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Archive for the ‘Ratboys’ Category

Kurt Vile and the Violators / Twisted Teens / They are Gutting a Body of Water // Pavement / Ratboys [A Make the World Better Benefit] (The Dell Music Center, Philadelphia PA, July 24 & 25, 2026) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Dell Music Center, Kurt Vile, Kurt Vile and the Violators, Make the World Better, Pavement, Philadelphia, PA, Ratboys, TAGABOW, They are Gutting a Body of Water, Twisted Teens on July 24, 2026| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: July 24 & 25, 2026] Kurt Vile and the Violators / Twisted Teens / They are Gutting a Body of Water // Pavement / Ratboys

When this show was announced, I really wanted to go. I mean, Ratboys, Kurt Vile and Pavement!  Holy cow.  But I have really bad memories of Dell Music Center (parking is a nightmare) and I just felt like I didn’t really want to BE there.  I thought my wife might like to go because she loves Kurt.  But we had seen him a few months ago at the Stone Pony.  And I have seen Ratboys a few times (and blew them off a few times already in recent weeks.  So, although I would have liked to see Pavement….well.  Alas, it’s not going to happen.

How did Pavement get mixed in with this normally Philly heavy lineup?  See below.  Also, I’ve enjoyed some Pavement over the years, but I find the aggressive love that people have for them a alittle offputtingm so it is comforting to read (from an article quoted below) “I would like to note that they lack the pretentious, cynical, self-seriousness of some of those who followed them in the ensuing decade-plus.”

I have been interested in They are Gutting a Body of Water for a while. Their name sounds like they should be harsher than they are.  But I haven’t ever really gotten a real sense of thei live show, so I wasn’t willing to start at the Dell Center

Of the five bands, Twisted Teens was the only one I’d never heard of.  They’ve from New Orleans and recently signed to SUB POP and here’s a few words of description: “Fans of Raw Power-era Stooges, Eastern mysticism, or the punk-to-country pipeline should tuck in” (Atwood Magazine). “Here to put some steel wool type hair on your chest. Gritty, toothy lofi punk with some stoink on it” (Sims Harden).  I’m gathering it’s a country-punk vibe. (more…)

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Ratboys / Golden Apples (White Eagle Hall, Jersey City, NJ, July 10, 2026) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Golden Apples, Jersey City, NJ, Ratboys, White Eagle Hall on July 10, 2026| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: July 10, 2026] Ratboys / Golden Apples

I’ve seen Ratboys three times and have really enjoyed all of their live shows.  I didn’t love this new album as much–it goes too deep into the country angle.  And yet, I know that their live show is great.  But I couldn’t make this show as I had a show the night before and I’ve been down on White Eagle Hall lately. The venue is great but the parking is just insurmountable.  I’d have to really like someone to head back there again.

So this was my second time NOT seeing Ratboys within a few months.

Back in 2023, I first heard of Golden Apples.  I noted that they are a gentle pop band with feelings of jangle pop, grunge, and dream pop.  I listened to one of their songs “Under the Sun” and it sounded instantly familiar, but I had never heard them before.  The song “High School” is a bit dirtier sounding and comes from the first album when Golden Apples are a full band.  I enjoyed it just as much if not more.  I’m immediately hooked and will definitely be listening to them more.

I didn’t listen to more of them because when I finally saw them live last month, I didn’t realize I had checked them out before, because I wrote

I enjoyed the simple but catchy guitar riff of followed by the totally rocking High School. During this song, Russell stepped off the stage (it’s about 6 inches high) and played his solo among the crowd (which was empty up front).  The set was about 30 minutes and I really enjoyed it  The songs were catchy with some slightly off kilter vibes.

This would have definitely been a good show if WEH was easier to get to.

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Ratboys / Shallowater (The Arrow, Allentown, PA, June 22, 2026) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Allentown PA, Archer Music Hall, Ratboys, Shallowater, The Arrow on June 22, 2026| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: June 22, 2026] Ratboys / Shallowater

I’ve seen Ratboys three times and have really enjoyed all of their live shows.  I didn’t love this new album as much–it goes too deep into the country angle.  And yet, I know that their live show is great.  But I couldn’t make this show as I had a show the night before and the night after.

Interestingly, they are playing Jersey City in July  as well as a small festival in Philly (but I’m not going to that one).

