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Just Mustard (Johnny Brenda’s, Philadelphia, PA, May 29, 2026)

Posted in Johnny Brenda's, Just Mustard, Miss Grit, Philadelphia, PA on May 30, 2026| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: May 29, 2026] Just Mustard

I saw Just Mustard open for Fontaines D.C. back in 2022 and they were amazing. They are a five piece band from Dundalk, Ireland.  They make a fantastic noisy mess of shoegaze combined with a wall of noise and singer Katie Ball’s droney vocals.

The band exuded seriousness and they were exceptional musicians.  Drummer Shane Maguire played some amazing and unexpected fills and when he hit the snare hard (which wasn’t always) it cracked to attention. I was right under guitarist David Noonan, who made an amazing array of noises.  Many sounded like guitars, many more did not.  And he was LOUD.

Next to Katie was bassist Rob Clarke who held the whole thing together.   He played simple (sometimes two note) melodies that were absolutely essential to the rest of the band.  And next to him on the far side of the stage was guitarist Mete Kalyon who played a lot of rhythmic sounds (not so much rhythm guitar as rhythmic sounds–his playing was very percussive.  He also generated really cool noises and the music was mixed so that all of the noise came from all over the place.

They opened the show with the noise and really never let up.   Endless Deathless has some squealing guitars–a catchy melody played with sharp sounds.  The drums were fast, the bass was fast and Katie’s vocals were slow and almost soothing.  And that was the pattern for the 75 minute set.

David’s pedals array was dynamic and he used it throughout–I often saw him twisting knobs and tapping buttons–usually while playing the noises.

The fascinating thing is watching Katie–while all of the sounds are looping around the room and she’s not singing, she stands, expressionless, not even tapping to the beat.  It’s unsettling.  Although when she plays the tambourine (from time to time) her rhythm is perfect.

I loved on Seven the simple rumbling bassline and Katie’s quiet vocals occasionally interrupted by almost machine-like waves of guitar.  And then, midway through the song, everything shifted as David pressed his left hand down on the strings near the pickup and played a melodic but percussive clicking, while Mete played more of those machine-like sounds and the whole band just exploded into sound–tension and explosion over and over in one song.

Despite the noise there were many moments that were really quiet–almost shoegazey.  This was especially evident when Katie sang in her quiet style over the waves of sound with only a simple bass line keeping the song on track.  A song like I am You is even creepier since Katie’s voice is almost childlike/ghostly, softly singing “I am you….”

Although I really enjoyed watching David, I was utterly transfixed by Shane Maguire, who almost refused to play bass/snare/bass/snare.  For some songs he played a rhythm on the toms (check out That I Might Not See which only has snare for one section of the song), for others he played all the toms in a row for nearly the whole song.  He hit the rim of the drums, he used some of the cymbals.  It was so interesting and made the song so vibrant.

I don’t know if I realized David was singing as well last time I saw them (he was on the far side of the stage and not visible to me).  I almost didn’t realize he was singing tonight because his microphone was almost literally above my head.  But I did hear a voice that wasn’t coming from Katie and looked up and there he was singing lead on a couple of songs.  And on Deaf he unleashed some serious throat-shredding screams.

There were a couple of genuinely quieter, more conventional songs, like Dandelion (which people around me were excited to hear).  And Pigs opened quietly with a slow three note bass line and percussive sounds from David.  Then Shane gave a drum fill and the noise squealed in (briefly) until returning to that slow quiet section.  I was amused that Rob had sunglasses on the whole time (and it was plenty dark already, how did he see anything?)  The quiet extended middle had Shane playing solely on the rim of the snare drum for a few bars.

Pollyanna was even more fascinating because Rob played a rumble of notes and then generated feedback–and that was the rhythm of the song.  It was fun to watch the stoic bassist creating this wall of feedback.  They played a couple of songs that I had heard last time, like Seven and I am You.  I can’t say I recognized them from four years ago, but there was something about the pulsing echo and two note “melody” of Still that seemed really familiar.  And it’s a song like this–with all kinds of noises going on that it’s remarkable you can hear Katie’s tambourine near the end.

