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Soft Blue Shimmer (Union Transfer, Philadelphia, PA, November 2, 2024) [TOUCHÉ AMORÉ]

Posted in Philadelphia, PA, Portrayal of Guilt, Soft Blue Shimmer, Soul Glo, Touché Amoré, Union Transfer on November 2, 2024| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: November 2, 2024] Soft Blue Shimmer

I invited my son to this show because I had seen Touché Amoré last year and they were fantastic.  He was at school and I picked him up and we drove to Philly together.  The plan was to get there really early and have dinner and then meander to the show.  If we missed any bands, that was okay because I didn’t really know the other bands (except Soul Glo).

I had listened to Soft Blue Shimmer and really liked them and I was a little bummed if we’d missed them.  But it turned out that our dinner was fairly quick and we arrived at Union Transfer in time to see almost the entire set from Soft Blue Shimmer (we may have missed one or two songs).

Given the rest of the bands on the tour, Soft Blue Shimmer seems like an outlier–their name is a great descriptor of their sound (while the other bands are pretty or very heavy).  It’s a testament to Touché Amoré’s tastes that their openers were so varied.

The band is Charlie Crowley on guitar and vocals, Kenzo Cardenas on drums, and Meredith Ramond on vocals and bass.  There was a fourth member at our show but I didn’t catch a name.

The setlist below is based on a show from the following night but seems pretty accurate.

Their songs are soft and shimmery, a delightful mix of shoegaze and pop.  Both singers sound great together and the rest of the band fills out the sound nicely.

I would definitely see them again.

2024
9090 ♥
Chihiro ≅
Shinji ∅
Emerald Bells ≅
Memory/Fantasy ♥
Canti §
Love Being ♥



§ single (2024)
♥ Love Lives in the Body (2022)
≅ Heaven Inches Away (2020)
∅ Nothing Happens Here EP (2019)

 

 

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The Go! Team / La Sécurité (The Foundry, Philadelphia, PA, November 2, 2024) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in La Sécurité, Philadelphia, PA, The Foundry, The Go! Team on November 2, 2024| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: November 2, 2024] The Go! Team / La Sécurité

I remember when The Go! Team came out with Thunder, Lightning, Strike and how the album was kind of revolutionary for its mix of sounds and for everything being louder than everything else.

It was kind of over whelming at the time and now it’s a blueprint for dozens of other bands.

I never liked the album enough to want to go to this show, plus we were going to see Touche Amore that night. (more…)

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Drinking Boys and Girls Choir [드링킹소년소녀합창단] (Johnny Brenda’s, Philadelphia, PA, October 30, 2024)

Posted in Drinking Boys and Girls Choir, 드링킹소년소녀합창단, Johnny Brenda's, Party Nerves, Philadelphia, PA on October 31, 2024| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: October 30, 2024] Drinking Boys and Girls Choir

I saw Drinking Boys and Girls Choir open for Otoboke Beaver about 8 months ago.  They were great and so much fun.  When they announced a headline tour of the States I immediately grabbed a ticket.

I love Johnny Brenda’s as a venue, but the parking around there has gotten so bad, it’s almost impossible to go.

The place wasn’t very crowded but everyone there was super excited to be there.  When Megan Nisbet asked if anyone had seen them with Otoboke Beaver, most of the audience enthusiastically raised their hands.

Meena Bae (bass & vocals) and Myeong-jin Kim (drums & vocals) started the band in 2012.  They’ve gone through a few guitarists over the years and have now grabbed Scottish guitarist Megan Nisbet who joined the band in 2020 (and had been studying Korean for 15 years!).

The trio came out and Megan whaled some feedback as they started “Limitless Night.”    Meena Bae is a phenomenal frontwoman, she has a great voice and a ton of energy.  She smiles when she’s not singing and she jumps and kicks her feet in the air.

It was hilarious and fun.

