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Goat Girl (Union Transfer, Philadelphia, PA, June 8, 2018) [PARQUET COURTS]

Posted in Goat Girl, Parkay Quarts, Parquet Courts, Philadelphia, PA, Union Transfer on June 8, 2018| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: June 8, 2018] Goat Girl

Goat Girl are a massive buzz band in England.

Back in March, The Guardian had this to say:

Fearless, omnivorous Goat Girl (named in reference to Bill Hicks’s lusty alter ego, Goat Boy) found each other, and their sound, in Brixton indie venue the Windmill, signing to Rough Trade (over Domino and XL) two years ago before releasing anything. Taking their time and choosing the right home has served them well – their eponymous debut sounds self-assured: 19 songs crafted with care, in which dirty grunge riffs take strange left turns.

I was surprised that they were playing here so soon, evidently on a multi-date tour with Parquet Courts.  But they proved to be an excellent compaion band to parquet Courts since they have a punk, DIY aesthetic but don’t stick to one genre of music

I’ll let NME describe their album:

The four piece’s debut album is a grubby, clattering thing that takes its lead from 1980s LA punk trailblazers like X and The Gun Club, who took traditional country music and fed it moonshine until it fell down in a ditch, then scraped the mud off its jeans, handed it a microphone and a broken electric guitar and made it walk through broken glass to sing in a grotty toilet venue bar over a broken PA system. Goat Girl have mixed this scrappy sound with the gothic ennui of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds and the doomy experimentalism of Tom Waits. The result is a late-night swagger through the murky underbelly of the town that Clottie Cream, Rosy Bones, Naima Jelly and L.E.D. – not, we assume, their birth names – call home, coming in at 19 swirling songs in 40 punchy minutes. It even includes a song that describes their very sound, the Pixies-esque belter ‘Country Sleaze’, thus rendering the past paragraph of me picking apart their sonics almost entirely pointless. Ah well.

Goat Girl was a lot of fun.  They played for about 40 minutes, presumably their whole album, although I didn’t know it. (more…)

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Street Stains (Union Transfer, Philadelphia, PA, June 8, 2018) [PARQUET COURTS]

Posted in Parkay Quarts, Parquet Courts, Philadelphia, PA, Pissed Jeans, Q and Not U, Street Stains, Union Transfer on June 8, 2018| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: June 8, 2018] Street Stains

Street Stains are from Washington D.C.  They are a duo consisting of guitar and drums.

Guitarist Chris Richards (who was in Q and Not U) plays a spare guitar and simple riffs.  It amused me that he never really took his hood off as he shouted the lyrics.

Drummer Sean McGuinness (who also plays in Pissed Jeans) played some really complex fills and kept the simple songs from growing dull.

He had some things to say about parties in Washington D.C. and how they suck (I assume as an introduction to “The Party.”

I also enjoyed that they have a song called “Street Stains” and one called “Somewhere Over the Chemtrails.” (more…)

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Japanese Breakfast (Union Transfer, Philadelphia, PA, June 3, 2018)

Posted in Japanese Breakfast, Philadelphia, PA, Radiator Hospital, Union Transfer on June 3, 2018| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: June 3, 2018] Japanese Breakfast

Japanese Breakfast is the creation of Philadelphia-based Michelle Zauner.  She sings pretty melodies and has a variety of tones when she sings–some high-pitched notes and some lower parts as well.

A lot of bands celebrate in some way when they play a home town.  Sometimes its an extra song or a guest.  I don’t really know how this show deviated from other in terms of set list, but Zauner had a lot to celebrate being back at Union Transfer.

[Quotes and quoted passages are from an article in The Key

“I fucking used to work coat check here,” Zauner told the audience as she gazed into the sold out crowd at UT.

She said this just after she’d sung her first song “Diving Woman.”  It was the first time she had headlined Union Transfer.  She said she felt a bit shy playing here because so many friends and family were in attendance.  And she talked a lot about her connections to the city.  She graduated from Bryn Mawr college and she recorded both Japanese Breakfast albums in Philly.   (more…)

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LVL UP (Union Transfer, Philadelphia, PA, June 3, 2018) [JAPANESE BREAKFAST]

Posted in LVL UP, Philadelphia, PA, Silver Jews, Union Transfer on June 3, 2018| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: June 3, 2018] LVL UP

I had two ideas of what LVL UP sounded like.  I thought they were either a punky crazy band or were a poppy band.

