Posted in Deux Visages, Philadelphia, PA, Underground Arts, Wunderhorse on January 25, 2025| Leave a Comment »
[DID NOT ATTEND: January 25, 2025] Wunderhorse / Deux Visages
Wunderhorse was the Artist to Watch on WXPN and they were playing two of their songs a lot. I didn’t respond well to the first one but the second one was pretty catchy.
I might have considered this show, but I had tickets to Soccer Mommy AND a Control Top show this evening, so this was low on my list. (more…)
Posted in L'Rain, Philadelphia, PA, Soccer Mommy, Union Transfer on January 25, 2025| Leave a Comment »
[ATTENDED: January 25, 2025] L’Rain
I saw L’Rain open for Animal Collective without knowing anything about them. I was blown away.. I really liked the
extended jams that were full of everything–wild, weird guitars, drums that went from simple and gentle to thrash-worthy, and a saxophone that didn’t sound anything like a saxophone. And Cheek’s voice. Which she sampled in various ways, pitch shifting it, looping it on top of itself and creating an astonishing array of sounds.
But this show was a littkle different.
She started out with her first song (that comes from a soundtrack) and it was pretty quiet. Cheek manipulated her voice and much, but it was mostly atmospheric.
The second song featured her on guitar playing an interesting rotating melody. But it was also pretty quiet. The keyboardist played some swirling saxophone solos. I feel like both songs pushed the 6 minute mark.
The band took up about half of the stage and I was right in front of the drummer (no names were given). During some of the songs, he went crazy, playing loud and fast while the rest of the band jammed and improvised. He was my favorite player tonight.
The previous time, I was mesmerized by their guitarist because he was doing all kinds of interesting things [strange chords, or non-chords, making squeaking feedbacking sounds] but I didn’t really feel like he did that tonight.
Knead Bee and Uncertainty Principle showed that L’Rain largely plays an R&B base to her songs. The songs were pretty chill and I was really missing the excitement of the previous show, although, again, I really like the way she manipulates sounds live.
And then she played a melody that was really familiar. And once I realized that it was Portishead’s The Rip, I was ecstatic. I’ve never seen Portishead live and although Beth Gibbons is coming to Philly, her solo stuff doesn’t interest me all that much. But this version of The Rip was fantastic! The guitar was perfect, the electronics kicked in exactly the right way and Cheek sang in the best Beth Gibbons style. Hoy cow it was awesome.
So I was still in a good mood for the final song Two Face, a song she played last time that featured a little more of the chaos that I appreciated last time.
I actually had to wonder if L’Rain was crazier last time because they were opening for Animal Collective and contained themselves more for a less experimental headliner like Soccer Mommy.
| 2025 | 2022 |
| Green Π | Which Fork £ |
| 5 to 8 Hours a Day (WWwaG) ⊗ | A Toes (Shelf Inside Your Head) £ |
| Knead Bee ⊗ | Find It € |
| Uncertainty Principle ⊗ | Round Sun € |
| The Rip [Portishead cover] | Kill Self € |
| Two Face € | Blame Me € |
| Two Face € | |
| Take Two € |
£ L’Rain (2017)
€ Fatigue (2021)
⊗ I Killed Your Dog (2023)
Π I Saw the TV Glow soundtrack (2024)
Posted in Asbury Park, NJ, Loveseat Pete, Teen Idle, Wax Jaw, Wonder Bar on January 24, 2025| Leave a Comment »
[DID NOT ATTEND: January 24, 2025] Wax Jaw / Teen Idle / Loveseat Pete
Wax Jaw continues to play really close to me but always on nights that I’m already busy.
This show was announced fairly recently but I already had tickets to see Guster AND there was a second show I really wanted to see this night, Porridge Radio. So this show was never going to happen for me.
Teen Idle is the musical moniker of NJ-based songwriter, producer, and multi-instrumentalist Sara Abdelbarry. Meshing the heartfelt nature of influences like Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham with the grittiness and abrasiveness of grunge and the lovelorn tendency of ’60s acts like The Ronettes, Teen Idle makes emotional rock music with a statement (and a cinematic tendency).
