Sugar City Opening Party

Friday, August 15

Arts collective Sugar City will celebrate their grand opening this Friday (Aug 15) with a two-part celebration. “It is going to be fun, we have an eclectic lineup with local groups that we respect a lot,” says Aimee Buyea, one of the co-founders of Sugar City. According to Buyea, Buffalo needed an all-ages, alcohol-free and affordable space. The year-and-a-half search for a new home landed the collective in a small building on Niagara Street between Auburn and Breckenridge, which was once the bar Compton’s After Dark. This 170-person capacity and all-ages art and performance space will play venue to Sugar City’s festivities begining at 6pm with an art exhibition. Illustrations and prints by Marissa Paternoster, the vocalist and guitarist of Screaming Females, will be on display until the music begins at 8pm. Local band Tracy Marrow & The Magi Chippie, a five piece featuring vocalist/guitarist Bill Nehill, Dave Gutierrez, Bob Hanley, Ed Hallborg, and Tom Dagonese will kick off the night followed by experimental musicians Cages; Philadelphia punk band The Broods; local rock band Johns; and the first ever performance by Brass Pro and the Waterfront Revivalists Marching Band. Part two of the celebration will consist of a Chronological Dance Party with “DJ’s taking us through the decades” at the Resurgence Brewing Co., directly across the street featuring DJPK, Dan O, Handsome Dan, DJ Reazon, and ABCDJ.

- sara ali

8pm-11pm Sugar City 1239 Niagara St (buffalosugarcity.org) $7 (or $10 for both)

11pm Resurgence Brewing Co. 1250 Niagara St. $5 (or $10 for both)

Friday, August 15

Lydia Loveless

For an artist who has just released her third full-length album, who is still in her early 20’s, and who has barely reached the apex of what promises to be a long and boundless career, Lydia Loveless sure has a lot of stories to tell. It’s the mark of all great singer-songwriters, and Loveless has it covered, rendering the experiences of life’s crooked path with a brutally honest, deeply personal tone that takes alt-country into unforeseen territory. In fact, alt-country, as those hyphenated catch-all terms go, falls short of capturing what Loveless and her band are all about. There’s more of a hard-driving edginess, with shades of punk and blues seeping through at every turn, harkening back to the cowpunk genre of the late 1970’s and early 1980’s. On her new album, Somewhere Else, Loveless crafts 10 songs that are wrought with emotion and anecdotes about drinking and sex, loneliness and regret. And, oh, that voice. Loveless’ remarkably versatile vocal quality—courageous, sincere and tender—leads to parallels to Stevie Nicks and Neko Case. The gut-wrenching “Everything’s Gone” puts Loveless behind her acoustic guitar as she strums about her home and childhood, the longing for the past. It warrants mentioning too, that Loveless’ backing band is equally as talented, with a raw, whiskey-bar sound that complements her every step of the way. As one of Spin and Rolling Stone’s “New Artists You Need to Know” in 2014, get acquainted with one of the most promising young voices in rock n’ roll this Friday (Aug 15), at the Sportsmen’s Tavern.

- jon wheelock

9pm Sportsmen’s Tavern, 326 Amherst St. (874-7734 / sportsmenstavern.com) $12 advance, $15 day of show

Friday, August 15

Felix Cartal

For a guy who was “discovered” by Steve Aoki and MSTRKRFT, Felix Cartal is a lot more low key (there are fewer cakes thrown at the audience during his performances) in terms of spectacle. He is still able to match the same energy level that Aoki and MSTRKRFT maintain, though without any gimmicks. Cartal’s productions are your typical electro-pop tunes sprinkled with generic female vocal samples leading to hyped-up bass drops on tracks like “Ready For Love,” but his more eclectic DJ sets are where he shines. The Vancouver-based DJ keeps it high energy with a mix of electro-house, pop remixes, and chopped up post punk dance tunes (for a taste, see his Diplo & Friends BBC Radio 1 Mix, which featured artists ranging from Beyonce to Dirty Projectors and Luke Abbott) that usually keeps his fans fist pumping all night long. Catch Felix Cartal when he comes to Skybar on Friday (Aug 15) with local support from Lil’ Joe and Jesse Aaron, as part of Rendezvous’ Summer Series presented by Factory Nightlife.

- cory perla

10pm Sky Bar, 257 Franklin Street (buffaloskybar.com) $10 advance, 21+

Saturday, August 16

ARTsPARKed

On Saturday (Aug 16) Lewiston’s Artpark will host an all regional music and arts festival they’re calling ARTsPARKed. The festival will feature live music across two stages—the Theater Terrace Stage and the Emerald Grove Stage—presented by Music is Art as well as an Artist Trunk Show featuring dozens of regional artists and vendors selling their art out of the trunks of their cars. “Artpark has historically been a place of experimentation and innovation; an environment that has supported and given venue to every artistic medium whether it has been paint, guitar or human movement,” says Tanis Winslow, Director of Visual Arts & Family Programs at Artpark. “It seemed a long time in coming that we put on a festival of this nature.” 20 bands, including local favorites like Randle and the Late Night Scandals, Ould Poud, Sara Elizabeth, and Cowboys of Scotland, will perform alongside a slew of performance and dance artists like Verve Dance Studio, who will hold a breakdancing workshop. There will also be a gallery of art for under $50, hands on art activities, and, of course, a herd of food trucks.

