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Archive for April, 2026

Lástima (Underground Arts, Philadelphia, PA, April 20, 2026) [PALLBEARER]

Posted in Knoll, Lástima, Pallbearer, Philadelphia, PA, Underground Arts on April 20, 2026| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: April 20, 2026] Lástima

I hadn’t heard of Lástima.  They are a Philly band who plays blackgaze which may be a term they made up, or maybe not.  But it makes sense.

They play fast, heavy, dark music with mostly growled vocals.  Back in the day we called these cookie monster vocals.  But cookie monster vocals are for fast singers and I think singers of this style of music sing more like real monsters–slow and deep and creepy AF.

What set this band apart was the inclusion of Thuy Nguyen on violin! (!).  From where I was you couldn’t always hear the violin (again, I need to stand further back from the stage) but when the rest of the band quieted down, the violin was a wonderfully mournful component.

I was in front of Eric Mauro on guitars and Hazel Whitman on bass.  I could kind of see Sam Hyla on drums, but really the most entertaining person was singer/guitarist Richie DeVon.

DeVon sang.  Sometimes in a normal voice (during the quiet section) but usually with a growl or a scream.   There were a few songs (or openings of songs) which had quiet piano parts.  DeVon played them and was usually accompanied by Nguyen on violin.  Toward the end he got down on his knees and screamed his head off while messing about with his effects pedals.  It was quite cathartic.  (more…)

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HEALTH / Carpenter Brut / Desire (Franklin Music Hall, Philadelphia, PA, April 19, 2026) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Carpenter Brut, Desire, Franklin Music Hall, HEALTH, Philadelphia, PA on April 19, 2026| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: April 19, 2026] HEALTH / Carpenter Brut / Desire

A few years ago, my son told me he was into Carpenter Brut.  I hadn’t heard of them, but I kept them on my radar to see if they’d tour around here.  Well, here was a tour!  Carpenter Brut and a band called HEALTH whom I had never heard of.

But before we can even get remotely excited about this show, it was the same night as a family member’s birthday.  So there was no way we could go.  Which was a real bummer because my son listened to HEALTH and liked them so much he bought a shirt online.

HEALTH is an interesting band.  They can be heavy and electronic, with industrial overtones, although the lead singer reminds me of the Pet Shop Boys, except the part where the vocals are screamed at the top of their lungs.  For the most part, the new album is old school industrial type music with really gentle vocals.   Although their earlier stuff is really noisy and chaotic.

Carpenter Brut is a synthwave project.  Franck Hueso blends aggressive beats with synths and an obsession with 80s action and horror films.  It’s kind of like Magic Sword, but more synthy.

Desire is an electronic duo from Montreal.   They play slinky cabaret type music with vampy spoken word vocals, and swirling melodies.  They’re interesting, but a bit slow.  Probably a good opening band for this night.

This review from Montreal Rocks makes the night sound really fun.  If only it could have been some other night.

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The Chameleons / The Veldt (Underground Arts, Philadelphia, PA, April 18, 2026) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Chameleons, Philadelphia, PA, The Chameleons, The Veldt, Underground Arts on April 18, 2026| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: April 18, 2026] The Chameleons / The Veldt

I thought that I knew The Chameleons. They’re a British band from the heyday of British alt rock.    They’re from Manchester and started in 1981.  I’ve known about them for as long as I can remember.  But I guess I got them confused with The Charlatans (Charlatans UK here).  Because when I listened to the debut Chameleons album, I didn’t recognize a thing.

I didn’t dislike the albums, but I didn’t feel compelled to go listen to them.

The Veldt is a “soul powered rock band on the heavier end of the shoegaze spectrum.”  Formed by identical twins Daniel and Danny Chavis, The Veldt emerged from Raleigh, North Carolina, with instincts shaped by gospel, Motown, Prince, Sun Ra, and Pink Floyd.

The vocals are really soulful with some great rocking guitars.  It was actually The Veldt that made me thing this (or three) times about going to this show.  But it didn’t happen.

 

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King Tuff / Morgan Nagler (Kung Fu Necktie, Philadelphia, PA, April 18, 2026) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in King Tuff, Morgan Nagler, Philadelphia, PA, Punky Brewster, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air on April 18, 2026| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: March 23, 2023] King Tuff / Morgan Nagler

King Tuff is Kyle Thomas.  Thomas was a member of Ty Segall’s band for a time (and Segall plays on his albums).

