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Archive for the ‘Underground Arts’ Category

Mondo Cozmo / Illinois (Underground Arts, Philadelphia, PA, October 14, 2022) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Cancelled, Illinois, Mondo Cozmo, Philadelphia, PA, Underground Arts on October 14, 2022| Leave a Comment »

[CANCELLED: October 14, 2022] Mondo Cozmo / Illinois

Mondo Cozmo is one of those bands that gets played on WXPN that I hear a bunch and quite like, but never really commit to.  So I decided to finally commit to seeing them.

I didn’t know that head Cozmo, Joshua Keith Ostrander was a Philly guy, which probably explains the radio play.  It’s actually been a few years since I heard anything from him, so I’m not sure how much I would have known what he was playing, but I hoped he’d play some songs I knew.

Then on August 5, the band announced

Hey everyone. We are incredibly sorry to announce that due to unforeseen circumstances we will not be able to do the upcoming October tour. This includes both the headlining shows and the additional Airborne Toxic Event shows. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. X Mc

Illinois is (confusingly) from Philadelphia.  Their bio says they make music that is

part indie-folk rock with some pop-rock and when it all comes together they label it as “suburban soul music”.

I listened to a few songs and really dig it.  It’s light and poppy but with a dark current.  And I really like the singer’s voice.

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The House of Love (Underground Arts, Philadelphia, PA, October 13, 2022)

Posted in House of Love, Philadelphia, PA, The House of Love, Underground Arts on October 14, 2022| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: October 13, 2022] Alec Nicol [rescheduled from May 7, 2020]

I was pretty excited when The House of Love announced a 30th anniversary tour of the States in 2020.  It would be their first time playing here in 30 years.  Then COVID, obviously.

I was never a huge fan of the band, but I’ve liked them since college–part of the whole 90’s Creation scene.  And they have half a dozen songs that routinely get stuck in my head.

I hadn’t given too much thought to the band’s lineup.  I believe that when the 2020 tour was announced the original band was back together.  But this show had a

new HoL lineup that Guy Chadwick announced last summer after telling fans he’d parted ways with original members Terry Bickers and Pete Evans, as well as Matt Jury, who’d been on board since the group reunited in 2003.

The new lineup will find Chadwick backed by Keith Osborne on lead guitar, Harry Osborne on bass and Hugo Degenhardt on drums. The band also has recorded a new album, though its release has not yet been announced.

So that’s kind of a bummer.  Although Guy Chadwick wrote and sang all the songs, so I guess the rest of the band isn’t that big a deal.  The only thing I missed was Bickers’ backing vocals.

I knew there were a few songs I really wanted to hear (and they played them all), but I didn’t have a big set list in mind.  They played songs from their first three albums and then a bunch from the one Chadwick just released (which was kind of a solo album). (more…)

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Alex Nicol (Underground Arts, Philadelphia, PA, October 13, 2022) [THE HOUSE OF LOVE]

Posted in Alex Nicol, Gomez, Philadelphia, PA, Underground Arts on October 13, 2022| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: October 13, 2022] Alex Nicol [rescheduled from May 7, 2020]

I was pretty excited when The House of Love announced a 30th anniversary tour of the States in 2020.  It would be their first time playing here in 30 years.  Then COVID, obviously.

Opening for them was Alex Nicol.  Impressively, when these dates were rescheduled, Alex Nicol was still the opening guy.  The show was originally set for White Eagle Hall in NJ.  Rescheduled shows were moved around (no more NJ) but I would happily go to Underground Arts to see them.

A few weeks from now Travis is playing Union Transfer.  Opening for them is Ben Ottewell (of Gomez).  Every poster listed him as “Of Gomez.”  For some reason I got my anniversary tours mixed up and thought that “Of Gomez” was for this show.  So I went into Nicol’s set expecting him to sound like Gomez.  He doesn’t.

Alex Nicol is a musician from Montreal.  His bandmates all had wonderfully French sounding names Simon Trottier (guitar), Emmanuel Ethier (bass), and Bucky Wheaton (drums) [aside from Bucky, obviously]. (more…)

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The Contortionist / Rivers of Nihil (Underground Arts, Philadelphia, PA, October 6, 2022) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Philadelphia, PA, Rivers of Nihil, The Contortionist, Underground Arts on October 12, 2022| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: October 6, 2022] The Contortionist / Rivers of Nihil

I saw The Contortionist open for Animals as Leaders back in 2019.

I enjoyed them quite a lot and definitely wanted to see them again.  I didn’t know much about them then and I pretty much forgot about them soon after the show.

