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Archive for the ‘Underground Arts’ Category

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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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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