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Archive for the ‘WPRB 103.3 Princeton, NJ’ Category

Sheer Mag [album release party] (Union Transfer, Philadelphia PA, August 26, 2017)

Posted in Dark Thoughts, Haram, Philadelphia, PA, Purling Hiss, Sheer Mag, Union Transfer, WPRB 103.3 Princeton, NJ on August 26, 2017| 1 Comment »

[ATTENDED: August 26, 2017] Sheer Mag

A few months ago I had tickets to see Sheer Mag at the Unitarian Church.  I bought the tickets to see the band Marge who was opening–I had only seen one song of theirs in an earlier show and wanted to see more. Well, I wound up not going to that show.  Since then I’ve come to appreciate Sheer Mag a lot more.

So when I saw they were having a record release party at Union Transfer, I thought it was time to fix my missed opportunity.

My college aged self would have loved that I had gone to 3 album release parties in one season.  And my current self thinks it’s pretty cool, too.  But honestly there’s not much going on at these “parties.”  For this one, Sheer Mag didn’t even have CDs of the new record (vinyl only).  But I did get a cool poster, so that’s okay.

So while the “party” part of the night was a bit of a let down, the show certainly wasn’t.

Sheer Mag are unsigned (which I didn’t realize) but have huge buzz around them. They self released their new album (technically a debut since their previous release combined their three EPs).  They play a terrific swagger-filled hard rock (comparisons to many riff rock bands of the 70s abound).  And they are fronted by bad-ass singer Tina Halladay whose gritty voice sounds quite a bit like some of high-pitched male singers of the era. (more…)

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Purling Hiss (Union Transfer, Philadelphia PA, August 26, 2017) [SHEER MAG]

Posted in All Songs Considered, Dark Thoughts, Haram, Philadelphia, PA, Purling Hiss, Sheer Mag, Union Transfer, WPRB 103.3 Princeton, NJ on August 26, 2017| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: August 26, 2017] Purling Hiss

I know Purling Hiss from NPR’s All Songs Considered.  Last year they played the band’s “3000 AD” which I instantly fell in love with.  There was a cool shoegaze feel to it with a bunch of noisy elements that I really enjoyed.

I knew that the bulk of the band’s catalog was basically Mike Polizze making music for himself.  It was pretty noisy and abstract with lots of jam moments.  They are now a band–I’m not sure who the other two guys in the band were (based on the latest album, I’m assuming Ben Hart on drums and Dan Provenzano on bass)–and they have gotten more musical since then.  But thy are still noisy.  So I expected a lot of squalling feedback and pummeling sounds.

I was quite pleased with how melodic the band’s songs were (no idea what songs they played, but I assume most of it came from their newest album).  (more…)

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Haram (Union Transfer, Philadelphia PA, August 26, 2017) [SHEER MAG]

Posted in Dark Thoughts, Haram, Philadelphia, PA, Purling Hiss, Sheer Mag, Union Transfer, WPRB 103.3 Princeton, NJ on August 26, 2017| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: August 26, 2017] Haram

Haram (which mean “forbidden”) was the most buzzed about band at this show (even more so than Sheer Mag, if Sheer Mag is to believed).  Dark Thoughts and Sheer Mag said they were the most important band in punk right now. I have to assume it’s because they sing in Arabic, but their music is pretty great too.

I had listened to their bandcamp page.  They have a demo and a new EP out (a total of about 18 minutes of recorded music), so I knew what I was in for.  But I wasn’t expecting the amount of intensity that the singer brought to the show (although subsequent pictures of other shows tells me I should have).

I don’t know what songs they played, exactly, although I assume all of them.  The only song I can place is “Blood.”

Nader sings entirely in Arabic (including a number of really guttural vocalizations which could have been words or not).  And in between songs he spoke to us in Arabic.  Not an English word to be heard throughout their set.

It was pretty wild. (more…)

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Dark Thoughts (Union Transfer, Philadelphia PA, August 26, 2017) [SHEER MAG]

Posted in Dark Thoughts, Haram, Philadelphia, PA, Purling Hiss, Ramones, Sheer Mag, Union Transfer, WPRB 103.3 Princeton, NJ on August 26, 2017| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: August 26, 2017] Dark Thoughts

Dark Thoughts are a Philly band who play really melodic and fast punk.  They remind me (and a lot of other people) of the Ramones, but there’s a kind of British punk sound in the vocals and an overall poppiness that really belies their name (although their song titles are pretty nihilistic).

Dark Thoughts is Amy on bass, Daniel on Drums and Jim on guitar and vocals.  Their album (which you can hear on bandcamp) has 12 songs in 20 minutes (and a EP with about 6 more minutes of different takes of 4 of those songs).   They played for about 20 minutes and the whole crowd (especially me) was really into it.  I’m fairly certain if there had been more people there would have been a lot of slam dancing.  A few people tried to get something started but here just weren’t enough bodies.

Jim was a charming front man, making some jokes (while those two drink cider I’m going to stand here and do nothing) but also being sincere in his encouragement that we get involved in the J20 protest organization. (more…)

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