I really enjoyed his Black Moon Spell album, but I haven’t listened to him all that much since.  When this show was announced I put it on my radar, but knew that I was pretty busy this week.  When my weekend opened up because a scout trip came up, I seriously thought about getting a last-minute ticket t this show.  But it was already sold out.  So that’s okay.

Morgan Nagler is a singer from Los Angeles.  She plays slowish fuzzy indie rock.  Her voice is pleasant and cool.  She is also the singer for Whispertown.  In a fun backstory that seems to be popping up from time to time, Nagler worked as a child actor, appearing on Punky Brewster and The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.  But she’s got the musical bona-fides (she wrote a song for Rilo Kiley and did a single with Kim Deal).

I think this would have been a really fun show.

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Touché Amoré / One Step Closer / Greet Death (Brooklyn Bowl, Philadelphia, PA, April 17, 2026) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Brooklyn Bowl, Greet Death, One Step Closer, Philadelphia, PA, Touché Amoré on April 17, 2026| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: April 17, 2026] Touché Amoré / One Step Closer / Greet Death

I’ve seen Touché Amoré twice and have been clown away both times.  When they announced this tour of the Stage Four album, I was ready to see them.  I don’t know this album any more than their other ones, but I do enjoy a tour of an entire album.

Now this album is pretty intense: it is the band’s fourth album, but the title’s central inspiration was singer Jeremy Bolm’s mother, who died of cancer.  But I have been so impressed by the passion and empathy of the band that I assumed this show would be the very definition of catharsis.

But then DAVE announced a show the same night and I had a tough time deciding which to go to.  I had never seen DAVE before, after all.  And then, the whole thing was moot because the John Malkovich show was announced in Princeton, and there was no way I could miss that.

I’m sure Touché Amoré will be back and I will happily see them again next time.

I don’t know One Step Closer, but they are a straight edge hardcore punk band from Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.  They are indeed a hardcore band (the singer is a classic hardcore screamer) but they have some melodic components as well.  Indeed, in one song there’s intense hardcore screaming and also really pretty harmonies.  They haven’t put out an album since 2024 and it sounds like their sound is evolving.  I’ll bet they are great live.

I saw Greet Death (geez, with this name and the TA album being about cancer…) open for Foxing in 2022.  I have an overall good memory of them, but when I look at the post I wrote, I didn’t have all that much to say about them, except that the girls in front of me talked thoughout their set.  Their newest album is even more shoegaze than when I saw them.  This would have been a fun night (despite the darkness).

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Dave / DJ Diamond Kuts (Fillmore Philly, Philadelphia, PA, April 17, 2016) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in DAVE, DJ Diamond Kuts, Philadelphia, PA, The Fillmore Philadelphia on April 17, 2026| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: April 17, 2016] Dave / DJ Diamond Kuts

Back in 2022, I could have seen DAVE at TLA.  Now, four years later. he’s back and headlining The Fillmore.  Which makes sense, since back in 2022, he had to add three nights to his NYC shows.  But I had no idea that anyone here knew of him.

I know of DAVE from a Tiny Desk Concert.  And I wondered, how does a British rapper succeed in the U.S. when he is called DAVE?

I really like his DAVE’s tone (and his accent is neat).  But this show proved to be on a night that I was triple booked.

I had already gotten a ticket to se Touche Amore a Brooklyn Bowl (which I was able to sell).  As soon as DAVE announced this show a the Fillmore, I grabbed a ticket.  And THEN the John Malkovich performance was announced in Princeton and I couldn’t pass that up.

I guess the next time DAVE comes to the States, he’ll be playing Franklin Music Hall?  Well, if he’s still at the Fillmore, I will try to make it.

Does he really play the harp?

DJ Diamond Kuts is a DJ and Producer from Philly.  It sounds like she is in huge demand.  And her instagram shows her spinning at lots of big name events.  I wonder what she played before DAVE.

