• Entry is free for Squeaky members and $7 for non-members.
• The screening starts at 8pm.
• After the screening, a dance party of large proportions shall ensue, with spinnings from the repertoire of Sugar City DJs.
• You better bloody well be in costume!

Tonight marks the second last night of the Vault's existence and it's been a wild ride. The art haus/venue/"creative space for anyone that wants to get creative" has meant alot to Buffalo in it's short time here and I, for one, will miss it. Sadly another great venue bites the dust.

Now, we can choose to get all weepy, or we can choose to celebrate. I'll go with option number two. Come down and party one more time with some of Buffalo's favorite locals TMMC (Tracy Morrow and Magi Chippie), the Mordaunt Sisters, and the Afterbirth Tycoon. Check out the track below by the way. It was recorded by the Afterbirth Tycoon at, where else? The Vault. Music kicks off at 8:00pm.

Formed in 2009, experimental four piece Cinnamon Aluminum have been active in the Buffalo music scene since releasing their debut EP Mission Horse Flex. With a style that falls somewhere between acid-jazz and psychedelic pop, their sound brings to mind fellow experimental acts like Black Dice, Animal Collective, and of Montreal. Last April, the band released their latest LP We Ate The Wrong Crab Spirit and have stayed busy playing shows locally, most notably playing buffaBLOG's third birthday party at Duke's this past March. Tonight the band will co-headline a show at the Vault Arthouse along with Wooden Waves, A Hotel Nourishing, and Lazlo Hollyfield member Sonny Baker (here performing his solo material) and Utica, NY drone band Twin Speak. The event will follow the final art opening at the venue and is sure to be an evening celebrating local talent held at one of the city's most beloved independent performance spaces. Donations will be greatly appreciated.

If it's been a while since you've been to The Vault, you better remedy that situation soon. At the end of this month, Kevin is hanging it up as the man behind the curtain of one of Buffalo's most prolific upstart galleries. Tonight is a good chance to head down to Main St. to catch Steak & Cake Records having their second Tour Warriors showcase. Katie Preston & Brandon Schlia's collaborative outfit Pleistocene are playing along with Brandon's ever evolving NYBRKFST, a band that plays only one show a year, always with a different lineup. New York indie pop act The Rotaries will be joining them, along with the sunny Americana of The Rochambros. Show starts at 9pm, and it's just $5 at the door.

Kind of a slow night for music in Buffalo, so if you need your fix, head over to the Vault this evening for a pretty eclectic bill of jazz, hip hop, noise rock, and good old indie. The suddenly very busy noise duo A Hotel Nourishing will be joined by Tempo, a new jazz project which includes Bill Conroy of Cinnamon Aluminum, veteran rust belt rap act Sleep Close Death, and Brooklyn's Bethlehem Steel, featuring former Steak & Cake collaborator Becca Ryskalczyk. Ryskalczyk's vocals don't sound too unlike Zooey Deschanel, but with a little more grit and a lot less annoying. Music kicks off at 10pm and $5 will get you through the doors tonight beginning at 9pm. 

And just in case Limp Bizkit isn't on your agenda for tonight, this evening the Vault will host an lineup of experimental music acts put together by Foundry, an up and coming production company based in Buffalo. The event will feature Cleveland based Fire Death (in the territory of free jazz coupled with heavy electronics) and Ilza (minimalist / atmospheric). They'll be accompanied by local sound troubadours VWLS, Ay Fast, and Kevin Cain. Doors open at 8PM and $5 will let you through. See you there.

The vibrant culture that surrounds Buffalo hip hop will be on full display tonight at The Vault arthouse. Cuts & Breaks is a celebration of the four elements of street art and will showcase the city's finest talent in hip-hop, breakdancing, and graffiti art. Artists performing include Dr.Ooo, Mic Excel, Mad Dukez, Jack Toft, Shuteyes with Charlie the Butcher, Koolie High, Essential Vitamins Crew producer Cove, Keith Concept and Legal the Lifesaver.

The event will also feature a gallery show of the canvas work of various graffiti artists who will get a chance to enjoy the spotlight as much of their work is undeservedly overlooked. With all of the elements of Buffalo hip hop culture coming together, tonight will serve as an important opportunity for the scene to gather and acknowledge their contribution to the local musical landscape.

Doors open for the downstairs gallery at 7pm, with the music starting upstairs at 9pm. Tickets are $10 presale or $15 at the door.

"Trap-pop" is not a phrase you'd think would warrant a lot of fanfare, but Detroit based Jamaican Queens make it seem like a revelation on their latest album, Wormfood. Deep, dusty beats accompanied by folksy songwriting which, on tracks like "Wellfleet Outro," manage to straddle a line between melancholy and irreverent. Songs get yanked in every direction by acoustic guitars, boy-girl harmonies and kinetic instrumentals, yet nothing ever feels out of place. This level of unpredictably is often attempted but rarely pulled off as successfully as it is here, even pulling off an unexpected grand crescendo on ballad, "Sharkteeth." They'll be stopping by The Vault tonight with local support from Lesionread and Ay Fast. Doors are at 8pm.

