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Archive for the ‘Underground Arts’ Category

Palehound (Underground Arts, Philadelphia, PA, November 13, 2024) [RATBOYS]

Posted in Palehound, Philadelphia, PA, Ratboys, Underground Arts, youbet on November 14, 2024| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: November 13, 2024] Palehound

I saw Palehound twice in three months as the band opened first for Weaves and then for Courtney Barnett.

And now it’s been six years and I’ve seen them again.

El Kemper is still the main focus of the band, and the rest of the band was great.

This show was cast under the shadow of the election and everyone was righteously pissed.  The show was accepting donations for Trans Lifeline, National Network of Abortion Funds, and Palestine Children’s Relief Fund.

El was blown away by the amount of people in the room and then said that they were getting gender affirming surgery in six days.  Amazing.  I hope they are doing great.

For this show I felt like Kemper’s guitar prowess was less on display than in the past.  Not that they weren’t great, but there were fewer opportunities for bigger than life solos–until the end.

There’s been two albums since I saw them last and I didn’t know this new one all that well. But I had listened to it a few times and El’s voice–whispery and strained-seeming but somehow still powerful is unmistakable.  I love “Eye on the Bat” and was psyched that they played it (although surprised it was so early in the set).

After a half a dozen songs, El played two solo songs, including the powerful Your Boyfriend’s Gun.  El was very appreciative of the audience’s respect for the song, which they said not every audience gives.  I hoped it might sink in for other shows, but I doubt it.

After the solo songs, the band came back and they played mostly older songs.  A few from 2019’s Black Friday and a few from Dry Food (the one I know best).

So I didn’t know a lot of the songs, but Kemper’s delivery and guitar playing (especially in the later songs like Cinnamon and Molly) were fantastic.

2024 Underground Arts 2018 Union Transfer 2018 Johnny Brenda’s
Good Sex © Molly €
Independence Day © Carnations ⊗
Room ⊗ Turning 21 ⊗
Eye on the Bat © Dry Food €
The Clutch © At Night I’m Alright with You ⊗
Route 22 ©   Backseat ⊗
Dry Food € Feeling Fruit ⊗
Company (solo) ♠ YMCA Pool ¥
Your Boyfriend’s Gun (solo) § Cinnamon €
Killer ♠ Room ⊗
Bullshit ♠ Pet Carrot ∏
Mt Evil © If You Met Her ⊗
Aaron ♠
Cinnamon €
Molly €

§ new (2024)
© Eye on the Bat (2023)
♠ Black Friday (2019)
¥ YMCA Pool single (2018)
⊗ A Place I’ll Always Go (2017)
€ Dry Food (2015)
∏ Bent Nail EP (2013)

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youbet (Underground Arts, Philadelphia, PA, November 13, 2024) [RATBOYS]

Posted in Palehound, Philadelphia, PA, Ratboys, Underground Arts, youbet on November 13, 2024| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: November 13, 2024] youbet

I hadn’t heard of the band youbet who was opening the show.  I listened to a couple of songs before the show, but it turns out that much of the set was from an upcoming album.

Singer/guitarist Nick Llobet has a high and distinctive voice.   Some of their songs (I’m guessing the already released ones) have a kind of low fi vibe, but their newer ones rock harder.

Nirvana is a lazy comparison most of the time, but one of the earlier songs (I think it was quest on the setlist) had a real Nirvana vibe bith in vocal delivery and pounding drums (Jojo Quinn).

I was more or less in front of bassist Micah Prussack and I loved how low and punch their bass sound was (again, if I am getting the songs correct, the bass on mimic is a great, noisy addition).

But a song like (jaw of cain) was this woozy psychedelic verse (with practically spoken lyrics) that turned into a chaotic bridge with a fantastic loud bass line throughout.

I was listening to some of these songs that  recorded during the set, and I think I’m off on which songs are which.  maybe I’ll correct this one the album comes out.  But the final song I recorded (which I assume is boris) has another cool bass line (up and then down the neck, all while gloriously fuzzed).

I’m really looking forward to the album when it comes out.

