Former Vault regular, the Chicago by way of Buffalo singer/songerwriter Julie Byrne, just graced bandcamp with a new song from her Holy Page Trilogy. Sounding like a female fronted Horse Feathers, the gorgeous "Melting Grid" is a sparse and hunting number, perfect for one of those sleepy winter nights by the fire place. Byrne will also be releasing a full length record in early 2014, via Orindal Records, titled Rooms With Walls and Windows. Further info on the album, which officially drops on Jan 21st, can be found here.

My initial impression of Nat Baldwin is that of a carefree creative sort, walking around urban landscapes with his instrument on his back, prepared to strike a chord in a choice location. Perhaps a few people will take notice and watch, or maybe he'll perform for an audience of one. He doesn't seem to mind. He's doing this because he wants to.

Then he begins to sing. His voice catches your hear and holds it. He doesn't whine, he laments. You take notice now. The strains and reverberations of his bow crossing the strings leaves a ghost trail of sound. He no longer seems as carefree, instead portraying a tortured artist trying to heal the world through folk and free jazz.

Based on his apparent love for performing in different urban settings, the Perot Grain Silo is a perfect location to experience his music. It's an aesthetically interesting setting, and acoustically excellent for filling with the atmospheric groans and sighs of Baldwin's double bass.

Andy Pothier, Lara Buckley, and Steve Baczkowski are also bringing some musical treats to this unique event. 

So if you're in the mood for doing something interesting, and not too hungover from Music is Art, make the trek to the Perot Grain Silo at 100 Childs St. around 8PM with $10 firmly in your hand.

In what has turned into a somewhat regular residency at Hardware, Americana group Pine Fever will return to the comfy confines of the Allen Street bar this evening. The five piece act, who can frequently be found busking a street corner during one of the city's many festivals, combines elements of jazz, ragtime, and traditional folk. Fans of Chydle may recognize Thor, the former bassist of the blistering stoner rock gods, behind the stand up wailing away on folk standards, original tunes, and some well chosen covers. Hardware has become known for its folk nights over the years and tonight features one of the city's best. Philadelphia folk project, and frequent Vault guest, Small Houses will join for support. Music kicks off at 10pm.
 

Rilo Kiley are marketing their newest release, rkives, as a nostalgic collage of murmuring memories, chronicling the band's progress and evolution. Presented as a "B-sides and Rarities Collection" the (mostly) refined tunes on the record (largely) contradict the idea that such collections consist of inferior curiosities to be pawned off on die-hard fans.

Whether longtime or casual listeners, many may ask themselves why this "B-sides and Rarities Collection" even exists. Why weren't half of these songs on albums? Who decided these tracks were expendable? The record's first few "rarities" are tight little gems, significantly better than some tracks found on "legitimate" Rilo Kiley albums. If the collection's alt-bluegrass opener "Let Me Back In" is good enough to receive music video treatment why wasn't it good enough to be replace some of the chintzier songs on earlier works? And why did a band whose last release was in 2007 choose to return in this way? Has frontwoman Jenny Lewis been too busy with side projects to continue with her most famed vehicle in a serious manner?

The collection loses traction by the time it reaches Zondo's "Dejalo" remix (featuring awkward in-da-club cliches courtesy of guest rapper Too $hort). Though it redeems itself with the varied textures of "Town Called Luckey" and rockers "Emotional" and "Patiently," it never reclaims the strength of its initial plunge. Songs featuring guitarist Blake Sennett's voice generally seem too precious when compared to his fellow all-grown-up-child-TV-star's soulful weariness and acerbic vocal stabs.

Ending the sixteen track collection with a bitterly comic twist, rkives perhaps is more geared toward nostalgia and fan-appeasing than it is toward consistent artistry. After the quality back-to-back run of "Let Me Back In," "It'll Get You There" and "Runnin' Around," and the cracked folk brokenness of "Bury Bury Bury Another" the record is only intermittently memorable. It does, however, remind listeners of what Jenny Lewis and company are capable of when they aren't slacking off.

Grade: B

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.

Nebraskan songwriter Josh Rouse has never been too much of a downer. But on his latest record, The Happiness Waltz, happiness as a goal, and as a reality, lights up the entire album. On the wistful "Start Up a Family," Rouse sings "We've seen a lot of bad times / Right now would be a good time to turn it around." The album could have been as easily titled Turn Around Songs. And though many might be cynical about a record called The Happiness Waltz, what's so upsetting about pleasantness?

