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Tasha (Underground Arts, Philadelphia, PA, September 29, 2023) [MARGARET GLASPY]

Posted in Margaret Glaspy, Philadelphia, PA, Tasha, Underground Arts on September 29, 2023| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: September 29, 2023] Tasha

Tasha is a Chicago based singer songwriter.  I hadn’t really heard her, but she opened for Nilufur Yanya on a night that I, coincidentally, went to see Spoon’s rescheduled show (for whom Margaret Glaspy opened(!)).

About her then I wrote: She has a lovely voice and sings a blend of folk and torch song.

And that was still true a year and a half later.  Although it was a bit more folk than torch.

On stage was Tasha and Emma (no last names given).  Emma played lead and backing guitar lines while Tasha sang and played guitar.

Tasha had a strong presence despite the low turnout so early.  She even made a comment about being from Chicago and no one reacted–“Not a single whoo?”  She later joked that she was going to say that Chicago was the Philly of the midwest but she was afraid to.

Tasha’s voice is really resonant and lovely.  Her songs were slow and thoughtful and combining that with her voice, I felt like some of her songs sounded like 60s British folk songs–an unusual touchstone for a young person from Chicago.

Some songs rocked a little harder and Emma played some cool feedbacking effects on a song or two.  On another song, she played keys which fleshed out the song pretty nicely.

I really enjoyed her set a lot, and by the time she was finishing up, the crowd had built some more and she received some loud applause.  Someone even asked me what her name was (she had forgotten to say it again later in the set).

  1. Dream Still ™
  2. Lake Superior ™
  3. Bed Song 1 ™
  4. History ™
  5. new song
  6. Michigan
  7. Would You Mind Pulling Me Close? §
  8. Year From Now ™

™ Tell Me What You Miss the Most (2021)
§ single (2021)

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Hozier / Madison Cunningham (The Mann Center, Philadelphia, PA, September 29, 2023) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Hozier, Madison Cunningham, Mann Center for the Performing Arts, Philadelphia, PA on September 29, 2023| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: September 29, 2023] Hozier / Madison Cunningham

Back in March, Hozier announced a new tour for his new album.  My son is a huge fan and I was sure I could get tickets.  But I was shut out almost instantly.

Luckily, we scored tickets to the World Cafe Live smaller pre-tour show.  Which was awesome.

So I didn’t even bother trying to get tickets on any kind of resale site, especially since he’s not here at the moment.

But man, that’s two nights in a row at the Mann that I failed to get to tickets for popular shows. (boygenius tomorrow.

Madison Cunnigham is a young singer with a song “Hospital” that I absolutely love.  I don’t know much else about her, but I’ll bet she is a great opening act for this show.

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Ratboys (Johnny Brenda’s, Philadelphia, PA, September 26, 2023)

Posted in Free Range, Johnny Brenda's, Philadelphia, PA, Ratboys on September 27, 2023| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: September 26, 2023] Ratboys

I’m not sure when I first heard about Ratboys.  I think it was the release of their (terrific) album Printer’s Devil.  They were scheduled to play Johnny Brenda’s three times and each one was postponed during the pandemic.  I seem to have missed when the show was actually rescheduled though. Oops.

At any rate, two years later and they are back.  And they have a new album, The Window.  And it is really great too.  Which is good because they played every song from it (although not in album order).

Ratboys have been together since 2010, formed by singer/guitarist Julia Steiner and guitar wizard David Sagan.  I really enjoyed watching Sagan play with the pedals on the floor–for the encore, he even brought out some kind of remote controlled feedbacky gadget which was cool.

I was in a strange location for me at the show.  I was literally standing right under bassist Sean Neumann, so I couldn’t really see his face much, but I enjoyed watching his basswork and his backing vocals were stellar. (more…)

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Free Range (Johnny Brenda’s, Philadelphia, PA, September 26, 2023) [RATBOYS]

Posted in Free Range, Johnny Brenda's, Philadelphia, PA, Ratboys on September 26, 2023| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: September 26, 2023] Free Range

When the lineup for the All Things Goes Festival was announced, the first band to play on Saturday was Free Range.  My daughter and i are going to the Festival and we both agreed that we had not heard of Free Range.

Imagine my surprise to find out that Free Range was opening for Ratboys at Johnny Brenda’s.

Free Range is Chicago musician Sofia Jensen (who is originally from Scandinavia).  Free Range put out an album (Practice) in February.  I listened to maybe a song on it and was kind of meh about it.

But live, they were excellent.

The songs had a pretty consistent feel to them–they would start slow and would often build to a loud middle section (usually instrumental) and then kind of fade back into the quieter verses.   It wasn’t a quiet-loud-quiet verse chorus thing because the loud parts were more of like a jamming session in the middle of these (otherwise rather short) songs.

