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Archive for the ‘Underground Arts’ Category

The Armed ⋈ (Underground Arts, Philadelphia, PA, August 15, 2026) [YARD ACT]

Posted in ⋈, Philadelphia, PA, The Armed, Underground Arts, Yard Act on August 15, 2026| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: August 15, 2026] The Armed

I grabbed a ticket to this show for my wife and I as soon as it was announced.   I’ve seen them twice and the last time was so much fun, I was sure my wife would get a kick out of it.   I had never heard of The Armed (whose name is often simplified to ⋈) before the show and when I listened briefly, they sounded like a hardcore band, which was confusing as an opener for Yard Act, who are not hardcore.

We arrived early and got a decent spot.  The lights went down, The Armed came out and the stage exploded.  The entire place was just an explosion of noise and chaos and I was delighted to see the huge smile on my wife’s face.

I had no idea who The Armed were, nor that they had a massive fan base.  The story of the Armed is almost as interesting as their music, although, really, no, the music is far more interesting.  But still:

Although no official members of the group are known for absolute certain, the collective has been represented in the media by advertising creative and director Tony Wolski – formerly known as Adam Vallely.  The Armed allegedly has a central core of members, while simultaneously featuring a rotating line-up of collaborators. The people behind The Armed have gone to considerable lengths to misdirect, deceive, and otherwise toy with their audience when it comes to who is actually a member of the band. To achieve this, the band has largely avoided printing names of its members, had actors pretend to be members of the band and toured in secret, often performing at open mic nights under fake names.

There was a woman singing/screaming in a very high pitched voice not unlike Melt-Banana.  There were two other singers in the band, a guy who screamed as well and a guy who sang in a really nice voice.   I’m not sure how many people were on stage (seven maybe?)  They absolutely filled the stage and never stopped moving.  The guitarist in front of us was a whirlwind of action and near the end of teh set he climbed on a huge speaker cabinet and jumped off.

The male singer frequently put the mic into the crowd for the guys up front (die hard fans) to scream along.  The female singer jumped into the crowd and sang from the floor.

I loved the way Fortune’s Daughter was a wall of noise and then had a neat low-key catchy chorus sung by the third vocalist– and the end had all of the singers (and screamers going at it together).

Grace Obscure was a noisy chaotic song with a big “woah oh” and lots of screaming from the female singer.  And An Iteration started with furious hardcore drumming and then segued into a really catchy rumbling bassline and dual vocals. It was followed by FKA World from their previous album, which was (relatively) mellow–the use of explosive hardcore drumming with slow vocals is really interesting.

Local Millionaires starts softly and then turns into a screamfest.  All Futures continues the explosive sound The set ended with Big Shell a song that concludes with a series of one-two crashes from the whole band as feedback distortion and screams glide over everything.

It was exhausting and exhilarating and amazing.  I’m bummed I didn’t know about them before and I sure hope they mysteriously pop up again.

  1. Night City Aliens ©
  2. Fortune’s Daughter ♥
  3. Grace Obscure ♣
  4. AN ITERATION ∅
  5. FKA World ⊗
  6. Local Millionaire ♣
  7. ALL FUTURES ∅
  8. BIG SHELL ∅

♣ THE FUTURE IS HERE AND EVERYTHING NEEDS TO BE DESTROYED (2025)
⊗ Perfect Saviors (2023)
∅ ULTRAPOP (2021)
© Cyberpunk 2077 soundtrack (2020)  [submitted under the name Homeschool Dropouts]
♥ Only Love (2018)

Here’s an amusing stories about this band from Wikipedia

The Armed released Only Love, with Ben Koller providing drums.  Koller has said the request was short notice, and that the recording would take place right in the middle of tracking drums for a new Converge album, which seemed “[like it would be] pretty stressful.” However, Koller heard that Rob Trujillo would be playing bass on the album, which was “the selling point” to him. In fact, Trujillo was never involved in any capacity with the album. Koller was also told by fellow Converge bandmate and Only Love‘s producer Kurt Ballou that the demos he was sent for this album were Converge songs, spurring him to learn them. Koller went on to say “…essentially, I was conned into playing on this album. I was so taken aback by these weird tactics that I just went with it.”

 

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Eagles of Death Metal / Mountain Head (Union Transfer, Philadelphia, PA, August 14, 2026) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Eagles of Death Metal, Mountain Head, Philadelphia, PA, Underground Arts on August 14, 2026| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: August 14, 2026] Eagles of Death Metal / Mountain Head

I got a kick out of Eagles of Death Metal when they came out.  Death By Sexy is a fun album and I enjoy the tongue in cheek nature of the music.  I thought about going to the show since they are apparently a great live band.