Megan doesn’t really interact with the crowd, as she really holds down the songs with fantastic solos (she gets an extended, impressive solo in “Red Shift” which made someone at the end of the song shout expletives of approval) and backing vocals. (more…)

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Party Nerves (Johnny Brenda’s, Philadelphia, PA, October 30, 2024) [DRINKING BOYS AND GIRLS CHOIR]

Posted in Drinking Boys and Girls Choir, Johnny Brenda's, Party Nerves, Philadelphia, PA on October 30, 2024| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: October 30, 2024] Party Nerves

I saw Party Nerves open for Say Sue Me back in November and for Drinking Boys and Girls Choir and Otoboke Beaver in March.  And now they are back opening for Drinking Boys and Girls again.

Party Nerves is a great, fun band.

All three members are super in tune with each other, but fairly or unfairly, most of the attention has to go to guitarist Woolly since he’s the one playing the lightning fast, non-stop surf guitar riffs. Yup, rocking surf guitar that reminds me of Shadowy Men on a Shadowy Planet (the band who made The Kids in the Hall theme song), although listening to them this time, they have more urgency and intensity that Shadowy’s laid back vibe).

Admittedly a lot of the songs are samey–I mean, it’s instrumental and it’s all kind of reverbed and riff-based.  But each guy is really good and the riffs are tasty.

The crowd was really into it with lots if applause after each song.   They just put out a new EP.

Party Nerves is a great opening act, check them out!

 

2024 2024 2023
Going to Hell on a Technicality ⊗ Going to Hell on a Technicality ⊗
Whose Blood is This? © Hearse Donuts ©
Scum Island ⇔ Texas Pastry Month ⇔
Hearse Donuts © 12
Coffee and Muffins with Anton ⇔ Whose Blood is This? ©
Jackie Dracula © Scum Island ⇔
Tellez Marella ⇔ Jackie Dracula ©
Coffin Hop © Goose Suit ©
I Said No Thank You ⇔ Ikta
Texas Pastry Month ⇔ Coffin Hop ©
Toothpaste, NJ ⇔ Toothpaste, NJ ⇔

⇔ Go Broke or Go Home (2024)
⊗ 2023 single
© Put a Load On, Come Back Mangled (2022)

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Osees / Godcaster (Union Transfer, Philadelphia, PA, October 26, 2024) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Godcaster, Osees, Philadelphia, PA, Union Transfer on October 26, 2024| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: October 26, 2024] Osees

Three years ago I saw Osees and really enjoyed the chaotic energy of the show.  Since then they have returned every year in mid October.

Last year  had an appointment scheduled that ran really late and made me unable to get to the show.   This year, I bought tickets for the show in February.

But this year my daughter’s birthday conflicted (as it tends to do) and I wasn’t able to go out that night.  I really would like to see Osees again.  Maybe if they come back around this year I can go.

Godcaster is a screamy noise band from Brooklyn.  Pitchfork wrote of them that their music is “teetering right on the edge of irredeemable obnoxiousness, daring you to resist their charm and lightning-fast musicianship.”  Another reviewer says of their show “If you’ve seen Godcaster live, you know they put on a show as if they were in a crowd of thousands.”  That’s a cool recommendation, and I’ve enjoyed what I’ve heard.

Maybe I’ll get to see them as well.

 

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Bleary Eyed / Hello Mary (Ukie Club, Philadelphia, PA, October 25, 2024) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Bleary Eyed, Hello Mary, Philadelphia, PA, The Ukie Club on October 25, 2024| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: October 25, 2024] Bleary Eyed / Hello Mary

I’ve been vaguely obsessed with Hello Mary for a couple of years now.  Looking back at shows I didn’t attend, I could have seen them six times in the past two years but didn’t for one reason or anther.

So I was really looking forward to this show.

And then, as often happens at this time of year, my daughter had a birthday party planned for that night and so I was in for the night.

Bummer. (more…)

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Waxahatchee (Ardmore Music Hall, Ardmore, PA, October 22, 2024) Philly Music Fest Night 2

Posted in Ardmore Music Hall, Ardmore, PA, Philly Music Fest, Waxahatchee on October 23, 2024| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: October 22, 2024] Waxahatchee

My wife and I saw Waxahatchee open for Courtney Barnett six years ago.  I hadn’t remembered that I had seen her a few months earlier with her full band.