 

 

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John Malkovich in The Music Critic Created and Conceived by Aleksey Igudesman (McCarter Theatre, Princeton, NJ, April 17, 2026)

Posted in Aaron Wolff, Aleksey Igudesman, Astor Piazzolla, Claude Debussy, Eric Silberge, Eugène-Auguste Ysaÿe, Frédéric Chopin, Gia Kancheli, Hyung-ki Joo, Johann Sebastian Bach, Johannes Brahms, John Malkovich, Ludwig van Beethoven, Mario Gotoh, McCarter Theatre, Princeton, NJ, Robert Schumann, Sergei Prokofiev, The Music Critic, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart on April 17, 2026| 2 Comments »

[ATTENDED: April 17, 2026] John Malkovich in The Music Critic Created and Conceived by Aleksey Igudesman

Are you kidding me?  John Malkovich in Princeton?  Of course I’m going.

I had no idea what this show was about, but John Malkovich was going to be starring in it, 30 minutes from my house!  SO I grabbed us tickets.

So what is this exactly?  Well, it’s kind of a comic musical piece.  But it’s not exactly funny and it’s more musical.  Basically, a string quartet (and piano) plays some beautiful music and then John Malkovich tears it apart using actual quotes from critics at the time.  The criticism back then are brutal and, consequentially quite funny, especially when said to the performers directly.

Igudesman wrote this piece which includes some famous musical pieces (by Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin, Brahms, Schumann, Debussy, Prokofiev, Ysaye, Kancheli, and Piazzolla) as well as one of his own.

Aleksey Igudesman has created a sardonic mix of the most evil music critiques of the last centuries written about some of the greatest works of music.

I didn’t know Aleksey Igudesman, but he performed with the show and his violin playing was terrific.  I have no idea if this show was written with Malkovich in mind (I assume so, see the end).   But Malkovich luxuriates in the role of the evil critic who believes the music of Beethoven, Chopin, Prokofiev and the likes to be weary and dreary: “Schumann fancies himself a “composer”, while Brahms is a “giftless bastard” and Claude Debussy is simply ugly.”

Malkovich sat for much of the performance, listening to the music.  And then he would recite the scathing reviews.  By the middle of the show, the musicians started to argue back.  Especially pianist Hyung-ki Joo who directly addresses the critic and at one point even storms off. (more…)

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Snail Mail / Swirlies / Sharp Pins (Fillmore Philly, Philadelphia, PA, April 16, 2016) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Lifeguard, Philadelphia, PA, Sharp Pins, Snail Mail, Swirlies, The Fillmore Philadelphia on April 16, 2026| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: April 16, 2016] Snail Mail / Swirlies / Sharp Pins

I have been wanting to catch Snail Mail since 2018, when I missed her opening for Alvvays at Union Transfer.  You don’t always get to see a singer progress so clearly up the ranks of popularity.

In 2018 she was opening for someone at Union Transfer and now 8 years later she was headlining The Fillmore.

I haven’t actually listened to her in a few years so I don’t know if I even like her music anymore, but I’ve enjoyed watching her succeed.

Swirlies are a band that I knew back in the late 90s.  I have their first album (they are a Boston band and I was living in Boston at the time).  I don’t really know why I got the record in the first place, although it’s kind of in my wheelhouse–noisy, not exactly shoegaze, very weird.  Not a chance of making it big.  And yet, they persisted.  Well, Damon Tutunjian persisted.  He’s the only person to have remained in the band from 1990 on.  And the sound is much different on their more recent recordings.  Seana Carmody was in the band in the early days and she went on to form Syrup USA who I had also forgotten about but have a fond memory of.   Although it turns out they play mostly stuff from their earlier days, so I probably would have enjoyed this.

I didn’t realize I knew anything about Sharp Pins, but it turns out I have seen the mastermind of this band, Kai Slater, in his other band, Lifeguard (who I loved) and I had singled out Slater as a great guitar player.  Imagine my surprise to find out he is the driving force (and sole member, I think) of Sharp Pins.  And, in fact, I love one of their songs that I hear on the radio a lot, I Don’t Have the Heart.  It has a retro pop feel and is a totally tasty pop song.  Indeed, Kai writes a lot of wonderful retro pop songs.  Although I did find that a full album was too much for me, I’ll bet seeing him live would be great.

So I think overall this would have been a really enjoyable show, but I had been to two shows in a row the nights before and had another event for the following night.  Maybe some day I’ll get to see them all.

