[DID NOT ATTEND: May 27, 2022] NNAMDÏ / Ghösh / Lizdelise
I saw Nnamdi Ogbonnaya open for Wilco and Sleater-Kinney.
I really enjoyed his set which went in all kinds of interesting directions. As this blurb puts it he
makes dreamy, fractured, and frisky music that rarely sits still. He pulls from indie rock, hip-hop, and jazz on songs that mine his experience as a self-described “Black, Jewish, first-generation Nigerian-American.” He was terrific last year at the Mann Center opening for Wilco and Sleater-Kinney, though he couldn’t play guitar because he had broken his wrist skateboarding.
That’s the show I saw, too.
I’m not sure why I didn’t go to this show. I’d say just taking it easy at the end of May.
Ghösh seems like an unlikely fit for this bill. I very much want to see them, but sandwiched between two mellow artists this seems a little off. XPN explains them
Ghösh combines the darkest elements of aforementioned 90’s rave — pummeling beats and washy, distorted samples ala Atari Teenage Riot or Front 242– with the lyrical intensity of a 2009 LiveJournal entry co-written by Angela Davis and your little sister: they’re pissed off, informed, and ready to party.
It’s a weird mix on the surface, but with songs like “Dear Daddy” intoning how bad all cops are (“even my dad,” Symphony shouts) over a dizzying jungle beat, to a cover of Limp Bizkit’s “Break Stuff” where buzzsaw riffs that tear through the an avalanche of Miami bass empowered 808 kicks where they scream-rap “my suggestion is to keep your distance / right now I’m dangerous”, it’s clear the genreless entropy is not just intentional, but beautiful.
The band has honed their sound in the usual spots: basements, dive bars, the batting cages, defying the usual punk orthodoxy with ever slurred, tripped out vocal sample, every re-appropriation of 90’s hip hop and nu-metal, every radical, queer, noisy explosion. And it’s true, Philly gravitates to bands that push, explore and distort a myriad of experiences and influences, the eclectic shit, as much as we love three chord punk, staid indie rock, and meathead hardcore.
Lizdelise was described by NPR as
Liz de Lise is a singer, songwriter and guitarist who writes alternative folk songs with jazz influences. She creates lush soundscapes with acoustic and electric guitar, vocals and a loop pedal. She completed her one-video-a-month-for-a-year project in 2015.
For ease of searching I include Nnamdi, Ghosh.
Here’s a video of Ghosh
GHOSH PhilaMOC
I love The Afghan Whigs’ album Gentlemen. I should love more by them, but I like them just fine (never been in the cult of Dulli). I’ve never really been interested in seeing them live. But a Free at Noon is a great way to get a thirty or so minute show without committing to an evening out.
