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Darlingside / Caitlin Canty (SOPAC, South Orange, NJ, November 9, 2022) [DID NOT ATTEND]

November 9, 2022 by Paul Debraski

[ATTENDED: November 9, 2022] Darlingside / Caitlin Canty

We have seen Darlingside four times and I thought we’d never not see them if they were touring.  Especially if they played SOPAC, which is so close.

There was a change coming in Darlingside

Dave here, with some band tour news:

Starting this fall (October), I will be taking a break from live touring for a bit. This was a very difficult decision, but one that was made unanimously and with love by all four of us, after many long conversations about what is feasible and sustainable for each of us as individuals, and for the band as a whole—ie, what will ultimately serve the longevity of Darlingside.

Touring has always been the hardest part of the job for me, and while some aspects have gotten easier with time, being away from my family has only gotten harder. I love playing shows, and there is so much about touring that I’m going to miss, but for the time being I know this is the right move, most of all because it will free the rest of the guys to take many more opportunities we would have otherwise had to turn down—which hopefully means lots more shows for you to attend moving forward!

I’ll be stepping away from all live performances—including local ones—so that the other guys can focus on crafting a consistent new live experience, with special guests and new musical elements we’ve always wanted to try. I’m deeply appreciative of that work they’re doing and so excited to see what they put together. In the meantime, my other roles in the band aren’t changing; I will still be writing, arranging, singing, playing, recording, and designing, as well as constantly losing track of personal items (my favorite tour hobby)—but it will all be from home, for now.

Dave Senft

What?  No Dave?  Actually, I think he might have been playing our show, but I’m not sure.

At any rate, my wife was working late on this evening so we decided not to even get tickets–it just wasn’t going to happen.

Caitlin Canty is an American singer/songwriter whose music carves a line through folk, blues, and country ballads.  Raised in small-town Vermont, the daughter of a school teacher and a house painter, Canty earned her degree in biology in the Berkshires and subsequently moved to New York City.Her voice was called “casually devastating” by the San Francisco Chronicle and NPR Music describes her songs as having a “haunting urgency.”

I’ve since listened to her sing a few songs with Darlingside and her voice melds very nicely with theirs.  Her solo stuff is quiet lovely as well.

 

Posted in Caitlin Canty, Darlingside, SOPAC, South Orange, NJ | Leave a Comment »

Vixen77 (Underground Arts, Philadelphia, PA, November 8, 2022) [STARCRAWLER]

November 8, 2022 by Paul Debraski

[ATTENDED: October 27, 2022] Vixen77

Vixen was (I see is) a glam metal band from the late 80s.  They broke up in 1992 and then reunited with crazy drama) and are still active.

Vixen77 are a Philadelphia punk band.  They chose the name Vixen77 as a reference to the energy and the musical influence of late 70’s punk.  The band consists of guitarists Caitlin and Liz (I’m not sure who was who, but one of them was wearing a Flyers sweater and lost her glasses twice during the set!  I think it was LIz), bassist Jaz, drummer Sarah, and singer Samantha,

The band came out on stage and proceeded to rock their asses off.  It was a solid set of simple, fast, angry rockers.

Samantha has a great stage presence (the day-glo hair was a nice touch) and even though she screamed and snarled, she had a really powerful voice and could hit some pretty high notes.  Both guitarists sang backing vocals, although Liz sang most of them–and she had a powerful voice too.

I couldn’t really see Sarah on drums, but when I did she was smiling the whole time.  Jaz on bass hung in the back (but that may have been due to the size of the stage) and while she didn’t do anything fancy, for a couple of songs she had a nice rumbling solo section that kept the song rollicking on. Continue Reading »

Posted in Full show video, Philadelphia, PA, Starcrawler, Underground Arts, Vixen77 | Leave a Comment »

The Murlocs / Paul Jacobs (The Black Box at Underground Arts, Philadelphia, PA, November 7, 2022) [DID NOT ATTEND]

November 7, 2022 by Paul Debraski

[DID NOT ATTEND: November 7, 2022] The Murlocs / Paul Jacobs

I saw The Murlocs just before the pandemic.  The show was a lot of fun and I was surprised at how crowded it was.

Everyone knows that King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard are hugely prolific.  Well, fascinatingly, KGATLW’s Ambrose Kenny-Smith and Cook Craig are also in The Murlocs.

I’m not sure if this show was also in The Black Box (an awesome intimate venue), but I had scheduled another show for the following night, so I didn’t really feel up for two nights in a row (after the craziness of October, it seemed wise to back off a bit).  I’m sure they’ll be back–they seem to need to constantly be on the road.