But when I saw this tour and saw that they were playing two albums, Language & Exoplanet, in their entirety, I imagined it would be a pretty fun show–and the fans would be insane.

However, this show was scheduled for the same night as Cate Le Bon who I’d been wanting to see for a long time.  So, Cate won out.

Rivers of Nihil is an American technical death metal band from Reading, Pennsylvania.  I probably would have loved technical death metal if I’d heard it in college or high school, but I really just can’t get into it now.  Although I do tend to enjoy this kind of thing live more than on record for the sheer spectacle.

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Philly Music Fest 2022 (October 10-15, 2022) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Ardmore Music Hall, Dolphin Tavern, Echo Kid, Empath, GHÖSH, Johnny Brenda's, Kayleigh Goldsworthy, Low Cut Connie, Mannequin Pussy, Max Swan, Philadelphia, PA, Philly Music Fest, REC Philly, Riverby, Screaming Females, Stereo League, The Fillmore Philadelphia, The Ire, Underground Arts, World Cafe Live on October 10, 2022| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: October 10-15, 2022] Philly Music Fest 2022

Every year since 2019 I have participated in Philly Music Fest in some way.  But this year I wound up giving the whole thing a miss.

Philly Music Fest is a non-profit endeavor focused exclusively on local bands, with all proceeds donated to local music education charities. Philly Music Fest features both established and up and coming artists, showcasing the diversity of the Philadelphia music scene.

It wasn’t because of a bad lineup or anything, it was that I had tickets to other shows every night.  I wound up not going to all of those shows anyway, but basically I was already booked for the whole Fest.

This year’s line up was even bigger than last year’s

October 10, 2022 at Ardmore Music Hall 

  • Marielle Kraft is a poignant indie pop singer-songwriter
  • Electric Candlelight is a heavy psychedelic band that I was supposed to see open for Fuzz
  • Mt. Joy is a band I’ve heard on the radio a bunch who I don’t particularly like, so not so great in the headliner here.

October 11, 2022 at Ardmore Music Hall 

  • Stereo League is apparently impossible to describe using concrete words as I can’t figure out what their music sounds like from the blurbs I’ve read.
  • Salika is an R&B singer
  • Mt. Joy of the two nights I wouldn’t have picked this one anyhow.

October 12, 2022 at World Cafe Live

  • Perpetual Motion is described as dynamic acoustic jazz who play blues, rock, jazz, and world music
  • Kayleigh Goldsworthy is a folk singer who I saw open for Frank Turner.  She was great.
  • Ron Gallo is not Vincent Gallo, which is what I think every time I see his name.  Ron is an indie guy who I’ve never heard but who must be pretty popular or interesting if he keeps popping up.
  • Lady HD is a kind of psychedelic pop band whose name reminds me too much of that Lady A fracas that bubbled up a few years ago.
  • Low Cut Connie is one of the bigger bands at the festival.  I’d never want to see them, but I like some of their songs.

October 13, 2022 at Johnny Brenda’s

  • This was the night I would have gone to
  • The Ire is a four-piece goth-tinged post-punk band.  I like their overall sound.
  • Ghosh is a band I’ve wanted to see: they’re pissed off, informed, and ready to party.
  • Screaming Females are terrific and even better live.  I thought this would sell out in a second.

October 14, 2022 at REC Philly

  • This was a free show.  A night of hip hop and beat curated by Working on Dying who I’ve never heard of of

October 14, 2022 at The Dolphin

  • The Dolphin is a new-ish venue that I’ve yet to check out.
  • Max Swan is saxophonist, vocalist, and producer influenced y likes of Stevie Wonder, James Blake.
  • Echo Kid is two guys from RFA.  This is a hazier, no-holds-barred, psychedelic reimagining of the way they’d approach their songwriting process with a languorous sense of ease, effortless genre-blending, and an amalgam of intentional recorded conversation
  • Shamir is an artist I’d like to see live.  They keep popping up as an opening act and then something happens and I don’t see them.  Here’s another miss.

October 15, 2022 at Underground Arts

  • This would have been my pick for show of the Fest, if I hadn’t already been overbooked.
  • Justmadnice is blues-dipped psychedelic jazz.
  • Riverby are a fun indie rock band with a loose sound (and a cover of “Walk Through the Fire” from Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
  • Empath is a band I was supposed to see open for Fucked Up but the couldn’t make the rescheduled date.  They are kind of noisy and poppy and punky and are probably very fun live.
  • Mannequin Pussy is one of my favorite new(ish) bands.  They are amazing live and are always worth seeing.

The 2023 Fest is bound to be great too.

