EDITOR'S NOTE: Recent allegations have emerged against Avi Buffalo. The behavior survivors are alleging are horrifying and reprehensible. We join many others in the community calling for accountability and reckoning within an industry that too often allows this type of behavior to be tolerated and ignored.
KEXP has provided coverage and airplay for many of the artists named in the allegations, over many years. When allegations like these surface, we start from a position of believing victims and survivors, we attempt to learn more, and we take immediate appropriate action until the issue has been resolved, if it is. We're also making sure our DJs are aware of the allegations, and will be communicating with them to make sure they continue to follow the story. We will also be following this story through our own editorial coverage.
For more information on how you can support sexual assault survivors or if you need support yourself, visit RAINN.org.
Every Monday through Friday, we deliver a different song as part our Song of the Day podcast subscription. This podcast features exclusive KEXP in-studio performances, unreleased songs, and recordings from independent artists that our DJs think you should hear. Today’s song, featured on The Midday Show with Cheryl Waters, is “Memories of You” by Avi Buffalo from the 2014 album At Best Cuckold on Sub Pop Records.
Avi Buffalo - Memories of You (MP3)
Mixing lo-fi dynamics with an earnest, charmingly direct songwriting voice, Avi Zahner-Isenberg has been creating music under the moniker Avi Buffalo since he was a teenager, emerging as a promising young talent by the time he'd graduated high school. After experimenting in his bedroom with home recordings, Zahner-Isenberg collected a group of friends to record his 2010 self-titled debut, which received wide acclaim upon its release. While many of his friends were off at college, Zahner-Isenberg was off with his backing band – a rotating cast that currently includes Sheridan Riley, Doug Brown, and Anthony Vezirian – touring extensively behind Avi Buffalo. After that tour finished, Zahner-Isenberg took time off to produce other acts (Anjubi Genome, Kevin Litrow's N.O.W.) and write songs for his second album, this month's release, At Best Cuckold.
With an opening line like "Memories of you/they only come to me when I'm with you", "Memories of You" highlights Zahner-Isenberg's appealingly idiosyncratic lyricism while remaining as heartfelt and melodic as ever. With imagery of "cherry pie", "apple sauce", and "the mourning of my grandpa I never met", both Zahner-Isenberg's musical and songwriting voices remain as vibrant as ever as he skitters across a jangling backing arrangement. After he finishes shooting off observations of a past relationship, Zahner-Isenberg closes the song with a lengthy, soaring guitar solo, and as "Memories of You" fades out into feedback, it feels like a gauzy, fitting conclusion to the prior three minutes of heart-on-ragged-sleeve songwriting that Zahner-Isenberg has made his calling card.
Avi Buffalo will be playing in Seattle tonight, opening for Owen Pallett at Neumos. Get info and tickets for that 21+ show here. Furthermore, they'll be LIVE on KEXP tomorrow, Tuesday, September 9th, at 11AM Tune in then to hear more songs from At Best Cuckold, and keep up with the band on their website and Facebook. Below, watch the band's video for the At Best Cuckold track "So What".
Every Monday through Friday, we deliver a different song as part our Song of the Day podcast subscription. This podcast features exclusive KEXP in-studio performances, unreleased songs, and recordings from independent artists that our DJs think you should hear. Today’s song, featured on The Midday …
Every Monday through Friday, we deliver a different song as part our Song of the Day podcast subscription. This podcast features exclusive KEXP in-studio performances, unreleased songs, and recordings from independent artists that our DJs think you should hear. Today’s song, featured on The Morning…
