Blitzen Trapper - Black River Killer by ADA_Distribution

Blitzen Trapper is a solid little band from Portland, Oregon that creates an interesting amalgamation of alt-country and prog rock behind songs of love, murder and outer space.  Good stuff!  The band will be in Buffalo on Saturday night as part of an 8 p.m. show at Mohawk Place with the British folk duo Smoke Fairies.  Tickets are $17 at the door.

Blitzen Trapper—Eric Earley (guitar/vocals), Erik Menteer (guitar/keyboard), Brian Adrian Koch (drums/vocals), Michael VanPelt (bass), and Marty Marquis (guitar, keyboards, vocals), with thanks to Wikipedia—is touring in support of its latest album, American Goldwing.  The band is known for its eclectic sound, described by Pitchfork as “...mixing and matching rambling, country-rock melodies against heavy-rock riffs and slack-rock rhythms, creating an anything-goes sound that seemed obstinately determined not to close off any musical avenue, but to roll down every street.”  Like recent Buffalo visitors Tapes n’ Tapes, Blitzen Trapper has enjoyed the love of the critical community as well as its disapproval—since the release of the widely-praised Wild Mountain Nation in 2007, the band’s follow-up efforts (2008’s Furr and 2010’s Destroyer of the Void) have been put on a pedestal by some and pilloried by others.

If you’re not hung up with Halloween parties or snow-shoveling, this is a worthy show to attend and it counts two points towards earning your indie rock bona fides.  See you there.