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Archive for May, 2026

Mint Field (PhilaMOCA, Philadelphia, PA, May 19, 2026)

Posted in Knotfall, Mexico, Mint Field, Philadelphia, PA, PhilaMOCA, Sherrie on May 21, 2026| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: May 19, 2026] Mint Field

I found out about Mint Field during the pandemic from their outstanding Levitation Sessions record.  They headlined at Silk City back in September and I was really surprised to see them back again so soon.

I couldn’t make their previous show but I was sure to grab a ticket to this one.

Mint Field is from Tijuana.  The band is Estrella Snachez (vocals and guitar) and Sebastian Neyra (bass). The laziest description of them is shoegaze, but they incorporate other elements as well–dream pop, ambient and occasionally loud feedback.  I’m not sure who their drummer was for this show, but she was really good.

They opened with the quiet Horizonte, a gentle guitar melody and soft bassline.  The funny thing about this song is that as soon as you start to really get into it, it’s over.  It’s just under 2 minutes long.   But it’s a great introduction to Estrella’s floating vocals and their overall vibe.  “Recuerdo de los dias” has a more pronounced bass line and a simple but bouncy drum beat.

El mar me veia was the first song that really showed off Estrella’s cool guitar techniques–she makes interesting sounds by sliding her pick up and down the strings–using various pedals and looping, it created a cool visual.

Delicadeza is one of many songs where Sebastian’s bassline is wonderful–he doesn’t simply follow the guitars, he plays high notes and lets the music really revolve around what he’s doing.

While most of the opening was dreamy and trippy, Sensibilidad showed that they can get loud with both guitar and bass building the intensity before pulling back into a very quiet middle section.  And Susiro sailed back off into the dreamy skies again.

Sueño Despierto (with a cool bass line) and Infinito are slow and dreamy (Infinito is a newer song) but Contingencia adds a real pace to the set. It’s fuzzy and rocking and a lot of fun.  As the set reached the end, they got a lot more noisy with Ve hacia la ventana bringing out some fuzzy guitars in between quiet parts.  But no one could expect the explosive ending!  Un flro sin interior starts like many of their songs–fairly mellow and dreamy.  But mid song, the full band kicks in loudly with a big riff that the band jammed for several minutes.  Estrella stood by her amp generating lots of feedback and looping it around while Sebastian and their drummer were going nuts–it was the loudest and craziest the drummer had been all night–like catharsis after being so chill.  (On record the song is 2 minutes total, but live, they stretched it out wonderfully).  It felt like a set-ending but of noise and chaos, but they brought it back in and finished the song with one more verse and that was that.

I was a little bummed that they didn’t play the songs that I really fell in love with like Jardin De La Paz and Sentimental Mundial, but there were two tracks from that session that they did play (Delicadeza and Contingencia) so that’s cool.  I was glad to finally see them, although now I kind of wish I had seen them play at Union Transfer during that shoegaze festival–to get fully surrounded by their songs.

I got the impression, or maybe they just said, that they wouldn’t be touring the U.S. for quite a while.  So I’m even more happy that I got to see them.

  • Horizonte ∇
  • Recuerdo de los días €
  • El mar me veía €
  • Delicadeza ∅
  • Sensibilidad dormida €
  • El Suspiro Cambia Todo ∇
  • Sueño Despierto ∇
  • Infinito §
  • Contingencia ∅
  • Aterrizar ∅
  • Ve hacia la ventana €
  • Una flor sin interior €

§ single (2025)
€  Aprender a Ser: Extended (2024)
∇ Aprender a Ser (2023)
∅ Sentimendto Mundial (2020)

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Oranssi Pazuzu / Wayfarer (Underground Arts, Philadelphia, PA, May 21, 2025) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Oranssi Pazuzu, Philadelphia, PA, Underground Arts, Wayfarer on May 21, 2026| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: May 21, 2026] Oranssi Pazuzu / Wayfarer

I had not heard of Oranssi Pazuzu until about a week ago.  I’m not even sure what made me look into a band with a name like this.  But as soon as I saw that they were a Finnish psychedelic black metal band I had to see what they were all about.

