buffaBLOG - The Buffalo music blog: the cascos

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Cliff, hamburg, the cascos, tonight, victory for poland — 0 comments

Tonight: The Cascos

Tonight will be a special night in Hamburg. No, the Erie County Fair isn't ending early. The Cascos, the pride of the suburb best known for DUI arrests, will be giving their last show for the foreseeable future with Brimstone Blondes at Longboards on the Beach. Yes, like Victory For Poland, the lads are going to college (they're leaving home... sniff) and the band is going on a necessary hiatus, but not before one last show for their peoples on the beach tonight. The show starts at 6. Even though they've left us the fine LP, Garage On Martha, to chew on, this will be your last chance to get your Cascos fix for a good while, so plan accordingly.

And to the kids in Victory For Poland and Cascos - good luck, and we'll see you when we see you.

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The Cascos Release Debut LP Garage on Martha

Most high school grads spend the summer before college saying goodbye to old buddies that they promise to keep in touch with but never do, buying various storage units for their dorm room, and saying a possible final farewell to their hometown. In the case of The Cascos, who have created a sort of next generation trifecta along with Brimstone Blondes and Victory for Poland in recent years, they released an album. Titled Garage on Martha, the Hamburg garage quartet dropped the debut LP earlier this week as they prepare to disband for their fall studies later this August.

Previously released singles "Basement Stairs" and the newly remastered "Calendars," whose original version I quite enjoyed, thankfully made the cut while the rest of the album is fleshed out with some new and older tracks dating back to The Cascos baby days of 2010. La Salle University bound Jacob Smolinski sounds (is that a tiny bit of King Krule I hear?) much older than his years on Garage on Martha, an album that mixes the playfulness of the Black Lips with the pop sensibilities of Vampire Weekend, and also a whole lot of the Coral, minus the whole pirate thing, for good measure. The laid back turned raucous "I Fell In Love With the Flute Player," the messy "Andy Don't Be So Strung Out," and the woozy, harmonica led crooner "Columbo" round out the surf flavored, lo-fi recordings.

While the band is said to be playing shows over breaks, you never quite know the future with these young acts once college gets in the way. So, in case this is the only proper release from the Cascos, then kudos to them. The band will be playing their final local show on Friday, August 16th out at Hamburg Beach beginning at 6pm. In the mean time, Garage on Martha can be downloaded in full via the band's bandcamp page.

brimstone blondes, Nick, the cascos, tonight, victory for poland — 0 comments

Tonight: Brimstone Blondes, Victory for Poland, and The Cascos

Tonight is a very special show. Three Buffalo-area, high-school-aged bands have come together to throw a show at the Ninth Ward. No promotors, no funny stuff, just a bunch of kids doing stuff, DIY style. The show features the garage-rock prodigies in Brimstone Blondes, the multi-instrumentalist indie-pop prodigies in Victory for Poland, and the surfy Vampire Weekend-like prodigies in The Cascos. It's worth mentioning that despite their age, these bands have some pretty reputable influences i.e. Pavement, Modest Mouse, and Neutral Milk Hotel. These young musicians are probably going to be at the forefront of the Buffalo music scene in the years to come.
Show starts at 7:00pm and is only $7. Come hang out at the Ninth Ward (even if it is a school night).

local artist spotlight, Nick, the cascos, the ssc — 0 comments

Local Artist Spotlight: The SSC

We've been posting about high school-aged bands for a few weeks... In continuation of that trend, we'd like to introduce you to The SSC. The SSC is a one man project featuring Jacob Smolinski from The Cascos (who we did a spotlight on a few weeks ago). The SSC is a few lo-fi recordings done with a guitar, a cheap keyboard, a drumset, and a guitar/amp.

I am personally a big fan of "Grassroots Metro" which features a fuzzy bass-keyboard and a blistering lead synth riff structured around two simple chords. Smolinski sings about a bunch of sellouts writing "scene songs" to try to stay relevant and claims that ADD is killing all of his friends. Deep stuff disguised behind a simple catchy riff. Also worth checking out is the Weezer-ish "Intertextual Feeling" where he even name drops Rivers. Good stuff Smolinski.

local artist spotlight, Nick, the cascos — 1 comments

Local Artist Spotlight: The Cascos

Remember that hot high school band circuit we were talking about last year (hint: Victory for Poland and Brimstone Blondes)? Well, The Cascos are the newest addition to that lineup of stellar young bands representing Buffalo. The Hamburg-based four piece seems to be full of multi-instrumentalists - Jacob Smolinski on guitar, keys, and vocals; Gabe LaMarca on guitar, bass, tambourine, and vocals; Coleman Berueffy on guitar and bass, and Kerrick Woyshner on drums and vocals. But regardless of what instruments these guys have on at any particular moment, the important thing is they definitely have a knack for catchy and fun garage-pop.

In fact, my fellow buffaBLOGGER Mac McGuire likes the Cascos so much, he asked for a guest quote in their spotlight:

"This Cascos song is great... They sound like Vampire Weekend meets The Coral." - Mac McGuire, buffaBLOG

He was of course referring to their song, "Calendar," and I can't help but agree. The lo-fi track was recorded with only two condenser mics, but has enough surf-pop pep that would fit right in with garage rock like The Strokes or Afro-pop (or whatever they consider themselves) like Vampire Weekend. Personally, I can get behind any young group of dudes who list Pavement as one of their main influences. I'm not sure what the local high schools are doing right these days, but keep 'em coming!