Annual Allentown Art Fest Music Fest

Saturday, June 9 & Sunday, June 10

If you’re from Western New York, and not somewhere on or near Allen Street this Saturday or Sunday (June 9 and 10), you’re missing one of the most celebrated and energetic weekends of the year, as Buffalo’s true harbinger of summer, the Allentown Art Festival, returns for its 55th year. In just a few short days artists and tens of thousands of visitors from WNY and beyond will converge on Allentown from North Street to Virginia and Elmwood Avenue to Main Street for two straight days of street-lined art vendors and exhibits. With every great festival comes a variety of secondary events and activities to check out, and Buffalo’s long established bastion of local music, Nietzsche’s has set aside the better part of two days to bring you a non-stop marathon of live music from some of Buffalo’s best local acts. A festival within a festival, the annual Allentown Art Fest Music Fest once again boasts a mammoth lineup of over 25 acts, starting at 2pm Saturday and Sunday, and running until the streets are cleaned up Sunday evening. Among the performers are rockabilly/blues outfit the Heavenly Chillbillies (3pm Sat), The Andrew J Reimers Country Punk Extravaganza (6pm Sat), newly crowned Artvoice B.O.O.M. champs the Tins (8pm Sat), Son of the Sun (10pm Sat), McCarthyism (5pm Sun), bluegrass from Erie Lackawanna Railroad (8pm Sun), and jazz supergroup Jazzbollah (8:45pm Sun). Be sure to duck into Nietzsche’s at any time Saturday or Sunday for a cold one and continuous live music during Buffalo’s most heralded weekend of the summer. If that’s not enough music for you the Steam Donkeys will take the stage right across the street at Duke’s (253 Allen Street) at 2pm, followed by the Joni James band at 6pm, and the Queen City Cartel’s Friction danceparty at 10pm on Saturday. See you on the streets of Allentown this weekend! —jon wheelock

Art Festival: 11am to 6pm

Music Festival: 2pm. Nietzsche's, 248 Allen St. (886-8539 / nietzsches.com). $2. 21+.

Friday, June 8

Carl Cox

With a nickname like “the Three Deck Wizard” you know DJ Carl Cox takes spinning records seriously. Though he’s from England, Cox quickly adopted a Detroit techno sound in the mid 1980s. Mixing that Detroit sound with acid house, electro, and disco, Cox has been a force to reckon with in electronic music releasing dozens of singles and remixes, as well as four full length records including 2005’s high energy, club shaking Second Sign. Last year Cox proved he still has his groove with the release of his equally high-energy record All Roads Lead to The Dancefloor. The 49-year-old DJ even has his own personal stage at the Ultra Festival in Miami each year. Though Cox recently switched from three turntables to four CD players, all roads still lead to the dance floor for this veteran DJ. Carl Cox will perform a special DJ set presented by Factory Nightlife at Rendezvous Niteclub in the Statler Towers this Friday (June 8) with opening sets from Buffalo DJs Jesse Aaron, Paul Kuenzi, and RyLL. —cory perla

9pm. Rendezvous Niteclub, 107 Delaware Avenue. (853-3300 / statlercity.com/rendezvous) $30. Dress code enforced. 21+

Friday, June 8

Kurt & The Loders play Weezer's Blue Album

Remember the grunge glory of the 1990s? Although 1994 was the year O.J. Simpson was arrested for murder, Nancy Kerrigan was attacked at the Olympics, and Bill Clinton experienced what would just be his first graze of drama by being accused of sexual harassment—let’s not forget it was also the year Weezer produced what was arguably one of the best albums of the decade. Weezer’s debut, “the Blue Album,” as it is known, will be performed in its entirety by local band, Kurt & The Loders this Friday (June 8) at Duke’s Bohemian Grove Bar. Rolling Stone named the album 297 in its list of the “500 Greatest Albums of All Time.” If you don’t love jamming out to “Buddy Holly,” and can’t appreciate Rivers Cuomo’s ability to write a hook that gets you suckered into shamelessly singing along, I’m convinced you’re not human. The band’s name on it’s own is a love letter to the 1990s—paying homage to influential MTV news anchor and editor of Rolling Stone, Kurt Loder. The cover band features members from other local bands; Son of the Sun, Here Come The Comets, Ramforinkus, and Sleepy Hahas. The band’s last gig at Duke’s featured a variety of 1990s favorites. This time around the special Blue Album set will also be complemented with two additional sets of the decade’s song-gems. So pull out your favorite flannel shirt, and come party like it’s 1994. —sara dinatale

10pm. Duke’s Bohemian Grove Bar, 253 Allen St. (240-9359 / dukesbohemiangrovebar.com).

Friday, June 8

Drake

Love him or hate him, it’s clear that Drake is at the top of the hip-hop world right now. He’s done everything right so far. He’s got his genuinely introspective debut album Thank Me Later, his follow up record; last year’s Take Care, which touched on the positive and negative effects of the fame that Thank Me Later won him, he’s got his mandatory hip hop feud with Common, and more number one singles on the Billboard Rap Charts than any other rapper. Things seem to have come together for Drake better than anyone could have imagined when he went from teen actor on the small screen in Degrassi: The Next Generation, to Young Money platinum selling artist, but he more than anyone is aware of his position right now. “I might be too strung out on compliments, overdosed on confidence,” the 25-year-old sings on his hit single “Headlines.” Whatever he does next with that confidence will probably define his already booming career. The Toronto, Ontario native will come to the Darien Lake Performing Arts Center on Friday (June 8) as part of his world tour with special guests J. Cole, Waka Flocka Flame, and more. —cory perla

7pm. Darien Lake Performing Arts Center, 9993 Alleghany Road, Darien Center. (585.599.4641 / godarienlake.com/entertainment/pac-concerts) $35.75-$95.75.

