Buffalo Avenues Audio Archive |
  
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Friday, March 21st [Listen]
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Best of Buffalo Avenues 5 :
In this special best-of edition we'll revisit some of the best segments we've had on Buffalo Avenues: Bob Berkman, Music Director at QRS Music Technologies Incorporated discovers the equation pianola+klezmer=Kezmerola.
Alison Zero interviews retro-videogame-tune-rock-band, ARMCANNON.
Juxtaposse, a Buffalo reggae band, returns from a very early Buffalo Avenues.
Friday, March 7th [Listen]
On this week’s Buffalo Avenues:
Kenny Macdonald chats with jam-rocker, Keller Williams before his show at Town Ballroom Sunday night.
Alison Zero meets an orchestral metal five-piece, ARMCANNON that deftly reproduces video game soundtracks.
Friday, February 29th [Listen]
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This week on Buffalo Avenues:
Kenny Macdonald interviews Bob Berkman, Music Director of Buffalo-based QRS Music Technologies Incorporated. The 107-year old company still makes traditional-style music rolls for pianola as well as modern automatic piano players. Bob talks about the differences in arranging music for humans versus a pianola, the surprising amount of work required by the pianolist and his personal collection of ethnic music so specific, he even made up his own word: Klezmerola.
Alison Zero interviews Stand, a rock band, originally from Dublin, now living in NYC. They played at the Buffalo Irish Center.
Alex Kelly interviews Jason Pfaff, a Williamsville native making his mark on the Electronic-Pop Zeitgeist.
Eileen Buckley speaks to Buffalo Performing Arts High School Principal, Kevin Kazmierczak about their upcoming concert.
Alison and Kenny read from the community pages.
Friday, February 22nd [Listen]
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This week on Buffalo Avenues:
Alison Zero interviews Fredericksburg, Virginia singer/songwriter Erin McKeown. Dee Adams opened for her in a packed 9th Ward, Babeville’s newest venue.
Kenny Macdonald spends a blusie evening at the Double D Queen City Grill with Gregg Juke and the Mighty No-Stars.
Alex Kelly interviews Buffalo reggae artist, Nevil Francis.
Tuesday, February 19th [Listen]
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Buffalo's only 6-peice-progressive-metal-bongo-sometimes-cello-band, Pollock; Mick Hayes- blues/soul guitarist; and gypsy jazz in our studio with Babik. Kenny and Alison read from your comments at wbfo.org/community.
Friday, February 8th [Listen]
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The Whigs- a hard southern rock power-trio quickly gaining national attention; they just played Letterman two weeks ago.
Alison Zero interviews a young up-and-commers, Kryszt. They played at extreme wheels skate park last week.
I interview German born Jann Klose. He now lives in Brooklyn, but is becoming a regular out here in Western New York.
The Buffalo Chips, UB’s premier male a cappella ensemble, are gearing up for their Valentine’s Day Invitational Concert in Slee Hall. They sing a couple songs in the studio and help WBFO out with a jingle.
Friday, February 1st [Listen]
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Joyce Kryszak interviews Christian Baldini, conductor of the UB orchestra and of tonight's performance of Stravinsky's The Soldiers Tale. Alison Zero interviews Ice Cream Social a “bright, danceable keyboard and guitar pop” group out of Buffalo at their CD release party at Mohawk.
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Kenny interviews Sheena and Alex of Lemuria, a band that splits the difference between pop and punk. Their first full length CD, Get Better, will be available in late February.
Your local music calendar and more on this week’s Buffalo Avenues.
Friday, January 25th [Listen]
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Sounds from Artvoice's Battle of Original Music (BOOM) Final at the Tralf. The featured bands were Fresh Guac, Live in Allen Hall veterans LondonVsNewYork, Dali's Ghost, and Constant Climax. You'll have to listen to find out who won!
Friday, January 18th [Listen]
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Today on Buffalo Avenues, Alison Zero interviews Rebecca Ryskalczyk, a 19-year-old indie-folk artist from Buffalo. Rebecca Ryskalczyk shocked all that knew her one fateful December day, when she posted a few songs she wrote on her brand new myspace. What her page's visitors heard was raw passion that lacked any sort of pretense or insincerity. Rebecca is much more than the average "girl with a guitar" act, captivating audiences wherever she picks up a guitar and starts to sing.
