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Archive for the ‘Knifeplay’ Category

Slide Away Philadelphia: Nothing / Swirlies / Loveliescrushing / Tagabow / Mint Field / Knifeplay / Astrobrite / Glixen (Union Transfer, Philadelphia, PA, March 9, 2024) [DID NOT ATTEND–COVID]

Posted in Astrobrite, Glixen, Knifeplay, Loveliescrushing, Mint Field, Nothing, Philadelphia, PA, Slide Away, Swirlies, Tagabow, Union Transfer on March 9, 2024| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: March 9, 2024] Slide Away

When this day-long event was announced, I grabbed a ticket because I knew a couple of the bands.  Amazingly, perhaps, I didn’t know Nothing, the headliner.

I wasn’t entirely sure I wanted to spend an entire day at Union Transfer, but the lineup was pretty great.  The recently sent the proposed schedule

3:00pm Doors Open
4:00pm Glixen
5:00pm Astrobrite
6:00pm Knifeplay
7:00pm Mint Field
8:00pm TAGABOW
9:00pm Lovesliescrushing
10:15pm Swirlies
11:30 Nothing
w/ DJ set by Full Body 2, Kip Berman and Vyva Melinkolya between bands

And it sounds like most of the sets were going to be about 30 minutes, at least until Loveliescrushing.

But then my son came home from college for Spring Break and I REALLY didn’t want to spend most of the day away.   I mostlu wanted to see Knifeplay and Mint Field, but as I listened to more of the bands, I realized I quite liked them all.

Glixen is from Phoenix.  Now, pretty much all of these bands are shoegaze, so the descriptions are going to be quite similar, but here we go

Glixen is a shoegaze band from Phoenix, Arizona whose sound consists of tender melodies encased inside chrome walls of grungy textures and heavy guitars. Founder and lead vocalist, Aislinn Ritchie, began the project in 2020 enlisting guitarist Esteban Santana, drummer Keire Johnson, and bassist Sonia Garcia.

I really liked the Glixen vibe–lots of soft guitars and thick cottony sounds.  Aislinn Ritchie has a beautiful soaring voice that suits the music really well. (more…)

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Algernon Cadwallader / Knifeplay / Church Girls / Huey, the Cosmonaut (Underground Arts, Philadelphia, PA, October 14, 2023) Philly Music Fest Day 6 [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Algernon Cadwallader, Church Girls, Huey the Cosmonaut, Knifeplay, Philadelphia, PA, Underground Arts on October 14, 2023| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: October 14, 2023] Algernon Cadwallader / Knifeplay / Church Girls / Huey, the Cosmonaut

Algernon Cadawallader announced two shows at Union Transfer last year.  I bought tickets to one and then couldn’t go.   I hadn’t even heard of them before the show, but I had since listened to them and thought they sounded pretty great.  My show sold out and the second night did so eventually as well, I believe.

When this night of Philly Music Fest was announced, I immediately grabbed a ticket assuming this would easily sell out.  But as of the night of the show there were still tickets left.  That seems very weird to me.

I was pretty psyched for this show mostly for the opening acts, but then my son came home from college and I stayed home to hang out with him and the fam.

Of course this means I didn’t go to any Philly Music Fest shows this year.

Knifeplay plays a kind of moody acoustic music.  The guitars feel acoustic but the songs are layered in washes of synths and feedback. There’s a  cool shoegaze feel and the vocals sound almost like he’s singing made up words (ala the Cocteau Twins) although he isn’t.

Knifeplay is a band that eludes definition, existing somewhere between the nihilistic detachment of shoegaze and the emotional honesty of folk songwriting. Originally a solo bedroom recording project of Tj Strohmer’s.

The whole vibe of the album is great.  I’d have liked to see them.

Church Girls play indie punk right in my sweet spot.

Church Girls write propulsive melodies and achingly vulnerable lyrics wrapped in the throbbing anxiety of post-punk and joyous aggression of pop-punk. Formed in 2014 by Mariel Beaumont.

The record sounds big and full with too many guitars and too many big vocals and it is glorious.  I absolutely wanted to see them.

Huey, the Cosmonaut plays in a variety of genres.  The first song of his that I heard I didn’t like. But the others I did.

I’d like to think that my music exists in the space between emo, R&B, bedroom pop, lofi hip hop and jazz. Some of the themes in my music include a focus on loneliness, traveling, nostalgia, melancholy, everyday sensations, black history, renewal, growth, cartoons, comic books, the cosmos and imaginary worlds. I feel that I’m constantly caught between different worlds in my personal life and musical aspirations.​ Through my music, I seek to unite some of those things. All of my music is produced from the bedroom. I’ve been playing with a band recently though.

Knowing that he plays with a band makes me want to see him more than if he was by himself.

Bummer that I missed the show but it was great seeing the college kid.

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