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Orcutt Shelley Miller (Solar Myth, Philadelphia PA, March 23, 2026)

Posted in Orcutt Shelley Miller, Philadelphia, PA, Solar Myth, What is New on March 24, 2026| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: March 23, 2026] Orcutt Shelley Miller

When I saw Thurston Moore about a decade ago, Steve Shelley was drumming for him.  I thought it would be fun to see each of the Sonic Youth members since I never got to see the band.  Then I saw Kim Gordon a few years ago.  And while I saw Lee Ranaldo decades ago, that doesn’t feel like it counts for various reasons.  But heck, an opportunity to see Steve Shelley again is not to be missed.

I didn’t know who Bill Orcutt was (and shame on me, I guess–he is best known for being in the band Harry Pussy).  I thought I didn’t know who Ethan Miller was, but then I realized I had seen him with Heron Oblivion about 8 years ago and I loved that set and I loved watching him.  But yes, the main draw of this trio for me was Steve Shelley.  Then I listened to their album and I loved it.

Bill Orcutt plays a loose, but great-sounding guitar.  It was fascinating to see that he has literally one pedal in front of him.  A small box which he stepped on from time to time.  I couldn’t really tell what the difference was after he stepped on it (maybe more distortion?), but overall the sound was great.  He played some wild solos–some seemingly on the verge of just nonsensical noise and yet he never let the sound get away from him.  But he also held back when there was a chance for Miller to play some soloing stuff.

Ethan Miller plays a small violin-shaped bass (a Höfner 500/1 Violin Bass) and the sound he gets from it is fantastic.  Unlike Orcutt, he has a bunch if gear.  He’s got some pedals that he messed around with and, in a moment of technological genius, I saw him turn on his phone and hold up a photo of his amp so he could set the dials to the exact specifications.  Miller is the only person who spoke (it must be 9 o’clock) and he seemed to having a really good time.

But not as good a time as Steve Shelley.  He smiles through the whole set, just seemingly thrilled to be playing drums.  It was such a treat to watch him.  And while his kit is pretty sparse, he really conveys a lot.

It was cool to watch Bill check in with Steve with a nod or glance that it was time to change tempo or end the songs. (more…)

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What is Now (Solar Myth, Philadelphia PA, March 23, 2026) [ORCUTT SHELLEY MILLER]

Posted in Orcutt Shelley Miller, Philadelphia, PA, Solar Myth, What is New on March 23, 2026| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: March 23, 2026] What is Now 

I was excited to see Orcutt/Shelley/Miller and was made even happier when Chris Forsyth was listed as the opening act.  I’ve seen Chris in various forms five times and I love that he is creative and virtuosic but also experimental and noisy.  This show was with another group that he has recently gotten together with.  They are called What is Now and it’s a trio with double bassist John Moran (Bark Culture, Daniel Villareal Trio) and drummer Joey Sullivan (Florry, Bark Culture).

Solar Myth is a small venue and I’ve seen some loid shows here.  But this trio proved to be pretty quiet.  The played two pieces which I think were entirely improvised.

The first was about 20 minutes.  I enjoyed watching Chris wrangle his guitar–occasionally making pretty sounds, but largely making interesting experimental noises.

Joey Sullivan was fun to watch because he had a whole selection of gear on the piano next to him.  These included metal pieces that he put on his drums, a kind of spring that he hit and which rattled, and various other things that he put on the drum heads.

I was a little bummed that John Moran faced the other two guys because I was standing sort of in front of him and I never got to see him doing anything–except from the side.  So I could see his bow going back and forth (at one point he made a really noisy scraping “solo” that seemed to introduce a new part of the song.

After about 20 minutes the song wrapped up.  Chris said they would do one more–a quickie.  He asked Bo the sound guy how much time they had and Bo said “enough.”

So they started up a new song.  It was much the same but very different.  I really enjoyed the way the double bass seemed to be the component that held everything together while the guitar and drums seemed to roam around.

Is this jazz?  Maybe.  It’s noisy, occasionally gorgeous and mostly really interesting to watch.

And it’s always fun to chat with Chris after the show–he’s such a nice guy.

 

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