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.

The Christmas spirit is strong in WNY. If you haven't had a chance to check out our 12 Days of Christmas series so far, give it a look. Some of our favorite acts from Buffalo and Rochester have been dropping holiday tunes as the big day approaches. Just today, Steak & Cake Records released the trailer for Christmas Meltdown, a holiday covers album being dropped on Monday, Dec 23rd, just in time to fill your last couple days with seasonal music. The album features contributions from Sonny Baker, Anthony Delplato, Inquiring Mind, and others. You can watch the trailer to Christmas Meltdown below.

Sonny Baker done did it again! His highly melodic EP preview Mangled in the Front boasts not one, but two tracks (joking...it's a PREVIEW people) "It's Always Crowded" and the self-titled track "Mangled in the Front (Realigned in the Back)."

Where is "Mangled in the Front" taking place? Baker asks, "Who wants to be interesting? I wasn't even listening//Please let me be interesting. Give me a story or something to say." The song pushes a feeling of tiredness to compete to seem interesting, just as it is taxing to live without seeming such. Humanity can be so unforgiving sometimes.

On a lighter note, "It's Always Crowded" is my jam. It seems to me an acoustic version of something that never was. It's security lends to my mind the idea that this is so good, it was already thought up. I'm walking in circles trying to explain the tune; it's that great! Baker's voice familiarly sounds of Broken Social Scene's Brendan Canning's angel pipes, stroking softly my earballs.

Seriously, don't take my word for it. Stop your hectic lives and stay inside yourself for a good couple of hours replaying this preview whilst walking through the city. I promise you'll find everything more beautiful strolling along with a new age Nick Drake stroking softly your earballs.

After gracing the living room of Boratin/Tanner residence earlier this summer, Brooklyn's Graph Rabbit will be returning to Western NY this evening, this time to the comfy confines of the Ninth Ward. Fans of the Album Leaf, Dntel, and Radiohead at their most tender would be wise to check out the electronic folk duo, whose minimal analog sounds, autumnal guitar picking, and hushed vocals could not have been more perfect fit for the intimate setting of the Babeville basement. 

Local do-it-all musician Sonny Baker will open up the evening with a solo set of his ever growing catalog. Tickets are $10 at the door. Music begins at 8pm.

Nearly two years ago, Steak & Cake threw it's one and only Bidwell Indie 5000 Fest down at the Elmwood Village park, and thanks to a resident curmudgeon, we won't be seeing a return of the fest anytime soon. Luckily, S&C leader Brandon Schlia had a backup plan and location: his own back yard. This afternoon, stop on down to 410 Potomac for the third installment of the Steak & Cake Backyard Showcase. This year's lineup of local singer/songwriters has to be the label's best yet as Sonny Baker, Anthony Delplato, Bryan Johnson, Alex Berkley, Andy Vaeth, and more will provide entertainment to the backyard audience all afternoon long.

Past years' installments have seen welcomed, but not required donations go towards a pretty tasty hot dog, beer, and the chance to go home with a CD or two from Brandon's own collection. This year, get ready for some pizza as Schlia and crew have deemed it to be the best compliment for acoustic tunes. This week has already seen Buffalo become hell on earth, between blacktop melting temps to the Wrath of God storm on Friday night, so isn't a pleasant and sunny 75 degree afternoon of music and friends just what you need? Music kicks off at 1:00pm and bring some beer while you are at it. 

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.

Tonight Nietzsche's has a ludicrously killer WNY line-up that's going to be a cannot miss show featuring Handsome Jack, Velvet Elvis, and Merchants working the main stage and Zak Ward, Andy Vaeth, and Sonny Baker manning the front stage for a night of non stop rock. And get this, $5 gets you in the door to enjoy this festival of fine local music ($.83 a band!). You can't beat that. Come on. Handsome Jack and Merchants are certified buffaBLOG favorites, Velvet Elvis are Rochester favorites making a welcome return to the 716, and Ward, Vaeth and Baker are the icing on the cake. This can't miss show kicks off at 10, and again the cover is a measly $5. You should go to there.