Seed seems like the perfect set ender for them.  As soon as the song started, Mete put down his guitar and started playing with his pedals.  Midway through the song, Rob did the same thing.  By the end everyone was just manipulating noises into walls of feedback.  A crushing end to an intense set.  So glad they came back to Philly.

 

2026 2022
Endless Deathless ⇓ Seven §
Silver ⇓ I am You ♥
Out of Heaven ⇓ Mirrors ♥
Seven § Tainted ϖ
I Am You ♥ Frank §
Deaf ϖ Still ♥
Frank § Seed ♥
Dandelion ⇓
That I Might Not See ⇓ possibly played
Pigs ϖ Curtains ϖ
The Steps ⇓
Pollyanna ⇓
Still ♥
We Were Just Here ⇓
Seed ♥

⇓ WE WERE JUST HERE (2025)
♥ Heart Under (2022)
§ single (2019)
ϖ Wednesday (2018)

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Miss Grit (Johnny Brenda’s, Philadelphia, PA, May 29, 2026) [JUST MUSTARD]

Posted in Johnny Brenda's, Just Mustard, Miss Grit, Philadelphia, PA on May 29, 2026| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: May 29, 2026] Miss Grit

I saw Miss Grit open for Metric back in 2022.  At that show it was Miss Grit with a guitar and a guy with a keyboard.  She sounded a but like early, noisy St. Vincent, with lots of cool guitar sounds.

Here it is four years later.  Miss Grit was by herself on stage, but still with a guitar.  She had all of her backing music on various machines and she played and sang along.  These songs were of a different vibe than the previous show.  These songs were a bit more dancey.  Abut more electronic (kind of like St. Vincent’s later work, actually).  Although the person she most reminded me of was Mitski with her quiet vocals.

There was a guy in front of me who was very theatrical (and he was happy to tell you just how theatrical he was).  He was there just for Miss Grit, I believe and took lots of pictures, including a several of him with her behind him.  He was a character for sure, but I found him a bit much.

Anyhow, Miss Grit had set up a camera so that there were multiple images of her behind her on screen. It wasn’t much, but it was a cool effect.

It turns out she played only songs from her most recent album Under My Umbrella (last time it was all songs from her Follow the Cyborg album, which hadn’t com out yet).  The only thing weird about this format is that most of the songs had minimal guitar.  She played on every song, but the melody was mostly on the backing tracks.  Nothing wrong with that, but her guitar skills are really good, so it’s a shame they were underutilized (like new St. Vincent).

The slower, moodier Where is My Head was very cool sounding.  Although the songs all had a similar feel.

When she started Waste Me, a bunch of people responded excitedly, so maybe that was a single?  It was a little catchier, but not radically different from the other songs.

It was a chill set, especially given how noisy Just Mustard was,. but I enjoyed it and was glad to see her again.

 

2026 2022
Tourist Mind ∇ Perfect Blue ⇔
Mind Disaster ∇ Your Eyes Are Mine ⇔
It Feels Like ∇ Nothing’s Wrong ⇔
Where Is My Head? ∇ Lain (phone clone) ⇔
Stranger ∇ Buffering ⇔
You Will Change ∇ Follow the Cyborg ⇔
Waste Me ∇ Syncing ⇔
Like You ⇔

∇ Under My Umbrella (2026) [did not play Won’t Count on You and Overflow]
⇔ Follow the Cyborg (2023) [did not play 사이보그를 따라와and The End]

 

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Witch Club Satan (Underground Arts, Philadelphia, PA, May 27, 2026)

Posted in Penelope Trappes, Philadelphia, PA, Type O Negative, Underground Arts, Witch Club Satan on May 28, 2026| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: May 27, 2026] Witch Club Satan

I found out about Witch Club Satan last year.  I’m not sure how I stumbled upon them (maybe Instagram?)  Anyhow,  I was immediately struck by the band:  three Norwegian women in corpse paint singing black metal.  And they were great.  They sang about different subjects (for black metal) and they were fearless.  They had great screams and were completely intense.