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Alison also interviews Jennifer O'Connor, a Matador Records artist who comes to us from Brooklyn. The San Francisco Bay Guardian wrote of O'Connor, "This New York indie folk rocker has made herself the envy of nearly every other confessional singer-songwriter out there, thanks to the genuinely affecting ruminations on love and loss of last year's Over the Mountain, Across the Valley, and Back to the Stars. Offering an invitingly elemental production that focuses on the bumps and bruises of O'Connor's slightly world-weary voice, the album is riveting in its quietly devastating candor."
Friday, January 11th
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Today on Buffalo Avenues, Kenny Macdonald interviews tribute artist Terry Buchwald at the fairgrounds in Hamburg to find out what really helps make a good Elvis. Alex Kelly interviews the Buffalo Alt-Rock band The Failures' Union in their practice room above Mohawk Place downtown. And Alison Zero reports on solo musician Ellen West who played New World Record's Thursday night performance.
And Alison Zero reports on solo musician Ellen West who played New World Record's Thursday night performance.Klezmer music from husband and wife team, West of Odessa
Scenes from Lemuria's CD release party including an interview with opening band, Exit Strategy.
Friday, January 4th
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Today on Buffalo Avenues, an interview with Pete Worden and the Hardtimers. Pete Worden remembers the first 45 record his parents gave him as an eight-year-old. He says it was an RCA record, Elvis's cover of Hound Dog, flip side Don't Be Cruel. When he heard those sides, his fate was sealed.
Friday, December 21st
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Kenny discovers a hidden enclave of the Skiffle Minstrels, Alison Zero meets Jax Deluca at Nietzsche's, and Kenny is invited into the Colored Musician’s club to meet local jazz institution Van Taylor.
Friday, December 14th
Alex Kelly's exclusive interview with the Hanson brothers... all grown up, they talk about transitions in their music, and aid to Africa. Matt Felski- Drums "We're all stuck out in the desert and we're gonna die!" Coming through the speakers sounding like some strange love child of The Pixies and Country Joe And the Fish, it's the feel bad hit of the season. What I mean is, it's doomsday pop you can dance to. It is at once old and new, like a coyote slinking past a gay bar. Then, after that, it's the dumb stomp of the title track, which makes you think about a more hi-fi Crazy Horse playing way behind the beat and spreading all over the map. "I know I don't belong singin a worthless freedom song. It's all a waste of time." Is this a first? Is he protesting the protest song? Either way, alert Fox News and Moveon.Org and start slinging mud.
In this episode of Buffalo Avenues we'll feature:
Alison Zero interviews Buffalo instrumentalists, Lazlo Hollyfeld.
Kenny Macdonald chats with indie-rocker Jonathan Rice after his show at the Mohawk.
Lazlo Hollyfeld
Jeff Mcleod- Guitar
Scott Molloy- Keys
Chris Gangarossa- Bass
Sunday, December 9th
[Listen]
Buffalo Avenues Vol. 9
Infinity Performing Arts Program Students Jonah Hathaway and Kate Furman. Buffalo Music Awards, holiday organ music, plus your local calendar.
Sunday, December 4th [Listen]
Buffalo Avenues Vol. 8
In the eighth installment of Buffalo Avenues, reporter Alex Kelly attends the Buffalo Academy for the Visual and Performing Arts official grand opening spectacular. Talent Producer, Alison Zero, raps with Buffalo's best underground hip-hop artists. Producer Kenny Macdonald investigates industrial metal band displaceD (<-- capitalization not a mistake) at Showplace Theater.
Thursday, November 29th [Listen]
displaceD
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Thought the metal industry in Buffalo is all but gone? Displaced abroad? Buffalo Music Project producer Kenny Macdonald profiles one factory of noise still in full production. displaceD is one of the most popular Buffalo industrial metal bands. As a fairly large band, displaceD has the power to ring a lot of ears and go different ways with their music if they choose. There are six members. Only three years old, they routinely pack Showplace Theater with a growing fan base. Growing thanks to Myspace buzz and playing with all the right bands. DisplaceD starts their own nine month, nationwide tour in January.
Wednesday, November 21st [Listen]
Our best show yet, 15-year-old protoge from Jamestown Cale Hawkins, They Might Be Giants, Buffalo native and world-famous jazz keyboardist, Tom Schuman and your weekly music calendar.
