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Archive for September, 2023

Speedy Ortiz (Johnny Brenda’s, Philadelphia, PA, September 5, 2023)

Posted in Hurry, Johnny Brenda's, Philadelphia, PA, Speedy Ortiz, Washer on September 6, 2023| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: September 5, 2023] Speedy Ortiz

I saw Speedy Ortiz back in 2018 at a sold out PhilaMOCA show )I was right in front of Sadie Dupuis).  Their show was great–a fan-favorite selection of songs from throughout their career.

It had been five years since they released a new album and they were celebrating by playing the entire album at our show (the only show they were likely to do so).  [I didn’t know that until she told us].

I had heard a few of the new songs at the Free at Noon show, but this one promised to be so much better.

And so, they played Rabbit Rabbit start to finish.  There were a few moments where she joked about what a pain it was to tune between songs (which is why most bands don’t play the album straight through–they group songs with similar tuning together to minimize drag.

I had listened to the album about three times, so it wasn’t familiar but I recognized many moments.

The band is mostly the same.  Of course, Sadie Dupuis is the main force–her guitar playing is excellent and complex and her voice sounds amazing.  Andy Molholt is still with them playing lead guitar and more.  I especially enjoyed Audrey Zee Whitesides (now a full time member of the band) absolutely screaming backing vocals on a couple of songs.

What was great about seeing the album live like this is that songs that hadn’t quite grabbed me yet on a listen were really powerful live.  Sadie said “Cry Cry Cry” was her favorite song on the record, and after she said that I paid more attention to it and it was great.

Speedy Ortiz doesn’t do encores, so instead they played three older songs to wrap up the night–one from each of the the previous full lengths.

I like Twerp Verse the best so I liked hearing “Buck Me Off”  And “Raising the Skate” is a great song off off Foil Deer.

The final song of the night was “Plough” a great song from their debut–the only bummer about that is that’s what they ended their Free at Noon set with as well.  But that’s a very minor complaint because it’s a killer song.

They have gotten a new drummer since five years ago Joey Doubek has replaced Mike Falcone and unless I am very much mistaken, Doubek hits the drums a whole lot harder.  I feel like he adds a very heavy element to these songs.

Hearing the album like this was really great and I’ve enjoyed it even more after seeing it live.  There are of course other songs I would have loved to hear (made a super long encore?), but I enjoyed this set a lot.  And when I see that in other cities they play maybe 7 or 8 songs (out of 13) off of Rabbit, I feel especially lucky.

 

Johnny Brenda’s 2023 Free at Noon 2023 PhilaMOCA 2018
Kim Cattrall ¥ The Graduates € Buck Me Off ⇓
You S02 ¥ Scabs ¥ Lean In When I Suffer ⇓
Scabs ¥ Ghostwriter ¥ Lucky 88 ⇓
Plus One ¥ Silver Spring ⊗ Raising The Skate €
Cry Cry Cry ¥ Plus One ¥ The Graduates €
Ballad of Y & S ¥ Lucky 88 ⇓ Silver Spring ⊗
Kitty ¥ You S02 ¥ Plough ♠
Who’s Afraid of the Bath ¥ Plough ♠ Alone With Girls ⇓
Ranch vs. Ranch¥ I’m Blessed ⇓
Emergency & Me ¥ Taylor Swift [single]
The Sunday ¥ You Hate The Title ⇓
Brace Thee ¥ Moving In ⇓
Ghostwriter ¥ Villain ⇓
Raising The Skate €            * Swell Content €
Buck Me Off ⇓ * “Silver Spring” was Dvrk Wvrld €
Plough ♠ on setlist

 

¥ Rabbit, Rabbit (2023)
⇓ Twerp Verse (2018)
€ from Foil Deer (2015)
♠ from Major Arcana (2013)
⊗ from Sports EP (2012)
[single] from (2012)

 

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Washer (Johnny Brenda’s, Philadelphia, PA, September 5, 2023) [SPEEDY ORTIZ]

Posted in Hurry, Johnny Brenda's, Philadelphia, PA, Speedy Ortiz, Washer on September 6, 2023| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: September 5, 2023] Washer

I hadn’t heard of Washer before this show.  Turns out they are a duo–another duo who can make a good holy racket with just guitar (or bass) and drums.  Washer is Mike Quigley: guitar, vocals and bass and Kieran McShane: drums.

Quigley setup right in front of me (off to the side of the stage a bit), so I couldn’t really see McShane all that well.  Of course, the lighting was super dark so I couldn’t see him much anyway.

They started with a slow song, “King Insignificant” with Quigley playing guitar quietly and McShane keeping time.  It sounded good, and not at all like it was missing anything.  But then about 90 seconds into the song, McShane went bonkers on the drums and the song ended in a furious punk rock screamfest and they sounded massive.