This is relax-breathe-in-chill-out music for fans of Jack Johnson or Michael Bublé (call it "swing folk" or even better/much worse "swinger-songwriter"). Rouse so effortlessly conjures warmth and ease, and even at it his chilliest his songs fall on the ears as picaresque snowfalls or gentles drizzles of rain. There is nothing dark and stormy about The Happiness Waltz, even if it never feels ecstatic enough to quite live up to its title. 

It is impossible to be offended or justifiably upset by the cool nice-guy vibe of "Julie (Come Out of the Rain)" or the seventies sway of "It's Good to Have You." It is also just as difficult to feel any particular attachment to the songs. The music is there to rest in, to play at a café, in an elevator, beside a hammock. Avoiding any sort of catharsis or the sort of profundity Paul Simon (who Rouse at time vocally imitates) brings to his work, The Happiness Waltz is nonetheless so likable, so good natured, that questions of catharsis or depth almost seem irrelevant.

The Happiness Waltz is there to enjoy above all. Following a vague narrative, it finds Rouse searching for a new home with the people he loves. If the record itself can be loved it will be loved for its calmness, for its affability. The Happiness Waltz is the atypical optimistic record done right. And what's to hate about that?

Grade: B

Though buffaBLOG's focus might be (mostly) on Buffalo, the blog itself has already brought in readers from across the blue-green planet. As much of a brain-melting life-drainer as the Internet can be, it does connect us, and it can introduce us to some wonderful music that otherwise may never have made it here from over the seas and far away.

Emerging musicians from all ends of the earth (plus or minus Antarctica) have reached out to buffaBLOG, sharing their songs, their souls, and expanding the way we think about the arts. The following acts are well worth dipping your ears into:

Ilias is an Algerian/Australian musician based in Sydney, Australia. His ghostly, indefinable debut album, Somewhere in Time, is the result of ten years of songwriting. "I wrote maybe 100 musical pieces, some songs, some sketches, some instrumentals," says Ilias, "But I was always haunted by a certain group of songs... I decided I needed to produce these songs, to break the spell and move on, in a sense." 

Putting in place rigorous standards for the recording process, Ilias explains, "I felt that something so ambitious needed a set of rules, and producing, writing, and playing everything myself was one of them." Refusing to use pitch correction or fade outs and relying heavily on a modular, improvisation-tinged approach, Ilias further ensured Somewhere in Time displayed an organic, authentic style of songwriting.

Citing as diverse artists as D'Angelo, Brian Wilson, and Burt Bacharach for influences, Ilias has nonetheless developed an ethereal, hypnotic jazz-inflected dream-pop sound that is very much his own. He can be visited here. 





I Said Yes are an alternative folk-pop act composed of members from throughout the UK, proud to be hated by Noel Gallagher of Oasis. Despite Gallagher's qualms, I Said Yes have been lauded by BBC London and XLM, and have performed alongside such renowned musicians as Florence + the Machine and Johnny Flynn.

In an interview with the BBC, the band described their formation, stating, "For three of us, it all started with recording really lo-fi covers of punk-pop songs in our sitting room, and then after an afternoon's busking a couple of years later we became a five-piece."

Clearly impacted by the New Folk movement that spawned Noah and the Whale, Mumford and Sons, and others, I Said Yes bring freshness and instrumental variation to a popular subgenre. Their colorful first EP can be heard here. 





Closer to home, Bazile is a space folk solo artist from Houston, Texas. His latest effort, The Sojourn of Professor Narducci, is an odd and endearing exploration into the unknown. It also benefits from sound engineering and co-production courtesy of Alabama Shakes keyboardist Ben Tanner.

Creating his own genre fusions, Bazile pursues "gospel punk" on "Hi-Fi" and refers to his song "Save the Manatee" as a "lyrically eccentric love mystery." His satirical jabs, sonic switches, and bursts of emotion are as surprising as they are surreal.

Part Beck, part Ben Folds, part Sufjan Stevens, Bazile is always inventive. The Sojourn of Professor Narducci is now streaming on Soundcloud and its single "Employment" can be downloaded for free. 

Although both had established careers before combining as Whitehorse, Luke Doucet and Melissa McClelland let their charming voices intertwine to enchanting effect when they formed their dynamic folk rock act in 2011. Based just north of us in Hamilton, Ontario, the husband and wife duo recently released their second record, The Fate of the World Depends on This Kiss. A marvelous meditation on the ironies of love and the bitterness of contemporary politics, the album showcases a kaleidoscopic variety of songwriting styles. Tonight they will perform in the Ninth Ward of Asbury Hall (341 Delaware Ave.), a setting that supports the expressive intimacy of their music. Tickets are only $11 and doors open at 7.