Shallowater is an interesting band.  I listened to the first song on their album and it was slow and somehow slower.  I was absolutely going to turn it off, but I didn’t and then midsong it got hugely loud and distorted.  Evidently this genre is called slowcore?  They describe their sound as West Texas dirtgaze.  So this first song starts out really slow (like Low) and I did like that it was a full sound, not a bedroom low fi sound. It picked up about 90 seconds in and then after two and a half minutes they all jump on the distortion pedals and the song turns into chaos with a noisy distorted guitar solo for about a minute and then it all drops off again into the quiet acoustic sound once more. I’m definitely intrigued, especially since I hated them when they started–sometimes you have to listen all the way to the end of a song.

The other songs on thei album run to 7 and 8 minutes long.  I may need to dive into them a bit more.  I’m quite fascinated.

I would like to get back to The Arrow again, as it was a nice venue.  But this show wasn’t the one.

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Ratboys (Underground Arts, Philadelphia, PA, November 13, 2024)

Posted in Palehound, Philadelphia, PA, Ratboys, Underground Arts, youbet on November 15, 2024| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: November 13, 2024] Ratboys

This was my third time seeing Ratboys in just over a year.  I would have loved to have seen them before this tour (even though I love this album), just to see what they were like before.   But this show was fantastic.  Not quite as long as the first time I saw them (since this was a co-headlining show), but the band were tons of fun and they threw in a few songs that I hadn’t seen them play before.

They announced this show as “one more tour for 2024!”  It was a short tour, and there were three co-headlining tours with Palehound.

They opened as they have each time I’ve seen them.  A great opening couplet of the rocking Making Noise for the Ones You Love and the catchy Morning Zoo.

They mixed things up by throwing in a brand new song.  I guess they have been so inspired by playing these songs that they are writing new ones already.

When I saw them the first time, they’d played the whole of the new album The Window.  This time, they played about half of it and threw in some older favorites. (more…)

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Palehound (Underground Arts, Philadelphia, PA, November 13, 2024) [RATBOYS]

Posted in Palehound, Philadelphia, PA, Ratboys, Underground Arts, youbet on November 14, 2024| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: November 13, 2024] Palehound

I saw Palehound twice in three months as the band opened first for Weaves and then for Courtney Barnett.

And now it’s been six years and I’ve seen them again.

El Kemper is still the main focus of the band, and the rest of the band was great.

This show was cast under the shadow of the election and everyone was righteously pissed.  The show was accepting donations for Trans Lifeline, National Network of Abortion Funds, and Palestine Children’s Relief Fund.

El was blown away by the amount of people in the room and then said that they were getting gender affirming surgery in six days.  Amazing.  I hope they are doing great.

For this show I felt like Kemper’s guitar prowess was less on display than in the past.  Not that they weren’t great, but there were fewer opportunities for bigger than life solos–until the end.

There’s been two albums since I saw them last and I didn’t know this new one all that well. But I had listened to it a few times and El’s voice–whispery and strained-seeming but somehow still powerful is unmistakable.  I love “Eye on the Bat” and was psyched that they played it (although surprised it was so early in the set).

After a half a dozen songs, El played two solo songs, including the powerful Your Boyfriend’s Gun.  El was very appreciative of the audience’s respect for the song, which they said not every audience gives.  I hoped it might sink in for other shows, but I doubt it.

After the solo songs, the band came back and they played mostly older songs.  A few from 2019’s Black Friday and a few from Dry Food (the one I know best).

So I didn’t know a lot of the songs, but Kemper’s delivery and guitar playing (especially in the later songs like Cinnamon and Molly) were fantastic.

2024 Underground Arts 2018 Union Transfer 2018 Johnny Brenda’s
Good Sex © Molly €
Independence Day © Carnations ⊗
Room ⊗ Turning 21 ⊗
Eye on the Bat © Dry Food €
The Clutch © At Night I’m Alright with You ⊗
Route 22 ©   Backseat ⊗
Dry Food € Feeling Fruit ⊗
Company (solo) ♠ YMCA Pool ¥
Your Boyfriend’s Gun (solo) § Cinnamon €
Killer ♠ Room ⊗
Bullshit ♠ Pet Carrot ∏
Mt Evil © If You Met Her ⊗
Aaron ♠
Cinnamon €
Molly €

§ new (2024)
© Eye on the Bat (2023)
♠ Black Friday (2019)
¥ YMCA Pool single (2018)
⊗ A Place I’ll Always Go (2017)
€ Dry Food (2015)
∏ Bent Nail EP (2013)

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youbet (Underground Arts, Philadelphia, PA, November 13, 2024) [RATBOYS]

Posted in Palehound, Philadelphia, PA, Ratboys, Underground Arts, youbet on November 13, 2024| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: November 13, 2024] youbet

I hadn’t heard of the band youbet who was opening the show.  I listened to a couple of songs before the show, but it turns out that much of the set was from an upcoming album.

