Though most bands adhere to a genre — or at least get lumped in somewhere — it seems the overwhelming majority strive to be classified as having their own sound, unique from the others that crowd the road to Xanadu. However few bands achieve that autonomy. Like it or not, they are what they are […]
Rochester music
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Five local guitar makers discuss their craft
It would seem that even a well-made guitar has no soul; it is merely wood and wire. But in music’s endless pursuit to get what is in the musician’s heart into the listener’s ear, the guitar is an important vessel, or at the very least a bridge in this quest. It’s true that the instrument […]
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Red Inc.
Often in rock ‘n’ roll, the best bands have a weak link, a member that comes up short, or a particular dynamic that feels a little flat among the others that sparkle. And we’re not just talking local kids-in-the-garage bands, either. There are major acts with major deficits in their ranks. Hell, The Ramones made […]
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Fowls
You say the words “math rock” and eyes often glaze over. It’s as if by definition you have to compute something or contribute to some higher understanding in lieu of simple listening enjoyment. But what happens when the components in the equation are melodic or angelic or narcotic? What happens when two core components are […]
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MoChester
The hearts and influences of its members are visible on its collective sleeve. Clearly a pop vehicle, MoChester jams effortlessly outside the safety of pop’s sugar walls with apparent, and perhaps some not-so-apparent, roots. There’s reggae, there’s jazz, even some darker leanings toward the blues. But the band’s gentle song-based aesthetic gives it a unique […]
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Harmonica Lewinski
Harmonica Lewinski: you can’t wave a name like this under my nose and expect me to pass up the opportunity to be a wiseass. So let’s get this out of the way: Harmonica Lewinski doesn’t suck. In fact, the band blows me away. There, I feel better. It goes without saying that this band is […]
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MUSIC FEATURE: Cold Sweat
There’s plenty of presentation and protocol in this live-music racket that threatens to upend the whole affair. There are plenty of bands that don’t put the music first, concentrating instead on the biz, buzz, and baubles. Then there’s a quartet like Rochester’s Cold Sweat, a straight-up, straight-ahead blues band. Sure, there are detours into Latin […]
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MUSIC FEATURE: The Fox Sisters
It was no big deal; just another night of rock ‘n’ roll in the Flower City. The smart set had shoehorned itself into Abilene on a Friday night in March for headliners 5Head and an unknown support act. You could’ve spread the energy with a spatula. It was palpable within the crowd-powered steam heat when […]
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Turning Colors
Despite a protracted absence from the glow of the live stage’s limelight, Turning Colors always was, and always will be. And though guitarist Bob Olson slings guitar all over the Rochester musical-genre map in numerous outfits like Anonymous Willpower and the John Payton Project, Turning Colors will always be his home. That’s not to say those other bands don’t give […]
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JD McPherson
For 29 of the 35 years that drummer Jason Smay has spent on the globe, his snappy beats have gotten asses out of seats and started them shaking. An amazingly solid, in-the-pocket performer, he’s kept time with an array of classic rock ‘n’ rollers. Smay has done time — and kept it — in groups […]
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MUSIC FEATURE: Steve Gadd
Most drummers would acknowledge that Steve Gadd is among the most dynamic percussionists in the world. The rest just call him Steve God. But when he talks, Gadd is no cymbal crasher; he’s disarmingly soft-spoken. The man whose brilliant solo adds the exclamation point to Steely Dan’s “Aja,” whose fife-and-drum-corps lines on Paul Simon’s “50 […]
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MUSIC INTERVIEW: Mulu Lizi
Usually when discussing a concept album or a band with an ongoing narrative, you figure that theatrics aren’t far behind. Mulu Lizi is a Rochester quartet that has aliens and zombies wandering in and out of its post-but-not-that-post-90’s sound. The band’s brooding music doesn’t necessarily lend itself sonically to the walking dead and the extraterrestrial, […]