But I Just really don’t like them enough to justify going and I was a little worried about what kind of audience these guys would attract.  I left the night open, in case I decided to grab a last minute ticket.  But then the Circle Jerks announced a show for that night and that was the kibosh on EODM.

Who the hell are Mountain Head?  Well, their bio says

The enigmatic and reclusive Hannah Brothers stumbled upon a mysterious mountain in the heart of the Canadian wilderness, and what they found at the summit changed their lives forever. A shaman performed a ceremony that unlocked new depths of creativity and inspiration in the brothers, leading them to channel the spirits of Johnny Cash, Flavor Flav, and Billy Gibbons. Dressed in black denim and adorned with solid gold grills and long beards, Mountain Head emerged with a sound that blended psych-rock, alt-rock, and elements of electro-pop and jangle pop into a unique and potent sonic concoction.

The description is okay–they’re a little slower than you might expect, but there’s some psych elements, but mostly they play dumb rock like EODM.   A perfect pairing.

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Dogstar / The Backfires (Union Transfer, Philadelphia, PA, August 12, 2026) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Dogstar, Philadelphia, PA, The Backfires, Underground Arts on August 12, 2026| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: August 12, 2026] Dogstar / The Backfires

Three years ago, Dogstar played Underground Arts and I toyed with the idea of going  to this show, probably for the same reason that a lot of other people did.

To see Keanu Reeves!

I can’t decide if I like Keanu ironically or not, but it’s still pretty wild to think that a celebrity of his star power could have been just a few feet from me.

I genuinely had no idea what Dogstar sounded like.   So here’s the blurb from Underground Arts

Here in 2023, Dogstar epitomizes the quintessential Southern California storytelling rock band they’ve always been in their hearts, making deeply resonant music that literally comes from Somewhere Between the Power Lines and Palm Trees – the name of their new album which arrives October 6, 2023 via their own label Dillon Street Records (distributed through ADA). Comprised of guitarist/vocalist Bret Domrose, drummer Robert Mailhouse, and bassist Keanu Reeves, Dogstar was born in 1991 as a band of friends who came together in a garage in Southern California and simply dreamed of playing music together and making a little noise. Now, all these years later, Domrose, Mailhouse, and Reeves took some time at the tail end of a historic lockdown to create this collection of songs that fully encompasses who they are as artists today. The happily reunited rock trio’s official return came in May 2023 – more than 20 years since their last performance together – with their first public performance at the BottleRock Napa Valley music festival with a set that sparked fan and critical praise alike, including the live debut of their lead single “Everything Turns Around,” which was officially released July 19.

So this isn’t Keanu’s band, per se.  He “only” plays bass.  Domrose sings and plays guitar, although they all get writing credit for the songs.  But wow, it was sold out and no doubt super packed with people looking to meet Keanu.

When they came back to Philly, this time they were playing a much bigger venue.   I don’t think it sold out, but good for them.

And in this video of them record shopping in Philly–their influences are perfect!

Again, I like their music–like 90s indie rock–although I don’t like their singer all that much.

The Backfires are a London/NYC band.  They play solid old-school indie rock.  Their previous album was really good.

I could easily have gotten into both of these bands in the 90s if they had gotten radio airplay.

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Man Man / Death Valley Girls (Underground Arts, Philadelphia, PA, July 23, 2026) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Death Valley Girls, Man Man, Philadelphia, PA, Underground Arts on July 23, 2026| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: July 23, 2026] Man Man / Death Valley Girls

I was so excited to get a ticket for this Man Man show.  I was certain it would sell out in a second, so I bought a ticket for this show while on an airplane to Minnesota.  It didn’t sell out (weird) but I was still looking forward to this show so very much as Man Man never disappoints.

I arrived in Philly, found a good parking spot and then realized that I left my wallet in the pizza place that I stopped in on the way to Philly.  And that pizza place is about 40 minutes away.  I called the place and they had found it.  Phew.

I thought, well, I don’t need my wallet to enjoy the show.  I asked my son to go get it for me (so nice of him).  And then I went to use the parking app.  Only to remember that the card I used for the parking app had been cancelled because someone had hacked my account a few weeks ago.  And for whatever reason, the other card on my account wouldn’t work.  I couldn’t add a new card because I didn’t have my wallet.

