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Aldous Harding / H. Hawkline (Union Transfer, Philadelphia, PA, June 10, 2022) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Aldous Huxley, H. Hawkline, Philadelphia, PA, Union Transfer on June 10, 2022| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: June 10, 2022] Aldous Harding / H. Hawkline

I saw Aldous Harding at Underground Arts in 2019.  The show was very weird and pretty cool, with Harding being a presence I could not remove my eyes from.

I couldn’t really imagine her at Union Transfer, it is so much bigger.

I didn’t actually enjoy her new album as much as her previous ones and when this show came up, I basically just stayed home.  I just didn’t feel like it.

H. Hawkline is one of those performers that seems to open for a lot of people that I like.  Or at least whose name I see a lot at shows.

I don’t really know that much about him except that he is Welsh and was once a radio and TV presenter (known as Huw Evans).

Hawkline has put out 5 albums, and Picthfork summarizes his career like this

Hawkline began his career with fingerpicking folk on 2010’s A Cup of Salt, but in recent years, he’s steered towards an ornate art-pop sound that draws influence from his fellow countryman Gruff Rhys, who’s brought him on tour, as well as longtime collaborator Cate Le Bon, who produced Milk for Flowers. Even when the songs are steeped in sadness, there’s a McCartney-esque bounce to them: a pitter-patter levity to the piano arrangements in “Milk for Flowers” and “Denver,” a perpetual forward motion to the playful thump of “Plastic Man.”

It’s a good pedigree and in listening to his new album Milk for Flowers, the McCartney comparison is apt.  He could be quite fun live.

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Sigur Rós (The Met Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, June 7, 2022) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Philadelphia, PA, Sigur Rós, The Met Philadelphia on June 7, 2022| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: June 7, 2022] Sigur Rós

Few bands are as amazing live as Sigur Rós.  I can’t believe it has been five years since I’ve last seen them.

My wife and I were looking forward to this show so much.

And that’s when we learned that you can never schedule anything in June if you have kids.  Our daughter won an award and it was scheduled for this evening.

What timing.  Obviously, there was no chance for going to this show.

 

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Crawlers (PhilaMOCA, Philadelphia, PA, June 4, 2022)

Posted in Crawlers, Philadelphia, PA, PhilaMOCA, T., Thus Love on June 6, 2022| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: June 4, 2022] Crawlers

Out of the blue one day my daughter begged me to get her tickets to see a band I had never heard of.  They were called Crawlers from the UK.  They were touring the US for the first time and could she please please please go to a club called PhilaMOCA.

So Crawlers, it turns out are an alt-rock/punk band who are pretty darn cool.

We were in front of guitarist Amy Woodall and on the far side was bassist Liv Kettle who had the best look going on–great eye liner and huge kick ass boots.

Lead singer Holly Minto was up front engaging with everyone.  She was fun and warm and welcoming and was just a delight.  And in the back was Harry Breen smashing up the drum set.  They’ve been playing together for a few years now and Minto and Kettle have been friends forever.  They have a great stage rapport.

Crawlers had made some waves via TikTok and it was clear that their fan base was young, and they were especially speaking to young women.  I tried my best to get out of the way to let the young women have the font, but I also didn’t want to leave me daughter by herself, so we kind of hung out near the front, but not too near.  (more…)

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Thus Love (PhilaMOCA, Philadelphia, PA, June 4, 2022) [CRAWLERS]

Posted in Crawlers, Philadelphia, PA, PhilaMOCA, Thus Love on June 5, 2022| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: June 4, 2022] Thus Love

Out of the blue one day my daughter begged me to get her tickets to see a band I had never heard of.  They were called Crawlers from the UK.  They were touring the US for the first time and could she please please please go to a club called PhilaMOCA.

Now I happened to love PhilaMOCA.  When they needed fundraising I supported them and looked forward to them reopening their doors.  I hadn’t been back since they reopened, so I was pretty interested to see the place again.  But I was even more interested to check out this band and see what had my daughter so interested.

PhilaMOCA has a supersmall capacity so I grabbed tickets for us immediately assuming the show would sell out.

But when we arrived (the renovations look great, even if it means the capacity is even smaller now), there was hardly anyone there.  (more…)

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Kurt Vile and the Violators (Union Transfer, Philadelphia, PA, June 3, 2022)

Posted in Kurt Vile, Kurt Vile and the Violators, Natural Information Society, Philadelphia, PA, The War on Drugs, Union Transfer on June 4, 2022| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: June 3, 2022] Kurt Vile & The Violators

Since the last time I saw Kurt Vile (2018), S. has become a huge fan of Kurt and his music.  So when he announced he was touring, and would be ending his run in his home town, of course we grabbed tickets.