2024 Underground Arts
Carsick ⇔
quest
mimic
undefined
jaw cain
Nurture ⇔
Peel ⇔
palomita
boris

⇔ Way to Be

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Sparta : Porcelain 20th Anniversary tour / Common Sage / Hiroe (Underground Arts, Philadelphia, PA, October 13, 2024) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Common Sage, Hiroe, Philadelphia, PA, Sparta, Underground Arts on October 13, 2024| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: October 13, 2024] Sparta / Common Sage / Hiroe

I really enjoyed seeing Sparta last year.  The songs were intense and great.  So when they announced this tour of the Porcelain album, I was on board.

But then October turned out to be a really busy month for me and I just couldn’t go to concerts every night.  So this one had to get dropped.

Common Sage is from Brooklyn.  They’ve been around since 2018 and play pretty heavy emo.  They’re not very prolific and I wonder if this tour was signifying a new album.

Hiroe is a Philly band.  I find that I’m more interested in underground Philly bands than bands from other places, possible because I think Philly bands tends to be a little weirder.  I mean, Hiroe is pronounced Hero-way for starters.  I’m also intrigued by them because they play intense instrumentals ala Explosions in the Sky.  They have one album that came out in 2022.  The first song is 2 and a half minutes, the last song (called Doom Moon) is over 8.  I’d like to see them.

 

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The Lemon Twigs / Milk ‘n’ Cookies (Underground Arts, Philadelphia PA, October 11, 2024) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Milk 'n' Cookies, Philadelphia, PA, The Lemon Twigs, Underground Arts on October 11, 2024| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: October 11, 2024] The Lemon Twigs / Milk ‘n’ Cookies

I discovered The Lemon Twigs a few years ago and really enjoyed their glam rock sound and I imagined that they would be a ton of fun live.  The band is technically a duo, although they have more people on stage with them.

I keep managing to not see them though.  Tonight I had tickets to see Bevis Frond, but their tour was cancelled because of visa issues. So I should have gone to see The Lemon Twigs, but October had so many shows in it that some had to give.  I rather wish that I hadn’t skipped this one though as I have just learned a bit about the opening band Milk ‘n’ Cookies.

Milk ‘n’ Cookies formed in the early 1970s in Long Island, New York.  They played power pop but never made it.  The core line-up of the band was made up of Ian North, Justin Strauss, Sal Maida and Mike Ruiz and, in their time, they played classic NYC venues like CBGB’s and Max’s Kansas City. They shared bills with everyone from Talking Heads to The Ramones and have amassed a cult following, influencing the likes of Thurston Moore (Sonic Youth) and Debbie Harry (Blondie).

It would have been interesting to see them live.

So, maybe the next time the Twigs come around (if their next album kicks ass) I’ll go see them.

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Charly Bliss / Pronoun (Underground Arts, Philadelphia, PA, October 10, 2024) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Charly Bliss, Philadelphia, PA, Pronoun, Underground Arts on October 10, 2024| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: October 10, 2024] Charly Bliss / Pronoun

This was a really tough choice for me.  I was super excited when Charly Bliss announced this show because the last time I saw them it was a ton of fun.

And then Yard Act announced that they were playing Union Transfer the same night.

I had seen Yard Act before, but only once.  And I’d seen Charly Bliss three times.  So I chose Yard Act because they are from the UK and are less likely to play Philly again soon.  And, if I’m being honest, I didn’t love the direction this new Charly Bliss album went is as much as I liked the older records.  So we’ll see what happens in 2025.  (Yard Act were great, btw). (more…)

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Nada Surf (Underground Arts, Philadelphia, PA, October 3, 2024)

Posted in Nada Surf, Office Dog, Philadelphia, PA, Underground Arts on October 3, 2024| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: October 3, 2024] Nada Surf 

I left Soul Coughing for this show.  It was a risk because this was the first time Soul Coughing had toured in decades.  But I was so miserable at the show that I was happy to leave.  And it turned out that tonight’s Nada Surf show was fantastic.

Even though singer Matthew Caws’ voice was a bit shot because they had played two shows (one was a bonus show) the night before.

Since I had been at Soul Coughing, I arrived at Underground Arts basically as the final chords of Office Dog’s last song were fading away.  I didn’t know Office Dog who are a power trio from New Zealand.  And this summary makes me rather bummed that I missed them:

New Zealand singer-songwriter Kane Strang got tired of going it alone as a solo artist, he started an old-fashioned indie rock power trio called Office Dog. Backing him up are two friends from different iterations of his touring band: bassist Rassani Tolovaa and drummer Mitchell Innes. Like Dinosaur Jr., Sebadoh, and Built to Spill, this threesome emphasizes the personality of each player as it wrings maximum drama from a minimum of instruments.

