August 2nd, 2017 by Kris Kielich
There are two sides to Trent Reznor. There's the ferocious and raw power of a man flaying away at his own demons and spitting with disgust on the world placed both within and without. And there's the contempletive, often melancholic…
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June 30th, 2017 by Kris Kielich
Troubadours are known for their musical talent, but also their constant travelling and wanderlust. Never content to settle in one place, the troubadour travels the land, singing from town to town. Perhaps their life is a lonely…
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June 30th, 2017 by Kris Kielich
Attempting to cover a record that may have flown under some radars this year, I went into Canadian darkwave/synth-metal-pop band The Birthday Massacre's new album, "Under Your Spell" with high hopes. The band has always struck…
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June 11th, 2017 by Kris Kielich
Having grown up and lived in East Aurora for my whole life, there's a certain closeness here that feels wholly unique to me, despite having traveled to many places around the country. It could just be the attachment from experiencing…
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May 25th, 2017 by Kris Kielich
The old cliché is that many of the best bands in the world started in garages. Well, why not a porch? That's the philosophy behind Porchfest here in Buffalo, a biannual festival that started in Ithaca, NY and spread…
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May 19th, 2017 by Kris Kielich
Last week, I was fortunate enough to visit a very dear friend of mine in Baltimore. I was even more fortunate to be able to attend the biggest rock concert in the country that day with him: Metallica at M & T Stadium. It…
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May 6th, 2017 by Kris Kielich
Made Violent has been and still is the most exciting young band in Buffalo. Period. If you've never done yourself the favor of going to one of their live shows, hopefully this review will convince you to do so in the future.…
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April 29th, 2017 by Kris Kielich
Sufjan Stevens' last album, "Carrie and Lowell" was staggering. Across the critical board, almost every outlet and fan agreed that this album was one of his best. Stevens, the 41 year old eclectic and empathetic singer songwriter…
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April 25th, 2017 by Kris Kielich
Oh what strange times we live in. Over the past year or so, it has felt as though humankind has been caught up in a whirlwind of news and concepts that make it seem as though the world has devolved into a place so foreign…
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March 24th, 2017 by Kris Kielich
At its best, music is a communal experience, and that's what Wayne Zaganiaczyk, owner of Cool Beat Music and Books is aiming to make his store. "I'd wanted to open a small, independent record store for a while and I…
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March 18th, 2017 by Kris Kielich
"He who makes a beast of himself gets rid of the pain of being a man." Great English writer Samuel Johnson spoke those words in the late 1700s, and I think they encapsulate beautifully the narrative of the latest "X-Men"…
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March 7th, 2017 by Kris Kielich
"Wow, who was that?" Those were the words that came out of my mouth when I first heard K. Flay's song "Blood in the Cut." I was driving home late one night tuned to Buffalo's own 103.3 The Edge, and this smoldering, abrasive,…
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February 23rd, 2017 by Kris Kielich
Meet a truly great up and coming blues rock act that absolutely rips. Goodbye June. It rips, but with a twist. Landon Milbourn (lead vocals), Tyler Baker (guitar), and Brandon Qualkenbush (guitar) have created a sound…
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February 23rd, 2017 by Kris Kielich
"Kris, why don't you stick around and read anyways?" Those were the words my director spoke to me that led to me being cast in Aurora Players' production of Jon Robin Baitz' "Other Desert Cities," which as I'm writing this, officially…
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February 22nd, 2017 by Kris Kielich
If you don't know who Steven Wilson is, I'm going to have to ask you to put this review on hold. Just open another tab for a while and search out the music that this man has made. He's my favorite musician of all time for good…
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February 9th, 2017 by Kris Kielich
Soundtracks evoke something in me that few other collections of music can. They appeal to my sense of fantasy, where I can imagine myself in a galaxy far, far away (happy birthday John Williams) or the dark places in Middle Earth…
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January 18th, 2017 by Kris Kielich
I flip the pages of my 2010-2011 high school yearbook, and I feel a pang of...what exactly? Regret? Longing? Happiness? All three, I think. Being the most nostalgic person to have ever existed on planet Earth, this is totally…
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January 12th, 2017 by Kris Kielich
"Manchester by the Sea" was a revelation. Not since Richard Linklater's "Before" trilogy had I seen life--messy, complicated, tragic, and beautiful--crystallized and captured so perfectly on film. Beyond every technical and performance-based…
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