I had seen Kurt playing in New Jersey four years ago and he was a delight.  He switches instruments almost every song.  he doesn’t talk a lot, but he seems to be having a really good time and is happy that we’re there with him.

It was amazing that he played almost none of the same songs tonight that he did four years ago.  True he had two new albums to showcase since that time, but even the older cuts were mixed up (except for his biggest hit which I couldn’t imagine him not playing and “Waking on a Pretty Day”).

Kurt is pretty much exactly what you get on record–his delivery is pretty much the same, his guitar playing is the same.  he comes across as the most natural performer you’ve ever seen.  Like he literally just walked in and started playing.

I am a huge fan of some of Kurt’s songs.  I love “Loading Zones” and could listen to him play that song for ages.  (more…)

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La Femme / Cumgirl8 (The Foundry, Philadelphia, PA, June 4, 2022) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Cumgirl8, La Femme, Philadelphia, PA, The Foundry on June 4, 2022| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: June 4, 2022] La Femme / Cumgirl8

I heard about La Femme through the Levitation Sessions releases.  I have enjoyed just about everything that Levitation has released in this series–most of it trippy psychedelia.

La Femme is a different beast though.  While still trippy, the are more of a disco-based, Kraftwerk-inspired form of Parisian punk psych pop.  They could be trashy psych as played by techno acts, or prickly electro as louche sophisti-noir.  Whatever the case, I though they’d be fun to see live.

I found out about this show pretty late in the game and it happened to be on the same night as the Crawlers show that my daughter really wanted to go see.  So I hope La Femme comes back around sooner rather than later.

Cumgirl8 sounds like the name of a band that is trying too hard.  But they are getting some good review for their music.

Like this from V Magazine.

Founded on the idea of taking back control and fighting against toxicity, cumgirl8 is true adventurist-punk group. The group has received praise from the likes of Stereogum and Fader, and their latest song, “dumb bitch,” has already garnered over 15,000 listens on Spotify.

They remind me of a British 70s punk band ala The Slits (I thought they were British–they are not).  The music is weird, with a pulsing bass that follows the main vocal line and jagged, echoing guitars.

Here’s an interesting factoid about the band: singer and bass player Lida Fox and guitarist Veronika Vilim are both models, as in big baller runway Marc Jacobs type shit, with drummer/synth tweaker/producer Chase Noelle having played in BOYTOY and others.

I wonder how much durability they’ll have.

 

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Natural Information Society (Union Transfer, Philadelphia, PA, June 3, 2022) [KURT VILE AND THE VIOLATORS]

Posted in Full show video, Kurt Vile, Kurt Vile and the Violators, Natural Information Society, Philadelphia, PA, Union Transfer on June 3, 2022| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: June 3, 2022] Natural Information Society

Since the last time I saw Kurt Vile (2018), S. has become a huge fan of Kurt and his music.

So when he announced a tour that would be culminating at Union Transfer, obviously we were going to go.  I’m a fan of the opener Chastity Belt, but I was bummed that they weren’t opening our leg of the tour.  So that left two possibilities for us: Sun Ra Arkestra or Natural Information Society.

I had seen Sun Ra Arkestra and enjoyed their wild free jazz craziness.  I knew S. wouldn’t like them.  But it turned out that the question was moot because I was taking my daughter to another show on the Sun Ra night anyhow.  So Natural Information Society it was.

I had never heard of them and had no idea what they were like. (more…)

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Aurora (Union Transfer, Philadelphia, PA, June 2, 2022)

Posted in Aurora, Norway, Philadelphia, PA, Sub Urban, T., Union Transfer on June 3, 2022| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: June 2, 2022] Aurora

I love Aurora.  She puts on a great show and is just chock full of positive energy.  We saw her two years ago and I was excited to see her again.

After a break, Aurora came out.

Last time, she had giant jellyfish hanging from the ceiling.  This time she had a curtain in the back of the stage a giant circle behind her.  It acted as a backdrop and a light source.

Her new album, The Gods We Can Touch had just come out and she played a number of songs from it.  Even though many of her songs are dancey, she had an acoustic guitar for “everything Matters” (along with electronic keys and drums).  

Her song “Blood in the Wine” is a wonderfully passionate song with a fantastic hook that I can’t get out of my head.