Sofia’s voice sounded familiar–maybe a kind of Phoebe Bridgers vibe–a kind of strong whispery style, and her songs had a strong Pinegrove feel to me (turns out that Nick Levin from Pinegrove plays pedal steel on on two of the tracks).  I guess the songs are indie rock with a whiff of country about them. (more…)

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Boris (Brooklyn Bowl Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, September 21, 2023)

Posted in Boris, Brooklyn Bowl, Mr. Phylzzz , Philadelphia, PA, The Melvins on September 25, 2023| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: September 21, 2023] Boris 

I can’t believe it has been four years since I last saw Boris.  Their shows leave a powerful impression on a person.

I couldn’t make their last tour back in 2022, but that’s okay.  Their last show tided me over for four years clearly.

This tour announcement was interesting because they had just released an album called Heavy Rocks, but this tour was them playing Heavy Rocks, the album they released in 2002, in its entirety.  [They have released three albums called Heavy Rocks, all different–in 2022 they played the 2022 Heavy Rocks in total].

I’m pretty delighted that with the three shows I have seen such a variety of songs.

I don’t really have a favorite Boris album, but this one is pretty fantastic.  With several really heavy songs, several sing a long moments (whether or not you know Japanese) and even a few mellow, quieter moments.

As with each time I’ve seen them, Takeshi stands to our right with his double neck bass/guitar.  Atsuo is in the middle with his drum kit and gong and Wata stood on our left with her guitar and effects pedal.  The previous two shows she had more gear, but since this show was for a twenty year old record, she didn’t need anything else.

The show started, as it should, with Atsuo smashing the gong.  And then the sludgy riff of “Heavy Friends” introduced us to Heavy Rocks.  The lights were still way too red, but it didn’t impact the sound, which was immense and awesome. (more…)

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OSEES / Nolan Potter’s Nightmare Band (Union Transfer, Philadelphia, PA, September 25, 2023) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Nolan Potter's Nightmare Band, Osees, Philadelphia, PA, Union Transfer on September 25, 2023| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: September 25, 2023] Osees / Nolan Potter’s Nightmare Band

Last year, I did not go to the Osees show.   And I wrote this:

I saw Osees exactly one year ago today.  I summarized by saying

The show was intense, exhausting and a ton of fun. I am so glad I went.

When they announced this year’s show I wasn’t quite in the mood for seeing them again (the exhausting part being the most vivid memory of the show).  But that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t see them again maybe next year.

When Osees announced their new show (exactly one year and a day after last year’s show), I bought a ticket for it in February, figuring what I said last year was true.

September was turning out to be a busy concert month, when I was trying to calm down my concert going.  And I figured there was always a chance I wasn’t going to go to this show.

But since I had blown off the weekend show, I figured I’d go to this one.  Especially since I really like the new Osees album.

But this time the world got to me instead.  I had made an appointment for a COVID booster.  But I accidentally went to two of the wrong locations (first one my fault, second one a misunderstanding).  What should have taken five minutes wound up taken 90, and by the time I actually got the booster, it was later than when I wanted to leave for this show.  And I hadn’t even been home yet.

There’s no way I would have made much if any of Nolan Potter and by then, I was just too worn out from driving around to bother going anywhere (we’ll blame a little vaccine exhaustion too).

But since Osees love to play Philly, I’m promising myself that I’ll see them next year.

I had not heard of Nolan Potter’s Nightmare Band before this show and I imagined them being loud and crazy and abrasive.  But when I listened to their latest album Let It Stream, I was amazed by how much I liked it!  It was like Frank Zappa with jazzy and proggy moments.

Another reviewer says of them

Awesome newish prog-psych band with an awesome vibe and a TON of flute. Lotta King Gizzard vibes from them, and if you’re a fan of Matt Berry too you might really like them.

So, yeah, I might be more bummed that I missed them than the Osees.  Will definitely have to catch them in the future.

But Markit Aneight recorded the show for everyone:

Here’s Nolan Potter

Here’s Osees

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Melvins: Twins of Evil Tour (Brooklyn Bowl Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, September 21, 2023) [BORIS]

Posted in Boris, Brooklyn Bowl, Mr. Phylzzz , Philadelphia, PA, The Melvins on September 24, 2023| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: September 21, 2023] Melvins 

Despite everything in the world indicating that I should be a Melvins fan, I have never really gotten into them.  I mean, I’ve loved thigns about them for decades.  I loved that they put out three “solo” albums that looked just like the Kiss solo albums.  I love that Boris got their name from one of their songs.

And yet, for whatever reason, I just never followed them. They may just be a little too much in every way for me.   Love them in theory nut not in reality.

