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Archive for the ‘Union Transfer’ Category

Kikagaku Moyo / Nina Ryser (Union Transfer, Philadelphia, PA, May 18, 2022) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Kikagaku Moyo, Nina Ryser, Philadelphia, PA, Union Transfer on May 18, 2022| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: May 18, 2022] Kikagaku Moyo / Nina Ryser

I saw Kikagaku Moyo in 2019 and they were amazing.  I’ve wanted to see them again, but they are from Japan, and the Pandemic kept them away.

They finally announced a new show for 2022 and I was psyched.  Too bad it aligned with the Deftones show that I’d been waiting to see for a couple of years. Too bad also the Beach Bunny show that I was going to take my daughter to see fell on the same night.

Then Kikagaku Moyo announced that this was going to be their last tour–they were going to break up.  So I’ll never see them again.

Alas.

Nina Ryser is one third of Palberta.

I happened to see her later on in the year opening for Tropical Fuck Storm

Nina Ryser is a member of Palberta.  ..  Like the rest of her Palbertans, Ryser is a prolific songwriter who is classically trained but who likes to push the boundaries of what music should do. …  For this little set, she and her husband played keyboards (and all manner of gadgets).  The set sounded improvised, but I’m sure it wasn’t. … Most of the songs were built around a beat and a simple chord pattern.  There was a droney component to it and Nina’s vocals were kind of deapan. … My favorite parts of the show occurred between songs where Nina would mess around with looping pedals and make these interesting collages out of bits of the song she’d just played.  There was definitely some improv in here and I enjoyed watching her manipulate the sounds to create something cool.

Wish I could have seen Kikagaku Moyo instead.

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Built to Spill (Union Transfer, Philadelphia, PA, May 11, 2022)

Posted in Blood Lemon, Built to Spill, Cate Le Bon, Daniel Johnston, Philadelphia, PA, Prism Bitch, Union Transfer on May 13, 2022| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: May 11, 2022] Built to Spill [rescheduled from July 30, 2020]

I feel like I have seen Built to Spill a million times, but this was my fifth show.

The first time I saw him was at Union Transfer back in 2015 and he had a five piece band.  That was a couple of iterations ago and now he was back with a new band.

On this newly announced tour, his whole band was going to be different.  In fact, I have seen at least three different lineups for the band over the years.  This tour was going to feature drummer Teresa Esguerra of Prism Bitch (who opened for Built To Spill last time) and bassist Melanie Radford from openers Blood Lemon.

The last time I promised myself I wouldn’t get too close to the stage, but I did.  The problem with being so close is the way Doug Martsch has his guitar set up.  His amp is right next to him and it is so loud.  From where I was you could barely hear anything else.  Of course I’m there to watch Doug play, so it’s not too bad.  But I promised myself I would stand back to fully appreciate his band.

I love that Esguerra was on the side of the stage facing the other two (that’s how his band was set up with the previous trio as well).  This allowed for Esguerra  and Radford to communicate with each other while Doug was jamming.  And they had outstanding chemistry. (more…)

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Wetface (Union Transfer, Philadelphia, PA, May 11, 2022) [BUILT TO SPILL]

Posted in Blood Lemon, Built to Spill, Philadelphia, PA, Union Transfer, Wetface on May 12, 2022| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: May 11, 2022] Wetface

Wetface is the one-man-band project of Montreal based songwriter Jordan Minkoff.   He writes and plays on a mid 80’s Yamaha organ, douses “bright and ambitiously crafted pop music with layers of wonky digital strings and orchestration.”  That’s according to his label.

According to me he is a tedious, goofy in a bad way singer who is very good at playing the keyboard.  There didn’t seem to be anything ambitious about his songs which were very far from pop.  He sang often in a crazy falsetto.  It’s possible he was making things up as he went along.  The sound (’80s Yamaha) was so cheesy most of the time that I had to assume he was joking, but that the joke just wasn’t all that funny because the sound was so pervasive.

I wanted to see if I was alone in really disliking this set.  I see that the reviewer from White Eagle Hall (the show I had tickets to two nights later but which I did not go to) loved him.  Thought he was hilarious both in his song craft and his banter.

