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Archive for the ‘Underground Arts’ Category

Amy Annette (Underground Arts, Philadelphia, PA, March 2, 2025) [NISH KUMAR]

Posted in Amy Annette, Nish Kumar, Philadelphia, PA, Taskmaster, Underground Arts on March 2, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: March 2, 2025] Amy Annette

I didn’t know if Nish Kumar would have an opening act.  Since the show was starting at 9PM (!) on a Sunday night, I hoped he didn’t.

But then I remembered that comedy opening acts aren’t the same as concert opening acts.  They don’t stay on for all that long and there isn’t a 30 minute gap between performers.

So when Amy Annette was announced, I was ready to be entertained.  I found out after her set, once Nish came on, that Amy is his girlfriend of 13 years.  This made me happy for two reasons.  The first was that her set was only about 20 minutes, and it seemed crazy to travel all the way from the UK just to do 20 minutes.  And also, her material is so very different from Nish’s I wondered how he might pick someone to warm up that was doing completely unpolitical material.

So, the fact that they are dating was great!  They get to travel together and we all got some exposure to a comedian that we (or I, at least) didn’t know but now want to see again.

Amy’s humor is so very different from Nish’s.

She began with a really funny bit about bread. Yes, bread!  She had some good audience interactions to find out others’ bread choices.  And one of the respondents was a man named Paulie who would come back later. (more…)

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Emo Nite featuring MC Lars (Underground Arts, Philadelphia, PA, February 14, 2025) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Emo Nite, MC Lars, Philadelphia, PA, Underground Arts on February 14, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: February 14, 2025] Emo Nite featuring MC Lars

I have wanted to see MC Lars for a few years now.  But this wasn’t the way for me to see him.

I didn’t know what Emo Nite was.  I assumed it was just a night of emo music.  Which it is, but apparently, Emo Nite is a THING, an entity that tours.  As their blurb says

We are not a band. We are not DJ’s. We throw parties for the music we love.

Their website goes into detail about how they started and what they play.  Basically they love emo and play a night of emo with guest artists.  If I were younger and liked going out, this is the kind of thing I’d enjoy.  But I don’t want to go to a room to listen to records.

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J. Mascis (Underground Arts, Philadelphia, PA, February 12, 2025)

Posted in J. Mascis, Kurt Vile, Mike Polizze, Philadelphia, PA, Pink Mountaintops, Purling Hiss, Underground Arts on February 13, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: February 12, 2025] J. Mascis

When this show was first announced it turned out to be on the same night as the Babymetal show that my son and I were going to.  But then it was postponed and I grabbed a ticket for the new date.

I couldn’t really imagine J. Mascis in a small club or playing quietly.  Well, this is the same place I saw Thurston Moore a number of years ago.  Amazingly neither legend sold out for a solo show (Thurston wasn’t solo, but it was his solo music).  J was by himself, but I needn’t have worried about being quiet, as he had a massive amp setup on stage.

I don’t know why it took him so long to get on stage (he showed up at 10:10 even though no work had to be done on stage).  His roadie also put like 5 different drinks on his stool, and I don’t think he had any of it.

He came out with a beat up acoustic guitar and proceeded to jam through almost 20 songs.

Before he started, some meathead started the E-A-G-L-E-S chant and J. smiled and then said, I’m impressed you guys can spell.

And then he got to business. (more…)

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Mike Polizze [Purling Hiss] (Underground Arts, Philadelphia, PA, February 12, 2025) [J. MASCIS]

Posted in J. Mascis, Kurt Vile, Mike Polizze, Philadelphia, PA, Pink Mountaintops, Purling Hiss, Underground Arts on February 12, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: February 12, 2025] Mike Polizze [rescheduled from November 21, 2024]

When this show was first announced I didn’t know if I wanted to go, plus it turned out to be on the same night as the Babymetal show that my son and I were going to.

Initially Pink Mountaintops were supposed to open for this show.  Then a few days ago I saw that it was going to be Purling Hiss.  I was really excited to see Pink Mountaintops (who I haven’t seen before).  There was no notice or explanation of their departure from these shows.  But they were replaced by, as many of the posters say Purling Hiss (Solo).