Love is a motherfucker. Today is all about embracing your loved one, or scorning those embracing their loved one. Whatever your situation, Hallmark has the right gift basket for you. Tonight, Jazzbollah will be performing for lovers and scorners alike with an intimate show up front at Nietzsche's. Featuring an always evolving cast of Buffalo's finest musicians, Jazzbollah is an all improv psychedelic freakout as ferocious as it is unpredictable. The term "jamming" has evolved over the years to mean "verse>chorus>verse>chorus>extended solo>chorus", but there was a time when it referred to actual improvisation and Jazzbollah is an embodiment of that spirit. Tonight's lineup includes Eppo, Mark Fantini (Space Junk), Zach Kushner (Peanut Brittle Satellite), DJ Drop D, Jason Staniszewski (Funktional Flow) and Geoff Peters. Also performing will be the ultra prolific Sonny Baker (Lazlo Hollyfeld, Wooden Waves, A Hotel Nourishing), whose solo EP Here Are Those Freaks You've Been Asking For was one of our favorite local releases of 2012. Come share your gift basket at Nietzsche's tonight, show starts at 9.

#8.  Canary Girls - "Laser Prom"

One of the blog's favorite new bands of the year, Canary Girls' debut album, Everything is Changing, gave Buffalo a much welcome shot of nostalgia (think M83's John Hughes lovin Saturdays=Youth), and no more so than in the electro pop ballad "Laser Prom."  Led by front man Bill Eager's soaring vocals and heavy synths, the tune was tailor made for one of those couples-only, hand in hand skates at the local roller rink on a Saturday night.  Despite the clear 80's influences, the song gives off a timeless feeling, turning "1982" into a state of mind.




#7.  Space Wolves - "All the Talk"

This lo fi two piece came out of nowhere this fall, releasing two stellar albums of jangle pop, Space Wolves and Space Wolves II, within a month of each other.  On the more fully fleshed out II, "All the Talk" immediately grabbed our attention.  Sounding like a perfect little slice of 90's college rock, the Pavement esque number featured the duo's laid back vocals, a crunchy opening riff,  and swirling melodies.  The pair should easily be able to carry this momentum in 2013 with another album in the works and the (hopeful) live performance debut.





#6. Damian - "Soul Night" 

Damian's title track off the full-length album Soul Night, another one of Steak and Cake's great releases in 2012, is an ode to The Elmwood Lounge's bi-monthly retro soul night. Call it mumblecore or just plain indie rock, Damian's "Soul Night" holds a special place for anyone that has had a blast dancing carefree to carefully selected Handsome Dan cuts. We at buffaBLOG agree Damian, we can only dance if our rock and roll is played by weirdos. 




#5. Floyd & the Nicknames - "Surf Music"

Having played the blog's first birthday party back in March of 2011 with his three piece garage punk band Arctic Death, Steven Floyd has always been one of our favorite guitar players in Buffalo.  This past summer, Floyd released his music, his latest musical project through Steak and Cake, under the moniker of Floyd & the Nicknames.  "Surf Music," the stand out track from the short EP ten million seventy one thousand nine hundred and ninety, kicks off with a rockabilly-like guitar lick taken right out of the South and dropped down on to Allen Street.  Floyd's nasally, Jay Reatard like vocals front the stripped down Stokes like tune.




#4. Aircraft - "Exist"

If there was an award for Buffalo Rookie Band of the Year, Aircraft would have it in the bag.  In addition to landing some clutch opening slots for Cavemen, Thee Oh Sees, and Ty Segall, the Buffalo four piece psych rockers released a great 4 track demo, giving everyone a look at what the promising band may be capable of when their proper full length drops next year.  On the frantic rocker, "Exist," the band gives a nod to the early days of British Psychedelia, with singer Justin John Smith's howl leading the track while being backed by one of Buffalo's best rhythm sections in James Warren and Ian Be.  Plus, anything with a great horn section is good in my book.

  



#3. Anthony DelPlato - "The Arrival"

It's rare that a local album resonates with the listener as much as Anthony DelPlato's intimate storytelling EP, 8 Old Vines. Released via Steak and Cake Records, 8 Old Vines is a tale of road tripping along backroads of upstate New York to visit a girlfriend. Self-recorded in DelPlato's home studio, "The Arrival" is a beautifully layered third track on the album that channels the great 90s emo bands (Appleseed Cast, Mineral). DelPlato is the total package. He is a wonderful story teller, a talented multiinstrumentalist, and has the ability to reach through the speakers and get to your heart. You can't help but feel the emotion. 




#2. Sonny Baker - "Cripple Fantastic"

If you've paid attention to the Buffalo music scene at all for the past seven years, then you know who Sonny Baker is. When other teenagers were going to prom and getting their drivers licenses, Baker was on opening slots for Nietzsche's lineups. After years of performing drums and guitar with various acts (Wooden Waves, A Hotel Nourishing, Lazlo Hollyfeld), Baker finally found time focus on his solo work with Steak and Cake's Brandon Schlia. Baker's first track off of the album Here Are Those Freaks You've Been Asking For, "Cripple Fantastic," is a crescendoing indie rock number that leads into haunting, Jim James-y vocals  It's absolutely amazing.  Promise you'll never leave, Sonny?





