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Archive for the ‘Font’ Category

Lifeguard (PhilaMOCA, Philadelphia, PA, July 15, 2023)

Posted in Cold Court, Font, Lifeguard, Philadelphia, PA, PhilaMOCA on July 17, 2024| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: July 15, 2024] Lifeguard

Before this show I hadn’t heard of Lifeguard.  Which is why I was surprised that this was a co-headlining tour. But then I saw that in May Monster Children (yea, I don’t know what that is either) wrote an article called “Lifeguard is a band you should know.”

Their music is youthful, energetic and intentional, channeling the nostalgic sounds of bands like Dinosaur Jr and Fugazi while still remaining distinctly their own. They give a shit, putting all of themselves into the band and everything surrounding it, creating a sound that encapsulates this youth collective that they’ve played such a major role in creating.

I don’t know how old the members of the band are, but I assume they are teenagers.

And the first notable thing about them was that singer guitarist Kai Slater was on crutches.  So he sat for the whole set, his right foot in a boot.

Then he started playing guitar–a great crisp, punky guitar sound.  The reminded me a bit of Gang of Four.  Their songs were pretty catchy and yet they were absolutely unafraid to simply make a lot of noise–screamed vocals, angular sharp guitars and crashing drums. (more…)

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Font (PhilaMOCA, Philadelphia, PA, July 15, 2023) [LIFEGUARD]

Posted in Cold Court, Font, Lifeguard, Philadelphia, PA, PhilaMOCA on July 16, 2024| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: July 15, 2024] Font

I saw Font back in October of 2023 opening for Chai and I loved them.  They hadn’t released any music at the time but this mini tour was in support of the release of their debut album.

So who are they?

Font is an Austin-based band made up of Thom Waddill, Jack Owens, Anthony Lawrence, Roman Parnell, and Logan Wagner. Fontbegan playing shows regularly in the beginning of 2022.

They make noisy, unexpected songs with catchy parts and decidedly uncatchy parts.  The songs tend to have something–a piano note, a guitar riff–that recurs enough to call it a hook.  And each song is unique in its own way.

The bass wanders all over the place–in a great New Wave sorta way.  And, as it turns out the percussionist is a major component of the band.

I stood in front of singer/guitarist/sound effects manipulator Thom Waddill.  In the center of the stage was Anthony Laurence who played guitar and was in charge of a lot of the other sounds that came out–he had a cool array of equipment up there.  On the far side was bassist Roman Parnell.

Then in the back were the real noise makers: Jack Owens on Drums and Logan Wagner on Percussion.  Wagner had a vast supply of equipment that he kept changing out, creating really interesting organic sounds.  He also triggered some samples.

There were two guys up front.  One was the singer.  He played guitar and all kinds of gear that he had around him.  The other guy also played guitar although he seemed to play more of the electronic gear that was around him.  At one point the guy in front of me also play the gear in front of the other guy–there was a lot of gear.

They have weird, interesting songs that people don’t make anymore.  The laziest comparison I can make is Parquet Courts, for the diversity of style and sometimes angular and harsh melodies, but they don’t sound anything like Parquet Courts, not really.

I can’t wait to hear what else they do.  They were terrific.

I told Waddill that I thought they were headlining and he said that they and Lifeguard were co-headlining.  So that made sense.

I would certainly see them again.

 

2024 2023
Cattle Prod § The Golden Calf §
Two Answers Sentence I §
It § Hey Kekulé §
Hey Kekulé § It §
Looking At Engines § Two Answers
Natalie’s Song § Looking at Engines §
The Golden Calf § Cattle Prod §
Signal Drama Natalie’s Song §
Sentence 1 § [maybe one more]

§ Strange Burden (2024)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Font (PhilaMOCA, Philadelphia, PA, July 15, 2023) [LIFEGUARD]

Posted in Cold Court, Font, Lifeguard, Philadelphia, PA, PhilaMOCA on July 16, 2024| 1 Comment »

[ATTENDED: July 15, 2024] Font

I saw Font (from Austin, TX) open for Chai about nine months ago. They weren’t really compatible in terms of style, but they were both a little weird an a pretty noisy.

I really enjoyed Font a lot and was a little bummed that they had, basically, one song available online.  Well a few days ago they released an actual album.  It’s not long (less than half an hour), but it’s packed with all the weirdness that makes Font awesome.

