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actress, ailsa, best of 2013, blondie, Cliff, Jaz Frazier, jeff mangum, john, josh ritter, Macklemore, ntorsell, phoenix, ryan, steve, swans, travis, well worn boot — 0 comments

buffaBLOG's Best of 2013: Staff Picks - Favorite Shows Part 1

Editor's Note: As part of our best of 2013 coverage, we asked our staff to write about their favorite live shows of 2013. Shows did not have to take place in Buffalo to be included on this list. Part 2, posted on Dec 5th, can be read here.

Ailsa Forlenza

Jeff Mangum @ Babeville in Buffalo, NY, January 19th

Me: Who is that homeless looking man, with the beard? The one who came through?

Friend: Oh, who knows? Look!

Jeff Mangum walks by, with a puppy. We ogle and try to pet puppy. He pulls away and gives a dirty look.

Other friend: That was Jeff Mangum, guys.

Besides being thoroughly humiliated and probably ruining Jeff Mangum’s mood for the next twenty minutes after that, this show was incredible. Babeville is the perfect venue to house this legend, especially in the upstairs church level. That space is made for aching vocals to soar and pinch every part of you. “My Dream Girl Don’t Exist” blew my brains out. I left reborn.

Jaz Fraizer

Well Worn Boot @ Nietzsche's in Buffalo, NY, July 20th

The first time I saw Well Worn Boot at Nietzsche’s, I felt like I was peeking into someone’s kinky bedroom. That’s probably the best description I can attribute to these guys (I’m super proud of that, by the way). The crowd was thick, with plenty of people to mosh against. And was there ever moshing.

Cliff Parks
Phoenix @ Grove Music Festival in Toronto, ON, August 3rd

I really wanted to go with Wild Nothing with Lesionread at the Tralf but I couldn't deny that for the duration of Phoenix's hour long headlining set I jumped around with insane, reckless abandon as they tore through a set that weaved together nuggets from across their career into a satisfying musical movement with wit, interludes, and dramatic crescendos. Nobody held anything back: the band was energetic and generous and the crowd responded in kind, and it was a joyous and wonderful experience that bordered on being out of body. I'd waited years to see Phoenix and they were gloriously, magnificently worth the wait.

Nick Torsell
Actress @ The Orange Peel in Asheville, NC, October 26th

Actress’ music reminds me of fragile light, the type that seeps in through blinds when it’s overcast. The light is fragile and porous, barely illuminating what’s inside the room. Occasionally, the sun peeks out and it illuminates the contents of the space in golden relief, only to lose it when the sun’s rays weaken. If you were at the Orange Peel the week before Halloween, you got a glimpse of the tall, thin producer as he stepped onstage to smoky red stage light, settling in behind a minimal set-up, only to see him disappear soon after as the lights went off, the only thing visible now an opaque half-eaten apple branding his laptop. I’d be hard pressed to tell you exactly what he played, instead of recreating full tracks live, he was disassembling bits and pieces of material from three albums as well as the yet to be released Ghettoville, in order to put them back together again in new ways. It’s difficult for me to call it dance music, but when the drum machines and sonic flourishes would lock together to approach melody, you could feel the crowd exhale and begin to loosen, and then shifting their concentration from the head to the body. More than any other show this year, it played with my notion of the artist and the audience, the expectation versus the reality.

John Hugar
Blondie/X @ The Rapids Theater in Niagara Falls, NY, September 6th

A killer combo of one of LA's legendary punk bands, and one of the leaders of the CBGB's scene in New York, any fan of old school punk lost their mind at this show. X came out first and brought and blew through an energetic set of classics like "Johnny Hit & Run Paulene," "The New World," and "Los Angeles." John Doe and Exene Cervenka proved they're still the most dynamic duo and punk, while Billy Zoom's rockabilly-influenced guitar stylings are as thrillng as ever. Then Blondie took the stage, with Debbie Harry showed that at 68, she's as fabulous as ever. After opening with "One Way Or Another," Blondie played many of their huge hits, like "Call Me," "The Tide Is High," and "Rapture." A particular high point of the set was an emotional rendition of Ellie Goulding's "Lights." When Blondie finally ended the night with their 1979 single "Dreaming," everyone's feet were tired from a night of relentless dancing. This was an amazing show that two of the best bands from punk's early days are as strong as ever.

Steven Gordon

Swans @ The Tralf in Buffalo, NY, July 26th

Not sure if I should call Swans' appearance at the Tralf a show, or an art installation. The loose change in my pocket, the drink in my my hand, and my own central nervous system were all violently wiggling from the ridiculously loud, bass and drum heavy proto-post-rock pioneers. I mean, I'm art-damaged and intentionally-into Noise, but these fellas' onslaught of atypical, anti-cathartic song structure and brutal decibel assault definitely made me want to spray barf or at least run outside for like a thousand cigarettes, but like in a good way. Ish. One of the most challenging demonstrations of art I'm likely to've ever encountered. And I was deaf for days.

Travis Kowalski

Macklemore & Ryan Lewis @ First Niagara Center in Buffalo, NY, November 9th

It was just a few weeks ago the the 'Heist World Tour' featuring Macklemore & Ryan Lewis stopped in Buffalo to perform arguably some of this year's most listened jams. Admittedly, I am not their biggest fan nor was I a huge follower of the openings acts Talib Kweli and Big K.R.I.T., however, the dynamic energy at their show closed a chapter for the many great concerts I have seen this year, making it my personal favorite of 2013. Nothing brings family and friends closer than being arm to arm in a pit, which is why the gig at the First Niagara Center holds a special weight, as it was the first time all of my brothers have been able to attend a concert together.

