This week, Buffalo has an odd assortment of bands coming to the Queen City. From legendary ’90s rap groups to small, indie-rock duos from Tel Aviv, the concert choices are endless. Whether you want a gritty hip-hop concert or a huge festival-style show, you have plenty to choose from.
On its fifth studio album, Texas metal outfit The Sword eschews some of the heaviness of its earlier works, but loses none of its power. After four albums of traditional metal since the band’s 2006 debut, High Country sees The Sword successfully reinvent its sound in a broader musical context.
The Student Association spent nearly half of its 2015-16 entertainment budget on the mix of hip-hop and R&B talent for Fall Fest this year. One hundred and sixty-three thousand dollars was spent of SA’s allotted $390,000 for entertainment. The genre of Fall Fest, rap-themed for the fourth year in a row, is a widely- debated topic among the student body.
Awful Records is a collective of beat makers, rappers and singers who all write and produce their own music. From graphic design to directing, to mixing and mastering their own tracks, Awful Records maintains a do-it-yourself mentality that is seen in their approach to music and heard in the songs they make. Slug Christ is one of the more unconventional members of the collective and his music combines the playful spirituality of Lil B with the dark undertones of Tyler, the Creator and Three 6 Mafia.
Spring Fest 2015, hosted by the undergraduate Student Association, featured Young the Giant, Banks, Bear Hands, In the Valley Below and The Royal Tongues. The event was open to the public but free to UB undergraduates who pay the $94.75 semesterly mandatory student activity fee.
Passion Pit has risen from the ashes. The group’s new music has traded sadness for optimism, showing strength and hope through happier lyrical themes such as friends, family, love and good times.
Blur’s first album in 12 years, The Magic Whip, shows the band taking a more sparse and minimalist direction than its late ’90s work. Blur is known for its role in the Britpop scene in the early ’90s alongside bands like Oasis, Placebo and The Spice Girls.
Spring Fest is upon us so get your ID cards ready. Whether you started jamming to these five bands when the lineup was first released or you still have no idea who these hipster bands are, this playlist will get you up-to-date A.S.A.P. Don’t let yourself be “that guy” at the show who only knows the words to the songs on the radio – consider this your Spring Fest crash course.
Young Thug's album Barter 6 was released on April 16 after months of controversy from the album’s original title, which was Carter 6. Young Thug, instead of focusing on lyricism, makes the melodies the focal point of his music.
Spring has arrived in the Queen City, which means Buffalo has traded snow banks for mud pits. Whether you enjoy the rainy season or not, there’s one place you always want water to fall – your bathroom. May flowers aren’t here yet, but at least you can smell like one by jamming out in an April shower (baths are cool, too).
Subsoil is a genre-bending hip-hop group that fuses the sounds of ska, funk and rock to create an auditory experience unlike any other. The group is known for its high-energy live performances and won “Best Live Act” in 2010 from Rochester’s Insider/Metromix Magazine.
Buffalo continues to prove why it is one of the most underrated music cities in the United States. This week, indie rock legend Neutral Milk Hotel will be gracing the city with its presence, along with ’70s legend Paul Anka and ’00s throwback The All-American Rejects. No matter your musical preferences, there is no excuse to not make it out to one of these shows because there is truly something for everyone.
It seems just like yesterday when Tyler, the Creator was eating cockroaches on MTV – shocking people with where the direction of hip-hop was going.
Alumni Arena, which holds roughly 6,000 people, was packed Friday night for Electric Tundra, UB’s first Electronic Dance Music festival. The festival featured DNNYD, 3LAU and main attraction Bingo Players. Electric Tundra, a Student Association event, was the first of two SA concerts this semester, the second being the SA’s annual Spring Fest concert.
Bronx-born rapper and DJ, Thompson, a.k.a. Vague, is UB’s resident crowd mover. He is most known on campus for his performances during Perks’ weekly open mic nights on Wednesdays.
The instruments that accompany his music provide the atmosphere of “sadness,” but Yung Lean’s lyrics and delivery don’t provide much emotion at all.
This week in Buffalo the list of concerts truly personifies Buffalo’s diverse music scene.
What For?, Bundick’s fourth album as Toro Y Moi, runs concurrent to the artist’s obsession with musical innovation and growth.
On Monday Jay-Z launched Tidal, his own music streaming service. It went viral almost immediately.
The annual Black Box Concert, presented this year by The Hiller Computer Music Studios of the Department of Music, showcased six separate performers, ranging from UB graduates, current faculty and other artists invited to perform various soundscapes centered on the manipulation of four-channel media and sound mixing.
Solutions by The State News
