.

That 1 Guy boasts some of the most weirdly conceived instruments known to man, and is literally a one man act. His grab bag of tricks includes a sonically modified boot, a saw, and the ever impressive Magic Pipe from which he draws most of his pops, smacks, and whistles. It's a sight to behold in all it's quirky, futuristic glory. In a world full of self proclaimed 'genre-defying' acts, That 1 Guy truly eludes most classification. He also has a habit of spewing a deck of cards out of his mouth, or from his sleeveless arms whilst performing, so there's always that. He just released a new album aptly titled Poseidon's Deep Water Adventure Friends. Head down to the Forvm tonight to catch an experience that is truly mind-boggling. 7PM, $17.


 

Cheap Time burns out of Nashville, snarling through head thrashing punk with a sharp glam edge. While the music contains an element of 80’s glam rock, their sound isn’t overly polished, and maintains the mud and grit of a garage act. They’ve toured with legends such as Social Distortion and Mudhoney, incurring both adulation and wrath from crowds just as punk music should. Aside from founder Jeffrey Novak, Cheap Time's line-up is ever changeable, which results in a continuous evolution of tone.

The thundering sounds of old-school punks and Mohawk Place veterans Wolf Tickets will accompany them at the Waiting Room tonight, joined by the get-up-freakout rock of The Telltale Signs, and the shimmering lo-fi Fictitious Ray. 

That's $10 at the Waiting Room around 7PM and it's all ages, so bring your kids. 
 

By purchasing a ticket to the Manhattan Project concert at the Waiting Room tonight, you are consenting to an experiment based around your auditory response systems and kinetic energy. The hypothesis is that the sounds of the Rochester based EDM duo will ignite your motor system, inspire sporadic dancing, increase your dopamine levels, and annihilate anxieties and other bad vibes. They are also known to include clever re-imaginings of classic themes in their set, from 2001: A Space Odyssey to Knight Rider. You can do a trial run at home by downloading their EP here.

Before that Fat Man falls on your Little Boy, you've got to pre-game for the apocalypse in accordance with your pre-operative instructions. If you've never been invited before, Armageddon Party is as visually stimulating as they are sonically proficient. Pollock-esque backdrops, sci-fi hallucinations, and dancing men with giant white domes for heads have all been included as visual components of past concerts. You'll have to re-hydrate after their set shakes you up, and if you dig their flavor you can catch them again at the Valentine's Day Vampire Masquerade at the Hotel Lafayette.

Doors at 9PM, 18+ and $12 in advance.

Quirky singer-songwriter Sonny Baker takes to the stage tonight in a setting that may serve as a refreshing antidote for any locals plagued by seasonal affective disorder. Crackling electric lights shine onto the Buffalo and Erie County Botanical Gardens in colorful neon as part of their "Nights Lights at the Gardens" event. The aesthetically tantalizing imagery of your surroundings is intended to activate a light bulb above your head and assist you in connecting some metaphorical dots. If you aren't interested in that option, I'm sure no one will mind if you just let your jaw drop and stare at everything in dumbfounded awe.

Providing the soundtrack for your journey into the fluorescent conservatory this evening will be none other than the aforementioned Sonny Baker. The soft, warm tones of his peculiar and innovative ditties will play nicely off of the vibrant scenery, and his lyrics will stimulate your soul, imagination, or funny bone. Baker’s stripped down, minimalistic style allows every component of his music to sparkle brightly. He starts strumming around 7:30PM, so make sure to arrive early to explore the radiant gardens.

Tonight, Nietzsche's becomes a wretched hive of musical misanthropy.

Johnny Revolting opens with an avalanche of sound, sure to send icicles from the porch onto unsuspecting heads. Veterans of the Buffalo punk scene, these guys play so fast that if you aren't punctual, you may miss them and run home crying.

Angst! Confusion! Theremin! Punk breeds and mingles with more diverse music genres than most, but have you heard future-shock-space grunge? ronaldraygun beams down from their rocketship and into Nietzsche's tonight with their instruments set to kill. If you take one shot too many, you may end up abducted by leather clad aliens.

Afterbirth Tycoon will unfortunately be unable to play tonight, as they were abducted by aliens last night and are still feeling the effects. In their stead, Soul Butchers has agreed to shake the snow off your clothes, and then shake the clothes off you. Funky, dissonant, and still punk as shit, they'll make you want to get butchered on a regular basis. Three solid acts prepare for war at Nietzsche's tonight at 10PM. Bundle up, wear a tinfoil hat, and venture into the winter wilderness, ready for combat.