I didn’t really think they’d come to the States since they seem pretty niche, and yet, soon enough it was announced they were coming to the States for the first time, bring their tour: Founding of the North American Coven.  And they were coming to Underground Arts.  I grabbed a ticket immediately since I never know if shows like this will sell out.  It didn’t and I was able to invite my son along and grab a ticket day before.  He’s technically not allowed in Underground Arts yet (it’s 21+) but evidently, as long as I let them know ahead of time and follow some basic rules, he was allowed to come along.

He loved the venue (it is very cool) and he loved Witch Club Satan (Penelope Trappes not so much).  Actually, we were both blown away by Witch Club Satan.

The lights went down and they started playing a deep, synthy chord It went on for a few minutes (too long, tbh), but I think they were still setting up because shortly after, the band walked from behind the stage, holding incense.  They walked through the crowd, slowly, making eye contact with everyone nearby.  It was so impressive and the crowd was rapt.

When they arrived on stage lead singer and guitarist Nix (Nikoline Spjelkavik) welcomed us to the coven and they launched into Hysteria.  It was amazing seeing them up close.  The three women wear corpse paint and have blackened eyes and markings.  And from this distance it was easy to see that they blackened their teeth as well.  For the first couple of songs they wore knitted sweaters with openings for their breasts, as well as knitted horned headgear. Nix invited everyone to dance or take their tops off.

Bassist and singer Hedda (who is filling in for Victoria Røising who just had a baby!) was awesome.  She also sang and used a violin bow and a sword on her bass.

The songs are black metal–heavy, short, fast and growled.  I wished I had listened to their music a bit more just so I knew what was happening.  I was able to take a photo of the setlist before they came out so I knew what they were playing, but there were some notes on the page that made things a little unclear.  And after Water Girl, all three women came to the front of the stage to sing the mournful Mother Sea, a completely non black metal story/song that was really intense.

After the song they left the stage and showed a video on the stage.  A few minutes later they returned wearing nothing except for floor-length black wigs (and flesh-colored underpants).  They stood on stage and proceeded to spit blood on the stage and into the crowd (I got some on my glasses!).  Nix leaned into the crowd and whispered into the ear of the woman near me–wonder what she said.

For the intro of Black Metal is Krig, Nix shouted out that there would be no mercy for the mercyless–not for the warmongers, not for Netanyahu.  For the final song of this section, Mother, the three women came to the front of the stage again and they sang/screamed the word Mother (hearing their drummer Johanna Holt Kleive–who did sing occasionally) scream the word Mother in a high pitched wail sent chills up my spine).

They returned for the third part of the set in new outfits–denim and sequined, um, torn headgear and clothing.  They looked insane, and being able to see Nix’s eyes through this mask was really creepy–especially as she made eye contact with everyone.  For You Wildflower, Hedda walked into the crowd and shouted the intro to everyone and people individually

You don’t give up, you don’t give up
The sky shivers, you don’t give up
The ground breaks, the heart aches (Motherfuckers)
The heart aches, the heart aches
They keep lying, they keep lying
The dictators, the small dicks
You keep pushing, you keep pushing (Motherfuckers)
You keep pushing
You keep breathing, you keep breathing
The sun’s shining on your resistance
You keep fighting, you keep fighting
You show up, you keep fighting
You wildflower

It was awesome.  Their “single” Fresh Blood, Fresh Pussy” is certainly catchy and it sounded great.  And then for Witchcraft Techno, Nix crowd surfed (despite being mostly naked) and was safely transported to the stage.  Before the last song, she told us that we reminded her of Norway which was both good and bad.  We were very polite but we were also very uptight and se wanted to see people dance with them.  I was (pleasantly) surprised that there had not been a mosh put up to this point.  I think all eyes were on the stage instead of thinking about dancing.  But the crowd did oblige for the final song and a pit was started.

And that was that.  Their set was about an hour and it was exhausting.  I’m so glad I bought a shirt before the show, but I do regret not buying the tour vinyl of their album.  And, if by any chance, they played nearby again, I would see them in a second.