Of course, Aurora has her dedicated fans.  Several of them brought her gifts.  Someone even gave her a teapot.  (How would she bring that home in her suitcase?)

It’s easy to think of Aurora and her fan base (“Warriors”) as a bit too much, as she is practically a living embodiment of a Norwegian fairy.  But she is so sincere, that her passion as she talks between songs (in her near-perfect English, faltering just enough to make it all the more effective) is palpable.  And if you aren’t moved by a song like “Warrior” (which everyone sings along to) then you are too hardened by life.

Aurora seems like her music would be ethereal and aloof, but a song like “A Temporary High” has a pounding drum beat. (more…)

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Sub Urban (Union Transfer, Philadelphia, PA, June 2, 2022) [AURORA]

Posted in Aurora, Benee, Billie Eilish, Philadelphia, PA, Sub Urban, T., Union Transfer on June 2, 2022| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: June 2, 2022] Sub Urban

I love Aurora.  She puts on a great show and is just chock full of positive energy.  We saw her two years ago and I was excited to see her again.

I had no idea who Sub Urban was, but I enjoyed the name (it’s kinda clever and he’s from Ridgewood, NJ, right near where I grew up and also where the band Real Estate is from!).  Turns out that Sub Urban actually had a viral hit called “Cradles.”  

In fact, before the show started when I was waiting for my daughter to come out of the bathroom I saw a little girl with her dad and I said something about how great Aurora was and the girl reply “I’m not here for her, I’m here for Sub Urban.”  Huh.  

He also had a new single called “UH-OH” which featured New Zealand Singer Benee (who sounds so much like Billie Eilish it’s insane).  And, indeed, Aurora guests on one of his songs as well (“Paramour” which he did not play). (more…)

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NNAMDÏ / Ghösh / Lizdelise (Johnny Brenda’s, Philadelphia, PA, May 31, 2022) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in GHÖSH, Johnny Brenda's, Lizdelise , NNAMDÏ, Nnamdi Ogbonnaya, Philadelphia, PA on May 31, 2022| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: May 27, 2022] NNAMDÏ / Ghösh / Lizdelise 

I saw Nnamdi Ogbonnaya open for Wilco and Sleater-Kinney.

I really enjoyed his set which went in all kinds of interesting directions.  As this blurb puts it he

makes dreamy, fractured, and frisky music that rarely sits still. He pulls from indie rock, hip-hop, and jazz on songs that mine his experience as a self-described “Black, Jewish, first-generation Nigerian-American.” He was terrific last year at the Mann Center opening for Wilco and Sleater-Kinney, though he couldn’t play guitar because he had broken his wrist skateboarding.

That’s the show I saw, too.

I’m not sure why I didn’t go to this show.  I’d say just taking it easy at the end of May.

Ghösh seems like an unlikely fit for this bill.  I very much want to see them, but sandwiched between two mellow artists this seems a little off.  XPN explains them

Ghösh combines the darkest elements of aforementioned 90’s rave — pummeling beats and washy, distorted samples ala Atari Teenage Riot or Front 242– with the lyrical intensity of a 2009 LiveJournal entry co-written by Angela Davis and your little sister: they’re pissed off, informed, and ready to party.

It’s a weird mix on the surface, but with songs like “Dear Daddy” intoning how bad all cops are (“even my dad,” Symphony shouts) over a dizzying jungle beat, to a cover of Limp Bizkit’s “Break Stuff” where buzzsaw riffs that tear through the an avalanche of Miami bass empowered 808 kicks where they scream-rap “my suggestion is to keep your distance / right now I’m dangerous”, it’s clear the genreless entropy is not just intentional, but beautiful.

The band has honed their sound in the usual spots: basements, dive bars, the batting cages, defying the usual punk orthodoxy with ever slurred, tripped out vocal sample, every re-appropriation of 90’s hip hop and nu-metal, every radical, queer, noisy explosion. And it’s true, Philly gravitates to bands that push, explore and distort a myriad of experiences and influences, the eclectic shit, as much as we love three chord punk, staid indie rock, and meathead hardcore.

Lizdelise was described by NPR as

Liz de Lise is a singer, songwriter and guitarist who writes alternative folk songs with jazz influences. She creates lush soundscapes with acoustic and electric guitar, vocals and a loop pedal. She completed her one-video-a-month-for-a-year project in 2015.

For ease of searching I include Nnamdi, Ghosh.

Here’s a video of Ghosh

GHOSH  PhilaMOC

 

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