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Tinariwen / Garcia Peoples (Underground Arts, Philadelphia, PA, October 1, 2022) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Garcia Peoples, Philadelphia, PA, Tinariwen, Underground Arts on October 1, 2022| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: October 1, 2022] Tinariwen / Garcia Peoples

Tinariwen is a pretty legendary band.  They play a guitar driven “desert blues” in which the guitar is played pretty much non-stop.   It’s unique and original to American ears but is apparently part of a Mali musical sound that combines traditional Tuareg and African music with Western rock.

Like last time, their show happened to be booked at a time when I had a lot of other things going on.

I would very much like to see them so I hope they come back again before too long.

Having Garcia Peoples open was a stroke of genius booking and honestly only made me want to go to this show even more.  It happened to be on the same night that I had a ticket to see Indigo de Souza.  Which wound up getting cancelled anyhow.  But then I had another show the next night.

I hope they both come back together–what a great double bill.

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Batushka / Witching / Hideous Divinity / Hate (Underground Arts, Philadelphia, PA, September 26, 2022) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Batushka, Deerhoof, БАТЮШКА, Hate, Hello Mary, Hideous Divinity, Philadelphia, PA, Scarlet, Underground Arts, Witching on September 26, 2022| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: September 26, 2022] Batushka / Witching / Hideous Divinity / Hate

I had heard of Batushka [БАТЮШКА] because there was an article about how there were two bands with the same name.  And, it was a case of the band breaking up and the guy who left taking the name–but the main band keeping it as well.  So both bands sounded vaguely the same as well, I guess.

Krzysztof Drabikowski formedthe band.  But a falling out between Drabikowski and vocalist Bartłomiej Krysiuk in 2018 led to Krysiuk starting his own version of Batushka, which released its own recordings and performs separately from the original band. Drabikowski protested the move and does not consider Krysiuk’s band legitimate.

Here’s some of the quotes from the controversy

Drabikowski stated that “There were attempts to take my creation Batushka away from me” and “the upcoming album Панихида (“Requiem”) will not feature his voice”

Krysiuk then “hired musicians to produce an album that he planned to release as the new Batushka record, behind [his] back”.

On 27 May 2019, Drabikowski’s Batushka released a new full-length album called Панихида (“Panihida”) (“Requiem”) and was very well received by both critics and fans alike.

On 12 July 2019, Krysiuk’s Batushka released a full-length album called Hospodi (“God Almighty”), the album received mixed reviews from critics[20][21] and was panned by some of the band’s fans, with most of the criticism aimed at their “illegitimacy” to use the name Batushka.

In the wake of the public falling out and ensuing drama between Drabikowski and Krysiuk several parody bands using variations of the “Batushka” name emerged online as a widespread meme, each also claiming to be the “true Batushka”, the most notable being “Batyushka” an anonymous project claiming to be from Russia and being actual Orthodox priests and adhering to the Orthodox dogma.  Their music is completely instrumental and have independently released over a dozen albums on Bandcamp which were met with indifference and annoyance, as well as mockery from fans of the real band, several people also pointed out how the music uses a drum machine.

Controversy aside, they sounded interesting a Polish black metal band formed by Krzysztof Drabikowski.  Their music and lyrics, which are written exclusively in Church Slavonic language, are inspired by the Eastern Orthodox Church.  The band members wear habits and Eastern Orthodox schemas during live performances to conceal their identities.

I’m not even sure which band this was.  I think it was Krysiuk’s version (known as Fakeuska, apparently) as Drabikowski hasn’t done much.   But if they’re wearing robes and hoods, who is to know?

After seeing behemoth back in April, I wasn’t sure if wanted to see another black metal show.  This one seemed especially daunting given that it was in the tiny Underground Arts.

So I opted not to go.  Maybe if they come back another time.

Polish band Hate opened.  I’m not too keen on a band that is simply called Hate.  They are a blackened death metal band.  They wear corpse paint and have had many lineup changes over the years.  Their singer growls, but I have to admit that the lyrics are actually audible, which is quite a plus.

Witching opened our show.  They are a metal band from Philly.  Their track Lividity opens with acoustic guitars and witching female singing and after two minutes the vocals get decidedly demonic and scary as the music gets heavier and pummeling.   It also looks like most of the band is women, which is pretty cool for the genre: Jacqui, Nate, Tatiana, Samantha and Hazel.

Hideous Divinity are from Italy.  I’m guessing they couldn’t make the first two shows of the tour and they started in Georgia.  They, like the others are heavy and growly.