Turns out that Jordan Minkoff created some of Built to Spill’s recent videos and Doug Martsch is a big fan (he also really liked Daniel Johnston, so…).  Martsch called Wetface up on stage to sing with them in Jersey City.  Maybe that would have made me like him more.  But honestly I couldn’t wait for his set to be over.

 

 

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Blood Lemon (Union Transfer, Philadelphia, PA, May 11, 2022) [BUILT TO SPILL]

Posted in Blood Lemon, Built to Spill, Philadelphia, PA, Union Transfer, Wetface on May 11, 2022| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: May 11, 2022] Blood Lemon

When Built to Spill announced a new tour, I was pretty excited.  I mean, a Built to Spill tour is always exciting.  But this one was particularly interesting because he had an entirely new touring band with him.  So I bought tickets for two shows sort of back to back in May.  I wound up not going to the White Eagle Hall show, but I did make the Union Transfer show.

It was my first introduction to Blood Lemon.

Blood Lemon are a trio from Boise (just like Built to Spill) consisting of singer/guitarist Lisa Simpson, singer/bassist Melanie Radford and percussionist Lindsey Lloyd. They were described as having an alt 90’s sound with some heavy riffage.  I arrived a little ate for the show and walked in during the first of second song.

Whatever song it was, I was blown away by how much they rocked.  Radford had (more…)

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Indigo De Souza / Horse Jumper Of Love / Friendship (Union Transfer, Philadelphia, PA, May 2, 2022) [rescheduled again]

Posted in Friendship, Horse Jumper of Love, Indigo De Souza, Lucy Dacus, Philadelphia, PA, Postponed, Union Transfer on May 2, 2022| Leave a Comment »

[POSTPONED: May 2, 2022] Indigo De Souza / Horse Jumper Of Love / Friendship [rescheduled from January 30, moved to October 10, 2022]

indexIndigo De Souza had to postpone her previous show here because of general COVID anxiety.  Now, just a few days before this show was supposed to happen, she had to postponed because of an actual COVID outbreak:

Thank you for purchasing tickets to see Indigo De Souza at Union Transfer on May 2. Unfortunately, due to a postive Covid test in the touring party, this show has been postponed to a date to be determined in the future.

From the band: “Unfortunately, our bass player and Horse Jumper of Love’s drummer have tested positive for covid so we have decided to postpone Monday’s show in Philadelphia ,PA :/ Please hold on to your tickets as we will be announcing new dates asap. We are sad to miss this show. It’s a sensitive time to be playing music. Thank you for bearing with us as we learn how to navigate it all. Sending love in all directions.“