I’ve considered seeing her again since then, but I didn’t go back in 2022.  I was looking forward to seeing her a few months ago at the Fillmore, but the show turned out to be between two Pearl Jam shows and we couldn’t possibly do it all.

This show proved to be exactly the same as the two Fillmore shows just without the backdrops and stage props.

I was looking forward to this show because I thought I knew so much of her new album (and she played the whole thing).  I was surprised by how few songs I knew during this show.  In part because she didn’t really play any deep cuts (okay one or two, but none of her hits).

But I was delighted to hear “Can’t Do Much” (the only song of the night that I had seen her play before) and “Problem With It” which I forgot wasn’t actually a Waxahatchee song (it’s a song by Plains, which is Katie Crutchfield and Jess Williamson.

After playing a couple of songs from the previous album Saint Cloud, she told us about the new album and how she’d be playing the whole thing tonight.  This group of songs started with the wonderful “Right Back to It” and the even better “Bored.” (more…)

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Descartes A Kant (Kung Fu Necktie, Philadelphia, PA, October 22, 2024)

Posted in Descartes a Kant, Kung Fu Necktie, Philadelphia, PA, Quick Chills, Star Carr on October 23, 2024| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: October 22, 2024] Descartes A Kant

In 2018 Descartes A Kant, Bob Boilen talked about Descartes A Kant at SXSW and said they were an amazing band live.  I have wanted to see them ever since, but (I assume since they are based in Guadalajara Mexico) they never came anywhere close to us.

And then, SIX YEARS later, they announced a show in Philly after releasing what might be my favorite album of 2024, After Destruction.  It’s a concept album of sorts, with songs that are not really connected but have am idea running through them.  The band has enlisted the help of a DAK machine which is designed to help you navigate life.  The album opens with Hello User, in which the DAK welcomes you to its programming.

And that is how the show opened as well.  Although, like Star Carr, they seemed to have a bunch of technical difficulties and I wondered if we didn’t get an encore because of it (I honestly don’t know).

But they had their big DAK machine on stage and their bassist Memo Ibarra turned it on, and the voice over from the record welcomed us to the show. (more…)

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@ (Ardmore Music Hall, Ardmore, PA, October 22, 2024) [WAXAHATCHEE] Philly Music Fest Night 2

Posted in Ardmore Music Hall, Ardmore, PA, Philly Music Fest, Waxahatchee on October 22, 2024| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: October 22, 2024] @

Every since going to Philly Music Fest a few years ago, I’ve been keeping track about it each year to see who is in it the next year.  This year was pretty unexciting for me until they announced a late entry of Waxahatchee as a headliner.  Since we had missed both of their shows at the Fillmore, I decided to grab us a ticket.

Opening was @ a pretty much unfindable band online.

They have a bandcamp site in which they have two releases.  They are kind of interesting and experimental, with lots of sounds layered on to of straightforward lyrics.

But live, they were the least dynamic duo I’ve ever seen. (more…)

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Dehd / This is Lorelei (The Foundry, Philadelphia, PA, October 22, 2024) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Dehd, My Idea, Nate Amos, Philadelphia, PA, The Foundry, This is Lorelei on October 22, 2024| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: October 22, 2024] Dehd / This is Lorelei

I saw Dehd open for Sylvan Esso last year.  I rather enjoyed them and concluded

I enjoyed their whole set–short, simple, dancey rock songs.  And as I was listening to them I realized that they were exactly the kind of band that I like live but would probably never listen to on record.  The songs are too simplistic for me to really enjoy unless they band is playing them in front of me.  Or something.

Since then they’ve had one or two more songs out that I’ve really enjoyed too.  But I didn’t get tickets as I was trying not to overload my calendar with shows this month.

This is Lorelei is just one band that features Nate Amos.  He is also in Water from Your Eyes who I don’t know and He’s one half of My Idea with Lily Konisberg from Palberta who I know. (more…)

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