I didn’t know who Paul Jacobs was.  Had I realized he was the drummer for Montreal band Pottery, I would have been far more interested.  Pitchfork says of him

Paul Jacobs’ cartoon world is constantly expanding. Since uprooting himself from the border city of Windsor, Ontario to the perpetually buzzing Montreal music scene, his hand-drawn animations and hallucinatory illustrations have graced the covers of multiple albums per year. As the drummer of post-punk quintet Pottery, Jacobs is the engine behind yelpy extended jams that sound equally at home on a nightclub dancefloor or at a psych festival. Yet it’s solo albums like Pink Dogs on the Green Grass where Jacobs’ soft-focus, lysergic visions truly bloom.

He seems like a PERFECT fit for a KGATLW spin off.  Indeed, he seems like a KGATLW spin off himself.

I probably should have gone to this show.

 

Posted in Australia, King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, Philadelphia, PA, Pottery, The Black Box, The Murlocs, Underground Arts | Leave a Comment »

Travis / Ben Ottewell (Union Transfer, Philadelphia, PA, November 7, 2022) [DID NOT ATTEND]

November 7, 2022 by Paul Debraski

[DID NOT ATTEND: November 7, 2022] Travis / Ben Ottewell

When Travis first came out with their second album The Man Who, I thought they were going to be the next big thing.  I loved how the opening song, “Waiting to Reach You” was snarky at Oasis: “Radio is playing all the usual and what’s a wonderwall anyway?”  And “Why Does It Always Rain on Me?” seemed poised for epicness.

And then an upstart Travis copycat band called Coldplay put out Parachutes, with “Yellow,” and I thought, “well, they’re good, but they’re no Travis.”

The Invisible Band seemed to solidify their status with the super catchy “Sing.”  And then no one ever hear from them again.  That’s not true, but I certainly never did.  They’ve put out six albums with, apparently, no U.S. airplay.

When they announced this tour, playing The Invisible Band in full, plus other hits, I did consider going.  I considered going up to and until this day, when I ultimately decided I didn’t need to see them.

Ben Ottewell is one of the three singer from Gomez.  

I liked the first Gomez album, but I didn’t listen to much beyond it.  I’m not sure I realized they had three singers.  I’m assuming that Ottewell is the singer I associate with them most (his voice is gravelly and rough).  His solo work is even more mellow and acoustic, so this would have probably been a fine, if interesting set.

For some reason, I kept thinking that he was opening for House of Love.  But I was wrong, obviously.

Posted in Ben Ottewell, Gomez, Philadelphia, PA, Travis, Union Transfer | Leave a Comment »

Tropical Fuck Storm (Johnny Brenda’s, Philadelphia, PA, November 3, 2022)

November 6, 2022 by Paul Debraski

[ATTENDED: October 29, 2022] Tropical Fuck Storm

I saw Tropical Fuck Storm open for Modest Mouse four years ago and I was really impressed by them.  Since then, they have put out a couple more albums and seem to have made some headway into the American market (even with a name like that).

This show was sold out (it was their first show in Philly).  However, it was also a night that the Phillies were playing in the World Series.  So, the crowd was not packed in tight.  It worked out for everyone–the band got a sold out show and I didn’t have someone on my toes.

The band came out were fun but not super chatty.  I’m pretty amazed to see that they played largely the same set that they played back in 2018–especially since they have two new albums out since then.

They opened with “Braindrops” (from my favorite of the three albums).  I love the way the band sounds like a big pile of chaos and yet they are all really tight and focused.

I was in front of RKO (Erica Dunn) who mostly played guitar and occasional keys.  In the middle was Gaz, (Gareth Liddiard).  Off to the far side was Fifi (Fiona Kitschin).  On the drums was Hammy or Hammer (Lauren Hammel).  And she smashed the drums harder than anyone I’ve seen.

I loved watching RKO play wild guitar parts–sometimes conventional chords, sometimes solos.

But really it was Gaz who was the focal point.  And how could he not be since he sang most of the songs and played a frenetic and noisy lead guitar.  He has a huge stack of effects pedals, including what I’m thinking is some kind of loop, so that when he does … something, it sounds like a siren going off (but only for a second).

His playing is loose and seemingly crazy and yet full controlled with his hands almost never off of the whammy bar.

One of my favorite parts of their songs is when RKO and Fifi sing backing vocals.  They have great voices, but they can also sing in a surprisingly high register as well–which contrasts perfectly to Gaz’s low growl.

RKO sang lead on “New Romeo Agent,” a kind of slow burning song.

The crowd was very much into the whole set but they went nuts for “You Let My Tyres Down,” a personal favorite of mine, too.  It’s just as frenetic and wild as the rest but with a slow and catchy chorus.

