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Scary Kids Scaring Kids / Oxymorrons (The Foundry, Philadelphia, PA, July 21, 2024) [DID NOT ATTEND]

July 21, 2024 by Paul Debraski

[DID NOT ATTENDED: July 21, 2024] Scary Kids Scaring Kids / Oxymorrons

I saw an announcement that Oxymorrons were playing The Foundry and I immediately went to get a ticket.  My son and I saw them there about a year and a half ago and it was a ton of fun.

Then I saw that Oxymorrons were OPENING for band that I’d never heard of.

What a bummer.  I certainly wasn’t going to do out of my way for this show.

I’m still not sure what to make of Scary Kids Scaring Kids.   Apparently they put out two albums then broke up.  They put out a new album in 2002 (which was generally regarded as terrible) and now they are playing their self-titled (second) album, which people seem to like.

The descriptions of the album that I’ve read haven’t given me any insight into t he music and I don’t care enough to find out.   But it sounds like their music isn’t scary and maybe they aren’t either.

Posted in Oxymorrons, Philadelphia, PA, Scary Kids Scaring Kids, The Foundry | Leave a Comment »

Fucked Up / Chastity (Ukie Club, Philadelphia, PA, July 18, 2024) [DID NOT ATTEND]

July 18, 2024 by Paul Debraski

[DID NOT ATTEND: July 18, 2024] Fucked Up / Chastity

I saw Fucked Up back in July of 2022 and would like to see them again.

They’ve been around a few times since then and things never seem to quite work out.  I was excited about this show because I’m fond of The Ukie Club as a venue.  But then we wound up scheduling dinner with friends and this was the only night available for that.  So, sadly I had to miss them again.

But it sounds like  they’ll be back again soon.

Chastity is a one-man band project from Ontario

is for the skids, the headbangers, the freaks. Chastity is for everyone who has suffered and survived the lethal combination of suburban overculture and mental distress. Chastity is especially for everyone who didn’t survive—the ones who didn’t get out. Brandon Williams did, luckily, and his work with Chastity has been to collect people like him, who got out by the skin of their teeth.

They play surprisingly catchy (with great guitar lines and sing along choruses) song given the angst mentioned and the fact that they are opening for Fucked Up.

I’d have really enjoyed this show I think.

Posted in Chastity, Fucked Up, Philadelphia, PA, The Ukie Club | Leave a Comment »

Lifeguard (PhilaMOCA, Philadelphia, PA, July 15, 2023)

July 17, 2024 by Paul Debraski

[ATTENDED: July 15, 2024] Lifeguard

Before this show I hadn’t heard of Lifeguard.  Which is why I was surprised that this was a co-headlining tour. But then I saw that in May Monster Children (yea, I don’t know what that is either) wrote an article called “Lifeguard is a band you should know.”

Their music is youthful, energetic and intentional, channeling the nostalgic sounds of bands like Dinosaur Jr and Fugazi while still remaining distinctly their own. They give a shit, putting all of themselves into the band and everything surrounding it, creating a sound that encapsulates this youth collective that they’ve played such a major role in creating.

I don’t know how old the members of the band are, but I assume they are teenagers.

And the first notable thing about them was that singer guitarist Kai Slater was on crutches.  So he sat for the whole set, his right foot in a boot.

Then he started playing guitar–a great crisp, punky guitar sound.  The reminded me a bit of Gang of Four.  Their songs were pretty catchy and yet they were absolutely unafraid to simply make a lot of noise–screamed vocals, angular sharp guitars and crashing drums. Continue Reading »

Posted in Cold Court, Font, Lifeguard, Philadelphia, PA, PhilaMOCA | Leave a Comment »

Font (PhilaMOCA, Philadelphia, PA, July 15, 2023) [LIFEGUARD]

July 16, 2024 by Paul Debraski

[ATTENDED: July 15, 2024] Font

I saw Font back in October of 2023 opening for Chai and I loved them.  They hadn’t released any music at the time but this mini tour was in support of the release of their debut album.

So who are they?

Font is an Austin-based band made up of Thom Waddill, Jack Owens, Anthony Lawrence, Roman Parnell, and Logan Wagner. Fontbegan playing shows regularly in the beginning of 2022.

They make noisy, unexpected songs with catchy parts and decidedly uncatchy parts.  The songs tend to have something–a piano note, a guitar riff–that recurs enough to call it a hook.  And each song is unique in its own way.

The bass wanders all over the place–in a great New Wave sorta way.  And, as it turns out the percussionist is a major component of the band.

I stood in front of singer/guitarist/sound effects manipulator Thom Waddill.  In the center of the stage was Anthony Laurence who played guitar and was in charge of a lot of the other sounds that came out–he had a cool array of equipment up there.  On the far side was bassist Roman Parnell.

