[DID NOT ATTEND: October 10, 2023] Kurt Vile and the Violators / Schoolly D / Emily Robb
I really respect Philly Music Fest. If I lived closer to the venues and didn’t have other things (like a family), I’d love to go to every night. But I don’t. Lat year I didn’t go to any. This year I’m going to one show.
But it’s not this one either. Although of the nights I did not go to, this is certainly a good one. If I’d had more time, would have happily seen Kurt and Purling Hiss together.
I saw Purling Hiss six years ago. I assumed they would be a really loud heavy metal band. But they’re not. They’re more of loud indie rock band with lots and lots of guitars.
Here’s a few out of context sentences from reviews of their newest album Drag on Girard (it’s shame this show wasn’t at Johnny Brenda’s).
- The fuzzed-out lead guitar, the languid vocals, and the unbridled backbeat that keeps it all together
- Drag on Girard settles on the scuzzy, faded sound of a nicotine-stained dollar bin find from the ‘70s.
- Their latest release, Drag On Girard, can be fuzzy, abrasive and at times chaotic, but the album still brings a melodic and catchy ambiance.
- Drag On Girard is a raging amalgamation of late-’70s, pop-rock guitar solos and the rambunctious reemergence of the off-bent alternative punk scene of the 2010s
It’s pretty great stuff and makes for a fun live show. I may have to check them out again soon.
What I did not realize was that
Purling Hiss is led by Mike Polizze, a fixture of the Philadelphia music scene. He’s connected to the world of Kurt Vile, the War on Drugs, and their shared affection for 1970s classic rock and its favoring of lengthy jam sessions and guitar histrionics. Vile and Jeff Zeigler of the War on Drugs assisted with Polizze’s well-received solo album, 2020’s Long Lost Solace Find.
Polizze is also the main guy behind Birds of Maya, another garage/psychedelic band that makes noise. I wonder if he brings out the noisy side of Kurt Vile.
Florry are a kind of sloppy “bar country” band.
Singer-songwriter Francie Medosch started out as a teenager recording tense, depressive lo-fi indie rock, but during the pandemic, she had a realization: She wasn’t depressed anymore. “I think it’s cool to have art that reflects where you are in the moment,” she said then. She’d also been revisiting old favorites like Gram Parsons and Neil Young, planting seeds for the folksy new sound that would take hold on 2021’s Big Fall. Florry’s second proper album, The Holey Bible, posits an alternative to nihilistic indifference: What if instead of dispassionately accepting disaster as inevitable, we use the bitter end as a motivator to make the best of what time is left?
Though Florry’s sound has always had a homespun quality, on The Holey Bible, Medosch and her backing band—complete with 12-string guitar, fiddle, mandolin, harmonica, and plenty of pedal steel—push further toward old-school country.
Not my scene, but it could be fun.
I Just Read About That... 