Handsome Jack: Heatseeker (Stampede Records)

Johnny Nobody: What It Feels Like Broke (Harvest Sun)

The Failures' Union: Sinker

La Cacahouette: French for Peanut

If you’ve kept an eye on the Buffalo music scene for the last few years, there’s a good chance that you will be aware—and perhaps even have caught in action—the bands responsible for the current bumper crop of local releases.

Call it the ballad of Johnny and Jack. There’s hardly two bands more emblematic of the Queen City than these two no-bones-about-it, rock-and roll outfits: Johnny Nobody and Handsome Jack. They both play with a fierce, take no prisoners intensity, have that underdog fighting spirit and good-time-boys charm that embody what being a Buffalonian is all about. It’s interesting to note, however, that both bands got started as high school basement rockers in the Niagara County canal town of Lockport, so clearly there’s something in the water there, too.

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 seems bent not on being the tightest or slickest band but on being the one that 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 is the band out to make a sensitive artist statement. They go for that undeniable animal groove and fist-pumping rock glory. Handsome Jack succeeds on Heatseeker because these guys have figured out how to put together the immediacy of MC5’s short, sparking fuse with the boogie of early ZZ Top, with just enough swagger and latter-day garage rock feel.

To me, Johnny Nobody—while firmly rooted in powerpop, garage and hard rock—has always had this Cream-ness about them. Maybe it’s the fact that they are a power trio, or the traded vocals between guitarist Andrew Vaeth and bassist Colin Roberts, or their ability to conjure immaculate but powerhouse playing. What It Feels Like to Be Broke is easily the great summation of what they’ve been working since slogging it out playing teenage parties. On display here is the growth along with the ever-increasing skill and musicianship of three buddies who started by playing Sloan and Nirvana covers but have fully manifested into a great band. “High on It” is perfect and infectious guitar pop. “Ill Will” is a spooky, building rocker that highlights Vaeth’s concise, understated guitar style. “Broke,” the de facto title track, is a wonderful blast led by Roberts’ fuzzed-out bass, with Jay White’s drums kicking in along with Vaeth’s beautifully beleaguered vocal that jumps across it. With Johnny Nobody starting a cross-country tour this month, here’s to hoping the music cognescenti throughout the rest of America catches on to what is probably Buffalo’s best band.

The Failures’ Union’s allegiance to 1990s indie and alt.rock hits paydirt on Sinker. The band shares members with bands Lemuria and Exit Strategy but are on their own path to guitar rock glory. If you believe that Bob Mould’s true glory days were with Sugar and remain devout to your Jawbox and Superchunk seven-inches, then the Failures’ Union might be the band for you. Following their steady string of releases, the new long-player Sinker has singer/guitarist Tony Flaminio pouring his heart over this collection of songs—but don’t you dare call it emo. “Give Way” is a fine exercise in melodic, hook-heavy post-hardcore. Cohesion is the key: This band writes strong, thoughtful songs and plays them with a wound tautness. The passion explodes on tracks like “West Coast, NY” and the bristling “Young Offenders.” The Failures’ Union also heads out on the road this month.

If the bands mentioned so far firmly place in the “bash it out” rock category, then perhaps La Cacahouette must stand alone. Their shoe-gaze/prog/art rock tendencies are on full display with French for Peanut. Husband/wife team Gerald Thomas and Pepper Ochsner Thomas, along with drummer Blake Ellman, mix swirling keys, crushing guitars, textured beats and a variety of sonic abstractions to construct what they term a “cosmic musical experience.” In other words, they are not afraid to go in several direction over the course of one song (the cleverly titled “Nu2 Not U2”) and they don’t shy away from ethereal romps (“Brain Chips”) or nine-plus-minute opuses (the Vangelis meets Cocteau Twins “Seulement Dans Vos Reves”).

Handsome Jack plays Mohawk Place tonight (Thursday, August 2) at 9pm and Merlin’s on Saturday, August 11 at 10:30pm. The Failures’ Union plays Mohawk Place on Tuesday, August 31 at 8pm. La Cacahouette plays Nietzsche’s on Wednesday, August 8 at 8pm.