Posted in Fleetwood Mac, Petal, Philadelphia, PA, Philly Music Fest on September 28, 2019| Leave a Comment »
[ATTENDED: September 29, 2019] Petal
A little under a year ago, I saw Petal perform solo in Bethlehem.
Petal is the creation of Kiley Lotz from Scranton, PA. She has released a few albums and an EP (all on bandcamp). Her recorded output has a somewhat heavier alternapop sound–there’s some great bass on her records.
I really enjoyed her solo set–her voice was beautiful and her songcraft was really great. But having listened to her records, i imagined she’d be even more fun with a band. (more…)
Posted in Dangerous Ponies, Philadelphia, PA, Philly Music Fest, Thin Lips, World Cafe Live on September 28, 2019| Leave a Comment »
[ATTENDED: September 29, 2019] Thin Lips
I had heard a Thin Lips track on NPR and really liked it. So I decided to get to Philly Music Fest in time to see them.
Traffic was tough and I arrived at around 7:58. They went on at 7:55 and as I walked in I heard them playing already.
I suspect I missed the beginning of the first song–although I could hear it as I was checking in.
But the audience was scattered around (and left a very large space in front of the stage), so I was able to see just fine.
Enough about me, because Thin Lips was fantastic. (more…)
Posted in Ali Awan, Arnetta Johnson, Arthur Thomas, Ceramic Animal, Chestnut Grove, Darlingside, Federal Donuts, Foxtrot and the Get Down, Genesis, Ill Doots, Ill Fated Natives, Jeremiah Tall, Johnny Brenda's, Man Man, Milkboy, Palm, Petal, Philadelphia, PA, Philly Music Fest, Remember Sports, RFA, Rosali, Sammus, Secret American, Sixteen Jackies, Speedy Ortiz, Stereolab, Sun Ra, Sun Ra Arkestra, Tate, Thao and the Get Down Stay Down, The Districts, Thin Lips, Vacationer, World Cafe Live on September 28, 2019| Leave a Comment »
[ATTENDED: September 29, 2019] Philly Music Fest
For those counting, this makes four concerts in four nights, which is frankly insane (and thanks to my poor wife who tolerates such excesses).
But the whole reason I wanted to go this evening was to see Man Man (more in their own post).
But, in fact, the entire Philly Music Fest was pretty fantastic. I would have certainly gone to three of the four nights if I could have. This little festival is a testament to the amazing music that Philadelphia is producing, and they didn’t even include two of my favorite Philly bands, Mannequin Pussy and Control Top.
The first night I actually didn’t know any of the bands.
The second night was an amazing line up! (more…)
Posted in Ant and Dec, Essays, Fat Les, Joy Division, New Order, New Yorker, Nick Hornby, Soccer, World Cup on September 28, 2019| Leave a Comment »
SOUNDTRACK: ANT & DEC-“We’re on the Ball” (2002).
Evidently, for nearly every football tournament since 1970, the English team has had a theme song.
Occasionally one of those songs will reach non-footbnall fans. In 1990 New Order did “World in Motion” which New Order fans will know whether they like football or not. One of the band members described the single as “the last straw for Joy Division fans.”
Who the heck are Ant &Dec? They are TV presenters (of what I’m not sure) with really questionable haircuts. I don’t know if they wrote this song or just sing it. I’m not even sure what the verses are on about as they seem to be irrelevant–filler until you get to the chorus. A vibrant horn melody introduces the easily chantable:
We’re on the ball
We’re on the ball
We’re on the ball
We’re on the ball
We’re on the ball
We’re on the ball
We’re on the ball
We’re on the ball
The final verse is one that any football fan can appreciate:
Japan, Korea, here come England
It’s Neville to Cambell
Cambell to Rio
Rio to Scholesy
Scholesy Gerrard
Gerrard to Beckham
Beckham to Heskey
Heskey to Owen
To Nodd
5-1
Honestly I prefer Fat Les’ “Vindaloo,” which has a huge na na na part and this wonderful boast: “We’re gonna score one more than you.”
[READ: September 25, 2019] “We are the World”
Nick Hornby wrote his final music article for the New Yorker in 2001. He then wrote this article about soccer and then stopped contributing to the magazine at all (until mid 2020, it turns out).
This article is all about the World Cup. I’m sure there are many writers who can write wonderful things about the World Cup, but I feel like Hornby’s unbridled love for the game, combined with his quick wit and mild snark, make his World Cup writing excellent.