For a moment, I was a pixelated avatar, performing menial tasks with an intense sense of purpose. I wondered if maybe I'd inhaled the fumes of a burning SNES somewhere in the 8-bit vicinity, and wasn't too upset to be composed of a few colored blocks. The risks were high, the rewards were great, and I didn't once consider going Turbo.

Then I came down and realized that I'd been listening to an Armcannon song. They re-arrange compositions for the most heroic and adrenaline pumping video game soundtracks, with a slice of progressive metal. It's chip tuning and guitar virtuosity at it's finest. If you're a connoisseur of arcade games and their respective soundtracks, you'd be doing yourself a disservice by missing the magnificent journey Armcannon will take you on tonight at Nietzsche's.

Partying agrarian rockers Well Worn Boot have caused a lot of buzz in the past year or so, and while we're on the topic of vibrators, have you seen Plainsman's big bad dick? There's a first time for everyone, so shake that Christmas hangover and lose your Boot virginity tonight.

Show costs 5 tokens and people start showing up around 9.

Jon Krol

David Bowie - The Next Day
Bowie disappeared for nearly a decade before returning with the best album he's released since the 70's. A dynamic, familiar-yet-still-reaching, piece of work that only adds to an already great legacy. Bowie is the representation of all things great and powerful in music. His is art, pop, love, loss, thrill and despair. This album, like Bowie's best, somehow manages to straddle the line between mainstream bubblegum and seedy-city sleaze without compromise. And "Valentine's Day" is one of the best songs he's ever released. Period.

I am going to flip-flop what I said earlier in the year. Though I admire Modern Vampires of the City and Push the Sky Away about the same artistically, and both albums have resonated for me throughout 2013, I have to give a slight edge to Vampire Weekend that I granted to Nick Cave a few months ago only because of this: I listened to Modern Vampires more times. The music remains as devilishly catchy as it is profound.

In the end, what I dub the greatest album of 2013 barely matters. But the bold existence of Modern Vampires of the City seems meaningful. Not only did the album turn a good band great, it brought spiritual questions to the forefront of the alternative and indie music scene in a playful but ultimately sincere way. Vampire Weekend did not simply name-drop biblical references for poetic cred: they dealt with contemporary religious crisis as if their very souls were on the line. When the market gets hip, the hip get hungry for something more than merely being cool.


Runners-Up: Push the Sky Away, Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds; Reflektor, Arcade Fire; Perils from the Sea, Mark Kozelek & Jimmy LaValle; AM, Arctic Monkeys

Janelle Monae - Electric Lady
This was not an easy choice -2013 had a ton of albums that could have taken the top honors in a lesser year, but no album in 2013 could match Monae's Electric Lady in terms of sheer ambition and creativity. Imagine if Prince, Outkast, ELO, and Funkadelic all made an album together, and you'd have a rough idea of what were dealing with. Anthems like "Q.U.E.E.N." and the title track manage to be political while not losing anything in danceability, while "Dance Apocalyptic" might be the most purely fun song since "Hey Ya." Really, though, there isn't a weak track on this album. With 19 tracks and a run-time over an hour, the album never drags or ceases to be interesting. A brilliant record from an artist who is probably just getting warmed up.



Nick Sessanna

Pity Sex – Feast of Love
Almost all of my favorite albums are “growers…” That being said, Feast of Love is an excellent album that I really wasn’t expecting to grow attached to. Looking back, had I not given this album the chance it truly deserves, I really would have been missing out. Between the blissful shoegaze of lead single “Wind-Up” and the more subdued bass fuzz of “Keep,” this is an album truly appropriate for all moods. Call it “emogaze” if you will; it’s dirty enough to get you excited when you are happy and moody enough to satisfy any level of deep depression. The true strength of this album comes from co-lead singer Britty Drake – you’ll never hear her belting it out gospel-style, but her delivery on gems like “Hollow Body” is one of the saddest and unreasonably beautiful things I have ever heard. Recommended for fans of noisy shoegaze like My Bloody Valentine, straightforward fuzz rock like Smashing Pumpkins, or pretty much anything emotive you’d expect to hear at a basement show.