FiFi sang lead on the cover of the Stooges Ann, a slow moody piece.   They ended with “Two Afternoons,” a song that has slow verses but is just a noise fest in the beginning and the end.  As this was the last song, they really jammed out the end with Gaz squatting on the stage playing with effects pedals and causing all kinds of noisy feedback–glorious chaos.

They came back after a couple of minutes and played “Paradise,” a killer song from Braindrops.  On the record it’s 6 minutes long but they stretched it out even longer with noisy jamming sections and aural chaos.

I thought they might do another song (they had been playing “Stayin’ Alive” as a second encore.  And they’d already long passed the 11PM mark (there’s no curfew apparently).  But nope, that was it.  I would have really enjoyed one more song, but it was clearly an exhausting set and it was quite an intense 75 minutes.  Highly recommended.

2022 2018
Braindrops ∀ Chameleon Paint ⊗
Chameleon Paint ⊗ Antimatter Animals ⊗
New Romeo Agent ♠ Soft Power ⊗
Antimatter Animals ⊗ You Let My Tyres Down ⊗
You Let My Tyres Down ⊗ Back to the Wall (Divinyls cover)
Legal Ghost ♠ Two Afternoons ⊗
Ann (The Stooges cover) Rubber Bullies ⊗
Rubber Bullies ⊗ Baby Squared (The Drones cover)
Two Afternoons ⊗
encore
Paradise ∀

⊗ A Laughing Death in Meatspace (2018)
∀ Braindrops (2019)
♠ Deep States (2021)

Posted in Johnny Brenda's, Philadelphia, PA, Tropical Fuck Storm | Leave a Comment »

Nina Ryser (Johnny Brenda’s, Philadelphia, PA, November 3, 2022) [TROPICAL FUCK STORM]

November 5, 2022 by Paul Debraski

[ATTENDED: October 29, 2022] Nina Ryser

Nina Ryser is a member of Palberta (I love that name) whom I saw live a while back.  I recently also saw her bandmate Lily Konigsberg solo, so that’s 2/3 of Palberta I’ve seen solo now.   (Clearly Anina Ivry-Block will be opening for someone in the near future).  I have also seen Nina Ryser play drums for Old Maybe.

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.

I know she played “Shelf the Trophy.”  She played another song that reminded me of a lo-fi Stereolab.

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.

She ended the set with the catchiest song.  I don’t know what it’s called but there was a repeated refrain of “you never looked better.”  It was simple, but the vocal line complemented the music really nicely.

There’s so many interesting Philly-based musicians and so many places to play.  It’s quite a rich scene.

Posted in Johnny Brenda's, Lily Konigsberg, Nina Ryser, Old Maybe, Palberta, Philadelphia, PA, Tropical Fuck Storm | Leave a Comment »

Superorganism / Blood Cultures (Union Transfer, Philadelphia, PA, November 5, 2022) [DID NOT ATTEND]

November 5, 2022 by Paul Debraski

[DID NOT ATTEND: November 5, 2022] Superorganism/Blood Culture

I had seen Superorganism four years ago.  They were buzzing around with a couple of left field hits and at the time I thought they could be the next big thing or an internet meme.  Well, they drifted away.  But came back somewhat surprisingly at the end of last year.

Although I hadn’t heard they even released an album when this show was announced.

I’d had a good time at the last show so I grabbed a ticket.  Evidently the show did not sell well as Union Transfer sent out this:

You are invited to bring a friend for FREE! No catches or hidden fees etc. Just roll up to the show with your ticket(s) and let the door people and ticket scanners know you are bringing your friend as a free plus one / guest. They’ll hand over a complimentary ticket for your friend to use on the spot and that’s it. Free show!

It had been a long week and the kids were both going to a homecoming dance, so we decided to stay home (even though I would have brought her for free).

The opening band Blood Cultures has a fascinating gimmick

Blood Cultures is an experimental indie pop group from New Jersey. First known as a single person and now recognized as a collective (a quartet as of 2019), the band’s members remain anonymous, their faces obscured by black hoods in all photos. As they have explained, their anonymity is crucial to their ethos and aims “to keep the relationship between the listener and the music as pure as possible”. Hailed as some of the most exciting music coming out of New York by NME in 2018, Blood Cultures’ genre-bending sound is often characterized as psychedelic pop, electropop, and chillwave. Blood Cultures released their first album, Happy Birthday, in 2017. The band released its second album, Oh Uncertainty! A Universe Despairs, in September 2019. Their third record, LUNO, was released on May 28, 2021.

They sound pretty interesting and I would have definitely enjoyed checking them out.  I’m also really surprised I hadn’t heard of them before.