- cory perla

11am-7pm Artpark, 450 South 4th St., Lewiston (754-4375 / artpark.net) FREE

Saturday, August 16

QCC Presents Summer Melt

The Queen City Cartel—infamous or famous (depending on what way you look at it) for bringing Buffalo’s finest DJs for Friction parties to Duke’s Bohemian Grove Bar—is back at that Allentown venue again for the Summer Melt. This time, incorporating DJs and bands from Buffalo, it gets a little more diverse with multiple genres. Smart House, comprised of Alek Ogadzhanov, Matt Chavanne and Alex Carducci, will bring that super-synth spacey dance sound. The threesome of friends from Humble Braggers—Tom Burtless, Corey Bzibziak and Gabe Wells—will also take the stage. The group recently released their Say EP, which includes an original song along with dreamy covers of both Drake and Tears for Fears. According to an announcement on the event’s Facebook page, “Due to exploding internal organs” Aircraft will no longer be able to perform, instead, Scajaquada Creeps will be filling in. In classic QCC fashion, Medison and The Owski will be DJing. The past couple of weeks haven’t been the hottest for the month of August, but if you’ve been to any QCC party (especially at Duke’s) you know it doesn’t matter if it’s freezing temperatures and you end up leaving the party nearly falling into a snowbank, it gets hot as hell in there. Get ready to move as QCC takes it to the next level, with a showcase of music that is more than just DJ decks, and just as fun to dance to.

- alicia greco

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

Monday, August 18

Andrew McMahon

In the early 2000s, Something Corporate stood out amongst the myriad of young alternative rock bands with their piano-fueled song craft. Andrew McMahon was the “garage-band king” and every teenage girl (and probably several boys) wanted to be his “punk-rock princess.” Subsequently, McMahon branched off to create Jack’s Mannequin, and captivate audiences with tracks like “Dark Blue” that maintained SoCo’s catchiness, but honed McMahon’s distinctive vocals, deft piano, and complex lyricism. Sadly, in 2005, following the release of Jack’s first album, a 22-year old McMahon was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Cancer didn’t slow him down in the slightest: he started the Dear Jack Foundation, a nonprofit organization that helps support young adults with cancer; and he kept making music. He’s at his best on his first solo EP, The Pop Underground, released earlier this year. His first full-length album, Andrew McMahon In The Wilderness, is set to drop in October, but for the past few weeks, fans have been listening to the first single, “Cecilia And The Satellite,” on a loop. Encompassing all the greatest characteristics of SoCo and Jack’s Mannequin, it’s a lush and driving track, with piano and pulsating bass guiding the verse and chorus with an infectious tone. It’s been a long haul, but McMahon’s skin has only thickened through his journey. With each new project, McMahon continues to uphold his reputation as a virtuoso pianist with a vocal range that won’t quit, and lyrics that could make a grown man weep. Andrew McMahon will play at the Waiting Room on Monday (Aug 18).

- kellie powell

8pm The Waiting Room, 334 Delaware Ave (852-3900 / waitingroombuffalo.com) $22.50 advance, $25 day of show

Thursday, August 21

Brimstone Blondes Record Release Party

Genre grafting, exquisite absurdity, and sheer catchiness are among the characterizations that come to mind when thinking about the Brimstone Blondes. And, after more than three years of prominent activity within the city’s indie-rock scene, the four-piece garage janglers are getting ready to showcase their first full length album, Age of Consent next Thursday (Aug 21), at Buffalo Iron Works. Citing influences as far ranging as the Talking Heads and Miley Cyrus, the album is a full blown display of the outfit’s distinct brand of terminal idiosyncrasy. And yes, when it comes to Brimstone Blondes, there is method to their madness, as they fully embrace themselves as products of the digital age. “After Party” is a re-write of R. Kelly’s 2003 hit “Ignition (Remix)” adapted to the perspective of a lonely and drunk individual, while the funk inspired number “Do U Wanna Make-Out” is satirically shrouded in a sense of social anxiety. This, alongside a reputation for putting on exuberant live performances means that the lofty interior of Buffalo Iron Works will be the place to be next Thursday. Especially since Buffalo surf-rock staple, Wooden Waves, and Rochester’s infamous garage punk outfit Harmonica Lewsinski have been added to the lineup.

- jeanette chin

7pm Buffalo Iron Works, 49 Illinois St. (200-1893 / buffaloironworks.com) $10