Turns out they were neither.  They’re more punk than pop, but there’s a kind of a DIY quality to their music more than anything polished.

I was also delighted to see that they have three singers (and I assume songwriters) as well.  For this show, they basically went around the horn with who sang lead.

Bassist Nick Corbo started off with “Angel From Space.”   He was followed by guitarist Mike Caridi with his more angular song “Blur.”  Then came second guitarist Dave Benton with his more chill sounding “Soft Power.”

The only one who didn’t sing was drummer Greg Rutkin.

Then they repeated the cycle.  Nick Corbo with his big old-fashioned looking bass played the slower “Five Men on the Ridge.”  Back to Caridi with a new song (all the others are, I believe on their new album.  It was followed by Benton’s “I Feel Extra Natural” which references the Silver Jews.

They went through the cycle of singers one more time and then played a couple more songs at the end.  It was cool that they kept things moving and all sounding pretty different while maintaining their overall vibe.

 

 

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Radiator Hospital (Union Transfer, Philadelphia, PA, June 3, 2018) [JAPANESE BREAKFAST]

Posted in Philadelphia, PA, Radiator Hospital, Union Transfer on June 3, 2018| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: June 3, 2018] Radiator Hospital

Radiator Hospital is a Philly band led by Sam Cook-Parrott.

They write short, punky songs with Cook-Parrott singing most of them.

In an interview he said

Usually, I write simple songs so we can learn them quickly and then play shows. But then six months after we recorded it, we will look back at the recorded version and think we play [those songs] much better now after playing at shows all the time.

(more…)

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Pond (Union Transfer, Philadelphia, PA, May 29, 2018)

Posted in Fascinator, Ian Anderson, Philadelphia, PA, Pond, Tame Impala, The Flaming Lips, The Sydney Morning Herald, Union Transfer on May 29, 2018| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: May 29, 2018] Pond [rescheduled from January 12]

Pond was supposed to play here back in January. But because of our corrupt leader’s immigration policies, they couldn’t get visas in time.  They had to postpone the tour.  Luckily they made it back in May and the opener, Fascinator, remained the same.

I didn’t really know Pond all that well, but I knew they were connected to Tame Impala and that was a good thing. So I listened to a few songs, decided they were pretty good and decided to see them live.

Well, apparently they have a massive fan base because the crowd behind me (I was pretty close to the stage) was berserk for the band, especially singer Nick Allbrook who was a bundle of energy.

When they came out the crowd freaked out and there was much shrieking and yelling behind me.  Nonplussed by the yells, the band started with “30,000 Megatons” the outstanding first track off of their new album The Weather. (more…)

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Fascinator (Union Transfer, Philadelphia, PA, May 29, 2018) [POND]

Posted in Fascinator, Philadelphia, PA, Pond, The Sydney Morning Herald, Union Transfer on May 29, 2018| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: May 29, 2018] Fascinator [rescheduled from January 12]

Fascinator is Australia’s Johnny Mackay he was the frontman of Children Collide, an alt-rock outfit, but he was always experimenting with electronic music so he created Fascinator as a side project. Then he moved to New York and Fascinator became his main project.

I have to admit that when I first looked up Fascaintor, and read stories like this: he’s turned Fascinator live shows into something wild, whimsical, and theatrical, employing masks, costumes and a rotating cast of backing performers (from The Sydney Morning Herald), I had high hopes for a wild show.

I mean, here’s a quote from the man himself:

“There’s this character I’ve created, this cosmic shaman from space, Lord Fascinator, who comes down and visits Earth and shows people the magical melodies he’s created,” Mackay says. “I often perform behind a mask, and sometimes I’ll have 13 people on stage, all wearing matching masks and kaftans.”

Well, Fascinator wasn’t all that wild.  Lord Fascinator came out with long blond hair and sunglasses wearing a white kaftan, cloth pants (a very different all-white from Andrew W.k.) and interesting shoes.

He has also said

“For a while I had an ‘air instruments only’ policy. I’d be making all the music, but I’d have an air guitarist, air drummer, air whatever. We played this show at the Bowery Ballroom, supporting Pond. And there was this guy in the audience cracking the shits about it. He was yelling out ‘You’re not even playing real instruments!’ It was like ‘um, yeah, we know’.

For our show Lord Fascinator had one accompanist, Lord Decorator.  Lord Decorator did not play air instruments, he played oud and hand drums and violin.  He dd not wear a mask although he did wear a kaftan.