And they are an interesting proposition.  The music definitely gets heavy, but there are lots of gentle samples (flute perhaps?) through some of the quieter more psychedelic moments.  My only complaint is the black metal component because the singer more or less growls quietly (presumably in Finnish) over the music.   Musically, though, I’m really intrigued by them.  Because I didn’t know enough about them, and because I already had tickets to see Black Angels, I didn’t really look into them very closely.  But having sat with them a bit and listened to them a but more, I think this would have been the better choice, especially since they haven’t toured the US in 7 years and presumably won’t be back for a long while, if ever.

Wayfarer is Denver’s gothic country-infused black metal band.  They have an interesting aesthetic (black metal, with sludge, with death metal, heated to a boil on the scorching stones of the Rockies) and I like their musical components, but once again the singer is a deep cookie monster type singer–yes, black metal, I know–but as a person who likes lyrics, it’s hard to get into a song when you just can’t understand what the singer is doing.  This is another band I think I’d probably enjoy live more because I could focus on the music rather than the words.

I enjoyed the Black Angels show, but yea, this might have been the better choice.

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The Black Angels (Union Transfer, Philadelphia, PA, May 21, 2026)

Posted in L. A. Witch, Philadelphia, PA, The Black Angels, Union Transfer on May 21, 2026| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: May 21, 2026] The Black Angels

The Black Angels are a psychedelic band from Austin, Texas.  I’ve known about them for about ten years.  Their music sounds pretty similar from album to album–fuzzy guitars, catchy riffs and Alex Maas’ recognizable haunting voice.  I saw them in 2022 and really enjoyed their set, although I remember being surprised at how minimal everything was.  It was also pretty dark on stage–so it was hard to see everyone clearly.

And that proved to be if not the same, then similar for this show.

This was a tour of their debut album Passover.  This album isn’t my favorite of theirs, but I do enjoy a full album show. I got into The Black Angels with their second album and my favorite one is Indigo Meadows, but as they played the album in full I realized just how much I do like it.

I also had  to laugh because there’s a guy who my wife and I saw at the MMJ concert who we called Jim James.  We saw him again at Band of Horses, then I saw him at Pallbearer and now at this one.  He’s a nice guy, a real headbanger.  He and his friends were having a great time at all of these shows, so I figured I was in for a good time.

Before the band came on, their logo was projected on the stage, spinning like the inside of a record.  Then the band came out and most of the lighting on stage was provided by the projections behind them.  This cast the band in eerie lights–sometimes moving shapes, sometimes stripes, visuals that obscured more than they illuminated.  And, connecting to the cover of Passover, it was all black and white.

The opening song, Young Men Dead, featured big fuzzy guitars in a simple riff that introduced Alex Maas’ vocals.  They have a new bassist since 2024, Misti Hamrick who also plays keys.   She and guitarist Jake Garcia switched off on bass (his bass was loud and ponderous on The First Vietnam War).   Although Christian Bland is the primary lead guitarist, Garcia does his fair share as well, playing the intro riff on The Sniper at the Gates of Heaven. (more…)

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Knotfall (PhilaMOCA, Philadelphia, PA, May 19, 2026) [MINT FIELD]

Posted in Knotfall, Mexico, Mint Field, Philadelphia, PA, PhilaMOCA, Sherrie on May 20, 2026| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: May 19, 2026] Knotfall

Knotfall is another band from Philly. I’m guessing that the band is the project of singer/guitarist (and for one song, drummer) Sami Rahman.  Because there have been different people on the different releases.