Cale Hawkins
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Inspired by the likes of Soulive, Derek Trucks Band, Jimi Hendrix, Stevie Wonder, Pink Floyd, and Led Zeppelin, 15 year old Cale Hawkins is an up and coming star from Bemus Point, NY. Rocking his guitar and keyboard, the sophomore from Maple Grove High School records each part of his songs himself.
Friday, November 16th [Listen]
An interview with world renown Tabla master, Zakir Hussain and maestro of the santoor Rahul Sharma. Alison Zero interviews the Korean Folk Art Club of UB's Poongmul Drummers. Alex Kelly finds The Found, and reports from the Buffalo Academy for the Visual and Performing Arts grand opening concert. Kenny MacDonald interviews They Might Be Giants.
They Might Be Giants
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They are a band from Brooklyn that has been around for twenty five years. Their new album is called The Else. TMBG has been on the road since the summer and will be out into next year promoting it. You might not know that they got a Grammy a couple of years back for the theme to Malcolm in the Middle, and do the music for The Daily Show with Jon Stewart (they recorded Bob Moulds theme, and wrote and recorded all the bombastic orchestral music with their bombastic orchestral friends).
Friday, November 9th [Listen]
Needle Up
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Few bands can recover from the typical indie band scenario: group joins up, records a cd, tours a little, then disbands. Enter Needle Up!, a new group based in Buffalo NY redefining “getting back together with an ex.” Originally formed in 2004, the indie trio quickly recorded and began playing dates across the Northeast. In only a few short months, the group had an EP and opening stints for Q & Not U, The Butchies, Matt Pond PA, and Rasputina. But later that year, something went sour and the group went their separate ways.
Three years later, a little older and wiser, the three regrouped in early 2007 and picked up right where they left off, quickly recording the full length cd that alluded them previously, and lining up a two week tour across much of the United States. Best described as a collage of all sorts of influences – PJ Harvey, Jeff Buckley, Q & Not U and Sleater Kinney to name a few, the bands sound is hard to pinpoint. A little bit indie, folk, experimental, mathy, and straight up rock, the group is rounded out by Joseph Mulhollen on guitar and vocals, Veronica Alvarez on bass, and Liz Holland on drums & synth/samples.
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What are syncopated rhythms and reggae-style themes doing in a rust belt city? Gaining a lot of popularity. The Buffalo Music Project's Kenny Macdonald has the story of a five-piece band that brings a unique sound to Buffalo stages. )
Jay Beckenstein of Spyro GyraSpyro Gyra's is music whose core and desire was never for strictly commercial purposes. There was no calculated effort to sell millions of records, sell out concerts throughout the world, and inspire a whole new generation of musicians seeking an eclectic road of their own. When Jay Beckenstein and Jeremy Wall first started jamming back in Buffalo, they just did it because it was a blast, pure and simple. They made lyrical, jazzy music for a few folks at Jack Daniels, developed a high energy live gig, one thing led to another, and suddenly, instrumental music was never quite the same. The fun was suddenly not just theirs, but ours as well.
Monday November 5th [Listen]
WBFO Xponential and the Buffalo Music Project present Buffalo Avenues Volume 4. When I started this project and produced the first episode, I couldn't believe I had to do one every week. Could I keep up the hectic pace? And look how time flies...we officially have enough BA to fill an entire month! This week: Scenes from the Mohawk, Tracy Morrow and Handsome Jack perform. Plus, interviews with Robby Takac and Dweezil Zappa.
Handsome Jack
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"With Heatseeker the bombastic four-piece of Handsome Jack brandishes a jagged edge of skuzzy blooze and overdriven garage rock with a lethal threat backed up by a dual-guitar attack. Handsome Jack seem bent not on being the tightest or slickest band but the one who delivers the biggest riffs along with a sinister, snotty sneer and that certain thing which Iggy Pop once called the "shake appeal." Songs like "Love Machine" and "Evil Woman" are not rocket science nor are they out to make a sensitive artist statement. They go for that undeniable animal groove and fist-pumping rock glory. Handsome Jack succeed on Heatseeker because they have figured out to put together the immediacy of MC5's short, sparking fuse with the boogie of early ZZ Top and with enough swagger and latter day garage rock feel. "ARTVOICE - Buffalo, NY
Friday November 2nd [Listen]
Bill Nehill. Would a musician by any other name smell as sweet? He thinks so. Bill actually performs under the moniker "Tracy Morrow." Alison Zero of WBFO Xponential's Buffalo Music Project spoke recently with Bill about his pseudonym, Buffalo and what it was like recording with Steve Albini -- one of today's most illustrious record producers.