I had never heard of Teen Idle, and a quick listen reminds me a bit of The Weather Station (Sara has a great voice too). But this vibe doesn’t really fit with Wax Jaw to me. (more…)
Posted in Philadelphia, PA, Porridge Radio, Sluice, The Foundry on January 24, 2025| Leave a Comment »
[DID NOT ATTEND: January 24, 2025] Porridge Radio / Sluice
I heard about Porridge Radio from NPR back in 2020. They are exactly the kind of weirdo post-punk British band that I love and would never hear anywhere on the radio.
Singer Dana Margolin is more of a talker than a singer. Her accent is thick and her intensity is palpable. The band mixes melody and noise in an unexpected way. And of course there’s “the growing legend of their intense live shows.”
I wasn’t able to see them the last time they came to Philly. And tonight’s show was the same night as the Guster show! The worst part was that they were playing literally upstairs from where we were. The same thing happened the last time we saw Guster at The Fillmore, when Dilly Dally played upstairs (but I was able to catch one song from them).
This is also apparently the last tour that Porridge Radio is going to do, so I’m especially bummed to have missed it (although Guster was awesome). (more…)
Posted in Blue Merle, Guster, Philadelphia, PA, Talking Heads, The Fillmore Philadelphia on January 24, 2025| Leave a Comment »
[ATTENDED: January 24, 2025] Guster
Back in March, we saw the We All Have Eras Tour and we loved it. It seemed weird to get tickets to the same show a few months later when they announced the second wave of the tour. But it was almost a year later!
This made my 12th time seeing Guster and every Guster show is a good time. Although the last time we saw Guster at the Fillmore, we didn’t love the crowd so much (we were also close to the bar…boo). But this time we landed squarely in the middle of the floor and had a great view (for the most part) and the crowd around us was cool (for the most part).
The show was like last time, a that there would be a narrator telling us what was going on with the band. Dave Butler (who also plays drums with Marco Benevento and has played live with Guster since 2015) was the evening’s narrator. [This also means I’ve seen Dave Butler play 13 times].
The sets and “Acts” were the same, possibly a little smoother and, as they said on Instagram–there were laughs in different spots.
They opened the show with a chalk board showing a dorm room at Tufts. Ryan and Adam met at Tufts. They each played in bands in high school (Adam from outside of Morristown, NJ!). (Ryan’s band was called The Silents, Adam’s was Royal Flush). They didn’t have bands in common, so they wrote their own song: “Parachute.” Then they needed a name. How about Gus? Sounds good. They were all set to be the Indigo Boys, two guys with great harmonies and acoustic guitars. Then a goofy guy, Brian, who carried bongos showed up (his early band was called Toejamb) and soon they were a trio busking in Harvard Square.
Then came two songs that were different from last time [Happy Frappy instead of Fall in Two and X-Ray Eyes (the first time we’ve seen them play it) instead of Demons]. Although I was happy to hear songs for the first time, this was also something of a greatest hist show, so of course it was great to hear Airport Song and Barrel of a Gun (again).
Their story is more interesting than just a band progressing. They went from acoustic guitars and bongos to a full on band with drumsticks and bass. They were approached by Steve Lillywhite to produce an album.
Then Luke Reynolds came out with a giant head of Joe Pisapia and a name tag that said JOE. He was a multitalented multi-instrumentalist and wrote “Jesus on the Radio” (which Luke and Ryan sang together). Then Joe joined the band for real (played by Luke). (more…)
Posted in English Teacher, Fernette, Philadelphia, PA, The Foundry on January 23, 2025| Leave a Comment »
[DID NOT ATTEND: June 14, 2024] English Teacher / Fernette
I’m writing this later in the year because I recently found out about English Teacher and wish that I had seen them when they came around this past summer. It’s entirely possible that I didn’t know who they were when this show came around, AND I had a ticket to see Kim Gordon that night so I wasn’t going to make this show anyway. But I always hate missing a band that I later discover would have been great to see in a small place.
I’m kind of surprised to discover that English Teacher was formed in 2020, as I just heard about them this year. They released their debut album in April of this year, so that might explain why I didn’t know them. I feel like I may have heard a song on Sirius XM, but I’m not sure. However, I recently watches a video of them and they were terrific.
Pitchfork says the band
can’t leave a song alone: Not a track goes by without a twist or complication, whether a time-signature change, an instrumental flourish, or a sudden wall of sound.