I stood there for 20 minutes trying to get a card added (going into different apps to get a card number and failing).  Finally, I gave up.  I didn’t want to get a 60 dollar parking ticket.  I realized too late I could have just asked my son to give me his card number.  But I was frustrated and annoyed.  And so I gave up.  I decided to just get my card so my son didn’t have to.  He was about half way to the pizza place, but I told him to turn around and enjoy the night.  I got to the pizza place just before it closed and wound up having a nice night at home.

But dammit.

Dammit.

I saw Death Valley Girls open for The Distillers back in 2019.  They’re sort of a fuzzy rock band with goth leanings.  The goth leaning come primarily from their look and their lyrics–not their sound.  I forgot how good their show was. Now I’m even more bummed that I was a block away form the show but couldn’t go.

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Deer Tick / Jobi Riccio (Underground Arts, Philadelphia, PA, June 10) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Deer Tick, Jobi Riccio, Philadelphia, PA, Underground Arts on June 10, 2026| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: June 10, 2026] Deer Tick / Jobi Riccio

There are three Deer bands on my radar.  And I can never remember which one is which because I don’t really listen to them all that much.

There’s Deerhunter, the creation of Bradford Cox who played artpop and psych pop.  I liked them a bit but never got really into them.

There’s Deerhoof, a wacky band from San Francisco featuring drummer Greg Saunier, bassist and singer Satomi Matsuzaki, and guitarists John Dieterich and Ed Rodriguez.  Matsuzaki has a high pitched and very distinctive style of singing I would like to see them live.

And then there’s Deer Tick.  They’ve been around since 2004 and are the most conventional of the three.   They fall into the Americana side of alt folk rock.  I listened to a song to see if I wanted to go and realized I didn’t.

So, basically I really only need to pay attention to Deerhoof going forward.

Jobi Riccio is from Colorado.  While posting about all of these singers that I’ve never heard of, I’m getting a real kick out of how intense and potentially insane all of the bios of these people are:

Jobi Riccio grew up surrounded by music and found inspiration in artists ranging from Sheryl Crow to Joni Mitchell. Sonically, Jobi’s music exists between worlds, melding the classic craftsmanship of her songwriting with modern indie-leaning production to forge a lush, expansive sound that feels traditional and experimental all at once.

I listened to a couple of songs and I have to say of all the young folk and folk adjacent women I’ve listened to recently, I like her the best.  Her voice is big and powerful–not mumbly like so many other new singers.  And she throws some interesting chord progressions into her songs.  I’d happily see her if she opened for someone I liked.  She veers toward country, but only slightly.

I also wonder if she was named for the character in Elf, since no one was every named Joby before that movie.

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Witch Club Satan (Underground Arts, Philadelphia, PA, May 27, 2026)

Posted in Penelope Trappes, Philadelphia, PA, Type O Negative, Underground Arts, Witch Club Satan on May 28, 2026| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: May 27, 2026] Witch Club Satan

I found out about Witch Club Satan last year.  I’m not sure how I stumbled upon them (maybe Instagram?)  Anyhow,  I was immediately struck by the band:  three Norwegian women in corpse paint singing black metal.  And they were great.  They sang about different subjects (for black metal) and they were fearless.  They had great screams and were completely intense.

I didn’t really think they’d come to the States since they seem pretty niche, and yet, soon enough it was announced they were coming to the States for the first time, bring their tour: Founding of the North American Coven.  And they were coming to Underground Arts.  I grabbed a ticket immediately since I never know if shows like this will sell out.  It didn’t and I was able to invite my son along and grab a ticket day before.  He’s technically not allowed in Underground Arts yet (it’s 21+) but evidently, as long as I let them know ahead of time and follow some basic rules, he was allowed to come along.

He loved the venue (it is very cool) and he loved Witch Club Satan (Penelope Trappes not so much).  Actually, we were both blown away by Witch Club Satan.

The lights went down and they started playing a deep, synthy chord It went on for a few minutes (too long, tbh), but I think they were still setting up because shortly after, the band walked from behind the stage, holding incense.  They walked through the crowd, slowly, making eye contact with everyone nearby.  It was so impressive and the crowd was rapt.