Tracy Morrow
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His name is Bill, but he goes by the name of Tracy Morrow. "I play guitar and sing very simple songs" he says on his myspace. He used to play in a band called barrel harbor where "I used to roll on the floor a lot and pour beer over my head". In 2005, he recorded an album called "morning is the end of the day" at Electrical Audio in Chicago. It is currently on sale at his shows and a few places in Buffalo. In the past year, he began collaborating with local psych-acoustic duo, the magi chippie. After playing around town with them for a year, with magi chippie in tow he recorded "someday you will find a home", a new 8 song album at Electric Audio.Friday October 26th [Listen]
Success in life is relative, perhaps even more-so for musicians. As part of the Buffalomusic project, WBFO's Kenny Macdonald talks to one modest musician content with simply living a musical career with great respect among fans and peers.
Peter Case
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I tell people now I play folk-rock, & they seem to understand ...but the whole truth is more complex: I'm a singer/ songwriter that uses all the American styles to get my stories across : Blues. Rock.nRoll. Country. Soul. R&B ...& Folk..plus some rhythmic influences from around the world. I'm trying to forge my own style out of those inherited materials...I've always been into dynamic emotionally charged music you could use to tell a story or paint a picture. - Peter Case on www.petercase.comFriday October 19th [Listen]
Buffalo Avenues' reporters were out on the streets again this week, tracking down artists Architecture in Helsinki and Buffalo's own Allen and Neal Evans of Soulive. We also check out the Buffalo Music Hall of Fame induction ceremony, and talk to the Hall's president, Rick Mathews.
Soulive
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Stax is back with Soulive's No Place Like Soul, a bold new statement from New York's preeminent groove machine and the first new-artist release from the Concord Music Group's relaunch of the legendary Memphis soul label. Since forming Soulive in 1999, guitarist Eric Krasno, organist Neal Evans and drummer Alan Evans have developed a reputation as one of the most sought after instrumental soul-funk trios around, a hard-touring live act that's thrown down everywhere from small rock clubs to opening arena shows for the Rolling Stones. Yet an interesting thing happened when the three veteran musicians hooked up last year to begin work on the follow-up to 2005's critically acclaimed Break Out: They discovered that rather than extend their past achievements, they were more interested in racking up some new ones.Friday October 12th [Listen]
The mission of Buffalo Avenues is to take you on a tour of tunes made in, and around Buffalo, New York. This episode we'll hear music and interviews with folk-singer Brian Wheat, some Bird-song from Chicago and Buffalo fave, Ani DiFranco.
Andrew Bird
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Chicago-based multi-instrumentalist and lyricist Andrew Bird picked up his first violin at the age of 4. Actually, it was a Cracker Jack box with a ruler taped to it, and the first of his many Suzuki music lessons involved simply bowing to the teacher and going home. He spent his formative years soaking up classical repertoire completely by ear so when it came time for a restless teen-ager to make the jump to Hungarian Gypsy music, early jazz, country blues, south Indian etc., it wasn't such a giant leap. It's fitting that now, though classically trained, he has instead opted to play his violin in a most unconventional manner, accompanying himself on glockenspiel and guitar, adding singing and whistling to the equation, and becoming a pop songwriter in the process.
Brian Wheat
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In casual conversation, Brian Wheat is a man who pauses occasionally, carefully pondering each exchanged word before responding. Similarly, his songwriting demonstrates fascinating detail that surpasses simple storytelling, and delves into patient studies of the emotional context surrounding a moment. It is clear that the strong sense of community that exists in Buffalo, NY, his current roost, has manifested itself in the themes of home and human connection that pervade his work.
Ani DiFranco
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Only 5' 2" in height, Ani DiFranco has worked hard to prove that she's big in stature.
Born in Buffalo, New York, Ani was singing and playing guitar long before most of us break out of the doldrums of Kidz Bop and Bubblegum Pop to finally realize what good music actually is. As she grew older, she began touring, developing both her signature style of performance and her extremely loyal fan base. Rather than waiting for some A&R bigwig with an even bigger agenda to sign her, Ani simply created her own label, Righteous Babe Records, which has released 18 of her own studio albums as well as 8 of her wildly popular Official Bootleg Series, allowing people to experience Ani live from the comfort of their own homes.Questions?
Email us at xpo@wbfo.org.