Posted in Blood Cultures, Hugh Augustine, Philadelphia, PA, Superorganism, Union Transfer | Leave a Comment »

Let’s Eat Grandma (The Foundry, Philadelphia, PA, November 2, 2022)

November 4, 2022 by Paul Debraski

[ATTENDED: November 2, 2022] Let’s Eat Grandma

I first heard about Let’s Eat Grandma back in 2016 from NPR music.  They had put out an album, I, Gemini that was weird and quirky, the creation of two weird and quirky girls–Rosa Walton (r, on the poster) and Jenny Hollingworth.  The album was really bizarre–strange music and spoken/shouted lyrics in thick Norwich accents.

I really wanted to see this concoction live, but they were quite young at the time and didn’t come over to the States until 2018.  Their 2018 album, I’m All Ears had a very different sound (more synthy and dancey, but still quirky).  The song “Hot Pink” from that album is about as weird as a catchy pop song can be.

Then in 2022 they put out Two Ribbons.  They had a series of personal crises in this time and it feels like a lot of the quirkiness was bashed out of them.  This makes the new album poppier and a lot mre accessible but to me a bit less interesting.

I read a review of their live show to make sure I still want to go, and it did make me want to go.  But I couldn’t help feel that there was something a little flat about the whole thing. Continue Reading »

Posted in Cyberpunk: Edgerunners, Julien Chang, Let's Eat Grandma, Philadelphia, PA, The Foundry | Leave a Comment »

Julien Chang (The Foundry, Philadelphia, PA, November 2, 2022) [LET’S EAT GRANDMA]

November 3, 2022 by Paul Debraski

[ATTENDED: November 2, 2022] Julien Chang

I hadn’t heard of Julien Chang (pronounced “Chong” according to him) before this show.  He has an album out and a new one out on November 4.

I had listened to a couple of songs beforehand and found them to be nice enough.  I was in no way prepared for the band that he brought with him.

His lead guitarist Utah Miller was really fantastic.  They looked really young, but there was some serious shredding going on.  Julien’s bassist (whose name I didn’t catch played some great riffs and a few sliding bass-like sounds.  He also played guitar on a couple of songs (for a three guitar attack!).  But his most impressive bandmate was drummer Maya Stepansky.  She was all over the kit but in a very controlled manner.  With a small drum kit, she played some really impressive and timely fills.  She had a lot of subtle moments of the cymbals and was just a stellar accompanist.

Then there was Chang himself.  He wrote and played all of the songs on the record (with a couple of exceptions) and his songwriting skills is really quite accomplished.  I found some of his arrangements to be really complex and wonderful.  He has a jazz composer’s technique, with time changes and major rhythmic shifts in the songs.  And obviously allowing Miller to shred and Stepansky to riff shows a complex song structure.

I’m not even sure how to best describe his music.  It felt jazzy and poppy.  There were some prog rock elements (in the time shifts) and musically I really enjoyed what I heard.

I haven’t heard any of the studio recording of these songs, but I feel like they will simply be a lot better live.

  1. Heart Holiday
  2. Snakebit
  3. Butterflies in Morocco
  5. Marmalade

Posted in Julien Chang, Let's Eat Grandma, Philadelphia, PA, The Foundry | Leave a Comment »

Chris Forsyth (Johnny Brenda’s, Philadelphia, PA, October 29, 2022)

November 2, 2022 by Paul Debraski

[ATTENDED: October 29, 2022] Chris Forsyth

I saw Chris Forsyth a few years ago and have been wanting to see him again.  It didn’t really matter what he was playing, I knew I’d enjoy his improv-filled jamming rock songs.

I was pretty excited to see him at Johnny Brenda’s as I knew I could get up close to watch him play.  It turned out that this particular show lined up with the Philadelphia Phillies’ first home game of the World Series.  Which meant that a) it was impossible to find parking and b) hardly anyone was in the concert hall.  Which was fine for me.  And probably for him, as I’m sure he sold a bunch of tickets ahead of time.

After raving about Meg Baird, Chris came up on stage with some of the band that Meg had used.  Douglas McCombs (from Tortoise!) and my favorite new (to me) drummer, Ryan Jewell.

The show started with Chris on a guitar that he didn’t play for the rest of the night.  The song was quiet and a little trippy.  A simple guitar chord structure with very loud simple bass line from McCombs.  I thought I knew the new album pretty well, but I didn’t recognize this song.  Nevertheless is was clearly a Chris Forsyth song with an interesting riffs and a tasteful solo or two.   I enjoyed how after about three or four minutes of this quieter introduction, the band totally rocked out. Continue Reading »

Posted in Chris Forsyth, Chris Forsyth & The Solar Motel Band, Espers, Heron Oblivion, Johnny Brenda's, Meg Baird, Philadelphia, PA, Ryan Jewell | Leave a Comment »

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