You are here: Home / Archives for Music

WNY Music Scene Roundup, Week of 1/9/12

January 15, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Happenings and announcements from in and around the WNY original music scene this week. Lots of cool stuff going on here folks.

Mikaela Davis

…had a big week, with the launch of her single “Dreaming” marked by a free download on her Bandcamp page, video debut, and broadcast of her WXXI OnStage performance.

Old Tapes

…made a very hip vid for their tune “Queen”. Plus, more tunes on the way?

Julia Nunes

…announced a show for Housing Works in New York city on January 17.
Photo of Julia Nunes, image source: housingworks.org

AND, our favorite Fairport-based YouTube sensation will play the Conan O’Brien show on January 24. Cool.

The Demos

…are huge in Japan. The band announced their latest record “Lovely” is being released in Japan 1/18/2012 on THISTIME Records.
The Demos promo image, image source: http://thedemos.tumblr.com

Tommy Brunett

…announced the broadcast date of his WXXI OnStage performance: February 12 at 7:00pm

PLUS, one of Tommy’s tunes is featured in the movie “Sophomore” starring Amanda Plumber and Patrick Warburton

Nick Young

…announced a whole new slew of shows around the North East.

Walri

…announced a January 27 show at Sticky Lips BBQ Juke Joint.

Son of the Sun

…celebrated their 4th anniversary as a band. They also released a video for their Pink Floyd cover “Fearless”

Filed Under: Music, What I'm Groovin' on Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

New Album: Kathleen Edwards, “Voyageur”

January 10, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Photo of Kathleen Edwards

Kathleen Edwards (photo source: NPR Music)

I gotta admit. For someone who’s taken huge slugs of the Americana/Alt.Country cool-aid over the years, there hasn’t been much lately on the (inter)national stage to keep me as tuned-in to those sounds. (Western NY? Now that’s a different story.) [Read more...]

Filed Under: Music, What I'm Groovin' on Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Norah Jones Does Country

January 4, 2012 By Leave a Comment


I think I have a crush on Norah Jones. But don’t tell anyone.

Funny how in this new-fangled age of country music, the biggest breath of fresh air comes from the old-style sounds, the old-style song forms, the old-style vocal harmonies. Glad The Little Willies are keeping it alive.

Filed Under: Music, What I'm Groovin' on Tagged With: ,

New Video Soon from Mikaela Davis

January 2, 2012 By 1 Comment

Penfield native Mikaela Davis is gearing things up in preparation for her new album release. Her single and video “Dreaming” are both due out January 15.

The video is directed by Philip Night. Always good to see Western New York musical artists go the extra mile and partner with artists in related creative fields to help bring their work to life. Looking forward to the release.

Filed Under: Music, What I'm Groovin' on Tagged With: , , ,

Tom Waits NPR Music Interview

December 27, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Photo of Tom Waits

Tom Waits (image source: npr.org)

As someone who’s been heavily involved for so long with the writing, production, performance and overall enjoyment of music, I’m embarrassed by how late I sometimes “come to the party”.

An example of this missing out is Tom Waits. Sure, I’ve always been aware of his name and legend, but never his music. That’s why I’m glad I stumbled across Waits’ recent NPR Music “Fresh Air” interview this morning (NPR player embedded below). [Read more...]

Filed Under: Music, What I'm Groovin' on Tagged With: , ,

New Find: Gotye

December 21, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Photo of Wouter De Backer, aka Gotye

Wouter De Backer, aka Gotye

New find for the week. Gotye. This guy is too damn talented. A real chameleon. His work floats somewhere between pop, world, dance, electronica, and Radiohead-ish psychedelia. All fully-realized and pulled off expertly. And he started as a drummer — a DRUMMER! (sorry drummer friends) He’s Australian too — probably a bitchin’ surfer. I bet he was the kid in gradeschool that was always raising his hand to answer all the teacher’s questions.

I’m really diggin’ his stuff.

If you’re like me and feeling a little schizophrenic with your listening these days, and are in need of some new ear candy with variety, Gotye’s Making Mirrors is recommended. The album is a buffet line of musical styles — you’re bound to like something.


Mobile users: listen to Making Mirrors on SoundCloud

Here’s the big hit that the kids love — “Somebody that I Used to Know”

Mobile users: listen to “Somebody that I Used to Know” on SoundCloud

Filed Under: Music, What I'm Groovin' on Tagged With:

This Week’s Musical Finds

December 10, 2011 By 1 Comment

Thanks to NPR Music once again for broadening my musical horizons.

Drew Grow & the Pastor’s Wives

Alabama Shakes | “Hold On”

Little Scream | “Cannons”

Delay Trees | “Gold”

Mobile users: listen to “Gold” at Soundcloud

Filed Under: Music, What I'm Groovin' on Tagged With: , , , ,

Sharing Some Video Goodness

November 18, 2011 By Leave a Comment

OK, so I’m a lazy butt. I’ve shirked my duties and let the blog go into yet another dormancy. But hey I got chilluns’ to feed, so get off my back nnkay?

Anyhoo, when I woke up and shook the cobwebs I realized that two really cool vids had since been released by two quality WNY bands. So, for your enjoyment here’s “My Best Mistake” by Buffalo’s Son of the Sun and “Farewell” by Rochester’s Old Tapes.

BTW, turns out both these bands have December shows at Pianos in New York City, so it’s great to see more of our local friends going further afield.

Filed Under: Music, What I'm Groovin' on Tagged With: , , , ,

Nick Young on the Move

November 17, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Photo of Nick Young

Nick Young

Nick Young is one busy Rochester-based beaver.

He’s gettin’ the band back together for two shows on Friday, November 18th and Saturday, November 19th. The Friday night show will be in Buffalo, NY at The Forvm and the Saturday night show will be at the Bug Jar in Rochester, NY. Both nights will be shared with Rochester-based Hinkley and Buffalo-based The Corrections. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Music, What I'm Groovin' on Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Ugh! What is this… Excellent… Music?

November 9, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Photo of Annie Clark

Annie Clark of St. Vincent

My favorite artists, albums and songs — the ones with the most staying power in my collection — are the ones that actually turned me off the first time I heard them. Examples that quickly come to mind: Wilco’s “Yankee Hotel Foxtrot”; U2′s “Zooropa”; Peter Gabriel’s “Passion”. I call them “investment listens”. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Music, What I'm Groovin' on Tagged With: ,
« Older Posts