  • Intro
  • Hysteria ∇
  • Wild Whores ∇
  • Water Girl
  • Mother Sea ∇
  • I Was Made By Fire ∇
  • Black Metal is Krig ∇
  • Salvation ∇
  • Mother ∇
  • You Wildflower ®
  • Fresh Blood, Fresh Pussy ∇
  • Witchcraft Techno
  • Solace Sisters §

® single (2025)
∇ Witch Club Satan (2025)
§ single (2022)

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Penelope Trappes (Underground Arts, Philadelphia, PA, May 27, 2026) [WITCH CLUB SATAN]

Posted in Penelope Trappes, Philadelphia, PA, Underground Arts, Witch Club Satan on May 27, 2026| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: May 27, 2026] Penelope Trappes

I found out about Witch Club Satan last year.  I was immediately struck by the band:  three Norwegian women in corpse paint singing black metal.  And they were great. I didn’t really think they’d come to the States since they seem pretty niche, and yet, soon enough it was announced they were coming to the States for the first time.  I grabbed a ticket immediately

I didn’t know Penelope Trappes before this show.  I listened to a few minutes of a song and got the idea that she was a kind of ambient singer.

She came out on stage with a bow tied around her head with the ends raised above her head like horns or rabbit ears.  She had an electronics board and proceeded to make ambient sounds on it.  She is Australian, but lives in England.  She did say Fuck Ice, which–yes indeed!–but is she here long enough to know about ICE?   I don’t know how much international attention they are getting.  But she was immediately on our side after saying it.

She sang, often sounds, sometimes words.  The first song (I honestly don’t know if she was playing a song, multiple songs, or improvising) lasted about 20 minutes.  I only say this because that’s when she said thank you.  There were lots of changes throughout the 20 minutes and they could have been different songs but there’s no way to tell–her latest album is about 45 minutes and it’s possible she was playing the whole thing, but again, I don’t know.

Correction, I recalled a few words when she sang, and “violent hope” was one of the phrases. It’s from “Red Dove” which comes about half way through A Requiem.  It also featured synths ala Philip Glass which  rather liked. (more…)

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The Joy Formidable (Ardmore Music Hall, Ardmore, PA, May 13, 2026) [rescheduled date]

Posted in Ardmore Music Hall, Ardmore, PA, Rhydian Dafydd, Ritzy Bryan, Shy Western, The Joy Formidable on May 13, 2026| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: May 13, 2026] The Joy Formidable [rescheduled from March 8, 2026]

In early February, The Joy Formidable said that they had to postpone the East Coast part of their tour due to the expenses of touring.  I honestly don’t understand how two months could have made much of a difference, but it did move from a Sunday that was quite busy to a Wednesday when I could have also gone to see Avatar (The Joy Formidable won out).

I had seen The Joy Formidable four years ago.  I didn’t really know them that well, but they were always on the periphery of my interests.  And wow, the blew me away live.  I was really excited to see them again.

In the intervening years, their drummer decided to call it quits and Bass plater Rhydian Dafydd put out a solo album and singer/guitarist Ritzy Bryan put out music as Shy Western.

So this show was billed as an intimate evening with The Joy Formidable and it suggested that Rhydian and Shy Western would be opening or something.  I arrived pretty early (minimal traffic) and was all set to get a spot near the stage.  But it turned out that the show was (mostly) seated.  The floor was all seats and the slightly raised section was also all seats.  My ticket did not get me floor seats, which was just as well as I really enjoyed my elevated seat in the front row.

Well, it turned out that Ritzy and Rhydian were the only two on the tour.  And the set was primarily Joy Formidable songs, but with one Rhydian and one Shy Western song thrown in.  I assumed from this that the set might be mellow and acoustic (no drummer), but in fact, they proceeded to rock out from the start.  Rhydian had a drum pedal thing so that he could tap out loud drums while playing and singing.  When I saw them last time, their drummer was great, so this was a little less exciting, but the drums really added a lot to the sound.  In fact, the sound was pretty big as they played The Everchanging Spectrum of a Lie.  The song has a pretty powerful ending and just as they hit the last chord, the lights went out.