They totally threw me for a loop when I listened to them because I thought that they were basically a shoegaze band (since Mint Field is).  August in the Water starts their album and this set.  It has quiet guitars and soft vocals.  It’s quite lovely and I could see how they fit with Mint Field.  The song built to a louder sound, but still rather shoegazey (actually I found that his voice sounded a bit like Grandson and sometimes like Pavement).   But as the song reached the end, he started screaming in an intense, voice cracking sort of way.  And then the song dropped down to quieter moments again.  It was surprising on record but it was even better live.

Beyond Memory had an early Cure feel with lots of fuzz and I loved when the song broke and the two guitars played a really cool and clear riff–that blasted through the fuzz.  But the bigger surprise came at the end of the song when it shifted gears into a really heavy sound and really dark almost doom metal riff.  It was great and really intense–I would have happily let that riff continue for several more minutes, but it stopped after just a few runs through.

Sami told us that five of the six songs they were playing were from their recently released debut album.  Surprisingly they didn’t have any for sale and their shirts (which were really cool) were only Small-Large. (more…)

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Sherrie (PhilaMOCA, Philadelphia, PA, May 19, 2026) [MINT FIELD]

Posted in Knotfall, Mexico, Mint Field, Philadelphia, PA, PhilaMOCA, Sherrie on May 19, 2026| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: May 19, 2026] Sherrie

I like going to PhiaMOCA, it’s so casual and it’s such a great space to meet and chat with a band.  For whatever reason, I was early for this show.  When I walked in (probably at 7:30) Sherrie was still doing a sound check.  It was pretty weird and slightly awkward.  But it was hot out and cool inside, so I did some NY Times puzzles and listened to the band get ready for the show.

Sherrie is a band from Philadelphia.  When I saw that they were opening for Mint Field, I went to their bandcamp site and saw that they had three songs out.  I hadn’t realized until writing this that each of these songs came out at a rate of one a year, and that none of the songs were released in the last five years.

I can’t find out much about the band.  The lead singer is Rae and there’s a guy who has been with Sherrie since the beginning, whose name is Drew.  Their Instagram page has a few things up before COVID and then nothing until 2024.  Ah, and then I see that their first gig was at Ortlieb’s in March 2024–they were a two piece.  Then they played Johnny Brenda’s in April of this year as a five piece.  For this show they were a four piece.

Sherrie describes their music as dream pop, but it feels more like bedroom pop to me–remarkably spare, although it is sweet.  There’s not a lot of movement from the band–except for the last song when the Rae walked over to the keyboard that someone else was playing and pushed a button to change the sound of the keys.  She stayed for a bit and then turned it off again. (more…)

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An evening with They Might Be Giants (Union Transfer, Philadelphia, PA, May 15, 16 & 17, 2026) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Philadelphia, PA, They Might Be Giants, Union Transfer on May 17, 2026| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: May 15, 16 & 17, 2026] They Might Be Giants [rescheduled from March 13, 2020, September 8, 2020, April 15, 2021 and March 22, 2022 moved to January 12, 2023]

Back in 2022, my wife and I saw They Might Be Giants at Union Transfer in a very sold out room.  It was a fun night celebrating the anniversary of Flood.  Here they were, four years later playing THREE nights at Union Transfer.  With this simple promise

➡️Three Nights with @tmbgofficial
👉The Bigger Show Tour. Only 2026 area appearances!
👉3 very different shows. 2 “Evening with” performances. 8-piece band.
3 horns. 2 sets. 0 openers. Starts early. Gets loud.

This was basically something you wanted to get tickets to al three nights and I just didn’t think I had it in me to do it.  I also assumed that something else would come up that would make it impossible to see all three nights.  Amazingly nothing did.  But as I said, I just didn’t think I could do it.

I’m sure it was a lot of fun though.  Here’s some details

Night 1 focused on Factory Showroom [29 songs]
Night 2 focused on John Henry [30 songs]
Night 3 focused on Lincoln [34 songs]

Clearly night 3 was the one to go to.  I probably should have grabbed a ticket for that one at least.  Alas.

