Since their inception in 2010, local independent culture firm EKL has specialized in visual production, music, and clothing, creating a unique brand designed to cultivate all things creative, aiding clients in the pursuits of their passions. Tonight, Verve dance studio hosts the collective's fourth anniversary party, featuring music from Kinda Like Dreamin', Wza, Goodman Brown, Shuteyes, Hooizzy, and Rada Rada. Buffalo MC's Sammy Booms and Dr. Ooo of Kinda Like Dreamin' will also have solo sets at the event which will include free drinks, photography, clothing giveaway and a copy of the EKLephantz Volume 2. mixtape with $10 admission.

The lineup features some of best local hip-hop talent, a group of artists committed to keeping the founding cultural ideals of the genre intact with individual style, thoughtful lyricism, and soulful instrumentals full of personality. As new producers and rappers continue to emerge on a consistent basis, Buffalo hip hop is a growing scene, full of creative, innovative and deeply passionate artists. Head down to Verve at 10pm and catch the EKL's celebration of the inspiring work they do to help build our strong sense of local culture. Watch the video for the new Dr.Ooo single below, "Primetime," produced by Goodman Brown, which appears on the EKLephantz Vol 2. mixtape as well as a new EP, Canary Yellow, due out this summer.

Last night's Cloud Nothings show at the Buffalo Iron Works was a great experience. The bands played well, the crowd was into it, but it was the synergy between the two that pushed things over the top.
I admit I was worried at the beginning. Openers Pleasure Leftists, who will be joining Cloud Nothings for a few dates before coming back through Buffalo next week for your listening pleasure, were awesome, but the crowd barely seemed to move. They clapped hard, but they seemed a little sleepy.

Even when the headliners came on, I was concerned. The crowd only started to pick up a few songs into the set, when singer Dylan Baldi started strumming out the first few chords of "Stay Useless." Lyrically, "Stay Useless" is all aching ennui, wishing for "Something to do/somewhere to go." The crowd, at least the first few rows of it, seemed to know all the words, and when the first chorus hit, the pit really started to get going.

It was a strange pit. It occupied my attention for much of the night. Part of the reason was that a few UFC types, looking like lapsed friars with their shaved heads, were jumping around like featherweights with their fists up and I wasn't trying to get my teeth knocked out. But, at first, it struck me as a strange reaction to a band like Cloud Nothings. Maybe not strange: Here and Nowhere Else, their new release, is more aggressive than the band's past output, and live, it hits even harder. Baldi's voice is still well-suited to cut through the clutter, but between three people, the band makes a whole lot of noise. Extra points to drummer Jayson Gerycz, who played so long, so insistently, that I feared he might die during the encore.

But yeah, the pit. Forgive me for mostly grabbing lyrics from old tracks, but those were the ones that the crowd knew the best. Consider the lyrics to "No Future/No Past," which I will reproduce in their entirety: "Give up/Come to/No hope/We're through/No future/No past."

This song may have been the highlight of the evening. If you haven't heard it, it's a slow build. The crowd chanted along with Baldi eight times through the verse until exploding into the chorus. The whole point of the song is delayed gratification, and by the time the catharsis finally came, people were basically swaying and drooling on their neighbor. When it hit, the mood was celebratory: people were crowdsurfing, throwing elbows, shouting out their lungs.

But what were we celebrating? The pit was mostly dudes in their mid-20s thrashing about. They knew the words. It was strange to see them connect to the words in this manner. The apolitical angst of the Cloud Nothings, which a real bastard might be tempted to call symptomatic of the whole Millenial generation, is something that a lot of people share but aren't quite sure how to react to. Despair is an option. Last night, people opted for revelry.

It was a moment, thankfully not uncommon, that proved that music could bring people together. But together for what? Cloud Nothings lyrics appeal to those who vaguely sense an impending, inevitable apocalypse, knowing that the world will end not with a bang or a whimper, but through a death of a thousand cuts. Standing in the pit, I felt a bit like I was standing in the eye of a hurricane: fury surrounding us, but in the center, nothing at all.

This feeling was exacerbated by the fact that there were certainly a few people up front that may have been at their first rodeo. People really out to hurt someone, or totally willing to pass a crowdsurfer into nothingness just to get him off their hands. I guess this kind of thing happens at every single show, but it stood out to me more last night. It seemed more fitting: potentially bringing harm to someone not through effort, but lack of effort, refusing to be self-conscious of your inexperience.

I guess what struck me, at the core, was how well-suited the crowd was to the music and the meaning. Being young and hung with a true despair, seeing that the world is running out of juice, that as you age you will only be faced with ever-diminishing returns: who wouldn't jump into a collective experience like rowdy crowd at a concert with an attitude of self-possession? Sometimes, after a great show, people feel like they want to build something up. Sometimes there is catharsis in wanting to destroy. Last night's show was the first show I have been to in a while that I felt as if people were getting hyped up on an attitude of "Why build? Why destroy?."

I sound like I'm slagging on the show, the band and the crowd. I'm not. A rock show can be great and not feel epic, life-changing or even particularly fun (at least in the sense of pure pleasure). This one was great because the band and the crowd made perfect sense together. It was just the kind of sense that stems from lyrics like these, from "Psychic Trauma" off of the band's new record:

"Try to stop it, try to feel something
But nothing happens, I stay the same
Is it alright to end up this way?
Life gets boring, it fades away."

Check out Cloud Nothings playing "Psychic Trauma" live in Houston below. Audio isn't the best, but it'll give you an idea of what you missed last night (though they played as a three-piece at Iron Works).

