Music Reviews

Thornéd Crown may describe themselves as a “dungeon folk outfit,” but the Rochester band’s debut cassette release “The Commons” is a stylistically diverse collection of (mostly) instrumental songs, ranging from the modal psych raga of “Swamprun,” reminiscent of Kikagaku Moyo or Goat, to the ‘70s folk horror movie soundtrack territory of “Torchlight.” Expanse by Thorned […]

With local Americana band Growl Bear’s new offering, the 20-track concept album “Tales of the Finger Lakes, Western New York & Beyond,” its frontman, singer-songwriter Jeremy Button, has produced a group of story-songs that stand on their own while also making a collective statement about upstate New York culture. He has also secured an impressive […]

Listeners who gravitate toward punk rock, fast-paced music that makes them jump as well as engaging messaging will feel a sense of belonging with Handsy Grandma. The band’s “Hard Candy for Hard Times,” available July 24, brings all the energy with 16 dynamic tracks ready to pump up listeners for the heat of summer.  The […]

There is a lot to process on Andrew Cloninger’s new album, “Brutalist.” Processing, in fact, could serve as the guiding concept behind the album. Song titles like “Archive” and “Field Notes” suggest raw sonic material of various sorts underwent a careful process of refinement, sifting or even distilling. Instead of clean, repeatable melodies and chord […]

For the uninitiated, Rosa Boêmia is sultry summer samba, sans singing. The Rochester three-piece’s name translates from Portuguese to English as “bohemian pink,” and they play choro, an upbeat, classical style of Brazilian music with roots in 19th-century Rio de Janeiro. If you’re unfamiliar with choro (as I was), “Rosa do Inverno” is a great […]

Ego is a sticky thing. Brian Wilson famously took acid and wrote a song about letting go of his own, only to be persuaded by Mike Love to tone down the psychedelia. (“I Know There’s an Answer” still goes.) The Rochester rapper Robert Hirko, who uses his last name to release music, has now made […]

Rochester loves its hometown icons, and in that pantheon of lilacs and frozen custard there is a special place for the long-tenured local salsa band La Muralla. Founded on the city’s northside in 1973, this all-star mashup of musicians released a new album, “Como Me La Pida,” on June 28 that provides a delightful break […]

Lilypad Underground and Raincoated Records are at it again, showcasing four of Rochester’s most interesting indie bands recorded directly to a four-track cassette tape. The result is “Spit Takes and Split Tapes, Vol. II,” an endearing split EP offering two songs each from local bands Chores, Comfy, Bad Bloom and Big Nobody. The opening song, […]

New York singer, songwriter and clawhammer banjo player Benny Bleu has announced his debut collection of self-recorded songs, “When I Am a Fossil” due June 5, with a release show at Bop Shop Records on June 6. A decade in the making, Bleu, a geologist by trade, examines the roots of traditional song through his […]