Upon listening to Sam Goodwill you get the sense that it's music that is best heard live, in a large room, with a largely participating crowd. And oh hey, what do you know, he's playing at The Vault tonight, showering the arthouse with soulful indie-rock tunes. Music whose warmth have led critics to praise as "something truly unique" (City Beat). Since his debut in 2009, Goodwill has released three impressive albums, all of which possess a fervent vitality: the evolution of a style which is expressively percussive and topped with raw vocals. Joining him will be some of Buffalo's most exciting groups up to date - Wooden Waves and The Afterbirth Tycoon. The event starts at 8PM and $5 will get you through the door.  

It's going to get weird tonight... Actually, would it really be a show at the Vault if things didn't get a little strange? I'm talking the "guitar-heroics-shit" of local legend Jack Toft in his Jack Toft Blues Explosion project. I'm talking the crazy two-piece surf-rock of buffaBLOG favorites Space Wolves. And I'm talking about the out of town punks who are also playing the show including Rochester's Big Brain and the Drug Cartel and Oklahoma City's Brother Gruesome. 

I would like to quote Jack Toft to provide more information about the show: 

"all times are approximate, so try and just be there at 9 and start doin beer with me and shootin the breeze and then the evening will just progress swimmingly from there. BIG BRAIN & the DRUG CARTEL and BROTHER GRUESOME are rad and i am hecka siked to see them and then do a hundred beers with them." - Jack Toft

In other words, doors are at 9:00.  We're not sure how much the show actually costs, but how could you pass this one up?

Despite the shift into the new season, right now it's snowing in Buffalo. The trajectory that should lead us to green lawns/clear skies/blooming flowers appears to have extended. Meanwhile,  Small Houses, Sean Hoots, and Andy Pothier will be playing at the Vault tonight, supported by Mothers, and On Guard.  Jeremy Quentin's project Small Houses has been described as "Artfully crafted finger-style guitar playing, and softly sung melodies describing the people, love, and homes of Quentin’s life." What better way to combat this cold gloom than an evening of intimate folk performances at the Vault? $5 will get you through the doors and the show starts at 8:30PM. Catch you there.

Not even Easter can stop Kevin Cain from making things happen at The Vault. It's happenin' alright. Shwervon!, the two piece rock band that originated in NYC, will be making a stop at the art house tonight to grace the crowd with noise-rock that has been likened to Sonic Youth and Yo La Tengo.  To top it off, they will be supported  by the local garage-punkers ronaldraygun and rap savant Jack Topht. The event starts at 8 and $5 will allow you to be apart of the resurrection of some good ole' head thrashing fun coupled with a dose of lyrical wizardry and quilt-y quaintness.

John Mannion (Rockaway, NY) will be playing at The Vault tonight and the type of music he makes has been described as "An ultra dynamic mix of modern classical, electronic, noise, and power electronics techniques... Whirling electric box fan, piercing electronics, junk metal clang, screeching violins, harsh and whispered vocals, and haunting vocals by opera singer Caitlin"  -Experimedia

Sounds like he'll be doing the exact kind of thing you need to witness yourself, especially since he'll be playing alongside The Idiots (NYC) and local noise explorers Charles Gordon, Sympathetic System, and Totem Pole. It'll be a night of radio transmissions, ambient drones, and unorthodox synth usage. You can check the facebook event page here. Doors open at 8 and admission is $5.

If you find yourself at the Aretha Franklin show tonight and you start thinking, "this is great, but where's the grunge?", you may still have time to make it to The Vault for Merchants' EP Release show. Celebrating the release of their debut EP The Red Room on Admirable Traits Records, Merchants are a four piece fuzz bomb of distorted riffs, soulfully scratchy vocals, and moody atmospherics. They'll also be taking the stage at the buffaBLOG 3rd Birthday Party, so tonight is your chance to check them out early. Joining them will be psychedelic garage band Sleepy Hahas and JOHNS, who are fresh off the release of their tape House of Wrongheads. Doors are at 8pm and the $8 cover includes a copy of The Red Room. 

John Colpitts, best known for his work as the drummer for Oneida, will be bringing his Man Forever project to the Vault tonight. Colpitts' work in Man Forever seeks to "overwhelm, to investigate the nuances that bloom in the midst of repetitive music and to act as a pure sound experience." In short, Man Forever's performance is sure to be droning, noisy, and engrossing.

Opening for Man Forever are two equally exciting Buffalo acts, Bear Flames and A Hotel Nourishing. Bear Flames creates raucous music that will surely appeal to fans of Sonic Youth. Recently, they have been joined by, Pang's Katherine Goewey, whose fantastic howling vocals is a great addition. Rounding out the evening is A Hotel Nourishing, whose jittery and percussive music,at the border between math rock and post-punk, fits in nicely with the other two acts.

So, stop down to The Vault for a night of music that is as equally engaging as it is loud.

Man Forever! w/Bear Flames and A Hotel Nourishing
The Vault - 702 Main Street
8pm
$8

Shit. So I was pretty bummed out when I heard that Plates was calling it quits. I've seen them numerous times over the years and always thought they had a unique approach to music; punk, post-punk, hardcore, whatever you want to call it, Plates was a different beast altogether. Part Wire, Part Black Flag, Part Negative Approach (watch the way frontman Teo handles a stage and you'll understand why I say that), their aggressive, uneasy sound was always captivating and I always felt they were one of the best bands milling around Buffalo. Tonight they call it a day.

And apparently so do Beardage(?!?!). Shit again.

Tracy Morrow and Magi Chippie and the Afterbirth Tycoon will be opening this four band bill, at the Vault ($5, 7pm). Come out, dance a bit, and pay your respects. I expect things to get a bit weird.