It’s always weird to read about things that happened nearly twenty years ago as if they were current. It’s even weirder to read about things that happened nearly twenty years ago that you didn’t care about, or possibly even know happened, from someone who cares very deeply about it. “It is mostly pointless to try to convince an American readership of the joys of football (yes football) but it would be hard for anyone not to take pleasure in the rhythm of life in a football-mad country during the world cup.”
The world cup was on at 7:30 AM in England most days . England’s tabloids had to battle the World Cup for eyeballs and gave up: “On the morning of England’s game with Brazil the cover of the Daily Mirror showed only the flag of St George–England’s official flag–and the caption, ‘This page is cancelled. Nothing else matters.'” (more…)
Posted in Darlingside, Neil Young, Smashing Pumpkins, SOPAC, South Orange, NJ on September 27, 2019| Leave a Comment »
[ATTENDED: September 27, 2019] Darlingside
This is now the fourth time we’ve seen Darlingside and our second time seeing them at SOPAC. SOPAC is a great intimate seated venue with excellent sound (and a very strong air conditioner apparently, holy cow was it cold in there).
The last time we saw them there, there was an opening band. But this time there was no opener. Rather, Darlingside would play two forty-five minute sets with an intermission between.
We also brought S.’s mom as a treat, believing that she would love their harmonies. And she sure did. I think we know what to get her for Christmas.
Our seats were great–second row, although I joked with S. that we were too far to the left (instead of dead center).
So this was their second time in the same venue. Some things were the same. I don’t remember exactly, but I feel like at the last show they were lit by these same very cool old-fashioned bulbs (which you can see in a picture below) as well as the stage lights. I enjoyed that they were somewhat connected to the music–growing brighter as things got more intense. (more…)
Posted in Alexisonfire, Alice Munro, Canadian Content, Canadian Music, City and Colour, Marriage (Happy), Marriage Trouble, New Yorker, Poetry, Suicide on September 27, 2019| Leave a Comment »
SOUNDTRACK: CITY AND COLOUR-“Strangers” (2019).
City and Colour is Dallas Green (get it?). He was part of the rocking band Alexisonfire. He went solo about fifteen years ago and has settled into the sort of indie folk troubadour life.
His voice has always been gentle, but he seems to have leaned into it even more while he is solo.
“Difficult Love” comes from his soon to be released sixth solo album A Pill for Loneliness. It’s upbeat with a simple, but catchy melody. The verse has a great flow (his voice sounds really great) and the chorus pushes it along even more with a lovely falsetto turn on his voice.
The bridge leads to new heights as Green really shows off what his voice can do.
It’s still hard to believe that was one of the guys responsible for a rocking song like “This Could Be Anywhere in the World” (although Dallas was the “clean” singer in Alexisonfire, so it shouldn’t be all that surprising).
[READ: September 25, 2019] “Post and Beam”
Usually I find Alice Munro’s stories to be straightforward and powerful. This one felt a little convoluted to me. I had trouble even following the beginning because so many names were introduced in somewhat unusual ways.
The story is about a woman named Lorna. Lorna is married to Brendan and is talking to her friend Lionel. Lionel was Brendan’s former student.
It’s confusing because the story starts with Lionel talking about his mother’s death. Lorna had met Lionel’s mother a few months earlier and she called called Lorna “my son’s belle amie.” Lorna didn’t know what she was implying and didn’t want to find out.
Lorna told Lionel about her own childhood. She lived in a house on a farm with her father. In the neighboring house were her grandmother her aunt and her cousin Polly–who had no father. Lorna thought that Polly had no father in the way that a manx cat had no tail. Lorna describes her as “more…competent.” (more…)
Posted in Full show video, Philadelphia, PA, Scranton, PA, Stereolab, Union Transfer on September 26, 2019| Leave a Comment »
[ATTENDED: September 26, 2019] Stereolab
I can still remember going into Ralph’s Record City (R.I.P.) in Scranton and buying a used copy of Transient Random Noise Bursts with Announcements based on a friend’s recommendation. I remember thinking that the title made it sound a lot like a stereo test record. I also remember not understanding the image on the cover as a phonograph needle for quite a while.
I also remember really liking it.
And that started my long time appreciation of Stereolab. My friend Lar was always updating me about the latest release or re-release or re-issue (which even happened recently with the new reissues of the band’s back catalog).
I started to drift away from them a bit with their last couple of records, and then they more or less broke up.
Nevertheless, it was pretty exciting to hear that they were reuniting for a new tour (and returning to Philadelphia 11 years after their last show in the city.