Ailsa Forlenza

Unknown Mortal Orchestra - II 
Ever twist in circles while sitting on a swing? So tight that it seems the ropes are about to break, and then when you release, the whirred rush of the world undoes itself and perception ceases for a blissful moment. The release is what this album feels like to me. Guitar riffs that blur and swish a daydream paintbrush across a sonic page, and lyrics that push the boundaries of this album into a psychedelic realm. II lifted my subconscious and implanted a sweet reverie that I can access as soon as I hear "I wish that I could swim and sleep like a shark does/ I'd fall to the bottom and I'd hide til the end of time…"




Tom Etu

Tomahawk - Oddfellows
A "supergroup" of musical weirdos, Tomahawk had been silent for years until throwing this rock in the faces of music lovers who like their experimental rock with a side of fucked up. Oddfellows is not the best album of 2013, but it was widely overlooked and light needed to be shed on its grotesquely deformed underbelly. The lyrics take you into the regret of a jailbird and the patience of a sniper, with a few sprinkled references to kinky sex. It almost follows a deranged plotline. Duane Denison can still rock out with his Jesus Lizard out, and Mike Patton can still roar and then croon like a gentleman quicker than you can have a heart attack. The addition of bass player extraordinaire Trevor Dunn to the line-up gives this album a slinky jazz vibe. Sexy and repulsive. 


For Part 2, click here.

Judging from the festive poster alone, local legends Aircraft and The Tins are about to rock you around the Christmas tree. Triumphantly returning from a brief tour together, this temporary marriage between two truly talented acts will be on display tonight at Buffalo Ironworks. While both bands write catchy songs that make you want to bounce, Aircraft favors psychedelic, atmospheric rock, and The Tins power through well crafted new wavy-pop. Funky and bizarre, Ka Kaugh will also be performing in order to take you to another dimension. Heartwarming flute and ukulele interludes are promised courtesy of "myrrh," and three dollar PBR's will be available all night. It's only 5 bucks, and the magic starts at 8PM.

Travis Kowalski

Lorde - "Team"
Even if you overlook the worldwide hype and praise New Zealand teenager Ella Yelich-O’Connor aka Lorde has received this year, it’s easy to see why her music has made it into countless international playlists. Her first single “Royals” introduced everyone to an amazing vocal ability and perceptive writing style that was inherently missing in the pop landscape, but it was her second single, “Team,” that instantly became my favorite song this year. Within the first few seconds of the song, Lorde demands your attention with a soft whisper of “Wait ‘til you’re announced. We’ve not yet lost all our graces.” Swirling synths and polished vocal work only add another dimension to Lorde’s limitless musical capabilities, which really aim to prove how she’s looking to not only inch her way into pop music, but instead swiftly move all the way to the top. Amidst newfangled pop classics like “Team” that goal seems very possible. 



Ailsa Forlenza

Beats Antique - "You The Starry Eyed" (ft. Lynx & Sorne)
On their album A Thousand Faces Act I, Beats Antique musically explores the hero's journey, from the initial call to crossing the threshold into the underworld. "You The Starry Eyed" is a beacon of hope, urging the hero to plod forward. Lynx's angelic wavers glide over a sonorous synth landscape in a gentle duet with Sorne. It's inspiring, with lyrics like "Push on through the night/ like the ones who came before you," and an epic dance groove, verging on the edges of electro-glitch. 



Scott Mancuso

The National - "Pink Rabbits"
This is my favorite song of the year. I think it gets everything right in order to be a good song. It has a well-written melody, it’s well-sung, the instrumentation is varied and interesting to listen to, the music builds on itself in a way that sounds natural and not-at-all forced and expands and contracts in proportion to the emotional tenor of the song’s narrative, and the lyrics are extremely clever and poetically repetitive and subtly tell a story that is painfully sad in a way that is not maudlin or dramatic or self-pitying but that is humble and honest and feels exactly like the hollow, insignificant ache of being a “white girl in a crowd of white girls in the park.” It gets exactly right the ways that physical and emotional distance can play tricks on each other and make the person in your head "sitting in a fainting chair drinking pink rabbits" feel like they're stabbing you with a voodoo doll while the person you're dancing with (the same person, whom you're now holding "way too high off the ground") feels like they're a million miles away as you listen to Bona Drag on repeat, take another swallow of whiskey, and listen to the sound kick out.