So I’ve never wanted to see them live.  And when this dual bill with Boris was announced, it made sense, but I wasn’t that excited about it.  I actually thought that if Melvins were headlining, I might leave to get home early.  Although, honestly, how could I leave without at least laying eyes on Buzz Osbourne in the flesh.

So Melvins were playing their Bullhead album in its entirety.  I didn’t know it. I don’t know if it’s special in any way in their catalog.  But it does contain the song “Boris” so…. (more…)

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Movements / Mannequin Pussy / Softcult / Heart to Gold (The Fillmore, Philadelphia, PA, September 23, 2023) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Heart to Gold, Mannequin Pussy, Philadelphia, PA, Softcult, The Fillmore Philadelphia on September 23, 2023| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: September 20, 2023] Movements / Mannequin Pussy / Softcult / Heart to Gold

I actually didn’t know about Movements until Mannequin Pussy announced that they were opening for them on this tour.   I love Mannequin Pussy and am excited to hear their newer songs live.  So I grabbed a ticket–even though I knew I had a ticket to the sold out Death Grips show the same night.

I figured there was a pretty good chance that Death Grips wouldn’t play (they tend to be flaky about tours, but apparently not this one), and maybe I’d get to go to this show which seemed likely to sell out (it hasn’t yet).

Then I discovered that Death Grips doesn’t have an opener and their shows are fairly short (90 minutes or so).  And I realized there was a chance I could still see some of this show (the venues are less than ten minutes apart).  So it all depends on how long Death Grips play for and how late they start.

Then a few days before the show, I decided that I didn’t want to see Death Grips anymore.  After a couple of rough, pushing a shoving shows, I realized that I didn’t want to spend 90 minutes in a crowd at Franklin Music Hall with abrasion and aggression non-stop for 90 minutes while the crowd slam danced all around me and the stage was bathed in red.  Maybe had I not seen Igorrr and Boris this week, I would have been more up for it, but it just felt not fun.

So then I thought maybe I’d go to this show.  But then things were going on at home and I realized that based on when Mannequin Pussy said they were going on (8:55) that Softcult, who I really wanted to see, wouldn’t be playing for very long.  And I didn’t think MP would get a very long set either.  So I just said meh to the whole thing and stayed home. (more…)

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Death Grips (Franklin Music Hall, Philadelphia, PA, September 23, 2023) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Death Grips, Franklin Music Hall, Philadelphia, PA on September 23, 2023| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: September 23, 2023] Death Grips

Death Grips is a band I learned about a few years ago.  They are noisy and scary and apparently put on an insane live show.  But they are also really flaky, including posting this on Facebook a decade ago

We are now at our best and so Death Grips is over. We have officially stopped. All currently scheduled live dates are canceled.

This show was scheduled to be at Union Transfer, which I was pretty psyched about.  But it sold out in about five seconds and they moved it to Franklin Music Hall, which is kind of a bummer, although somehow it seems fitting that they would play at a much bigger venue.

It also appears that it’s unclear how long after doors open that they will go on.  You could wait almost two hours if you get there when doors open.  Yikes.

 

(more…)

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Mr. Phylzzz (Brooklyn Bowl Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, September 21, 2023) [BORIS]

Posted in Boris, Brooklyn Bowl, Mr. Phylzzz , Philadelphia, PA, The Melvins on September 23, 2023| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: September 21, 2023] Mr. Phylzzz 

Mr. Phylzzz were described as a “two-piece loud-ass noise rock band from Chicago, IL.”   And indeed, they were a two-piece and in the way of man two-piece bands, they were loud-ass.

Mr. Phylzzz (pronounced Flyzzz) consists of Clinton Jacobs (guitar/vox) & Danny Sein (drums).  Since Sein is behind the kit (and seriously pummeling it), it’s up to Jacobs to be the entertainment.  He pretty much never stood still. He ran back and forth around the stage, he climbed into the audience, he waved his guitar around, he looked very intimidating.  And yet he had a completely childlike (comically so) speaking voice.

Were the songs simple?  Sure!  Did they rock?  Yes indeed.

There was a real classic rock feel to many of the songs (probably because of Jacob’s falsetto).  A song like “Pretend Friends” is only a couple of notes, but they are catchy.  And after the verse (single notes really fuzzed out) the song gets huge when Jacob plays the whole chord.

And there was much entertainment at the end of the song when Jacobs and Sein crashed the chords/cymbals at the same time and Jacobs roared his guitar during the pauses.

Incidentally, Sein was wearing a shirt and tie and Jacobs had on a suit–although the jacket was ripped from the bottom up to the sleeve for maximum free movement. (more…)

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