 

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Blvck Hippie / Grocer / Little Hag (Ortlieb’s, Philadelphia, PA, May 16, 2026) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Blvck Hippie, Grocer, Little Hag, Ortlieb's, Philadelphia, PA on May 16, 2026| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: May 16, 2026] Blvck Hippie / Grocer / Little Hag

Ortlieb’s is a fascinating venue.  Very small.  Intimate.  Impossible parking.

I was interested in this show first because I really like Grocer and would like to see them again.  But then I listened to Blvck Hippie and was totally hooked.  The Blvck Hippie website says that Blvck Hippie

is a Black Fronted Sad Boy Indie Rock Band based out of Memphis, TN. Their genre is Post Punk, Indie Rock, VHS Rock.

The band is Josh Shaw and a bunch of other people.  I assume that as a live show he has a full band.  The live album from Audiotree sounds grea (as all Audiotree live albums do)–really filling out the sound better than the albums do.

I would have really enjoyed this night of quirky alt rock.  But it had been a busy week and sometimes you just have to accept that it’s important to stay in on a Saturday night.

I saw Grocer open for Speedy Ortiz two years ago  They are a trio from Philly: Cody Nelson – Drums/Vocals, Danielle Lovier – Bass/Vocals and Nicholas Rahn – Guitar/Vocals.  Each member sings and each singer’s musical style is a little different making for a wide ranging musical set all held together by this great band having a lot of fun.  I don’t think I stopped smiling once during there set.  I definitely want to see them again.

Little Hag is a from Asbury Park.  Formed in 2016 in the suburbs of central Jersey by Avery Mandeville, guitarist Matt “Fern” Fernicola and drummer Owen Flanagan; joined in recent years by bassist Mitchell Warren-Devlin and keyboardist/vocalist Cara Introcaso.   Narc Magazine says “fans of opinionated, unflinchingly explicit, female-led punk rock should jump straight into this one.”  Musically they’re a bit softer than one might expect with more synth than feedback.  But the lyrics to Show Me Your Head alone make them worth checking out

Remind rich men that they’re ugly
Remind rich men that they will always be ugly
Remind rich men that we hate them
Remind rich men that we can and will kiss them

Mark, show me your head
Elon, show me your head
Jeff, show me your head
I want to put a hole in it
Donald, show me your head
JD, show me your head
Ben, show me your head
I want to put a hole in it

I hate rich men cause they’re rich
But mostly I hate them because they’re ugly
It’s important to bully them
Cause bullying works and it hurts people’s feelings

Mark, show me your head
Elon, show me your head
Jeff, show me your head
I want to put a hole in it
Donald, show me your head
JD, show me your head
Ben, show me your head
I want to put a hole in it

(more…)

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Dethklok (Wind Creek Event Center, Bethlehem, PA, May 14, 2026)

Posted in Amon Amarth, Bethlehem, PA, Castle Rat, Dethklok, Metalocalypse, Wind Creek Event Center on May 16, 2026| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: May 14, 2026] Dethklok

So I was aware of the show Metalocalypse, but didn’t know much about it.  When Dethklok toured last time, I read about how interesting it was to have a cartoon band like Gorillaz (but heavy metal) play live.

I didn’t know much about their music.  I listened to a few songs and was cool with them.  I expected a funny kind of show with the band playing behind or beneath animated versions of themselves.

But instead, what we got was the band in darkness (literally, you couldn’t see their faces at all) and clips from the show on the screen behind them.  So it was kind of the worst of both worlds.  It wasn’t new animation of the band playing these songs, it was just random clips–or maybe clips from the show when they played these songs?  But there were lots of repeated clips, so that wasn’t as much fun.