Perhaps third time’s the charm

~~~~~~~

Indigo De Souza is a new (to me) musician who I heard about on NPR music.  Her song “Kill Me” is outstanding.  A great dynamic of sounds, very funny lyrics and memorable hooks.  I loved it immediately.  She announced a tour soon after I’d heard it and I grabbed a ticket to see her headline tour (!).

She’s ben making music since she was like 9 with a few EPs and a previous album.  I imagine she’ll be a fun and wild performer.

On January 13, Union Transfer announced:

Indigo has decided it’s best for all involved to move their tour to a few weeks later in the year. The Philly show will now take place at Union Transfer on May 2nd

That’s not too far off.

I hadn’t heard of either of the opening acts (such is the case when the headliner is fairy new herself).  (more…)

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Girl Talk / Hugh Augustine (Union Transfer, Philadelphia, PA, April 29, 2022) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Girl Talk, Hugh Augustine, Philadelphia, PA, Union Transfer on April 29, 2022| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: April 29, 2022] Girl Talk / Hugh Augustine

The embarrassment of riches continued on April 29th as there were four more shows I was interested in going to.  And what’s so fun about Philadelphia is that among the eight shows in two nights none were in the same venue.

Girl Talk is the stage name of DJ Gregg Michael Gillis.  He makes music that is comprised of samples and mashups.  His 2010 album All Day album used overlapping samples of 372 songs by other artists.

His live shows are described as an experience not to be missed and so I immediately grabbed a ticket.  But the more I learned about the experience–a sweaty, writhing dancing mess of people, I wasn’t really sure I wanted to be a part of it.  So I decided to do something else that night instead.  I’m not sure if I missed out on something life changing, and I’ll never know.

Hugh Augustine is a rapper, chef and activist.

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Deafheaven / Clear Capsule (Union Transfer, Philadelphia, PA, April 29, 2023) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Clear Capsule, Deafheaven, Philadelphia, PA, Union Transfer on April 29, 2022| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: April 29, 2023] Deafheaven / Clear Capsule

I saw Deafheaven last year; it was an intense and enjoyable show.  A wild mix of utter noise and lovely shoegazey rock.

I’d consider seeing them again, although this show was scheduled for the same night as Placebo, so it wasn’t going to happen this time.

This show was announced with pretty short notice too.  The date was only listed in early March, so it must have been an impulsive show before they went to Europe.

Los Angeles’ Clear Capsule straddles alterna-metal heaviness and punky shoegaze.  Noot unlike Deafheaven, although a les extreme on both ends.  I rather liked the songs I heard and the high whispery voice of singer Bryce Pulaski.

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Built to Spill / Prism Bitch / Itchy Kitty (Union Transfer, Philadelphia, PA, April 28, 2023) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Blood Lemon, Built to Spill, Itchy Kitty, Philadelphia, PA, Prism Bitch, Union Transfer on April 28, 2022| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: April 28, 2023] Built to Spill / Prism Bitch / Itchy Kitty

I saw Built to Spill twice last year.  I was surprised to see that they were touring again so soon, but it had been all of seven months.

This was supposed to have been a very busy concert week for me.  But after doing so much tree cutting and hauling this week, I was too tired to go even to see Doug and his band.

For the previous shows, the opening band was Blood Lemon which featured BTS bass player Melanie Radford. This time, one of the opening bands was Prism Bitch which BTS featured drummer Teresa Esguerra.

Prism Bitch was fantastic back in 2019.  They’d have been great to see live again.

The second opening band was Itchy Kitty.  Itchy Kitty are a band from Spokane, Wa. They specialize in a hyperkinetic blend of punk traditionalism and a sort of mangled glam rock pageantry. Their music careens from whiplash inducing riffage to flash delirium freak outs.  Originally, they were a cat-centered band with songs about cats and (if photos are correct) the drummer wearing a cat mask.  But now they just rock and scream and rawk.

I’m a little bummed about missing this, but I’m sure I’ll see them again.

 

 

The first time I saw him was at Union Transfer back in 2015 and he had a five piece band.  That was a couple of iterations ago and now he was back with a new band.

On this newly announced tour, his whole band was going to be different.  In fact, I have seen at least three different lineups for the band over the years.  This tour was going to feature drummer Teresa Esguerra of Prism Bitch (who opened for Built To Spill last time) and bassist Melanie Radford from openers Blood Lemon.

The last time I promised myself I wouldn’t get too close to the stage, but I did.  The problem with being so close is the way Doug Martsch has his guitar set up.  His amp is right next to him and it is so loud.  From where I was you could barely hear anything else.  Of course I’m there to watch Doug play, so it’s not too bad.  But I promised myself I would stand back to fully appreciate his band.