I actually thought this show was four bands, which would have been just too much growling and heaviness.  Even three bands seemed like a lot.  Although now that I know more about Witching, they might have been a nice change for the show.   Nevertheless, despite the visuals, I’m not sure I was ever really planning to go to this show.

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Girlpool / Cecile Believe (Underground Arts, Philadelphia, PA, September 23, 2023) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Cecile Believe, Girlpool, Philadelphia, PA, Underground Arts on September 23, 2022| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: September 23, 2022] Girlpool / Cecile Believe

I first heard Girlpool back in 2015.  I loved the way the two members of the band sang, but not in harmony–it was more like in unison.  It gave them almost a childlike quality that somehow made their songs really impactful.

I had wanted to see them live since then.  When they came around in 2017, I had a ticket and then a last minute plan meant I couldn’t go.  They came back in 2019, but it was during our summer vacation.

Finally, they came back around in 2023, but it was the same night as several other shows, including one I wasn’t going to pass up.

Interestingly, over the past seven years a lot has happened to the band.  Avery Tucker transitioned and Harmony Tividad started exploring new facets of herself.  So they looked very different from when they first started out.

Their musical style changed a lot as well.  They no longer sounded anything like they did on the debut.  Primarily because Avery’s voice was no so much deeper.   I didn’t enjoy their music that much anymore.  So I wasn’t that upset about missing them.

Then on August 25, Girlpool announced that they will breakup at the end of the year, and that their remaining tour dates would serve as a farewell tour.  So I guess I’ll never see them live.

Cecile Believe (formerly known as Mozart’s Sister) is a solo project by Montreal-based Canadian musician Caila Thompson-Hannant.

Resident Advisor describers her music:

Cecile Believe’s vocal and emotional range, with its exhilarating twinkles of vulnerability, made an immediate impression on me when I first heard her performing “Ponyboy” and “Faceshopping”  .. Her new mixtape, Plucking A Cherry From The Void, a collection of restless and reflective lockdown-fermented electro-pop bangers, has those same attributes in ample supply.

Although I listened to a few songs and wasn’t that impressed.  It was all fine.

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Afghan Whigs / Pink Mountaintops (Underground Arts, Philadelphia, PA, September 16, 2022) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Philadelphia, PA, Pink Mountaintops, The Afghan Whigs, Underground Arts on September 16, 2022| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: September 16, 2022] Afghan Whigs / Pink Mountaintops

Back in May, although they had no Philadelphia show planned, Afghan Whigs were going to stop in and do a Free at Noon.

I grabbed a ticket but the show was cancelled because of a COVID case.

I love The Afghan Whigs’ album Gentlemen.  I should love more by them, but I like them just fine (never been in the cult of Dulli).  I’ve never really been interested in seeing them live.

When this show was announced, I was notified because of Pink Mountaintops.

Pink Mountaintops are a band led by Stephem McBean who is the main guy behind Black Mountain.  I saw Black Mountain a while back and they were great.  I’m not sure I would enjoy Pink Mountaintops as much.  So I was never really likely to go to this show.

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Earthless / Ecstatic Vision / Riff Mountain DJs (Underground Arts, Philadelphia, PA, September 8, 2022) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Earthless, Ecstatic Vision, Philadelphia, PA, Riff Mountain DJs, Underground Arts on September 8, 2022| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: September 8, 2022] Earthless / Ecstatic Vision / Riff Mountain DJs

I jotted down this show as one I’d like to check out and then I forgot all about it and the bands that were playing.  So a little later I even wrote, who the hell are Earthless.

Well, this was a heavy psych/stoner rock super bill that would have been fun to see live.

Earthless has been around since 2001.  They are a mostly instrumental psychedelic rock band from San Diego, California, consisting of guitarist Isaiah Mitchell, bassist Mike Eginton and drummer Mario Rubalcaba.  I really enjoyed their overall vibe.  I also love that their second album is made of 2 20 minute songs (one with five parts).  Although they also have a song “Volt Rush” that’s under two minutes and kicks much ass.  Although I prefer the instrumentals.

Ecstatic Vision are from Philly and they continue with the fuzzy…everything.  They describe themselves as “Trance inducing raw heavy psych. Ecstatic Vision is Doug Zabolchech, Kevin Nickles, Michael Field Connor and Ricky Culp.”

The song I listened to “Astral Plane” is 13 minutes of heavy fuzziness.  Vocals come in about 5 minutes in and I didn’t really like them.  Maybe this kind of music is meant to be instrumental.

Since I’m not in the know, I can’t quite figure out what Riff Mountain DJs are.  Their Instagram profile says Philadelphia DJ Collective / All Rock / All Wax.  So I guess they spin heavy songs before and between bands?

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