We were all very impressed at this unexpected high tech coordination.  Until we realized that all of the power was out.  Total coincidence that it was right on the beat.  The room was almost entirely dark, but there were a few emergency lights on.  We soon learned that the power failure was on the whole block.  With no real indication of how long it would last, the two decided to play some acoustic songs.  They sat on the edge of the stage and played Maw Maw Song.  This song had been starting off Set 2, so they were just winging it at this point. It was quiet in the place but even without amplification, Ritzy’s voice sounded great.

I’m not sure if they asked for requests or someone asked for A Heavy Abacus, but they hadn’t been playing that at other shows, so we got a one of a kind song.  Midway through the song the power cam back on.  For the most part it was only small things that started powering up.  The amps had powered up by this time but there was no light yet.  So there was some sense of aha! when they started to play The Greatest Light Is the Greatest Shade (It didn’t make the stage lights come back though).

They played Austere in the dark (there as something really cool about this vibe, because we could see them somewhat with the ambient light) and then half way through Ostrich, the lights fully returned.

Throughout the whole thing, they were always polite and funny and the crowd I think enjoyed it all knowing we were get something unintentionally special.  After  a gorgeous Into the Blue (everything was normal now), they played a Welsh song Yn Rhydiau’r Afon.  They had mentioned that they’d seen all of the Welsh names in the area (they didn’t even mention Bryn Mawr, which is just down the road).  So it was fun to have a little discussion of Wales and the Welsh language.

Ritzy has just released her album under the name Shy Western.  It came with a book called Hugger.  For whatever reason (maybe the name), I thought that Shy Western would be a fairly mellow album, but I was totally wrong.  I’m not sure why people make solo albums that sound similar to their band albums, but I can see how this differs from TJF songs.  They ended the set with Interval and then left for a little break.

When they returned, they started with Little Blimp–I’m curious what Maw Maw Song would have sounded like loud now.   After The Leopard and the Lung, they played a Rhydian Dafydd song.  And so, that was how the billing played out.  The two members of Joy Formidable played one song from Shy Western and one from the Rhydian Dafydd album.  Make the Sign was a ripping song with noisy guitars and a driving bassline.  It proved to be one of the louder songs of the night and I am totally excited to check oy the rest of his album.

They played a few songs that they’d played last time.  (Greatest Light, Ostrich, and Whirring).  But the ended the set with a Kinks cover and a terrific version of Wolf’s Law.  So everyone else also got Cradle.  I understand that they probably wanted to keep the number of songs the same for every show.  But surely they could have played Cradle for us too (it’s pretty short).  But that’s okay.  We still got a really special and unusual show.

And they promised that they’d be coming back again sooner rather than later, which I’m pretty excited about.

 

 

2026 2022
 Set 1 (Ritzy and Rhydian) The Greatest Light Is the Greatest Shade ℜ
The Everchanging Spectrum of a Lie ℜ
(Power went out (right on the beat, it was pretty cool) as the song ended)		 I Don’t Want to See You Like This ℜ
Maw Maw Song ϖ
(played on the edge of the stage in the dark, Ritzy on acoustic guitar and Rhydian on mandolin)		 Y Bluen Eira ∇
A Heavy Abacus ℜ
(played acoustically on the edge of the stage. Power came back mid song)		 Ostrich ℜ
The Greatest Light Is the Greatest Shade ℜ
(Power to audio only–lights had not come back on yet–played electric but in the dark)		 CSTS (Come See the Show) (bonus on ⇔)
 Austere ℜ
(Played electric but in the dark)		 Into the Blue ⇔
Ostrich ℜ
(Lights returned mid-song)		 Cradle ℜ
Into the Blue ⇔ Sevier ⇔
Yn Rhydiau’r Afon ‰ Silent Treatment ϖ
Hugger ©
(Shy Western song)		 Chimes ⇔
Interval ⇔ The Leopard and the Lung ϖ
Set 2 (with Byron Owens on percussion) encore
Little Blimp ϖ Gotta Feed My Dog ⇔
The Leopard and the Lung ϖ Whirring ℜ
Make the Sign φ
(Rhydian Dafydd song)
Whirring ℜ
Strangers
(The Kinks cover)
Wolf’s Law ϖ