The hip-hop duo performed their hits "Thrift Shop," "Can't Hold Us," and "White Walls," but they also surprised fans with a guest appearance by UK singer/songwriter Ed Sheeran during the performance of "Same Love." Even more compelling was how Macklemore delivered mini speeches about his personal struggles with alcohol and marijuana in between some songs. Whereas some rappers neglect current social issues for talk about "big booty hoes" or "bad bitches," the legitimacy in his lyrics end up putting him a step above currently unpurposed rappers like 2 Chainz.

My overall impression was that the show was high powered and executed excellently with a wide array of song diversity, somewhat ample security, given the amount of people, and constantly filled with energy through a surprise guest appearances making it the perfect transition into the end of the year holiday season.

Ryan Wolf
Josh Ritter @ Asbury Hall in Buffalo, NY, April 13th
Although Josh Ritter’s performance was not flashy or intense or avant-garde, it was pure. Never have I seen a musician so happy to be on stage, sharing his music others. The man had just gone through a divorce (and written an album about it), but there was nothing in his act to suggest bitterness. If anything, Ritter was full of raw joy, unable to conceal his smile during even the most serious songs. If only we all could love our professions that much.

actress, andy stott, best of 2012, Holy Other, jeannette, john talabot — 3 comments

buffaBLOG's Best of 2012: Staff Picks - Jeannette Chin

Top 4 Electronic Albums of 2012 *

This was a nutsy year in music; a lot of big acts released albums. Maybe the idea of having an album out in 2012 (the end of the world) was particularly appealing. So, to narrow down the list of favorite albums, I decided to make my list purely electronic. I like listening to different genres of music but I am absolutely infatuated with experimental electronic stuff. Here are four albums I thoroughly enjoyed listening to and why.

4. Andy Stott - Luxury Problems

Listening to this album evokes a sense of having been been transported to an autocratic dystopia in some parallel universe. Under this regime- the citizens who like to go clubbin must do it very secretly. One by one they trickle out of their respective apartment buildings in the middle of the night, and they have to dodge the view of hidden cameras throughout the streets in order to finally get to an isolated building in the outskirts of town. There, they enter the basement, and then another basement underneath the first basement. In the sub-basement, through the almost entirely dark room, this album is pulsing through. The place is crowded beyond occupancy, everyone is dripping in sweat and dancing in music-video slow motion. Okay I'll stop.

Thus, it's not the sort of music that I would like to listen to all the time. And despite the analogies I just made, it's not music that would be easily received in a dance club. But to sum it up, under the list of "most impressive upon a first listening" (and also "most inappropriate to listen to with lap-top speakers") this debut definitely tops the list. The entire album teems with the intriguing combination of gritty & deep instrumentals (think abandoned factories, or better yet, Eraserhead by David Lynch) and operatic vocals (think angels singing lullabies to you through the sky). As Luxury Problems proves, the two starkly contrasting elements merge seamlessly when paired together, or at least when paired together by Stott.

3. Actress - R.I.P.

I came to appreciate this album because it directly skips elements of electronic music that make it a popular target of criticism. The sort of criticism from people who purposely don't listen to it. Either because they assume that (1) its attempt to imitate "real" instruments results in sounds that have less character and musical properties that somehow feel cheaper or (2) it's music that is only suitable for dancing partying.

Instead, as you can hear immediately upon putting the album, Actress skips over any sort of attempt to make his sound feel "organic". He focuses instead on exploring possibilities of digitally synthesized sounds. Listening to this album will not tempt you to get up and dance, nor will it invite subconscious comparisons to traditional indie-rock. It translates the nostalgically personal feelings that indie-rock can translate without tempting you to compare the two palettes of sound. I read an interview where Actress used the metaphor of being a "sculptor" while describing his approach to music production. Reading this lead me to the idea of thinking of the compilation of tracks as "sound sculptures", and maybe more importantly, opened me up to thinking of music in general as sound sculpture.

2. Holy Other - Held

This debut from Holy Other utilizes very recent electronic music trends to create a mood that parallels the dark visceral atmosphere that someone like Burial is notorious for channeling. The album brings the words - "haunting" and "otherwordly" to a whole new level. And that's clearly what he was shooting for, but I mean seriously. If you image-google the guy, you'll come across photographs of what appears to be the grim reaper playing DJ. Well, he succeeded in materializing this vision.

Lyrically ambiguous vocal samples are weaved in and given the reverbed-out, delayed, pitched-low treatment. But to say that Holy Other makes this common formula "work" would be an understatement, he does it in a way that makes the air echo, or, better yet picture the vocal equivalent of a life-saver floating over a lake, bobbing up and down (listen to "Nothing Here"). All in all, it's music that somehow translates to the listener a sense of comfort despite its densely dark exterior.

1. John Talabot - ƒIN

Oh baby. Just about every track in this album (except for 'Journeys' in my opinion) is (1) catchy (2) musically innovative and (3) emotionally evocative. It's also very "colorful". Colorfully infectious as in, if I had synthesia and epilepsy, listening to this album could potentially induce a seizure within me. And "colorful" is definitely not an adjective that I would use to describe some of the other albums on this list. If I had to spit out a quick label to describe what genre it falls under, I'd probably blurt out something along the lines of "very tribally house". They're not words I would have associated with an album that I would assume myself to most consistently gravitate to in any given year, but in 2012 that's exactly what this album became to me.

Other [non-electronic] albums I loved: Porcelain Raft - Strange Weekend, Grizzly Bear - Shields, Dirty Projectors - Swing Lo Magellan, Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti - Mature Themes

Top Tracks of 2012

10. Grimes - "Skin"