When they arrived on stage lead singer and guitarist Nix (Nikoline Spjelkavik) welcomed us to the coven and they launched into Hysteria.  It was amazing seeing them up close.  The three women wear corpse paint and have blackened eyes and markings.  And from this distance it was easy to see that they blackened their teeth as well.  For the first couple of songs they wore knitted sweaters with openings for their breasts, as well as knitted horned headgear. Nix invited everyone to dance or take their tops off.

Bassist and singer Hedda (who is filling in for Victoria Røising who just had a baby!) was awesome.  She also sang and used a violin bow and a sword on her bass.

The songs are black metal–heavy, short, fast and growled.  I wished I had listened to their music a bit more just so I knew what was happening.  I was able to take a photo of the setlist before they came out so I knew what they were playing, but there were some notes on the page that made things a little unclear.  And after Water Girl, all three women came to the front of the stage to sing the mournful Mother Sea, a completely non black metal story/song that was really intense.

After the song they left the stage and showed a video on the stage.  A few minutes later they returned wearing nothing except for floor-length black wigs (and flesh-colored underpants).  They stood on stage and proceeded to spit blood on the stage and into the crowd (I got some on my glasses!).  Nix leaned into the crowd and whispered into the ear of the woman near me–wonder what she said.

For the intro of Black Metal is Krig, Nix shouted out that there would be no mercy for the mercyless–not for the warmongers, not for Netanyahu.  For the final song of this section, Mother, the three women came to the front of the stage again and they sang/screamed the word Mother (hearing their drummer Johanna Holt Kleive–who did sing occasionally) scream the word Mother in a high pitched wail sent chills up my spine).

They returned for the third part of the set in new outfits–denim and sequined, um, torn headgear and clothing.  They looked insane, and being able to see Nix’s eyes through this mask was really creepy–especially as she made eye contact with everyone.  For You Wildflower, Hedda walked into the crowd and shouted the intro to everyone and people individually

You don’t give up, you don’t give up
The sky shivers, you don’t give up
The ground breaks, the heart aches (Motherfuckers)
The heart aches, the heart aches
They keep lying, they keep lying
The dictators, the small dicks
You keep pushing, you keep pushing (Motherfuckers)
You keep pushing
You keep breathing, you keep breathing
The sun’s shining on your resistance
You keep fighting, you keep fighting
You show up, you keep fighting
You wildflower

It was awesome.  Their “single” Fresh Blood, Fresh Pussy” is certainly catchy and it sounded great.  And then for Witchcraft Techno, Nix crowd surfed (despite being mostly naked) and was safely transported to the stage.  Before the last song, she told us that we reminded her of Norway which was both good and bad.  We were very polite but we were also very uptight and se wanted to see people dance with them.  I was (pleasantly) surprised that there had not been a mosh put up to this point.  I think all eyes were on the stage instead of thinking about dancing.  But the crowd did oblige for the final song and a pit was started.

And that was that.  Their set was about an hour and it was exhausting.  I’m so glad I bought a shirt before the show, but I do regret not buying the tour vinyl of their album.  And, if by any chance, they played nearby again, I would see them in a second.

  • Intro
  • Hysteria ∇
  • Wild Whores ∇
  • Water Girl
  • Mother Sea ∇
  • I Was Made By Fire ∇
  • Black Metal is Krig ∇
  • Salvation ∇
  • Mother ∇
  • You Wildflower ®
  • Fresh Blood, Fresh Pussy ∇
  • Witchcraft Techno
  • Solace Sisters §

® single (2025)
∇ Witch Club Satan (2025)
§ single (2022)

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Penelope Trappes (Underground Arts, Philadelphia, PA, May 27, 2026) [WITCH CLUB SATAN]

Posted in Penelope Trappes, Philadelphia, PA, Underground Arts, Witch Club Satan on May 27, 2026| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: May 27, 2026] Penelope Trappes

I found out about Witch Club Satan last year.  I was immediately struck by the band:  three Norwegian women in corpse paint singing black metal.  And they were great. I didn’t really think they’d come to the States since they seem pretty niche, and yet, soon enough it was announced they were coming to the States for the first time.  I grabbed a ticket immediately

I didn’t know Penelope Trappes before this show.  I listened to a few minutes of a song and got the idea that she was a kind of ambient singer.

She came out on stage with a bow tied around her head with the ends raised above her head like horns or rabbit ears.  She had an electronics board and proceeded to make ambient sounds on it.  She is Australian, but lives in England.  She did say Fuck Ice, which–yes indeed!–but is she here long enough to know about ICE?   I don’t know how much international attention they are getting.  But she was immediately on our side after saying it.

