Brought to Buffalo by their tour of the Northeast, Buffali will be performing at Merlin’s tonight (Thursday, Oct. 26). The duo’s funky, folksy sound has attracted attention at Canada’s largest music conference, NXNE, giving them a semi-local fan base. Late this summer they spent a lot of time working on new material and hooking up with other local artists in their hometown of Madison, Wisconsin. They’re kicking it up a notch since their release of their first full-length album, Kerfuffle No. 10, touring the northeast this fall, then tackling the midwest in December. Tonight’s show doubles as a CD Release party for Buffalo-based singer/songwriter Joseph Mulhollen, who just released his second recording Underneath a Nightcap. Starting time is 10pm, with Jax DeLuca rounding out the bill.

Headlights is a prime example of DIY perseverence. Selling out their independently released EPs through constant touring brought the band to the attention of Polyvinyl Records in 2005, where they released their debut full length Kill Them With Kindness. The album, which came out in August, has been receiving mass acclaim from both the mainstream and underground press. With it’s swirling ethereal guitars, electronic beats and dreamlike vocals, Kill Them With Kindness has drawn comparisons with bands as diverse as Lush and The Postal Service. In February the group received heightened attention when the song “Everybody Needs A Fence To Lean On” was used in the popular television show Grey’s Anatomy. Headlights performs on Friday (Oct. 27) at Mohawk Place with Canada and Ice Cream Social. The three bands have played together various times, and promise a costume-themed show just in time for Halloween.

DJ SS is an original break beat pioneer whose passion for drum and bass comes through loud and clear. One of the founders of the UK’s Formation Records, DJ SS has released over 100 tracks on that label and worked with numerous other artists on remixes. Some of his tracks include “the Psycho E.P,” “Rhythm For Reasons,” and “Lighter,” which became an international bestseller and Formation’s biggest hit. DJ SS will be performing this Friday (Oct 27) at Factory@OPM Lounge for “All Hallow’s Eve.” Support comes from Toronto DJs Scott Free and DJ Prime, DJ Mindslayer, Tweeknasty,DJ Fixx, D-Phunk and Impulsion. The party starts at 10pm, and come in costume!

Free lunchtime recitals on Friday afternoons have long been tradition at St. Paul’s Cathedral, making it one of the oldest lunchtime music series in the country. The season lasts from October to May, and usually features classical music. This week, Friday (Oct. 27) at 12:30pm, former Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra member Paul Schmid will give an electric bass recital. His repertoire consists of original compositions influenced by a range of well-known music, from Tchaikovsky to the Beatles, and this will likely mark the first time anything inspired by AC/DC has sounded from within the walls of St. Paul’s. Next week’s recital will be Catarina Domenici on piano. A full schedule of these lunchtime events can be found at www.musicatstpauls.org

In a world where Halloween theme parties lurk behind every corner, there’s one bar at the end of the street where your dreams can blend into terrifying reality. It’s A Nightmare on Allen Street XXIV at Nietzsche’s! This year’s ghoulish get-together will start at 9pm Saturday (Oct 28) featuring performances by the Outlyers and the Steam Donkeys, who will perform as a six piece with their long-lost imp of Satan, Doug Moody, on the devil’s own fiddle. Heightening the madness will be the annual costume contest, where monsters, spooks and blood-sucking freaks (or just weirdos disguised as Dick Cheney in hunting garb) will vie for valuable prizes at the stroke of midnight. Admission is $5, or $3 with original costume.

Matthew and Eleanor Friedberger aren’t concerned with making “good” music. Rather, they’re focused on doing what they do best: creating wildly experimental and imaginative music that’s as playful as it is unpredictable. And it’s just as well because this brother-sister duo are the main players in Brooklyn’s indie-rock band the Fiery Furnaces. They’ve acquired a bit of a cult following over the past six years, even drawing comparisons to the White Stripes with their first album, 2003’s Gallowsbird’s Park (Rough Trade). Now touring to promote their latest, Bitter Tea (released in the US on the Fat Possum label), the Fiery Furnaces are joined by San Francisco noise-rockers Deerhoof, who’ve been praised by the New York Times as “one of the most original rock bands to have come along in the last decade.” The tour hits Buffalo on Saturday (Oct. 28) at The Tralf, 7 pm. Multi-instumentalist and loop artist Fog opens the show.

Sprung from influences such as Blonde Redhead, Q and Not U and Fugazi, the guys in Rahim have begun to make a name for themselves in the so-called “post-punk” revival. Relying on heavy, almost tribal percussion, the NYC-based band creates non-linear rhythms punctuated by dub-funk bass lines and jagged guitar leads. Signing to French Kiss Records in 2005, Rahim quickly recorded an EP with famed indie producer and former Jawbox/Burning Airlines frontman J Robbins. Between bouts of intense touring, the band went back and recorded their debut full length, the recently released Ideal Lives, which fulfills the promise that was hinted at on their earlier recordings. Rahim performs at Mohawk Place on Wednesday (Nov. 1) at 8pm. Also on the bill are Judah Johnson, the Audience and the Exit Strategy.

Martin Dosh was best known as the powerhouse drummer in the Ninja Tune crew Fog (with Andrew Broder) before he began churning out solo work as Dosh. His first release was on the Anticon label in 2003, a self-titled, virtuosic effort combining the sound of his trademark Rhodes piano with distorted microphone noise and awesome drum effects. The CD made Dosh a success in his chosen home of Minneapolis, where he also became a family man, inspiring his second full-length Pure Trash; all in all a light, happy album featuring cameos by his wife, stepson, and newborn baby. He continued with the family theme, naming his next release, Naoise, after his youngest son. The latest CD, The Lost Take, sounds like a full band; expansive, complex, and layered with the addition of collaborator Andrew Bird’s violin loops. Still, Martin Dosh is really a one-man band, his music highly personal, his vision clearly his own. See him at Soundlab with guests Sleeping Kings of Iona on Wednesday (Oct. 1), 9pm.