Washer clearly don’t have time for things like solos.  Some songs barely have time for a chorus.  They played the first four songs of their newest album–two of which are 90 seconds long and two of which are just over two minutes.  And I liked each one better than the next,

They dipped into a couple of other new songs, but  they also played some older ones as well. (more…)

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Hurry (Johnny Brenda’s, Philadelphia, PA, September 5, 2023) [SPEEDY ORTIZ]

Posted in Hurry, Johnny Brenda's, Philadelphia, PA, Speedy Ortiz, Teenage Fanclub, Washer on September 5, 2023| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: September 5, 2023] Hurry

I was supposed to see Hurry open for two previous shows.  A Restorations show that was cancelled because of COIVD and a Nada Surf show that I didn’t go to because it was the same night as something else.

I was positive about them, but a little dismissive as well.  Perhaps it took them to release their newest album Don’t Look Back for them to perfect their blend of perfect Nada Surf/Teenage Fanclub pop songcraft.  Indeed, their album is named after a Teenage Fanclub song.

Originally, the project was a solo venture for Matt Scottoline who played bass in another band.  Scottoline has a knack for simple pop hooks and songs that you can’t help but tap your toes to.  The rest of the band is Rob DeCarolis: Drums; Joe DeCarolis: Bass; Justin Fox: Lead Guitar and , a fifth member who (amusingly) sang occasional backing vocals and banged a tambourine but mostly just seemed to hold a drink in his hand.  Turns out this guy was Ian Farmer of Modern Baseball (and owner of their record label) who sat in for this whole set.

I was sucked into their music right from the get go.  The melodies and harmonies were wonderful.  All of the songs were from this new album (which came out last month).  The only exceptions were “When I’m with You” (which is their biggest hit and was features in two TV shows a few years ago) and “Don’t Look Back” the Teenage Fanclub song that they got their album name from. (more…)

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Lindsay Buroker–Sinister Magic [Death Before Dragons #1] (2020) [audiobook 2020]

Posted in Adventure, Audiobooks, Death, Dragons, Fantasy, Funny (ha ha), Lindsay Buroker, Magic, Morality, Murder, Supernatural, Tigers, Urban fantasy, Vampires, Violence, Vivienne Leheny, Werewolves on September 3, 2023| Leave a Comment »

[LISTENED TO: November 2022] Sinister Magic

I’m not sure what attracted me to this author.  I suppose she came up on my Chirp Audiobook suggestions and I was looking for something a little different.

I like fantasy, but sometimes it gets too much up its own world building of for me to get into the story.  I hadn’t really read much urban fantasy, but from the little I’ve read, I rather like it.  The stories feel contemporary and feature alternate-reality takes on things we already know.  And I rather like that.

Linday Buroker is a self-published author.  This typically raises a red-flag, but this book has almost 10,000 ratings on Goodreads, so it’s not like no one is reading her.  She is also absurdly prolific as you can see by the massive chart down below.

But what hooked me on this series was narrator Vivienne Leheny.  I don’t know much about her, but I absolutely loved her voices, her tone and her ability to really get sarcasm across (Buroker’s characters are very sarcastic).  And, amazingly, Leheny seems to read most if not all of Buroker’s books.

So, in summary, the main character is Val Thorvald.  As she says, “I’m an assassin.”  But she’s not that kind of assassin.  She only goes after “magical bad guys.”   When magical bad guys come to earth, she takes care of them. Permanently.

This doesn’t make her popular with the rest of the magical community.  But thanks to her half-elven blood, a powerful sword named Chopper, and a telepathic tiger with an attitude, she’s always been able to deal with any threats that come her way. (more…)

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Jennifer Estep–Crush the King (2020) [audiobook 2020] (Crown of Shards #3)

Posted in Assassination, Audiobooks, Death, Fantasy, Jennifer Estep, Lauren Fortgang, Magic, Revenge, Romance, Sex, Supernatural, Trilogy, Unfinished series, Violence on September 2, 2023| Leave a Comment »

[LISTENED TO: September 2023] Crush the King

I listened to the first and second book of this series pretty far apart.  But since I was looking for something new and I saw this I figured I’d finish the trilogy (I assume it’s a trilogy).

And perhaps listening to these books so close together made me notice a lot of Estep’s weird quirks about her writing.  Or maybe, she was obliged to write a longer book than she needed to.

I feel like Estep was once told that saying things in a series of three was really impactful.  And so she thought, if three is good, then I’ll wrote four!

If there was a Crown of Shards drinking game, it would be: every time she lists the four things people are doing.  Like: the people gave cheers, yells, claps and whistles. Or the people were drinking, dancing, singing and laughing.  Or they were yelling, cheering, clapping and whistling.  Or they were eating meats, cheeses, wines and ales.  Or she was spinning, turning, whirling and twirling.  The performers were acrobats, wire walkers, morphs and magiers.  And, finally, every time she lists her four friends (she does say “my friends” but often feels the need to group them into four: Paloma, Cho, Serilda and Ouster.  By the way, I only have the audio book so finding spellings of names is not easy.