She sang, often sounds, sometimes words.  The first song (I honestly don’t know if she was playing a song, multiple songs, or improvising) lasted about 20 minutes.  I only say this because that’s when she said thank you.  There were lots of changes throughout the 20 minutes and they could have been different songs but there’s no way to tell–her latest album is about 45 minutes and it’s possible she was playing the whole thing, but again, I don’t know.

Correction, I recalled a few words when she sang, and “violent hope” was one of the phrases. It’s from “Red Dove” which comes about half way through A Requiem.  It also featured synths ala Philip Glass which  rather liked. (more…)

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Oranssi Pazuzu / Wayfarer (Underground Arts, Philadelphia, PA, May 21, 2025) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Oranssi Pazuzu, Philadelphia, PA, Underground Arts, Wayfarer on May 21, 2026| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: May 21, 2026] Oranssi Pazuzu / Wayfarer

I had not heard of Oranssi Pazuzu until about a week ago.  I’m not even sure what made me look into a band with a name like this.  But as soon as I saw that they were a Finnish psychedelic black metal band I had to see what they were all about.

And they are an interesting proposition.  The music definitely gets heavy, but there are lots of gentle samples (flute perhaps?) through some of the quieter more psychedelic moments.  My only complaint is the black metal component because the singer more or less growls quietly (presumably in Finnish) over the music.   Musically, though, I’m really intrigued by them.  Because I didn’t know enough about them, and because I already had tickets to see Black Angels, I didn’t really look into them very closely.  But having sat with them a bit and listened to them a but more, I think this would have been the better choice, especially since they haven’t toured the US in 7 years and presumably won’t be back for a long while, if ever.

Wayfarer is Denver’s gothic country-infused black metal band.  They have an interesting aesthetic (black metal, with sludge, with death metal, heated to a boil on the scorching stones of the Rockies) and I like their musical components, but once again the singer is a deep cookie monster type singer–yes, black metal, I know–but as a person who likes lyrics, it’s hard to get into a song when you just can’t understand what the singer is doing.  This is another band I think I’d probably enjoy live more because I could focus on the music rather than the words.

I enjoyed the Black Angels show, but yea, this might have been the better choice.

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Ghostface Killah / ZekeUltra / J the Audiophile / Dell P (Underground Arts, Philadelphia, PA, May 14, 2026) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Dell-P, J the Audiophile, Philadelphia, PA, The Chameleons, Underground Arts, ZekeUltra on May 14, 2026| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: May 14, 2026] Ghostface Killah / ZekeUltra / J the Audiophile / Dell P

It was unlikely that I’d go to a Ghostface Killah concert, but he’s a member of Wu-Tang and it would be interesting to see one of them live.  And in Underground Arts.

I had talked to my physical therapist about this show and he told me that he had seen Ghostface and that he was boring live.  And really that’s all I needed to hear to know that I wasn’t going to go.

ZekeUltra is a young low key rapper.  Kind of mumbly but you can understand him.  His new album is full of songs that are less than 2 minutes long.  After having seen this kind of performer with Earl Sweatshirt, I can tell I wouldn’t have enjoyed this.

J the audiophile is a hip hop, soul, electronic dance music, disco, and funk DJ, music producer, and all around vinyl enthusiast living large in the City.  He is dedicated to the preservation of vinyl culture in Philadelphia.  He has some albums out.  I think they’re all instrumental with spoken samples.  I guess for a live show he would be spinning, but I don’t know if it would be his own stuff or just DJing.  But I love the retro vibe he’s playing.

Dell-P is a Philly rapper who has nice old school flow–aggressive and clear–with catchy choruses.

Even though I didn’t want to see the first two, J the audiophile and Dell-P are pretty great.

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The Lemon Twigs / Josephine Network (Union Transfer, Philadelphia PA, May 7, 2026) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Josephine Network, Philadelphia, PA, The Lemon Twigs, Underground Arts on May 7, 2026| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: May 7, 2026] The Lemon Twigs / Josephine Network

I wrote this two years ago:

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.

I believe that this is the fifth or sixth time that I haven’t seen them.  I did finally get to see them open for Car Seat Headrest but I’d really like to see them headline.  Maybe one of these days.

Josephine Network  is the project of NY singer/songwriter and musician Josephine. Her music has a very retro feel–glammy and poppy.  A very 70s vibe with soft vocals and harmonies.  I don’t really like them, but they sound like they’d be a perfect opener for the retro Lemon Twigs.

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