#1. The Tins - "Please Be Kind" 

If you are just scoping out this post to get a feel for what is coming out of Buffalo, please look back at all of the previous nineteen artists. Buffalo's music scene is diverse, motivated, and growing. With that said, The Tins' "Please Be Kind" is buffaBLOG's favorite track of 2012. This synth driven indie-pop trio has been around since 2008, playing everywhere from Mr. Goodbar to Austin's Beauty Bar. The single, "Please Be Kind," from the band's first full-length album, Life's A Gas, is perfect. The driving beat, funky bass lines, and keyboardist Mike Santillo's wistful pleas make the track extremely MTVU friendly. If we want an outsider to hear one song from Buffalo this year, this would be it. So, yeah, here's the best track in Buffalo in 2012. 




We could not be more proud of the scene in Buffalo and we at buffaBLOG are excited for 2013. It will only get better. 

Tonight Max Sollisch aka Dolfish will be bringing his lo-fi folk songs alongside local musicians Sonny Baker and Alex Berkley to Mohawk Place. The Cleveland native released his debut full-length I’d Rather Disappear Than Stay The Same earlier this year which was sent to tape in just five days after he drove to Des Moines, Iowa to record with a backing band who had never rehearsed his songs before. Max Sollisch is just 23-years-old, but his passion and acuteness for songwriting knows no age. Sollisch’s lo-fi vocals and instrumentation sound almost identical to Daniel Johnston at first listen, especially because many of his songs clock in under three minutes, but Dolfish has taken to a more varied form of songwriting and instrumentation and each song takes a new course completely. 

The show starts at 7. Cover is $7. Visit the event's Facebook page here.

Last week the pro-local DIY-ers Steak & Cake Records released Sonny Baker’s record Here are those freaks you’ve been asking for. The 5-track collection is the debut effort from Baker, a local storehouse of indie talent as he currently divides his time between three other projects, that being Lazlo Hollyfeld, A Hotel Nourishing, and Wooden Waves, all of which have played a prominent part in WNY music scene in the past few years. That being said, you might want to check out our interview with the musician from yesterday here. 

Here are those freaks is Baker’s indie pop record realized, and it covers a hell of a lot of ground in 5 short tracks. While many of these songs have started out as folk demos via an acoustic guitar and tape player, they have blossomed into multi-instrumental collages of textural songwriting. Front and center is Baker’s crowded, chaotic vocals. His thoughts are sporadic as they are plentifully multi-layered. Intricate splashes of guitar and percussion bubble-up in each track, but the record never loses its froth even as each track is piecemealed into various directions, shaking-up the traditional pop song mundanity of verse and chorus.
“Cripple Fantastic” is an intriguing start to the record with it’s looped guitar fade-in and teeth-chattering snare, and Baker’s voice coats it all in its gradual complexities. It’s hard not to appreciate Baker’s signature fast-paced vocal style. The songs can get a bit labyrinthian, which could result in a difficult listening experience for those with short attention spans looking for a immediately catchy song, but if you pay close attention you’ll notice Baker’s songs are more like developing photographs in a darkroom--they slowly unfurl, and you suddenly see the images coming into focus. 

Another track brimming with detail is “Up to my Chest, Covered In Lead.” With wild guitar riffs amid organ blips, Baker’s vocals sprint a hilly landscape as convoluted instrumentals pant in their attempt to keep up. “Hallucinating, it’s a Steady Moan” gives us a moment to catch our breath, even if it’s a brief two minute cool off. Baker yawns a lo-fi drawl as he sings, “I try to find a heartbeat / Who cares any more,” even as electric guitar riffs start to infiltrate the folk-rock track.
Unlike a lot of failed pop records, Baker’s never gets boring to listen to because he is constantly shifting colors and speed in an attempt at a sonic bouquet that comes very naturally to him. There are certainly comparisons to be made, Born Ruffians and My Morning Jacket to name a few, but there is something so varied about Baker’s style that makes you wonder why he’s not in two or three more bands, if not only to offer a guitar track or two. Much like a drive from Buffalo to Toronto, Sonny Baker’s music covers a vast and densely populated landscape, as it progresses from lo-fi, humble beginnings to vast and uber-developed songs, and even when you’ve arrived at the conclusion of the record, there is still so much more to discover about it. 