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The Last Dinner Party (Franklin Music Hall, Philadelphia, PA, April 15, 2026)

Posted in Florence Road, Franklin Music Hall, Philadelphia, PA, The Last Dinner Party on April 16, 2026| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: April 15, 2026] The Last Dinner Party

The Last Dinner Party played Johnny Brenda’s in Philly back in 2023 and I really wanted to go.  But we had tickets to another show so I missed out. It’s amusing that they mentioned that show at this show and how they hadn’t been back since then (yes, we know).  I’m still bummed that I missed that one, but my daughter and I did get to see them at All Things Go and tonight, my daughter and my wife joined me for this much much bigger show.  (To go from Johnny Brenda’s to Franklin Music Hall is a huge leap).

The stage was set up simply but with a cool look–fabric draped all along the back wall and a mobile of birds high above the stage.  At one point the mobile spun and the birds, which were reflective, shone lighted birds across the black of the stage–very cool looking.

So The Last Dinner Party is slightly gimmicky with the way dress, but it does look very cool and they transcend that look with fantastic songs and a great stage presence.  And indeed, this was one of the best shows I’ve seen in a long time.  They didn’t do anything especially fancy, but their engagement with the audience, their presence and their sheer kickassery was phenomenal.  I loved them at All Things Go but this show was even better.

The opening strains of Walking Into the Pyre played over the speakers as they came out on stage.  The four women filled the front of the stage–keys (Aurora Nishevci), lead guitar, mandolin and flute! (Emily Roberts), vocals (Abigail Morris) and guitar (Lizzie Mayland).  Something was amiss though as their bassist was clearly not Georgia Davies.  Well, it turned out that Georgia hurt her back and was being attended to by a doctor.  She would be heading back to England shortly.  In her stead was Max Lilley who is their bass tech (he’s in a band called Slow Team as well).

They have always had a rotating touring drummer.  I think his leg of the tour it’s Davo–he off in the back, essential but not prominent. (more…)

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Florence Road (Franklin Music Hall, Philadelphia, PA, April 15. 2026) [THE LAST DINNER PARTY]

Posted in Florence Road, Franklin Music Hall, Philadelphia, PA, The Last Dinner Party on April 15, 2026| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: April 15, 2026] Florence Road

Florence Road is a band from Bray, County Wicklow in Ireland.  I had listened to one song before this show and it must have been Rabbits Can Swim, because I thought that they were a pretty but mellow indie rock band.

They came out on stage right around 8: lead singer and guitarist Lily Aron, guitarist Emma Brandon, bassist Ailbhe Barry, and drummer Hannah Kelly.  And they proceeded to blow our hair off.  They opened with None the Wiser.  Aron’s voice is really powerful.  My wife, who normally doesn’t even really pay attention to the opening band remarked at how strong her voice was.  And the band kept up with her–they rocked hard and were really impressive.  It was also interesting that they just put out their second EP (Spring Forward) but this opening song wasn’t on it–it’s new.

There were a lot of people there who knew the band (apparently) but they won the entire crowd over by the end of the song.  The next song Miss was a bit quieter, but Aron’s voice still soared around the room.  By the time of Storm Warning  which had some really cool staccato power chords near the end, they could do no wrong.  Heavy continued with more loud guitars and then switched to a pretty, quiet ending with drummer Kelly on piano.

They stayed quiet for Rabbits with Barry on acoustic guitar.  Hanging Out to Dry was a mid tempo song showing that they can do it all.  They followed it with another new song 7563–no idea what that means, but it was fun hearing them sing that chorus at the end.  That brought the tempo back up.  And then someone in the audience shouted for Break the Girl, which seems to be one of their dancier songs.

They ended the set with the aptly named Goodnight.

Aron and Emma Brandon were both funny when they chatted to us.  They told us it was their first time in Philly and I have to assume it won’t be their last.  They made a ton of new fans tonight.

2025
None the Wiser §
Miss ⇒
Storm Warnings ⇒
Heavy ♣
Rabbits Can Swim ⇒
Hanging Out to Dry ⇒
7563 §
Break the Girl  ♣
Goodnight  ♣

§ single (2026)
⇒ Spring Forward EP (2026)
♣ Fall Back EP (2025)

 

 

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