This final book in the trilogy is set on an island for the Regalia Games, an opportunity for the seven nations to show off their warrior skills.  It’s also an opportunity for Evie to, as the title says, Crush the King.  In this case, the King is the hilarious named Maximus Mercer Morland Morricone or Morta.  I mean…

Anyhow, the arc of this series has been a little less than a year and every assassination attempt has come from Morta.  They come through the hands of the king’s bastard sister Maeven, but they come from Maximus.  And Evie has had enough.  She’s going on the offensive and will take him out at the games.  She has plans, but she hopes she doesn’t have to use her last resort [jump cut: she has to use her last resort].

Maximus is cartoonishly evil (he drinks the blood of magical animals to get their power, he’s willing to kill his young nephew to get ahead).  But the battle scenes are pretty good and I enjoyed hearing about the competition.

Despite my complaints there was a lot I liked about the book.  I enjoyed meeting Leonidas, Maeven’s son and his pet Strix, Lyra.  And I really enjoyed the flashbacks to when her family was killed and she had to escape.  The way the past tied to the present was well done.

But there are times when I just want to smack Evie (or Estep) and say, come on.  Evie is walking over a bridge and she notices a suspiciously dark boat in the water (twice).  But she doesn’t even mention it to her guards–yes, of course it comes into play later.  Evie believes that Paloma and Xenia are related.  And she’s almost 80% certain when it turns out that both of the people they were related to had the same name.  The fact that Paloma and Xenia never asked each other if they had people in common is absurd.  As is the fact that Evie finally tells Paloma and we don’t learn about the aftermath (it happens after the book, I guess).

Also, this book is a trilogy but somehow, there’s a new possible villain that has been around for the whole book but didn’t seem like a villain and might be one in the future.  The end.  No, that’s not how a trilogy ends.

I was happy that the secondary characters had more to do.  I love Cho and it’s fun to see him be gleeful about being the center of attention.  And I’m glad that Paloma got to battle.  But as several other people have pointed out (and Evie was even criticized about this on the book), she more or less does everything herself.  Paloma and Sullivan kind of help out a little once in a while, Serilda basically goes on one expedition with her.  We care about her friends but they don’t get to do much.

And on a personal level, I was really bummed that Gemma and Grimly are not even a part of this story.

And then there’s the whole Sullivan romance.  Several people have commented on how little chemistry they seem to have.  But, the biggest problem is that he doesn’t really do anything in the book.  If he wasn’t there, I’m not sure the story would have been any different, except for a (once again) remarkably graphic sex episode.

There’s a lot to enjoy in this series, but I think an editor chopping off some unnecessary bits would make the story flow a lot better.  Having said that, it’s a nifty world she has built and I enjoyed exploring it.

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Strawberry Moon / Wax Jaw / Hot Seat / Wallace, Tonight (Ortlieb’s, Philadelphia, PA, September 1, 2023) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Hot Seat, Ortlieb's, Philadelphia, PA, Strawberry Moon, Wallace Tonight, Wax Jaw on September 1, 2023| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: September 1, 2023] Strawberry Moon / Wax Jaw / Hot Seat / Wallace, Tonight

I have recently discovered the Philly band Wax Jaw and I am mildly obsessed with them.  I have yet to see them live, but I really want to.  When I saw this show at Ortlieb’s, I thought it might be a great time to see them.

But there were a couple of problems.

The big one is that my son was moving to college the next day.  Yea, there was no way I was not going to be home to help him (and we were up until almost midnight getting everything together).  The second, obviously minor thing is that Wax Jaw was not the headliner.

Strawberry Moon was the headliner.  I hadn’t heard of them, but imagined they would be kind of a psychedelic band.  And nothing could be further from the truth.  Their bandcamp summary says:

rock and roll with big ole vocals and dancey riffs

And that’s pretty spot on.  There’s some great rocking riffs and lead singer Katie Bowles has a powerful voice that never turns into screaming.  The rest of the band is Liam McElroy – guitar ; Gray Stephenson – bass ; TJ Meade – drums.  The poster says “Introducing Christian” which I assume means another member of the band, but who knows.

They are  a classic sounding band who probably put on a killer live show.

Wax Jaw I only know from a show I didn’t see (which had video online afterward).  There’s something wonderfully primal about them–kinda surfy but with a real punk rock feel.  Or as, this review in Before Tomorrow says

With a blend of surf rock, new wave, and popost-punk influences; Wax Jaw can only be described as something akin to the love child of The Cure, Siouxsie and The Banshees, and The Dictators all wrapped up into one package of sound that you may have expected to hear leaking from the doors of The Hot Club in the late 1970s. In the seemingly brief time they have been together, Wax Jaw has already garnered an extensive roster of sold out shows across the Philadelphia area and after our experience, it is undeniable that this streak will continue.

The review also goes on to say that it sounds like they stole the show. (more…)

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