Q. What do Wooden Waves, A Hotel Nourishing, and Lazlo Hollyfield have in common?

That's right, they're all known for generously tossing slices of pizza to the crowd when they play out. Just kidding, though some of us might like that, the real answer to the question is that these Buffalo bands have in common a member: Sonny Baker, a multi-instrumentalist, who recently released a solo EP under Buffalo's own indie-label, Steak and Cake. Baker's solo material is different than the material in the other projects he's involved in. For one thing, because of the complete creative custody a solo project allows for, the product is a collection of songs that exhibits his song-writing preferences in its purest form. The number of layers are toned down, leaving his warm vocals and guitar compositions left to be put on full display. In this interview we talk about his experience as a musician in Buffalo and his new EP, Here are those freaks you've been asking for.

BUFFABLOG: So tell us about how you first got involved with playing music. 
Sonny Baker: I actually started playing out when I was 15.  I was in a jam and hippy, funk band, "uber-funk" we played at Broadway Joes and Nietzches. That's how I got my foot in the door a little bit I guess. When I graduated from high school, I came to Buff State and started A Hotel Nourishing and ever since then it tripled off.

BUFFABLOG: How did you pick up Wooden Waves and Lazlo Hollyfeld?
SB: I was really good friends with Bill Fulton from Wooden Waves.  We all have the same circle of friends, his brother is in the band, and we were hanging out and they needed a drummer and I had a feeling that I could play, so we played a couple times and it worked. With Lazlo, we covered Stop Making Sense, which is the live Talking Heads album.  We did that New Years eve at Pearl Street and we did that for a year or so, then their guitar player left and they asked me to join the band.

BUFFABLOG: How would you describe the difference between those bands?
SB: Wooden Waves is more song oriented I guess in terms of verse, chorus, bridge, and singing. Each approach to the song writing is drastically different, different landscapes and how the song is going to work. It's different for me playing guitar and playing drums, different view from behind the drum-kit. I feel more relaxed in Wooden Waves like, "I'm just the drummer, I'm gonna add the beat, and the rhythm section will flesh the song out." With playing guitar in Lazlo, I'm kind of doing the same thing, but I think "How can I add to the melody?"

BUFFABLOG: What about A Hotel Nourishing?
SB: That's a whole monster of it's own. We're a two-piece. I play the guitar and sing. I write the basic format of the song and then we'll try to work in more intricate parts to it, there's no bass, nothing else, so all I have to worry about is what the one melody line I play is and he worries about the drum patterns. It's much simpler.

BUFFABLOG: Why did you feel compelled to do solo stuff?
SB: I listen to so much different stuff that the core of me, loves Neil Young, singer-song writer stuff like that. So what comes out of me naturally, makes up my solo stuff.  With writing for other bands, I have to focus more. In terms of being a guitar player, I've been making solo stuff longer than anything, when I first started playing guitar I was 11, that's kind of just what I did for five years until I started a band. Write silly songs, learn Grateful Dead songs, I don't know.

BUFFABLOG: Judging by the amount of time you spend with music projects you're very serious about pursuing music. When did you decide to commit yourself to that?
SB: After the first few time I played live shows, played in front of people and had people listen. I thought, 'Oh I really like this'. The heaver and heavier I got into music, the more I discovered and the more I took in. By the time I graduated from high school, I knew it was what I wanted to do.

BUFFABLOG: And when did you start releasing solo-material, did being in a couple bands give you more confidence?
SB: Around the same time I was in my first band, I played at coffee houses by myself, solo. I think I've gotten a grasp on it within the past year, it's sort of taken me this long to develop a song-writing style. I feel like I got it down more, like I got somewhat of a grasp on it.  People always ask, 'what comes first, the words or the music." I have a ton of journals that I write in, and I used to try to be like, "alright, well I wrote this, I'm going to make this song." But now I've realized that it doesn't work all the time.

BUFFABLOG: So then, how do you piece things together for a song?
SB: I'll sit down for a while and play the guitar, and sometimes I'll find a hidden melody in whatever I'm playing and try to lock into that and develop the song that way. That's the best, to start a day not having anything, and then warping yourself into something that evolves into something and by the end of the day you have something to work with. I'm always afraid I'll jot something down and have no idea what it means, and then I'l sing it into a melody and then think 'oh that kind of works' then a few months later think, 'I think I know what that's about.' When I write I like to turn my brain off.

BUFFABLOG: Who are some of your influences?
SB: Jim James from My Morning Jacket. I've really liked Ani Difranco my whole life, Neil Young.