Purling Hiss is Mike Polizze.  He was the only person on the first few records and the latter records add a drummer and maybe someone else.  But it’s not wrong to say this is Purling Hiss solo.

Polizze had opened for Kurt Vile recently and I enjoyed listening to his set.  And it proved to be quiet similar to this set opening for J Masics.

Mike had an acoustic guitar and a bunch of pedals–mostly a looping pedal, a distortion pedal and a wah wah.

And wow, was he loud.  I anticipated J would be loud, but I think that Mike may have been louder–or his equipment wasn’t mic’d as nicely so it sounded harsher.

Mike looped his guitar chords and then played solos using varying degrees of distortion and volume.  I really enjoyed the amount of looping he did and I was close enough to watch him using the looping pedal–tapping the pedal to add a solo section to loop with the chords, etc. (more…)

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Wunderhorse / Deux Visages (Underground Arts, Philadelphia, PA, January 25, 2025) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Deux Visages, Philadelphia, PA, Underground Arts, Wunderhorse on January 25, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: January 25, 2025] Wunderhorse / Deux Visages

Wunderhorse was the Artist to Watch on WXPN and they were playing two of their songs a lot.  I didn’t respond well to the first one but the second one was pretty catchy.

I might have considered this show, but I had tickets to Soccer Mommy AND a Control Top show this evening, so this was low on my list. (more…)

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Wax Jaw / The Thing / Friend (Underground Arts, Philadelphia, PA, December 12, 2024) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Friend, Philadelphia, PA, The Thing, Underground Arts, Wax Jaw on December 12, 2024| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: December 12, 2024] Wax Jaw / The Thing / Friend

Wax Jaw continues to play really close to me but always on nights that I’m already busy.

This show sounded like a ton of fun, but it was the same night that I was going to see Kathleen Edwards.  So, no dice yet again.

I see that Wax Jaw sets are still under an hour.  And  there’s nothing wrong with that, but it will effect ones decision where to go that night.

Friend is a raucous punk band from Philly.  In the video below for one of the songs they seem to be wearing goblin head masks.  They are all over the place with their sound, but its mostly loud and fast.  (They played a punk version of Simply Having a Wonderful Christmas Time–see below) (more…)

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Blood Incantation (Underground Arts, Philadelphia, PA, November 25, 2024)

Posted in Blood Incantation, Hällas, Midwife, Philadelphia, PA, Tangerine Dream, Underground Arts on November 26, 2024| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: November 25, 2024] Blood Incantation

My brother-in-law Ben told me about Blood Incantation a couple of weeks before this show. So I grabbed a ticket just before it sold out!

With a name (and logo) like that, I assumed they were just a bludgeoning death metal band but they display all kinds of interesting progressive rock tendencies.  And those are fully explored on their newest album Absolute Elsewhere.

The album is 43 minutes long and consists of two songs.  Each song has three parts.  And they played the album in full for this show.

When I walked in I saw that there were an obelisk on either side of the stage.  It had characters carved into it and just before the band took the stage the characters lit up red.

When the band came out I couldn’t get over how the lead singer looked.  Paul Riedl has a mustache and long hair (balding on top) he looked like a manager at Staples.  But then he stepped up to the mic and went “OOH” and the growl was perfect.

Knowing that the album was a bit more trippy (with lots of synths and quiet parts) I wasn’t sure how moshy the crowd would be.  But as soon as the band started, and the opening bludgeoning began, I quickly had to move several feet to the right.

The song starts out with some pounding guitars and Isaac Faulk using all of his drum kit.  And after a squealing guitar and a bug grunted Oooh, the band took off with some seriously fast double bass drums and wild guitar soloing.

After 2 minutes of furiousness, the song slowed down dramatically with picked guitars and quiet washes of synths.  Three minutes later it’s back to the heaviness with some growled lyrics and wild soloing from Morris Kolontyrsky.

Jeff Barrett played bass and while I couldn’t seem him from where I was, his low end was felt from the speakers.