It also meant that those of us who didn’t know the show really had no idea what was going on.  My son, who didn’t know anything about the show thought they were villains and not the world’s most favorite band

The set opened with a video–Is Dethklok Back?  And it was pretty funny.  So I assumed the whole show would be funny in some way.  But it wasn’t.  It was serious death metal–fast, heavy and completely ununderstandable.  The songs were short and there were definitely songs that people liked more than others, but it was more or less a blur of noise. (more…)

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Amon Amarth (Wind Creek Event Center, Bethlehem, PA, May 14, 2026) [DETHKLOK]

Posted in Amon Amarth, Bethlehem, PA, Castle Rat, Dethklok, Saxon, Wind Creek Event Center on May 15, 2026| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: May 14, 2026] Amon Amarth

This was my fourth time seeing Amon Amarth.  I didn’t really need to see them again, which is why I didn’t want to pay full price for these tickets.  But when they went on sale, I happily grabbed a pair for my son and I.

They hadn’t put any new music out since 2023 (except for one single), so I didn’t expect there to be much difference between this show and the last time we saw them.  But I have to say, they really do mix up their shows from tour to tour.  Yes, there are some songs that I have seen at every show, but there were 9 songs (out of 15) that I hadn’t seen them play before.

We were really close to the stage (just outside of the Pit, which I did think might be fun to join in on) and could easily see singer Johann Hegg (who had a horn of mead (I assume) on his belt and a swagger in his walk) smile and really seem to enjoy himself and the fans.

For this tour they had a video screen set up behind them. They also had the giant inflatable Viking statues (I was so surprised that they were inflatable the first time I saw them, they were quite impressive (but what else could they be?)).  They opened with Raven’s Flight and I really enjoy the way the band walks around acknowledging the audience and making everyone feel a part of the show.

Up next was Shield Wall, a song I’ve seen at every show and which somehow I forgot meant that there would be two guys on either side of the stage waving giant shields around.  The first time I saw them I was really impressed by their stagecraft–even as an opening band.  And it continues with each tour.

Then there were a whole slew of (to me) new songs.  I don’t really know their recorded music very well, so it’s all new to me, but this block featured songs from 2008, three songs from 2006’s With Oden on Our Side (their third album and one I haven’t heard them play anything from before) and even one song from their debut album.  This was such a fascinating mix of songs to me since on their 2024 headline tour they played one song from 2004 and every thing was 2008 or newer.  There were some really cool visuals for these songs, too. (Okay they had a couple of albums before that but I feel like they don’t really count). (more…)

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Ghostface Killah / ZekeUltra / J the Audiophile / Dell P (Underground Arts, Philadelphia, PA, May 14, 2026) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Dell-P, J the Audiophile, Philadelphia, PA, The Chameleons, Underground Arts, ZekeUltra on May 14, 2026| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: May 14, 2026] Ghostface Killah / ZekeUltra / J the Audiophile / Dell P

It was unlikely that I’d go to a Ghostface Killah concert, but he’s a member of Wu-Tang and it would be interesting to see one of them live.  And in Underground Arts.

I had talked to my physical therapist about this show and he told me that he had seen Ghostface and that he was boring live.  And really that’s all I needed to hear to know that I wasn’t going to go.

ZekeUltra is a young low key rapper.  Kind of mumbly but you can understand him.  His new album is full of songs that are less than 2 minutes long.  After having seen this kind of performer with Earl Sweatshirt, I can tell I wouldn’t have enjoyed this.

J the audiophile is a hip hop, soul, electronic dance music, disco, and funk DJ, music producer, and all around vinyl enthusiast living large in the City.  He is dedicated to the preservation of vinyl culture in Philadelphia.  He has some albums out.  I think they’re all instrumental with spoken samples.  I guess for a live show he would be spinning, but I don’t know if it would be his own stuff or just DJing.  But I love the retro vibe he’s playing.

Dell-P is a Philly rapper who has nice old school flow–aggressive and clear–with catchy choruses.

Even though I didn’t want to see the first two, J the audiophile and Dell-P are pretty great.

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