Fascinator came out with his white guitar and a little electronic contraption.  He started a beat, manipulated the pitch, created some kind of sounds (I don’t know if everything eh made was live or not), played some cool trippy guitar and sang.

Essentially that’s what he did for 45 minutes.  There were many tempo changes and presumably many different songs.  Lord Decorator changed instruments constantly and it was clear that one song was ending and a new one was starting–Lord Fascinator often changed the drum beat to a new tempo, but he never stopped the flow of th emusic while changing things up.

What was quite fun was when he brought out his old Casio DG-20 which he played for almost all of the rest of the set.  I had never seen one in the wild before so that was really fun. The sounds weren’t quite as crazy as I assumed they’d be, but I i did see him change the programming  bunch of chimes (lift the guitar into the light to see what the buttons are, push something, move on).

Basically the set was about 45 minute of psychedelically, vaguely Middle Eastern music.  It was largely dancey–the guys behind me were a pool of sweat from dancing so much–but with some really cool sounds and effects and accompaniment.

So it wasn’t the wild mask-covered air guitar show that I imagined, but it was certainly an enjoyable set.  He has a new album out, i wonder if as a headliner he tends to go all out with the costumery.

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Andrew W.K. (Union Transfer, Philadelphia, PA, May 21, 2018)

Posted in Andrew WK, Destroy Build Destroy, Philadelphia, PA, Pizza, Union Transfer on May 21, 2018| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: May 21, 2018] Andrew W.K. 

When Andrew W.K. first came on the scene, I enjoyed what I thought of as his dopey party music.  It seemed a little one note, but it was sure fun.

Then I learned more and more about the guy and decided I really liked him, even if I didn’t get into any more of his music.

Then he put out a record of piano music (he is a long-trained pianist)  It was all instrumental and improvised and he did a Tiny Desk Concert piano improv (which was interesting if not a little disappointing).

Then some kind of strange legal things happened and he stopped making music (more or less) and did motivational speaking and went into TV.  He made the terrific show Destroy Build Destroy and my kids became fans of him (although not his music). (more…)

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David Fantasy & Adult Content (Union Transfer, Philadelphia, PA, May 21, 2018) [ANDREW W.K.]

Posted in Andrew WK, David Fantasy & Adult Content, Philadelphia, PA, Sex, Union Transfer, West Philadelphia Orchestra on May 21, 2018| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: May 21, 2018] David Fantasy & Adult Content

When I saw that David Fantasy & Adult Content were opening for Andrew W.K., I had to do some research to see what they were all about.

Somehow, it led me to this page from the West Philadelphia Orchestra, a band David Fishkin joined a few years ago:

Shortly after joining, I had a conversation with my mother about the special connection that WPO has with people who dance to our music. My mother said, “David, why don’t you start a dance band?” I thought to myself, “Indeed, why not?” But I don’t think my mother could have imagined the band that I was inspired to create: David Fantasy & Adult Content. We are a party band, dedicated to making bodies move in rhythm. As my alter ego, singer David Fantasy, I have been known to implore audiences to “get up and shake their asses.”

As a music educator, I am a member of the faculty of the Philadelphia Clef Club of Jazz and Performing Arts, as well as a woodwind teaching artist through the youth program of Symphony In C. I also teach private lessons in saxophone, flute and clarinet.

This show was all-ages.  Some of Andrew W.K.’s fans are little (as evidenced by the guy at the merch table who bought a bobble-head for his nine-year-old girl.  Why didn’t you bring her?  The merch guy asked).

Given this piece of information, I assumed that David Fantasy & Adult Content would be a kind of double entendre band, with David Fantasy (not a stereotypical hunk) playing up the funny.   (more…)

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Courtney Barnett (Union Transfer, Philadelphia, PA, May 16, 2018)

Posted in Courtney Barnett, Jen Cloher, Kurt Vile, Palehound, Philadelphia, PA, Union Transfer on May 16, 2018| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: May 16, 2018] Courtney Barnett

 I’ve enjoyed Courtney Barnett since I first heard her a few years ago.  I had also heard that her lives shows were fantastic and put her high on my list of artists to see.

So when she and Kurt Vile did a tour together Sarah and I were right there.

But that was a different thing altogether.  The Kurt and Courtney show was pretty laid back and folkie.  Whereas Courtney’s solo music tends to be loud and confrontational.

So when she set out to tour for her upcoming album (which came out two days after we saw her), I grabbed tickets right away (they sold out by the end of the day). (more…)

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