Singer/guitarist Nick Llobet has a high and distinctive voice.   Some of their songs (I’m guessing the already released ones) have a kind of low fi vibe, but their newer ones rock harder.

Nirvana is a lazy comparison most of the time, but one of the earlier songs (I think it was quest on the setlist) had a real Nirvana vibe bith in vocal delivery and pounding drums (Jojo Quinn).

I was more or less in front of bassist Micah Prussack and I loved how low and punch their bass sound was (again, if I am getting the songs correct, the bass on mimic is a great, noisy addition).

But a song like (jaw of cain) was this woozy psychedelic verse (with practically spoken lyrics) that turned into a chaotic bridge with a fantastic loud bass line throughout.

I was listening to some of these songs that  recorded during the set, and I think I’m off on which songs are which.  maybe I’ll correct this one the album comes out.  But the final song I recorded (which I assume is boris) has another cool bass line (up and then down the neck, all while gloriously fuzzed).

I’m really looking forward to the album when it comes out.

2024 Underground Arts
Carsick ⇔
quest
mimic
undefined
jaw cain
Nurture ⇔
Peel ⇔
palomita
boris

⇔ Way to Be

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The Decemberists (Fillmore Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, May 8, 2024)

Posted in Philadelphia, PA, Ratboys, The Decemberists, The Fillmore Philadelphia on May 9, 2024| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: May 8, 2024] The Decemberists     

This was our fourth time seeing The Decemberists (which is frankly too low a number for how much we love them).  But this show was on my birthday!  Imagine that.

I have actually never been to a show on my birthday before, mostly because I like to spend my birthday with my family.  But this was a band that my wife wanted to see as well, so we invited the kids along too, for a fun birthday night.

Sadly, my daughter was on crutches so she chose to stay home, but my son came even though he didn’t think he knew The Decemberists very well.

It turns out he knows them from osmosis and recognized a lot of songs from having heard his parents play them.  He was also pleasantly surprised by how much they rocked (my wife likes the folkier side and she plays them more).

And the show opened with a folky vibe.

There were light fixtures out front and Colin Meloy wandered out with his acoustic guitar and played “Red Right Ankle.”  He sounded great and the ambient lighting was perfect.  He described it as singing in a grotto.  Then Jenny Conlee came out with her accordion and the rest of the band came out soon after.  Nate Query with is upright bass, Chris Funk at his guitar and Lizzy Ellison singing as they played a lovely June Hymn.

They stayed acoustic for the new song All I Want is You complete with Victor Nash on horns and keys.  John Moen came out, the cool lights were removed and the “grotto” was taken away.  They spread out and used the full stage which was delicately designed with floral patterns and curtains.

With the full band out they played Don’t Carry it All with Chris Funk playing lap steel guitar.  Then they played the new song Burial Ground, after which Colin apologized for rhyming the word malaria in the song in case anyone in the audience was currently suffering from it.

The Decemberists could play pretty much anything in their catalog and I’d be happy.  And now that they have so many albums out there are fewer and fewer older songs that they can squeeze in.  So if they can only fit one part of The Crane Wife, I’ll take it.

After a rousing and fun The Sporting Life, with a little coda from The Smiths, Ellison got to show off her vocal chops with a fantastic The Queen’s Rebuke/The Crossing.  The Hazards of Love remains my favorite album of theirs and I love any song they play from it (this was the only one tonight).  But the heavy jamming during The Crossing was great–with some serious metal chords blasting out between the Hammond organ chords. (more…)

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Ratboys (Fillmore Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, May 8, 2024) [THE DECEMBERISTS]

Posted in Philadelphia, PA, Ratboys, The Decemberists, The Fillmore Philadelphia on May 8, 2024| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: May 8, 2024] Ratboys

I saw Ratboys headline a show in November and it was great.  They have been together since 2010, formed by singer/guitarist Julia Steiner and guitar wizard David Sagan.

When I saw them, Steiner told us how pleased she was to have so many different guitars on tour with her, because they were all tuned differently–it made things so easy!  She had a flying V, which was in standard tuning.

That’s the only guitar she used for this set, so I’m guessing all six of the songs they played were in standard tuning.

The set opened the same with, with the blistering rocker “Making Noise for the Ones You Love.”  It’s like a statement of purpose that totally rocks for like 90 seconds before there’s even vocals.

Morning Zoo slows things down and lets you know the diversity of the band’s sound. (more…)

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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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