The White Buffalo - Once Upon a Time in the West (2012)

There was a time when I considered The White Buffalo my "new" favorite artist. Three LPs, three EPs, hundreds of live shows, and seven and a half years later we can hardly refer to The White Buffalo as being "new," but he still remains one of my favorite recording artists and his tunes remain fresh.

I've always enjoyed The White Buffalo's lone, guitar-slinging musical bandito routine. I prefer his one-man performances for the freedom it allows him to jam through multi-song country medleys and the emotion that hovers in the room when it is just his exceptional baritone and the guitar keeping time. "Once Upon a Time in the West" adds additional musical layers to The White Buffalo's previous releases, namely in the consistent backing of a near-full band, and pulls it off without losing the authentic Americana feel of the solo White Buffalo. A few tracks are downright rollicking with up-tempo drums, howls, and "Hey"s. Despite the quality of the full-band tracks, I still find myself gravitating toward the thoughtfulness and simplicity of slower tracks such as "Sleepy Little Town," "Wish It Was True," and "One Lone Night." They are alluring, if not haunting, songs that remind me (if not the collective us) of how captivating good songwriting and vocals can be. Have a gander at the video below and tell me I'm wrong. Enjoy this album and support this artist. His music is as good as his personality. Worth buying; worth sharing.

NightraiN's Shummer Short List

William Elliott Whitmore - Animals In The Dark. Absolutely fantastic vocals on this one. With tracks like "Lifetime Underground," "Hell Or High Water," and "Old Devils" leading the way, Animals In The Dark plays like a beloved album from a long-gone era.



Murder City Devils @ The Great American Music Hall. What a show this was: Drunk performers, beer showers, a surging crowd, and all the songs you would demand from one of the hardest rocking, hardest partying bands of the last decade.





The Builders and The Butchers - Salvation Is A Deep Dark Well. Fantastic sophomore album that induces the head to bob, toes to tap, and the body to shake. Solid from beginning to end, this unique sounding band puts together an album that matches the enthusiasm and energy of their live performances.


Fires Of Rome - You Kingdom You. My album of the year so far. Great rock n roll tunes that both impress and entertain. Love the tracks "Damn Lament," "Love Is A Burning Thing," and "Bronx Bombardier." Party Time!

Auto-tune(ing) The News. Addicting and very quotable, shortaaay... "What you trying to say about Iowa?"... Should Auto-Tune continue to produce? "My brain says 'NO,' but my body says 'YES!'"... and making fun of Sean Hannity (The Real Angry Gorilla)... "surely you jest, I'm under cardiac arrest!" Damn good stuff, shortay!

Murder City Devils @ The Great American Music Hall

Note: This review is a joint venture of DoctorDiggs & NightraiN

Looks can be deceiving... Maybe its Spencer Moody's argyle sweater, shaggy red beard, and spectacles. Or, perhaps its the casual manner in which Moody's band-mates take and leave the stage and approach each song. Regardless, the Murder City Devils' appearance is fairly nonchalant and unassuming in contrast to their primarily intensely uproarious music, aggressive lyrics, and rowdy, beer-chucking fans. On this night, the Murder City Devils absolutely kicked ass, despite Moody's "decision" not to sing some of his lyrics (most noticeably on "Somebody Else's Baby"); however the crowd did a pretty solid job of filling in with a veritable Music Hall sing-along. Drummer Coady Willis simply killed it (no pun intended), hammering away each lead-in and fill with gusto and perfection. As expected, the rain-soaked crowd was full of energy and booze, heaving plastic cups of whatever into the air with approval, and reacting as one with each moan of the organ and punctual howl. Overall, the group had great stage presence, except Lelsie Hardy, as she seemed to take every opportunity to grab her purse and duck backstage, for whatever reason (although she is quite hot, in that rocker-chick kinda way). The set list seemed to have nearly every notable track, but Diggs wished they'd played "Lemuria Rising," and I felt that the stand-out crescendo of the performance was the sing-along track off of Empty Bottles, Broken Hearts, "I Want A Lot Now (So Come On)."

The openers were decent musically, but both quite entertaining in their own way. Silverghost, a sort of a pop-new wave duo out of Detroit, opened and had some catchy bits, but nothing spectacular. Diggs adds, "Silverghost wasn't too bad, and the 3 song cassette tape I bought after the show for $3 (that's 1 cent more per song than iTunes would charge for digital versions) sounds pretty good, although they said it was "meaningless" when I asked them to sign it... maybe because the only writing utensil available was a pencil. Oh well." The second band, Triclops, out of the San Francisco area, was mediocre live at best, although their recorded music sounds much better. Honestly, the lead-singer was just fucking strange in person, with an array of vocal effects ("March of the Half Babies" [yeah, seriously] sounds like it was sung with lungs full of helium), endless crowd surfing, arm swinging with LEDs up the sleeves, speaker dancing & sitting, guitar smacking, and "I just shat my pants" facial expressions.

Ultimatley, an excellent, fun, nostalgic show, that came with a pretty solid meal to boot... not to mention, perhaps the last show of its kind in San Francisco. Only time can tell.