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Archive for April, 2025

House of Protection (Fillmore Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, April 3, 2025) [POPPY]

Posted in Fever 333, House of Protection, Philadelphia, PA, Poppy, The Fillmore Philadelphia on April 3, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: April 3, 2025] House of Protection

A few years ago Poppy was supposed to open for Deftones.  The show was postponed and on the new dates, Poppy was no longer available.  I wound up not going to the show anyhow.  She has played Philly once before as a headliner in 2022, but I had plans that night.  So I decided, why not check her out this time around, now that she has fully embraced her heavy metal persona.

I didn’t know who would be opening and when she announced it would be House of Protection, I assumed they would be a metal band that was super heavy.

I wasn’t expecting a duo.  Aric Improta ran out and sat at the drumset which was sideways and sitting at the front of the stage.  Seconds later Stephen Harrison also ran out.  He sang and played guitar.  But mostly he incited the crowd.

Improta sang the first song while drumming in a very elaborate (and yes, I’ll say it, a very California) style with lots of arms flailing around.  He was exceptionally theatrical, standing on his drum stool and waving a cymbal around, and really trying to get the crowd into it.

Harrison was equally as theatrical.  He literally ran all over the stage (his guitar was remote, so no cables held him in place).  He spun around, he punched the air, he swung his guitar around his neck.  He was exhausting to watch.

He also commanded the crowd in a way that an opening band very rarely does.  But it turns out that both guys were in Fever 333 (who I don’t know, but who sound pretty cool) and are veterans of the stage. (more…)

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Nanocluster : Immersion | Suss (Johnny Brenda’s, Philadelphia, PA, April 1, 2025)

Posted in Immersion, Johnny Brenda's, Philadelphia, PA, Suss on April 1, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: April 1, 2025] Nanocluster : Immersion | Suss

I stumbled upon Suss one night when I was looking for music to relax to.  I got a kick out of the name–my kids had been using it as slang quite a lot at the time–and really enjoyed their music.  The seem to be described as “ambient country” which would have turned me off.  I’d rather think of them as a soundtrack to the open spaces in the midwest and west (even though all three members are from New York City.

The trio is Jonathan Gregg: Pedal Steel, dobro ; Bob Holmes: Mandolin, baritone guitar, acoustic guitar, harmonica, violin, Keyboards ; Pat Irwin: Electric guitars, National guitar, eBow, harmonium, keyboards, melodica, loops.

Then one night I was listening to Echoes on NPR and they had an interview with Suss.  Which seemed coincidental.  And they mentioned this album that they had made with Immersion.   Immersion is a project from Colin Newman of Wire.  He and Malka Spigel (his wife) who played in Minimal Compact started this electronic project some 30 years ago.  Then in 2021 they started doing Nanocluster projects where they collaborated with others.  Volume 3 featured Suss.  So this was a tour of the album (which is short) as well as sets from each band.

I almost never sit in the balcony at Johnny Brenda’s.  I like to be up by the stage.  But this show, which promised to be very chill, seemed like a great opportunity to go upstairs and grab a stool!

Suss came out first.  They were clustered close together because there was so much gear on the stage.   They had two screens behind them.  Each one projected the same thing (which was weird when it was a  camera panning over a landscape since it seemed like it should continue from one screen to the next rather than being the same thing, but that’s fine.

The three guys bent over their instruments and made beautiful instrumental music.  Keys, slide guitar and other instruments created a dreamy feeling of being in open spaces.  After about 15 minutes or so they were joined by a bass player (whose name I didn’t catch),  he didn’t add fancy bass lines, just a nice low end.  They ended as a trio with one of the guys whistling a sad mournful melody.  (more…)

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