They play a great mix of catchy and really abrasive–repetitive sounds that contrast (in both time signature and style) to the drum/percussion or the great bass sound.

There’s five guys in the band: vocalist/guitarist/sound creator Thom Wadhill, guitarist/sampling savant Anthony Lawrence, bassist Roman Parnell and dual percussionists Jack Owens and Logan Wagner.

Last time, I noted

The bass wanders all over the place–in a great New Wave sorta way.  And, as it turns out the percussionist is a major component of the band.  From where I was I couldn’t really see the drummer (there was so much STUFF on stage), but I could clearly see the percussionist who had cowbells, blocks, cymbals (which he moved around to make different sound) and some bongos.  He must have been exhausted.

There were two guys up front.  One was the singer.  He played guitar and all kinds of gear that he had around him.  The other guy also played guitar although he seemed to play more of the electronic gear that was around him.  At one point the guy in front of me [Wadhill] also played the gear in front of the [Lawrence]–there was a lot of gear.

(more…)

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Cold Court (PhilaMOCA, Philadelphia, PA, July 15, 2023) [LIFEGUARD]

Posted in Cold Court, Font, Lifeguard, Philadelphia, PA, PhilaMOCA on July 15, 2024| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: July 15, 2024] Cold Court

I saw Cold Court back in July of last year when they opened for Black Midi.  All I could find out about them then was that they were from Philadelphia.

They have an Instagram page but there’s not much on it.  And any searches reveal pretty much that they opened for Black Midi and very little else.

According to live at the Lawn Jawn (a video online), this was the lineup of the band about two weeks before the Black Midi show:

Mini Serrano (Guitar, Vocals), Josyah Lavina-Maldonado (Guitar, Vocals), Theo Shuttleworth (Bass), Jett Mann (Drums), Charlie Westlake (Saxophone, Synth), Alex Ramirez (Viola), and Joe Kuck (Percussion).

There were five members of the band for this show.

I didn’t know what songs they played last time.  And I’m not really sure what they played this time. (more…)

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CHAI (Johnny Brenda’s, Philadelphia, PA, October 11, 2023)

Posted in CHAI, Font, Johnny Brenda's, Philadelphia, PA on October 12, 2023| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: October 11, 2023] CHAI

I saw CHAI about a year and a half ago and it was one of the more memorable shows I’ve been to.  The four members of the band are funny, silly, coordinated (sartorially) and play sweet pop music.

Here’s a brief history of the band

Chai was formed in 2012 in Nagoya, by twin sisters Mana and Kana.  Mana, Kana, and Yuna were in the same class at high school.  Yuna introduced the other band members to Japanese music that did not easily fit into the traditional definition of “J-Pop”, such as the band Cero or Kimyō Reitaro. After the members went to university, Mana became friends with Yuuki (originally from Gifu Prefecture, who had moved to Nagoya), and asked the four friends to form a band.  The band’s name comes from Russian tea (known as chai). Kana drank the tea with jam with her Russian literature professor at a Russian restaurant, which she thought was cute.

They have just released their fourth album, Chai. (more…)

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Font (Johnny Brenda’s, Philadelphia, PA, October 11, 2023) [CHAI]

Posted in CHAI, Font, Johnny Brenda's, Philadelphia, PA on October 11, 2023| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: October 11, 2023] Font

Before this show I looked up Font on bandcamp and they had …  one song.

And it was great.

But who are they?

Font is an Austin-based band made up of Thom Waddill, Jack Owens, Anthony Lawrence, Roman Parnell, and Logan Wagner. Font began playing shows regularly in the beginning of 2022.

The Austin Chronicle has described their music as “relentless post-punk with New Wave keyboards and arty, personality-driven singing.”

I don’t know what “personality-driven singing” means, but the rest is pretty accurate.  They make noisy, unexpected songs with catchy parts and decided uncatchy parts.  The songs tend to have something–a piano note, a guitar riff–that recurs enough to call it a hook.

The bass wanders all over the place–in a great New Wave sorta way.  And, as it turns out the percussionist is a major component of the band.  From where I was I couldn’t really see the drummer (there was so much STUFF on stage), but I could clearly see the percussionist who had cowbells, blocks, cymbals (which he moved around to make different sound) and some bongos.  He must have been exhausted. (more…)

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