⇔ Into the Blue (2021)
∇ AARTH (2018)
‰ Arthuthrol A split single (2016)
ϖ Wolf’s Law (2013)
ℜ The Big Roar (2011)
♠ A Balloon Called Moaning (2008)

SHY WESTERN
© Hugger (2026)

RHYDIAN DAFYDD
φ Ad.un.iad (2026)

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Momma (Fillmore Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, May 12, 2026) [COURTNEY BARNETT]

Posted in Courtney Barnett, Momma, Philadelphia, PA, The Fillmore Philadelphia on May 13, 2026| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: May 12, 2026] Momma

This was my third time seeing Momma.  I was super excited to see them the first time and looked forward to seeing them headline a little bit later.

I bought tickets to this show not even caring who the openers were.  But I was pretty happy to see that Momma would be one of them.

Momma have been playing live for a while now and their set is pretty smooth.  After the last time I saw them, they posted online a complaint about 40 year old men with no kids standing in front of the young girls who can’t see.  I get the sentiment but it came across really nasty.  And it made me feel like they don’t really enjoy themselves on stage.

And I felt that way through the whole set.

Bands don’t have to be cheerful and smiling–many bands aren’t-but I get a feeling of almost disdain from the band.  Which is only weird because their songs are so warm and welcoming.  Or maybe it was the audience who gave me the weird vibe for the show.  I was kind of puzzled by the audience during Courtney’s set as well, but something just felt off to me. (more…)

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Truman Sinclair (The Fillmore, Philadelphia, PA, May 12, 2026) [COURTNEY BARNETT]

Posted in Courtney Barnett, Kurt Vile, Momma, Philadelphia, PA, The Fillmore Philadelphia, Truman Sinclair on May 12, 2026| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: May 12, 2026] Truman Sinclair

My wife does not care for opening acts.  I always make her sit through them (and sometimes she admits she likes them).  But this show happened to be on a night that she had something to do right up until we were about to leave.  So, I said I didn’t care if we missed this first opener Truman Sinclair, but I did want to see Momma.

So we left probably 30 minutes later than I normally like to leave.  And we hit ZERO traffic.  And parking was easy and there was no line yet so we wound up seeing all of Truman Sinclair’s set.

I’d never heard of the guy, but he had a youthful charm (he’s 23) and a really good sense of melody.  He’s from Chicago but lives in L.A

His second song sounded a lot like a Neil Young song (the chords and harmonica are similar to Heart of Gold).  Although his voice sounds nothing like Neil’s

His songs were mostly slower (Sit By the Fire–I’m not very fond of lines like “I’ve got you you you you you,” but whatever. (more…)

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Biffy Clyro (Theatre of Living Arts [TLA], Philadelphia, PA, May 7, 2026)

Posted in Biffy Clyro, Philadelphia, PA, Raue, Theatre of Living Arts on May 8, 2026| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: May 7, 2026] Biffy Clyro

Four years ago I saw Biffy Clyro at Union Transfer.  They were great.  And I couldn’t get over how back home in Scotland they typically headline festivals of thousands of people.  They recently had a film made about the: Biffy Clyro: Cultural Sons of Scotland in which they played a concert for some 50,000 people.  And yet here they were playing 1,000 person clubs.  But they put on a show as if they were playing for 50,000.  It was awesome.

They had initially announced the tour for December 2025 and there was no Philly date.  But they had visa issues:

“Some [expletive] genius put the wrong start date into our work visa, so when we received our visas in the last couple of days, we realised it doesn’t begin until after our tour is meant to finish,” he said in an Instagram video, adding: “We are so angry about this.”

But their problem is my luck because the newly scheduled dates now included a Philly show.  Whoo hoo!

