In the nightmarish post-grunge landscape, the bands touting radio-ready singles were king and those still riding Nirvana’s coattails were simply cannon fodder for the club circuit. Tennessee rockers Fuel were (and remain) one of the only bands to emerge from this particularly bleak period of music and achieve commercial success while still retaining a sense […]
Alexander Jones
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PUNK | SinnFest IV
If you’re even remotely familiar with Western New York punk music, chances are you’ve run into James Von Sinn at least once. He’s not exactly difficult to miss — a towering, heavily tattooed, almost vampiric figure with a heart of gold — and he’s far and away Rochester’s premier curator of all things heavy and […]
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STONER METAL | Black Wizard
It’s been 47 years since Black Sabbath unwittingly created stoner metal (and heavy metal as a whole), and you would expect that nothing new could possibly be said about ripping bongs, cosmic entities, and following the smoke toward the riff-filled land. Leave it to Vancouver’s Black Wizard to take the tried-and-true, riff-worship formula and twist […]
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INDIE ROCK | Vekora
During its all-too-brief initial run, Vekora was always one of the Rochester’s best-kept secrets. Its only full-length record, 2014’s “Vekora,” is a sprawling yet cohesive mission statement, blending The Appleseed Cast’s sense of atmosphere with the grandiosity of Brand New and Circa Survive. Vocalist Alexandra Wendt is an equally commanding and breathtaking presence on the […]
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PUNK | North Coast Punk Fest
The name of Rochester’s annual celebration of all things regionally punk leaves little to the imagination, and for good reason. You get what you’re paying for at the North Coast Punk Fest — and what you’re paying for is some of the finest punk rock that Western New York has to offer, no more, no […]
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ROCK | Born Without Bones
For all the grandiose posturing and life-or-death theatrics that indie rock offers, it’s becoming exceedingly rare to find a band with genuine soul. Heartfelt lyrics can only offer so much if the voice delivering them doesn’t sound convinced of the truth behind the words. Thankfully this is a quality that Born Without Bones provides in […]
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ROCK | Maybird
Rochester by-way-of Brooklyn’s Maybird writes music that feels perfect for this time of year. Summer’s creeping up, you finally feel safe to roll your car windows down, and the days are starting to feel a good deal lazier. Maybird’s largely mellow, synth-driven pop is a more than fitting soundtrack for those sun-kissed drives and late […]
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DEATHCORE | Slaughter to Prevail
It’s nice to see that metalheads can still transcend national borders. Born out of a correspondence between UK-based guitarist Jack Simmons and Russian vocalist Alex Shikolai, Slaughter to Prevail is a European deathcore outfit that speaks the universal language of “really heavy mosh parts.” Its latest record, this year’s “Misery Sermon,” is a confident collection […]
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INDIE ROCK | Kevin Devine
Although New York City-based singer-songwriter Kevin Devine has been active since around 2002, he’s still operating at a staggering blink-and-you’ll-miss-it pace. From the literate introspection of 2003’s “Make the Clocks Move” to 2009’s fantastically cerebral “Brother’s Blood,” Devine has been juggling the personal and the political fast enough that they’ve blurred together seamlessly. On his […]
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POP | The 1975
While The 1975 may initially read as just the latest in a long line of British teen heartthrob exports, the Manchester-based band have quite a bit of nuance to offer. Its latest record, 2016’s “I Like It When You Sleep, For You Are So Beautiful Yet So Unaware Of It” bears a great deal of […]
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EXPERIMENTAL | Anna Mikhailova
There isn’t really a good place to begin when describing the works of Anna Mikhailova. The Russian composer (now based in Rotterdam, Netherlands) is deeply saturated in experimental composition and avant-garde performance as well as being an innovative multimedia artist and curator. Even beyond her installation work, there’s a certain three-dimensional quality to Mihailova’s creations […]
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INDIE ROCK | Japanese Breakfast
Japanese Breakfast, the new solo project from Philadelphia-via-Oregon indie wunderkind Michelle Zauner, captures a space that many other young bands have tried (and failed) to occupy. The project’s debut LP, 2016’s “Psychopomp,” is a bold and transformative experience from the opening plunks and ensuing rattle of “In Heaven” to the almost unbearably gorgeous “Triple 7.” […]