BUFFABLOG: So you just released an EP, how many things have you released in the past?
SB: This is the first thing I've really finished. So it's kind of a big deal for me. I've worked on four other solo albums with other people, and I've never finished them. Everything online, like on band camp,  I've almost finished, and the other two are more like bedroom recordings.

BUFFABLOG: How did the collection of songs for this album come about?
SB: I tend to write songs in groups, like I'll write four or five songs and have really bad writers block for a while. So I had songs from that, and then I bought a jazz-master, and it was a switch, I was playing it more than my acoustic, which I write all my solo stuff on. So I played them on my jazz-master, and thought I would like to record them with drums and stuff. Kevin who works at the Vault, suggested I collaborate with Brandon. We started in April.

BUFFABLOG: How would you describe the music community in Buffalo?
SB: It's great, there's so much talent. Like I'm not the only one in  4 bands, there are a lot of people who share musicians from different bands and are in different projects. It's sort of one big musical orgy. Everyone is really supportive of each other. I'm playing a WBNY radio show soon, and I had to think of local bands to play, and I was at work today trying to think of local bands that I like and I ended up coming up with a list of like, 35.

Next up, Sonny will be playing Tuesday, the 20th, at Mohawk Place alongside Dolfish and Alex Berkley.  His long term plans includes assembling together a live band to put his solo content into full live  effect. But until then, for those chilly nights at home, it is highly encouraged that you listen to it by checking out his soundcloud or better yet, downloading the entire EP on bandcamp.

Fans of The Tragically Hip, Tragically Hip tribute bands, the environment, water, and verisimilitude need to get over to Nietzsche's (site of the Hip's first show in Buffalo 14 years ago) tonight for the next installment of The Good Neighborhood's Tributaries series of shows supporting the Buffalo Niagara Riverkeepers featuring a tribute to the pride of Kingston Ontario, The Tragically Hip. It's going to be a non stop night of music with Nietzche's 2 stages featuring Geno McManus and Friends, Sonny Baker and Aye Karou, Shaky Stage, and Zak Ward going on a magical mystery tour of the Hip's extensive oeuvre, with some of the proceeds going to a very worthy cause that's very close to Hip frontman Gord Downie's heart. In the market for a kayak? Of course you are. Buffalo Harbor Kayak's also donated a kayak that will be raffled off (with all the proceeds of the raffle going to the Riverkeepers) in June at the next Tributaries show. Indeed this is an excellent way to get your karma right and to kick off your two month countdown to that Hip show at the end of June at Niagara on the Lake (with Death Cab for Cutie, The New Pornographers, and The Rural Alberta Advantage). The cover is $5 and the show starts at 10 PM and ends whenever.

If you are in the mood for a more laid back evening of music, best head down to Mohawk Place tonight for a triple bill, front stage filled show.  Tonight's lineup includes On Guard, the solo outfit of Aye Karou's Ryan McCrackenn.  McCracken's spares folky tunes are fronted by his Jeff Buckly esque crooning.  Sonny Baker, one of Buffalo's hardest working musicians, will also be on hand with solo tunes, and is expected to play a handful of songs from his upcoming Elevator Knees EP.  Rounding out the bill is Applennium whose members include Dave Calos of 90s alt rock lovin Bearhunter, and Chris Groves, a fellow Audio Buffalo podcaster.  The four piece, which features Stacey Stoll on vocals, reminds me of Yo La Tengo at their most autumnal times.  Show begins at 8:00pm and while cover is not mentioned, don't expect to drop more than $5 to get through the doors.
 

Double bassist/singer-songwriter Nat Baldwin (of Dirty Projectors fame) will be at The Vault in Buffalo tonight. Baldwin is touring in support of his newest experimental free jazz album People Changes, which came out last year. People Changes is Baldwin's fifth solo album, in addition to seven full-length albums and several EPs with the Dirty Projectors.
Here's a song Nat Baldwin wrote about our favorite Great Lake:

Between stints in Wooden Waves, A Hotel Nourishing, Lazlo Hollyfeld, and probalbey a dozen or so other bands that I am not aware of, local musician Sonny Baker somehow found some time to put together a solo EP, titled Elevator Knees, which is set to be release a bit later this year.  He recently posted a track from the EP called "Oh!  Please!  I'm a Believer!" on his facebook page.  Baker, whose voice does not sound that far off from Fleet Foxes front man Robin Pecknold, sings over a pretty acoustic melody on this laid back tune.   Make sure to catch Baker this Friday at the Vault opening for Nat Baldwin and on Thursday, Feb 23rd at Mohawk Place for a song writers show case which also features Roger Bryan and Vic Lazar.