Which is exactly what I liked about when I heard them. (more…)
Posted in First Unitarian Church, Goshupon, Grass is Green, Ovlov, Philadelphia, PA, Speedy Ortiz on January 19, 2025| Leave a Comment »
[DID NOT ATTEND: January 19, 2025] Speedy Ortiz / Grass is Green/ Ovlov / Goshupon
This show was vaguely on my radar because of the band Ovlov, who I’ve known about but didn’t know. I’ve always gotten a kick out of their name and whenever I se a Volvo I think of them.
Listening to them now I think I should have been a fan all along. They have gentle indie rock guitars with wailing guitar walls over the top. It’s fantastic. Their albums are short and they’ve only put out three since 2009. Which is either awesome for getting into them, or frustrating at their lack of productivity. Either way, I’d love to see them live, but I suspect I’ve missed their only local appearance for a while.
I’d never heard of Grass is Green who are a Boston based experimental rock/post-punk band. They’ve been around since 2010 playing a a discordant and angular blend of punk and indie. I’ve listened to a few song and I love them–noisy and weird without being unpleasant.
Now that I’ve listened to these bands more, I would have loved to have gone to this show. But of course, it was at the Church and I don’t go there.
Back in October this show was announced as (more…)
Posted in Bruce McCullough, City Winery Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, The Kids in the Hall on January 19, 2025| Leave a Comment »
[ATTENDED: January 18, 2025] Bruce McCullough
I went to City Winery last year to see Scott Thompson and said I’d never go back because it’s a pain in the ass to get to. But then Bruce McCullough announced a show there and I relented. It was also right around our anniversary so we made it a night of delicious food and dark comedy.
Now that I know about the Convention Center parking I’m less opposed to the area in general. But we spent 30 minutes looking for a parking space as hundreds of people were walking around and driving around doing the same thing. But we found the parking lot and managed to get to our seat about 30 minutes before the show.
We had duck tacos and rice balls and french fries and the food was really yummy.
Brucio came out just as we were finishing our food and he danced around while some music played and he started the show with a series of actual jokes. They were dark and funny one-liners and then it settled into him telling some stories. Never go up to a blind man with rippled chips and say “here, read this.”
There was a running joke that the last time he was in Pennsylvania, he was in Scranton (the meth and muffler capital of the state) and the reviewer panned the show and said it had a narrative that not even Frank Zappa could understand. There’s no record of him having played Scranton, but the joke is great (and is exactly the kind of weird review someone in Scranton or the like would say). The article also included a pie chart of The Kids in the Hall and Bruce was the dark purple one. (more…)
Posted in Johnny Brenda's, Kurt Vile, Mike Polizze, Philadelphia, PA, Purling Hiss on January 18, 2025| Leave a Comment »
[DID NOT ATTEND: January 18, 2025] Kurt Vile / Mike Polizze
I asked my wife if she wanted to see Kurt Vile (whom she loves) but we kind of both felt that we didn’t really want to see him play solo acoustic. And that’s fine. We had seen him not too long ago, and honestly I enjoyed his electric sound a lot more.
And then it sold out in a minute anyhow. Later I managed to get tickets for Bruce McCullough on the same night. But I hadn’t realized that they’d announced an early show (5:30) that night as well. We could possibly have done both!
Mike Polizze is the main guy behind Purling Hiss, a band I’ve seen once and really liked. I don’t think I even knew that he was an opening act for this show until I started to write this. (more…)
Posted in Foto Club, Lobby Boxer, Philadelphia, PA, Skullpresser, Zeta on January 18, 2025| Leave a Comment »
[ATTENDED: January 16, 2025] Zeta
I saw Zeta open for Sparta in 2023 and I as blown away by them. I knew I’d want to see them again and since my son was home, I dragged him along to see a band he’d never heard of.
Before the first band came on, Zeta was setting up the merch and we had a long chat with drummer Chino Sandoval, who was super friendly and excited to show off the new merch.
We waited on the main floor for Zeta to come on, but when I looked to see what was happening, there was a massive wall of tall people standing in front of the stage already! (including Bear from mannequin Pussy and GG from Soul Glo!).
It sucked that I couldn’t see them very well, but the sound was great.
Unlike the two previous bands, all four members crowded onto the little stage.
Zeta opened the song with two songs from their fantastic album Because I don’t speak great Spanish and couldn’t really hear the words that well, I assumed they played the whole record (which is about 20 minutes long). (more…)
I Just Read About That... 