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Archive for the ‘Spiritual Cramp’ Category

Militarie Gun / Pool Kids / Spiritual Cramp / Spaced (First Unitarian Church, Philadelphia, PA, February 14, 2024) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in First Unitarian Church, Militarie Gun, Philadelphia, PA, Pool Kids, Spaced, Spiritual Cramp on February 14, 2024| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: February 14, 2024] Militarie Gun / Pool Kids / Spiritual Cramp / Spaced

I found out a bout this show a few days ago because Pool Kids was playing it. I wasn’t going to go to the Church, so it didn’t really matter who was playing.

I’ve heard of Militarie Gun, who are apparently a post-hardcore supergroup (made up of bands I’ve never heard of) that draws major inspiration from the melodic post-hardcore of the ’90s as well as more alternative-leaning acts.  They formed in 2020, so haven’t been around as long as I assumed for how much I’ve heard their name bandied about.

Their new EP has duets from Bully and Mannequin Pussy.

I feel like I should like them, but I’m not sure yet.

The whole reason I would have gone to this show was for Pool Kids.  I’ve seen them twice and they are amazing live.  They’re one of my favorite bands right now and I’d definitely want to see them again (although preferably as a headliner).

I hadn’t heard of Spiritual Cramp and given the other bands on this tour, I wasn’t really sure what to expect.  They’re kind of all over the place genre-wise, which is kind of fun.  They seem to veer punk but are more new wave.  And this little bit from a Pitchfork review seems really apt:

Spiritual Cramp are among a wave of bands, including Militarie Gun and Turnstile, who emerged from hardcore backgrounds and broadened their palettes to include softer, artsier flourishes. [Like] when the Clash realized the natural alliances between punk and reggae, filtered through a hard-sashwaying garage rock lens. Spiritual Cramp integrate dub, spiky guitars, and oi-like crowd-starters, all with a kitschy wink rather than flatly imitating their predecessors. The music is ecstatic rather than enraged, semi-ridiculous rather than self-serious.

I’ve listened to a bunch of their songs and the latest one sounded like The Hives, so they can please (or upset) everyone.  I’ll bet they are really fun live.

Spaced is (despite the visuals of their albums) a hardcore band with a pretty traditional hardcore vibe.  They are from Buffalo.  The big difference for me is that the singer is female and her growling angry voice adds a new tone to the somewhat overdone format of growling angry men.  I liked what I heard

Lexi Reyngoudt – vocals
Joe Morganti – guitar
Donny Arthur – guitar
John Vaughan – bass
Dan McCormick – drums

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METZ / Spiritual Cramp (Underground Arts, Philadelphia, PA, October 24, 2022) [CANCELLED]

Posted in Cancelled, Deerhoof, Hello Mary, Metz, Philadelphia, PA, Scarlet, Spiritual Cramp, Underground Arts on October 24, 2022| Leave a Comment »

[CANCELLED: October 24, 2022] METZ / Spiritual Cramp

I saw METZ open for Modest Mouse four years ago and my ears might still be ringing.  I knew of Metz from their noise filled chaotic but amazing albums.

Their live show was less about the abrasiveness and more about their intense stage presence.  I knew I wanted to see them headline a show.

I was unable to see them on their headline tour last year.  But I was pretty excited for this year’s 10 year anniversary tour.  But then, sort of out of the blue it was announced that they’d cancelled the fall leg of their tour (all of October).  There’s still no word on what happened [UPDATE: they did play the December shows, so, maybe they didn’t want to be on the east coast for Halloween).  No word yet on a rescheduled date.

Spiritual Cramp are a San Francisco punk band in the old school Ramonesy fashion.  Simple clean and fast with a singer who kind of blurts out the words.  They’re kind of refreshing, frankly.

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