What happens when two great minds do, in fact, think alike? Apparently, they make an album of inspired and captivating jazz songs. “North Country Blue” is a new nine-track album from Seungyoung Hong and Paul Meyers. With Hong on bass and Meyers on guitar, they explore some wildly imaginative interplay between their instruments but still […]
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REVIEW | ‘Moonlight Passes On’ by Attic Abasement
“Moonlight Passes On” is Rochester-based Attic Abasement’s first record in about 10 years. Helmed by the prolific Mike Rheinheimer, AA is an acoustic guitar-driven indie rock, raucous collective with a good number of releases under its belt within 20-plus years of existence. This new one consists of short, but somehow slow-building, under-the-radar blips that’ll turn […]
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REVIEW | My Morning Jacket and Guster at Hoochenanny Festival
Jim James’ entire musical modus operandi might as well be “this dude is in love with his guitar.” That’s something someone might say if their entire exposure to James’ band, My Morning Jacket, was the Southern-rock banger “Mahgeetah” from 2003’s opus, “It Still Moves.” In fairness to this hypothetical plebe, the song is literally called […]
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Phoebe Bridgers listening parties coming to Strasenburgh Planetarium
A Grammy-winning singer-songwriter has chosen Rochester’s Strasenburgh Planetarium to help promote her latest album. New music from Phoebe Bridgers can soon be heard as part of a laser show and with special projections in the venue’s dome. The “Lost Weekend Planetarium Experience” kicks off Monday, August 10 and runs through the album’s release on Friday, August 14. The listening parties give fans […]
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The artist burning wood to reach ‘Elevated Places’
The walls of ARTISANworks pop with fine-art paintings, kitschy collectibles and even a pinhole camera built from a Tibetan skull. This month, the art-dense venue will also be home to woodworks that channel ancient mythology and wisdom via earthy presentation. “Elevated Places,” a gallery event on August 8 presented by the Rochester Black Arts Council, […]
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REVIEW | ‘The Commons’ by Thornéd Crown
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 […]
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REVIEW | ‘Tales of the Finger Lakes, Western New York & Beyond’ by Growl Bear
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 […]
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REVIEW | ‘Hard Candy for Hard Times’ by Handsy Grandma
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 […]
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REVIEW | ‘Brutalist’ by Andrew Cloninger
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 […]
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REVIEW | ‘The Odyssey’
“Is Christopher Nolan Catholic?” That’s the first thing I Googled upon exiting “The Odyssey.” As a director, Nolan has built a filmography around tortured men: atomic-bomb patriarch J. Robert Oppenheimer; dream wanderer Dom Cobb in “Inception;” marooned Joseph Cooper in “Interstellar.” But Nolan’s latest protagonist, the Greek hero Odysseus, endures a barrage of suffering so […]
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‘Circus in the City’ anchors Rochester Fringe Festival 2026 lineup
There can be no ESL Rochester Fringe Festival without the Spiegeltent, the signature mirrored hall that houses many of its shows. Indeed, the Spiegeltent will return for the fest in September. But this year’s Fringe also brings a slew of outdoor acrobatics, trapeze and aerial arts performances to downtown venues like Parcel 5 and Gibbs […]
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REVIEW | ‘Rosa do Inverno’ by Rosa Boemia
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 […]