After 8 minutes, the song segued into Tablet II. (more…)

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Midwife (Underground Arts, Philadelphia, PA, November 25, 2024) [BLOOD INCANTATION]

Posted in Blood Incantation, Midwife, Philadelphia, PA, Underground Arts on November 25, 2024| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: November 25, 2024] Midwife

My brother-in-law Ben told me about Blood Incantation a couple of weeks before this show. So I grabbed a ticket just before it sold out!

I knew they were death metal, and assumed that the opener would be as well.  But, wow, what a difference!

Madeline Elizabeth Johnston is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and audio engineer. She is best known for her work under the moniker Midwife, and has also released music as Mariposa and Sister Grotto. Johnston describes her music as “heaven metal.”

She came out on stage and her microphone was a telephone.  She spoke into it and her voice sounded a million miles away.

And it turns out that I have seen Midwife before!  They opened for Deafheaven.  And the funny thing is that I absolutely remembered a woman singing into a telephone, but I didn’t think it was the same person for some reason.  But I see from a previous post that I saw Midwife in 2022.  And I felt exactly the same as I did this time.

She created a beat on a drum machine and began playing very slowly.  She sang quietly, from a million miles away.

All my friends are in New York
All my friends are in LA
All my friends are in Chicago
All my friends in Santa Fe
All my friends in Colorado
All my friends are here to stay
How much more death can one person take?

It was the antithesis of death metal.  It was slow and ponderous.  I think had I not been there for a death metal show I would have enjoyed it more, but the crowd–dudes in leather and chains–ate it up.  I was really happy for her as she seemed like she could have been so vulnerable up there, but she was poised and powerful as she sang these slow songs about death.

Killdozer:

This has always been my town
Now it’s a living hell
Everyone wants a piece of me
How am I not myself?
All my songs are love songs
All my songs are blue
All my songs are about death

All of these songs were pretty long, but Midwife was given about 45 minutes to play.  I didn’t actually think she’d play another song after S.W.I.M. but then Morris Kolontyrsky of Blood Incantation came out and they played No Depression in Heaven together.

The lyrics to that song?

Crying Crying Crying Crying Crying Crying Crying Crying Crying Crying Crying Crying Crying Crying Crying Crying
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha

Kolontyrsky played beuatiful complicated solos over Midwife’s slow repeated guitars.  Her musical patterns are simple but effective and while he wasn’t showing off, he was playing some impressive lead solos.

When the set was over, they hugged and she began cleaning up her stuff.

I’d never listen to her music on purpose, it’s totally not my thing, but it was a mesmerizing performance.

 

2024 Underground Arts 2022 Union Transfer
Colorado £ Christina’s World £
Vanessa ⊗ God is a Cop £
2018 ∞ 2018 ∞
Killdozer ⊗ Colorado £
S.W.I.M. ∞ S.W.I.M. ∞
No Depression in Heaven ⊗ (with Morris Kolontyrsky of Blood Incantation)

∞ Forever (2020)
£ Luminol (2021)
⊗ No Depression in Heaven (2024)

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J. Mascis / Pink Mountaintops (Underground Arts, Philadelphia, PA, November 21, 2024) [POSTPONED]

Posted in J. Mascis, Philadelphia, PA, Pink Mountaintops, Underground Arts on November 21, 2024| Leave a Comment »

[POSTPONED: November 21, 2024] J. Mascis / Pink Mountaintops [moved to February 12, 2025]

I can’t imagine J. Mascis playing a small club.  I also can’t imagine him playing quietly. But the picture for this tour shows him with an acoustic guitar (is there a wall of Marshall Amps attached somewhere)?

I wasn’t able to go this show because I had tickets to see Babymetal.  But the show was postponed due to illness and rescheduled for next year.  So I think I might just be going.

Pink Mountaintops are opening.  They opened for Afghan Whigs last year, but I didn’t go that show.  The band is led by Stephem McBean who is the main guy behind Black Mountain.  I saw Black Mountain a while back and they were great.  Pink Mountaintops is a more mellow endeavor, but their latest album is a lot of fun.

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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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