I really had no idea what to expect, but I grabbed tickets immediately and they quickly sold out. (more…)
Posted in Bitchin Bajas, Cave, Philadelphia, PA, Stereolab, Sun Ra, Sun Ra Arkestra, Union Transfer on September 26, 2019| Leave a Comment »
[ATTENDED: September 26, 2019] Bitchin Bajas
I was super excited to see that Stereolab was touring again for the first time in over a decade. I wondered who they would have open for them.
I never imagined it would be a band called Bitchin Bajas, of whom I had never heard.
The band is a three-piece and is a side-project of Cooper Crane from the band Cave (who I also don’t know).
With a name like Bitchin Bajas, I assumed they’d be a kind of desert punk band, but boy was I wrong about that.
When I walked in, the stage was set with three keyboards. The band came out rather quietly with little fanfare and sat down. (more…)
Posted in Chastity Belt, Death, Drinking, Huh?, Humiliation, Jackdaws, New Yorker, Set at School, Short Story, William Trevor on September 26, 2019| Leave a Comment »
SOUNDTRACK: CHASTITY BELT-“Ann’s Jam,” “Elena” and “Drown” (2019)
When Chastity Belt first arrived they posted some gnarly band photos and wre pretty aggressive musically. Their No Regerts album was brash. Jagged music, pointed lyrics and rather harsh vocals.
Over the course of five years they have mellowed out quite a bit. Not necessarily lyrically, although there is some of that, but musically it’s almost a different band. Their guitars are tastefully echoed and the vocals are really pretty and delicate.
The music on these three tracks (the only ones streaming on bandcamp) is practically shoegazey with the hazy vocals and ringing guitars.
There’s some really nice harmonies on “Elena”–and when the two distinct vocals lines intertwine, it sounds great.
“Drown” opens with a really catchy guitar part–it’s a bit faster and sounds a little more like their last two albums, but continuing with the softer vocals.
The only problem with these songs is that they tend to lack a bit of the dynamics that their earlier songs had. We don’t want them to be too chaste, after all.
[READ: September 20, 2019] “Traditions”
This story is about an English school. It opens with seven boys: Hambrose, Forrogale, Accrington, Olivier, Macluse, Newcombe and Napier. Each boy has discovered that his tame jackdaw–birds they had taught to talk (as well as a jackdaw can)–had been killed.
The boys suspect Leggett. Although Olivier believes it is one of the “girls,” one of the maids who lived in the nearby village and attended to the boys.
Despite the birds, they must go on with their day. This included Olivier going before the headmaster. The headmaster was disappointed because Olivier had failed to come up to scratch in any of the sciences he was studying. When the headmaster asked if Olivier had ambitions in that direction, he had to admit that no, he was just curious about the sciences.
The headmaster replied
You indulged a curiosity. You indulged yourself. That can be dangerous.
But when Olivier offered to drop out of science, the headmaster said that would be dangerous too.
Olivier quickly forgot about that and resumed thinking about the dead birds. He was more convinced than every that it was a girl. Although the other boys had found Leggett and beat him up (and then didn’t think he had done it).
There had been other traditions of strange things happening at the school–bells ringing in the night, things going missing. But no one was ever caught.
Olivier was certain it was a particular girl, a maid who was no longer a girl, really. It seemed like she was watching him as well.
No one–no previous headmaster–knows that this maid, who had been with the school for a long time, had been part of a tradition at the school “supplying to boys who now were men, a service that had entered the unofficial annals.”
I have to assume this is an excerpt from a novel, because as a short story it was very unsatisfying. So many characters introduced, the whole science thing, and so much unspoken about the maids. But it doesn’t appear to be from the novel he published in 2002. So I don’t know what to think.
Posted in House of Independents, Montclair, NJ, Philadelphia, PA, Pinegrove, Union Transfer on September 25, 2019| Leave a Comment »
[ATTENDED: September 25, 2019] Pinegrove
This is the third time I have seen Pinegrove. I saw them in 2017 and had plans to see them two more times by the end of the year. But they cancelled their shows and took a hiatus. They came back this year and I was lucky enough to catch one of their first shows back down in Asbury Park.
Despite having seen them just a few months earlier, I felt somewhat unsatisfied about that HoI show. Not sure what it was–maybe because I was off to the side too far, or what. I mean the band sounded great that night. But I felt like I needed one more show from them, and tonight’s show scratched that itch.
Even though they played pretty much the same set, something about this show felt complete.
Maybe it was that they upgraded from a curtain with their logo of two boxes on it to neon lights in the shape of two boxes.
Or maybe it was that there six people on stage instead of five? (more…)
I Just Read About That... 