Friday, June 8

Prog Rock Battle: Timbre Coup vs. Peanut Brittle Satellite

It’s a prog rock battle and the weapons of choice are genre hopping guitar riffs, spaced out drum grooves, and fantastic concepts. The competitors are Buffalo’s Peanut Brittle Satellite and Albany’s Timbre Coup who will go toe to toe with dueling sets at Nietzsche’s on Friday (June 8). Both bands thrive on high concept songs along the lines of King Crimson, Dream Theatre, and Tool. Timbre Coup, like PBS, conceptualized their latest release, Knuckles and Valleys; the twelve tracked album, named for each month of the year, expresses the peaks and lows that we all experience some way or another in the passing of time. If you think you’ve seen PBS before, think again because they’ve taken it to the next level with two drummers and a violinist, along with their usual line up of guitar, keys and bass. Having been staring each other down in this respectful battle of progressive rock wills, Timbre Coup and Peanut Brittle Satellite will, for certain, stand to the last bell, leaving the collective ears and eyes of those in attendance the biggest victors of the evening. —h. timpson

Nietzsche’s, 248 Allen St. (886-8539 / nietzsches.com). $7.

Sunday, June 10

Porcelain Raft

It actually takes a lot of work to achieve that scratchy, lo-fi demo sound found on most of Porcelain Raft’s recordings. Italian born composer Mauro Remiddi aka Porcelain Raft has spent his entire career searching for the psychedelic combination of shimmering percussion, overblown acoustic guitars, ambient sound-scapes, and distantly reverberated vocals that make up his self-proclaimed “sleepwalking pop” sound. At age 37 Remiddi has seen many recording studios and laid his hands on many mixers as front man of indie rock band Sunny Day Sets Fire and as a scorer of films, but what he has learned from these experiences is that sometimes all one needs is their brain and a bedroom with a tape deck. His latest record and first full length under the name Procelain Raft, titled Strange Weekend, builds upon the Ariel Pink-like meandering dream pop of his first release the Gone Blind EP. Don’t miss Porcelain Raft this Sunday (June 10) at Babeville’s Ninth Ward with local support from Brother Keep and Canary Girls. —cory perla

7pm. Babeville’s Ninth Ward, 341 Delaware Ave. (852-3835 / babevillebuffalo.com). $10.

Tuesday, June 12

Sting

When the Police broke up in the mid 1980s, they were one of the biggest bands in the world. With countless hit singles and multiple platinum albums it was unclear what could fill the void with them out of the picture. Luckily, frontman Sting went on to have an extremely prolific solo career. His first solo record, 1985’s Dream of the Blue Turtles was an immediate hit with several hit singles including “If You Love Somebody (Set Them Free),” and “Fortress Around Your Heart.” In the many years since then Sting’s solo success has continued, with albums like The Soul Cages, and Brand New Day becoming extremely popular. Last fall, Sting celebrated the 25th anniversary of his solo career with the career spanning box set 25 Years. Including songs from all of his albums, it was a monument to the extremely diverse recording career Sting has had, trying everything from jazz to classical. Now, Sting is making his way to Artpark this Tuesday (June 12), for a show that will likely include songs from every era of his prolific career. With 13 solo albums to choose from, and of course the five legendary Police albums, Sting will certainly have a wide array of options when picking his set list. Considering he’ll be playing in support of the new box set, this show will likely include a fair bit of the old and the new. Whatever eras he plucks from, however, this should be a night of intricate musicianship that will delight any fan of Sting’s work. —john hugar

8pm. Artpark Mainstage, 450 South 4th St., Lewiston (754-4375 / artpark.net). $126.50, $86.50, $66.50 and Lawn Seating: $46.50.

tUnE-yArDs

Wednesday, June 13

Armed with a ukulele, drums, two microphones, and a loop pedal Merrill Garbus’ tUnE-yArDs has a knack for harnessing a stage of limited resources and turning it into layers of impressive sounds. The music is pure; the experimental tunes don’t come from digital tricks or auto-tuned magic. Instead, Garbus’ vocal gymnastics, drum beats, and ukulele chords, are stacked on top of each other, building as each layer is artfully created and captured. Her first album, BiRd-BrAiNs was a bedroom project—she recorded her samples on a handheld recorder, and edited the entire album with free software. But for her sophomore album, w h o k i l l, Garbus took her folk-funk style to the recording studio. The studio didn’t change her utilization of joints and buttons though—she has continued to add to her sound repertoire with bassist and collaborator, Nate Brenner. tUnE-yArDs’ unique mesh of sounds have garnered them quite the following and w h o k i l l took the first spot in the Village Voice’s best of list for 2011. Come out to the Town Ballroom this Wednesday (June 13) and be dazzled by Garbus’ innate ability to handle four separate loops and two drum kits to create what is certain to be an unforgettable set. —sara dinatale

7pm. Town Ballroom, 681 Main St. (852-3900 / townballroom.com) $20 advance.