Steak & Cake should be a staple of any local music lover's diet. This sampler, #4 in the series, is a potpourri of spacey, yet grounded music, and it's a damn good time. The gamut is run here from indie rock to electronic, but is always experimental. Tracks shimmer with a distinctive fuzzy, and simultaneously  sparkling aura. Steak and Cake is constantly moving towards creating new, intriguing sounds,  and is ever productive. Decorated with colorful and quality songs and recordings, Brandon Schlia's lo-fi, indie label will be celebrating it's third birthday on Saturday, February 15th with two shows. Further details are yet to come.

Hypothetical: It's the biggest drinking night of the year, and you want to get smashed, but you also want to bombard your aural senses with stimulating rock n' roll of the most powerful nature. While I'm sure there are plenty of fine establishments looking to rock your body into Turkey Day, Nietzsche's boasts a line-up to be feared. Handsome Jack, Johnny Nobody, Bobo, and The Merchants will rock the hangover right out of you and leave you salivating for that turkey dinner. You won't even be able hear your family screaming at each other, so thank the talented musicians above. The show starts at 10, and it's a measly 5 bucks.

Soulful singer/songwriter Zach Deputy is putting his multifaceted music on display at Nietzche's tonight. He carries a hybrid folk/RnB style with him, inspired by the South Carolina town he grew up in. He is a touring powerhouse, and has worked his way to blaze a trail on the jam band circuit. His new album Another Day is an optimistic sounding tale about anticipating the future and what it will hold. If you're interested in checking out his soulful southern fried songwriting skills, head down to Nietzche's tonight at 9pm, and bring 13 bucks.

It's Halloween night, baby! Tonight at 8:30, Nietzsche's is a portal to hell, so if you feel like you deserve some eternal damnation with a side of inebriation, (or vice versa) you should stop by (with 5 dollars. Gotta pay for your pain!) You may or may not be surprised at some of the contorted faces that appear in Nietzsche's corner of the inferno.

Well Worn Boot, for example. While it's not a huge surprise that these hell-raisers have found their place in the fiery pit, one has to be curious as to exactly what crimes against humanity became their downfall. They will likely be found in the fourth circle of gluttony, and at that rate who wouldn't? Maybe Baby Buckingham robbed too many trick 'r treaters of their candy. Maybe Plainsman had a good time that went too far. Billy Klubb is practically undead, so I assume he just visits the guys on weekends. Can the Horse be guilty of sin? Does this make them Hell's house band?

Aircraft lives in the first circle of poets and philosophers. Lesser bands have committed suicide after hearing the aural strains of Aircraft's haunting and heavy sounds. This alone shouldn't be the cause for the band's struggle in limbo, so these nice fellas must be hiding some dark secrets.

We can only assume that The Merchants' place in Hell can be attributed to the burn wounds left on their victims from the scorching guitar that is a primary weapon in much of their music. Mild mannered gentlemen, you'll find them surrounded by red in the lust circle. It's Halloween, so of course you want to get laid, right? Well, not if you want to survive... (see: horror films with teenagers.)

Not only does Mr. Boneless round out to be an awesomely Halloweenie name, but their music is also freaky and spastic. Along with Folkfaces and Pants and the Family, you'll hear them crying out from the Eight Circle, which encompasses more sins than you can count with all your digits. 

Who wouldn't want a peek into Hell, on Halloween of all nights?

No, not REALLY. Jack is too awesome to be dead.

Need proof? Look no further than "I'm Dead Now," the bitchin' new track that recently appeared like an apparition onto his soundcloud page. Jack Topht raps hard with his signature nasal voice over a sick beat made by his cousin Chris. The song is 'in the style of Ghostface Killah,' and Jack kills it faster than a speeding bullet. "I'm Dead Now" is chock full of off the wall randomness and sexual references to make you moist. The infamous air horn kindly provides the outro. Turn your speakers up and prepare to get excited.

"The Werks" calls to mind a combination of many potent elements that form a masterwork... like a "works" pizza. In some seriousness, (pizza is very serious) an amalgamation of musical traits and genres are is exactly what these guys are. Funk? Check. Rock? Check. Psychedelic? Please.

The tools by which they craft this musical monster are fine tuned and sharp. Shredding guitar, slap bass, and bouncy organs and synthesizers tear up and refine the ever evolving paths of their songs.

In a constantly expanding, popular jam band scene, The Werks improvise their way through some juicy, intense musical fusion. Their passion for improv is heavy, so that nearly every show they play is a wholly unique experience.

Their show in Buffalo tonight has been moved from Nietzsche's to The Waiting Room, and pre-sale tickets WILL be honored.   Doors are at 8PM, and tickets are $12