Last time, they were the trio that they have always been.  But for this tour, bassist James Johnston was seeking treatment for addiction issues and wasn’t able to tour.  In his place was  Naomi Macleod, who has plays bass with Empire State Bastard, Simon Neil’s side project with Dave Lombardo–wish I had gotten to see that!  They also brought out touring guitarist Mike Vennart (who is also in ESB).

As always, the other two guys were shirtless from the get go.  I was in front of singer/guitarist Simon Neil, who puts everything he has into a live show.   His vocal cords must be totally shredded by the end of the night.  Naomi was in  the middle and her bass was excellent.  I couldn’t really see Mike that well, but it was clear when he was adding extra parts to the song (especially when one of them had an acoustic and the other had the electric). (more…)

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Raue (Theatre of Living Arts [TLA], Philadelphia, PA, May 7, 2026) [BIFFY CLYRO]

Posted in Biffy Clyro, Philadelphia, PA, Raue, Theatre of Living Arts on May 7, 2026| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: May 7, 2026] Raue 

I had never heard of Raue and assumed they were a young band from Scotland that Biffy Clyro were bringing along with them.  Well, it turns out that Raue (pronounced Roo-aye [German for Rough] is a duo from California.

When they two came out on stage, literally everyone in the room had the same thought: “how old are these two?”  I mean, they couldn’t be more than 16, right?  (Paige Kalenian (guitar vocals is 21, Jax Huckle drums, is 20).  And the thing was that while we were wondering how old they were, they were blowing everybody away.

They are a duo and Paige plays some serious guitar.  The songs are simple, but it never sounds like one guitar.  Somehow she make a full sound even when fingerpicking.  But that’s nothing compared to the wild drumming that Jax does.  I was right in front of him and holy cow he blew me away.  He has incredible speed, he throws in terrific fills and he;s really creative–it’s possible they sound so huge because of all the drums that Jax is playing.

Paige is just full of energy–she jumps all around the stage when she’s not singing.  They set the two of them pretty far apart, and Paige was all over the stage, bouncing from the drums back to the mic.  And their look was amusing too–Paige with dyed purple hair and sleeveless concert T while Jax was wearing an open Oxford shirt over a white Tshirt.

I liked Paige’s voice, but the only negative about the show is that she sang similarly on all of the songs–it’s a good sound for the grungy music they play, but I think it would be better if she had more range.  Having said that, it was kind of hard to hear her in the mix, so maybe she has more diversity than I realized. (more…)

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Dry Cleaning (Union Transfer, Philadelphia, PA, May 6, 2026) [rescheduled date]

Posted in Dry Cleaning, Philadelphia, PA, Union Transfer, YHWH Nailgun on May 7, 2026| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: May 6, 2026] Dry Cleaning [rescheduled from February 1, 2026]

Back in February, Dry Cleaning had to reschedule their American tour until May.  Back in 2022, a family emergency prevented me from going to this show.  I was interested in Dry Cleaning who at the time were a kind of trendy British band.  They are of the spoken deadpan vocal/wild guitar noise variety.   I thought they’d be fun to see live once.

So I was glad I did get to see them live.  But what I figured by the end of the night was that you will enjoy them a lot more if you know their songs well.  This is more or less true for a lot of bands; however, there are many bands that I’ve seen where I didn’t know them at all, but I was blown away. With Dry Cleaning, it’s hard to hear the spoken, deadpan words.  So if you focus on the words, you miss out on all the interesting music being made. And if you focus on the music, the words just become another sound.

So I definitely didn’t get the most out of the show.

They are such an odd band to experience because the Tom Dowse plays really noisy, odd and, at times, abrasive guitar sounds.  Lewis Maynard plays some really interesting bass lines melodies and sometimes thumps along with the Nick Buxton on drums.  Regardless of what the band is doing, Florence Shaw speaks at the same volume and speed.

They opened with Sliced by a Fingernail a new single with really random loud guitar noises.  Dowse is interesting to watch as he moves around a bit generating these sounds.  But the bassline is catchy and Florence even doo-doo-doos sometimes.  Which isn’t that unusual since she does occasionally “sing” lines like that.  But mostly it’s a quiet spoken word vocal which is often drowned out by the music. (more…)

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