I love that Esguerra was on the side of the stage facing the other two (that’s how his band was set up with the previous trio as well).  This allowed for Esguerra  and Radford to communicate with each other while Doug was jamming.  And they had outstanding chemistry. (more…)

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Biffy Clyro (Union Transfer, Philadelphia, PA, April 25, 2022)

Posted in Biffy Clyro, Philadelphia, PA, Union Transfer on April 26, 2022| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: April 25, 2022] Biffy Clyro

I’m not exactly sure when I got into Biffy Clyro.  Probably just hearing about them all the time in the British music press.

Biffy Clyro is absolutely massive at home in Scotland and they typically headline festivals of thousands of people.  They recently had a film made about the: Biffy Clyro: Cultural Sons of Scotland in which they played a concert for some 50,000 people.

Then they did an American tour and I got to see them at Union Transfer, a venue of 1,200 which did not sell out.

And yet as far as I could tell, they played as if there were 50,000 people there.

The three shirtless lads came out on stage to much applause (those in the States who like them like them a lot) and they proceeded to kick arse playing huge anthems to a small crowd who responded with energy and excitement.

The band last played Philaelphia in 2017 and they had two new albums to showcase.  They played six from 2020’s A Celebration of Endings and four from the newer The Myth of the Happily Ever After.

The good thing is that I knew they’d be featuring these two albums so I listened to them a lot and the live versions were even better–with so much energy comes from singer Simon Neil and remarkable drumming from Ben Johnston.  His twin brother James Johnston plays bass and somehow, the three of them sound like a wall of sound.  It was intense high energy sing along stadium rock up close and personal.

The only real slowdown came when Simon sang a solo acoustic version of “Machines”

Despite featuring the new albums highly, they also dipped into some older records. I actually don’t know what their hits are, so I didn’t really know what they’d play along with the new records.  They didn’t go very deep (ignoring their first three records entirely).

They hit four songs from Only Revolutions (their best selling album), but the crowd greatly appreciated them.

I’m clearly not as big a fan as most of the people there, but I really enjoyed a night of Biffy Fucking Clyro.  I don’t see arena rock all that much, but seeing it in an intimate setting like this was awesome.

  1. DumDum µ
  2. A Hunger in Your Haunt µ
  3. Tiny Indoor Fireworks €
  4. Black Chandelier ⊄
  5. North of No South €
  6. That Golden Rule ©
  7. Instant History €
  8. Mountains ©
  9. Machines (Simon Neil solo acoustic)
  10. Unknown Male 01 µ
  11. End Of €
  12. Wolves of Winter ∴
  13. Space €
  14. Slurpy Slurpy Sleep Sleep µ
  15. Re-Arrange ∴
  16. Living Is a Problem Because Everything Dies
  17. Bubbles ©
    Encore:
  18. Cop Syrup €
  19. Many of Horror ©

µ The Myth of the Happily Ever After (2021)
€ A Celebration of Endings (2020)
∴ Ellipses (2016)
⊄ Opposites (2013)
© Only Revolutions (2009)
¶ Puzzle (2007)

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Dead Poet Society (Union Transfer, Philadelphia, PA, April 25, 2022) [BIFFY CLYRO]

Posted in Biffy Clyro, Dead Poet Society, Jeff Buckley, Philadelphia, PA, Union Transfer on April 25, 2022| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: April 25, 2022] Dead Poet Society

I am usually pretty early for shows.  Not super early, but usually 20 minutes before the opener.  And usually that’s fine to get up close to the stage (unless the headliner has a huge fan base, then forget it).  I thought I had arrived in plenty of time for this show, but I think Dead Poet Society went on a few minutes early because I wound up walking in in the middle of their set.

Dead Poet Society are from Massachusetts and they create epic, bombastic rock.  There is the heaviness of Led Zeppelin in there with some good old indie rock noise thrown in the mix.  But the most notable thing about the is singer Jack Underkofler’s voice which sounds uncannily like Jeff Buckley most of the time.  I suppose there’s a Robert Plant component to it as well, but Buckley all over it.

Which is not a criticism at all.  Buckley’s voice was amazing and to be able to do something similar is very impressive.

Indeed, their songs rocked and they were really engaging.  The one thing that was odd to me was how much Underkofler acted like they were the headlining band.  I’m not entirely sure how much the crowd was with them just yet for him to be demanding the sing and clap along.  But by the end of the show, they had won everyone over I think.

I was near guitarist Jack Collins who made some great noises, bassist Dylan Brenner and drummer Will Goodroad, played heavy and loud and kept everything very tight.  Some have commented on their rather cryptic song title stylings on their debut album -!-, but I think it works pretty well with their overall sound.

Based on the previous night, this was their setlist

  1. Lo Air Ð
  2. .burymewhole. -!-
  3. .georgia. -!-
  4. Bacalar
  5. .SALT. -!-
  6. Touch
  7. .AmericanBlood. -!-
  8. Sound and Silence ∇
  9. .intoodeep. -!-
  10. .CoDA. -!-

-!- (2021)
∇ Axiom (2015)
Ð Depmsy (2016)

 

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