So I hope they come back around.

This tour was for their latest album Moon Mirror, but they opened with two songs from 2003’s Let Go.  The crowd was totally into it–very responsive and singing along.  Matthew seemed to be really excited at the size of the crowd, which surprised me because I thought that they had played bigger venues before (but I see now that World Cafe Live is the same size as Underground Arts (this blows my mind as I feel like UA is quite small). (more…)

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Nilüfer Yanya / Lutalo / Eliza McLamb (Underground Arts, Philadelphia, PA, September 28, 2024) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Eliza McLamb, Lutalo, Nilüfer Yanya, Philadelphia, PA, Underground Arts on September 28, 2024| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: September 28, 2024] Nilüfer Yanya / Lutalo / Eliza McLamb

I saw Nilüfer Yanya back in 2019.  Since then she seems to have become even more of a dynamic performer.

I wanted to go to this show but I had a show the night before and the night after so I stayed home.

And the more I listen to her newer stuff the less engaged I am by it.

Lutalo is based in Vermont.

After releasing their 2022 debut EP, the 24-year-old born Lutalo Jones emerged as a rising presence in the indie world, catching the attention of Fleet Foxes’ Robin Pecknold and Big Thief’s Adrianne Lenker, who invited the young musician on tour.

Their music was good, but didn’t inspire me. (more…)

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Brutus (Underground Arts, Philadelphia, PA, September 16, 2024)

Posted in Brutus, Philadelphia, PA, Superbloom, Underground Arts on September 17, 2024| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: September 16, 2024] Brutus

Brutus is a trio from Belgium.  I wasn’t familiar with them until this show was announced but when I listened to their album Unison Life, I loved everything about them and knew I wanted to see them.

As the Superbloom gear was being removed, there was a drumkit on the right side of the stage.  I assumed that it would get moved to the middle, but it never did!

Rather, guitarist Stijn Vanhoegaerden and bassist Peter Mulders were center stage with all of their gear (including Milders’ bass pedals) and vocalist and drummer Stefanie Mannaerts faced them from the side of the stage.

Mannaerts’ microphone was on her left so she turned to the crowd when she sang.  The problem for me is that one of her cymbals was right where her face was, so I literally couldn’t see her face the whole night.  Even when the guy in front of me made room for me (that was very nice), it was still impossible to see her. (more…)

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Superbloom (Underground Arts, Philadelphia, PA, September 16, 2024) [BRUTUS]

Posted in Brutus, Philadelphia, PA, Superbloom, Underground Arts on September 16, 2024| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: September 16, 2024] Superbloom

Superbloom is a 4 piece Brooklyn band.  They are grunge-y and heavy (and loud).

Their latest single shows the band as a five piece so I don’t know which guitarist was playing.

Lead singer Dave Hoon has a great grungy voice, at times sounding a bit like Kurt Cobain (and on one song drummer Matteo Dix did backing vocals like Dave Grohl).  Hoon was wearing a Soundgarden shirt and I’m sure that was only part of the reason I could hear Soundgarden in their music as well.

None of this is to say that they were a knock off band because they weren’t.  I never thought “this sounds just like X,” rather I loved the vibe and the confidence of the songwriting. (more…)

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Tinariwen (Underground Arts, Philadelphia, PA, July 24, 2024)

Posted in Basic, Chris Forsyth, Philadelphia, PA, Tinariwen, Underground Arts on July 25, 2024| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: July 24, 2024] Tinariwen

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.

I’ve been trying to see them for a number of years and things never seemed to pan out, until this year.

The night was a challenge as parking was limited and I wound up coming in later than I intended.  It was also much more crowded (so early) than I anticipated.  So I had  to stand off to the side.

About half way through the show, I had to get out of the crowd and Underground Arts was super nice in that someone got me a chair (I’m using a cane at the moment).  I actually felt obliged to stay in the chair which meant I was in kind of a crappy location visually for most of the show.   But it was so crowded that I wasn’t going to see much anyhow, so I’m grateful for the seat. (more…)

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