Is this a great music city or what?
I was talking to my friend Al-x in Chicago and he says that Buffalo’s choice of music on this fine Friday evening kills Chi tonight.
He’s right. You can’t go wrong with the choices:
Mark Olson at 9th Ward - The former Jayhawk has a full band and is supporting The Salvation Blues his deeply personal and confessional song cycle of desert-swept country, folk and rock. Lauded local lad Roger Bryan support
Dead Meadow at Soundlab - DC’s heavy, heavy psych blues overlords get riffageous. Bonus points to them for being the soundtrack of choice for Detective Jimmy McNulty’s kids on the final season of HBO’s The Wire.
Besnyo Worry CD release at Nietzsches’ - You can read my rave on this record from one of Buffalo’s finest bands HERE and tonight see if they can pull of its breathtaking cold and lush sonic vistas live! Supporting Besnyo are The Lochs, A Hotel Nourishing and Alex Berkley.
TECHNOIR Goth Night at Mohawk Place - That is not a misprint! The boys with eyeliner and girls in plastic invade the venerable rock and roll room to dance into the wee hours to the sounds of Bauhaus, Alien Sex Fiend and KMFDM. How long until the Mohawk has to put up mirrors all over a la the old Continental upstairs?For those in need of a refresher on how to prepare for this event: 
I never really got around to fully recapping my SXSW 2008 beyond this Day One report featured in ARTVOICE. At this late point, a full rehash of the dirty particulars is just not gonna happen.
Needless to say, my trip to the annual music conference last month was everything I expected. Perhaps I’ve come to expect a lot because hopes were high and it was ultimately tremendous. There’s more to it than seeing 80+ bands over a week. There’s more to it than getting into the Texas sun in throes of a dreary Buffalo March. There’s more to it than the over the legal limit of bbq and mexican food.
In my five years of attending I can only put it as something kin to a lost week at a music lover’s Disneyworld. It’s overwhelming, overloading, kinda surreal and often like a dream come true.
Yeah, dreams come true. Like those Disneyworld vacation ads. Is this a hokey take on what’s supposed to be a music industry powwow? Maybe, but I do mean it with sincerity.
Where else can you see the bands that everyone will be talking about in the coming months, bask in the sheer ego of Lou Reed celebrating himself in conversation about what a genius he is or stand by side with one of the guitarist/singers of the only band that mattered?
The good news for Clash and Big Audio Dynamite fans: Jonesy has lost nuthin’, erm… ‘cept maybe some hair. His latest project Carbon/Silicon (with Generation X/Sigue Sigue Sputnik guitarist Tony James) is sharp, worldly punk-infused rock and roll heavy on thoughts and hooks. Carbon/Silicon’s full length The Last Post (Caroline) is a refreshing record loaded with rock that you can believe in and raise a flag for.It’s the perfect antecedent to The Clash and B.A.D. Punk ain’t dead, it just keeps getting funkier.
DOWNLOAD NOW:
Carbon/Silicon-magic-suitcase
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