One of the cooler ideas that has graced Buffalo's music scene this year is Sugar City's Queen City Music Lottery. The concept was simple: willing participants (both musicians and non) threw their names into a hat, and randomly, bands were assembled, regardless of experience and instruments of choice. Upon forming, bands were asked to come up with a name and roughly 15-20 mins of music. Over the last couple months, a handful of acts have been teasing us with song samplings, which have included cuts of surf rock, dance punk, and garage.

After 10 weeks of practicing, the final products will make their debuts this evening at the Foundry (298 North Hampton Street). Doors for tonight's showcase open at 6pm, while music starts at 7pm. Cover is $5. Check out the event page here for the full schedule.

When one goes to a U2 show you are invariably treated to a sermon (or two) from Bono about people of great importance, usually in far away lands, like Mandela or Aung San Suu Kyi. The last time U2 played Buffalo in 2005 the audience at the HSBC Arena however was treated to a loving and beautiful tribute from Bono to WNY's own Bruce and Mary Moser. It was almost surreal, seeing and hearing the frontman for one of the biggest bands EVER paying heartfelt homage to local folks from our music community from the stage, but if anybody deserved it, it's the Mosers. Their contributions to Buffalo's music community is incalculable, and it's safe to say that the burgeoning scene we're enjoying today has been built on the foundations they've laid by folks following in their footsteps, which is why the benefit being held for Mary Moser tonight at the Town Ballroom is so important. 

Mary has been in a coma since an accident last July, and with medical bills piling up on the family, Buffalo's music community is coming together to do their part, with the help of Canadian legend and mensch Gord Downie. Kingston Ontario's Tragically Hip were one of the bands that broke in Buffalo thanks in part to the efforts of the Mosers, and when you consider the intense popularity the Hip have in this region today, it's no surprise that Gord is in town tonight at the Town Ballroom with a raft of local bands to raise a lot of money for a friend dear to their hearts and pillar of Buffalo's music scene. You too can do your part and see said raft of bands, for the reasonable price of $20 that includes free food and beer. There will be a cash bar, a 50/50 raffle, Chinese and Silent auctions, and door prizes. To read more about Mary and the benefit, check out what Jeff Miers and Cory Perla wrote for their respective publications and the benefit's website. See you there.

If these dance parties are any indication, the 80's must have been a tough time to be a fan of British music, you constantly had to pick a side. The Smiths vs. The Cure, Depeche Mode vs. New Order, Wham vs. Boy George. Ok, I pulled the third one out of my ass but still, tonight's dance party is the second in a series of knock down drag out fights where the only winner is you and your need to dance.

Following last months' Smiths vs. Cure party, the team behind Transmission Dance Party and On the Wire will be hosting a Depeche Mode vs. New Order party at Hardware tonight. Legitimate heavyweights of British electronic music, tonight will be dedicated exclusively to exploring their respective catalogs. This means that, as long as they play nothing either band did in recent years (please), this dance party will feature nothing but classics. And really, can't we all just get along?


Depeche Mode vs. New Order Dance Party
Allen Street Hardware
$3 before 12, $5 after
21+
11pm

We have a triple threat on our hands tonight. Each act offers a mind-bending exploration of sound, that is, if you choose to let go. Think of them as a triple-layer popsicle--flavors blending and melting together, yet distinguishable by taste and age.

First on the roster is Buffalo-born Rhubarb, formed in the late 1990's when trapper keepers were in the limelight and we prepared for epic millennium celebrations around the globe. Perhaps this pivotal timing had something to do with their sound. It's not the over-saturated and aimless wanderings most 'psychedelic' music cares to label itself. Rhubarb clearly takes its roots from a jazz-standpoint, like Medeski, Martin, & Wood, slowly carving out a sensual rhythm and twisting the beat into a delightful daydream, steady on percussive leads.

Next in line is Rochester-based Ocupanther, who take their name from a mythical Ocular Panther who gains control of a soul through hypnotic eye contact. This is an appropriate naming for the ensnaring quartet. With the addition of synthesizer, their sound creates an atmospheric, engulfing presence. They repeat phrases in order to build and release tension, that will make you realize you've been standing in a type of paralysis for twenty minutes.

The final act on the bill is another local act Brown Sugar, a group in their infancy, but don't let that fool you. For how quickly and organically the band was formed, these guys have skill. Recently they opened at Aqueous' final residency show, and this will be their second return to Nietzche's. You won't be able to find any samples of their work, but let's say it's sly, sexy, and full of funk.

Be ready to take it to the next level with a simple flick of a five dolla bill. 10 p.m.

Cloud Nothings is one of those groups that become popular simply because there is no other option. Too inspiring to remain hidden, too interesting to blend in with the grey scenery, too good to go unnoticed, the now trio has become one of the most talked about bands in rock'n'roll. They have the "it" factor, as cliche as it is to say. You could sense it in Dylan Baldi's (Cloud Nothings' driving force and primary songwriter) earlier works. On their self-titled and Turning On, we were treated to brilliant fragments.... transcendent glimpses, albeit through a lo-fi pop punk medium. On their last release however, Attack on Memory, the group broke out with sonically compelling, tension filled songs that defy categorization; anger, pain and longing ever-present. "I thought I would be more than this" screams Baldi on "Wasted Days," and we relate because it's something many of us have thought at one time or the other. Perhaps, we're still thinking it.

Cloud Nothing's 2012 show at the Ninth Ward was a game-changer. It was one of buffaBLOG's "best of the year" shows and turned me from a fan to a super-fan. Since then, Cloud Nothings have exploded out of the buzz bin and are slowly becoming a recognizable name, especially the release of their fourth album, Here and Nowhere Else. If tonight's show at Buffalo Iron Works ($15, 8pm) is even half the show that I witnessed at Ninth Ward, we have reason to celebrate. They've made it.