Then in the back were the real noise makers: Jack Owens on Drums and Logan Wagner on Percussion.  Wagner had a vast supply of equipment that he kept changing out, creating really interesting organic sounds.  He also triggered some samples.

There were two guys up front.  One was the singer.  He played guitar and all kinds of gear that he had around him.  The other guy also played guitar although he seemed to play more of the electronic gear that was around him.  At one point the guy in front of me also play the gear in front of the other guy–there was a lot of gear.

They have weird, interesting songs that people don’t make anymore.  The laziest comparison I can make is Parquet Courts, for the diversity of style and sometimes angular and harsh melodies, but they don’t sound anything like Parquet Courts, not really.

I can’t wait to hear what else they do.  They were terrific.

I told Waddill that I thought they were headlining and he said that they and Lifeguard were co-headlining.  So that made sense.

I would certainly see them again.

 

2024 2023
Cattle Prod § The Golden Calf §
Two Answers Sentence I §
It § Hey Kekulé §
Hey Kekulé § It §
Looking At Engines § Two Answers
Natalie’s Song § Looking at Engines §
The Golden Calf § Cattle Prod §
Signal Drama Natalie’s Song §
Sentence 1 § [maybe one more]

§ Strange Burden (2024)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Posted in Cold Court, Font, Lifeguard, Philadelphia, PA, PhilaMOCA | Leave a Comment »

Font (PhilaMOCA, Philadelphia, PA, July 15, 2023) [LIFEGUARD]

July 16, 2024 by Paul Debraski

[ATTENDED: July 15, 2024] Font

I saw Font (from Austin, TX) open for Chai about nine months ago. They weren’t really compatible in terms of style, but they were both a little weird an a pretty noisy.

I really enjoyed Font a lot and was a little bummed that they had, basically, one song available online.  Well a few days ago they released an actual album.  It’s not long (less than half an hour), but it’s packed with all the weirdness that makes Font awesome.

They play a great mix of catchy and really abrasive–repetitive sounds that contrast (in both time signature and style) to the drum/percussion or the great bass sound.

There’s five guys in the band: vocalist/guitarist/sound creator Thom Wadhill, guitarist/sampling savant Anthony Lawrence, bassist Roman Parnell and dual percussionists Jack Owens and Logan Wagner.

Last time, I noted

The bass wanders all over the place–in a great New Wave sorta way.  And, as it turns out the percussionist is a major component of the band.  From where I was I couldn’t really see the drummer (there was so much STUFF on stage), but I could clearly see the percussionist who had cowbells, blocks, cymbals (which he moved around to make different sound) and some bongos.  He must have been exhausted.

There were two guys up front.  One was the singer.  He played guitar and all kinds of gear that he had around him.  The other guy also played guitar although he seemed to play more of the electronic gear that was around him.  At one point the guy in front of me [Wadhill] also played the gear in front of the [Lawrence]–there was a lot of gear.

Continue Reading »

Posted in Cold Court, Font, Lifeguard, Philadelphia, PA, PhilaMOCA | 1 Comment »

Cold Court (PhilaMOCA, Philadelphia, PA, July 15, 2023) [LIFEGUARD]

July 15, 2024 by Paul Debraski

[ATTENDED: July 15, 2024] Cold Court

I saw Cold Court back in July of last year when they opened for Black Midi.  All I could find out about them then was that they were from Philadelphia.

They have an Instagram page but there’s not much on it.  And any searches reveal pretty much that they opened for Black Midi and very little else.

According to live at the Lawn Jawn (a video online), this was the lineup of the band about two weeks before the Black Midi show:

Mini Serrano (Guitar, Vocals), Josyah Lavina-Maldonado (Guitar, Vocals), Theo Shuttleworth (Bass), Jett Mann (Drums), Charlie Westlake (Saxophone, Synth), Alex Ramirez (Viola), and Joe Kuck (Percussion).

There were five members of the band for this show.

I didn’t know what songs they played last time.  And I’m not really sure what they played this time. Continue Reading »

Posted in Cold Court, Font, Lifeguard, Philadelphia, PA, PhilaMOCA | Leave a Comment »

Dr. Dog / Kevin Morby / The Teeth (The Mann Center for the Performing Arts, Philadelphia, PA, July 13, 2024) [DID NOT ATTEND]

July 13, 2024 by Paul Debraski

[DID NOT ATTEND: July 13, 2024] Dr. Dog / Kevin Morby / The Teeth

I never really got into Dr. Dog but I’ve liked a bunch of their songs over the years.  And I’d always heard they were great live, so I had them on my “wanna see” list.

Back in June of 2021, Dr. Dog announced their last tour.

“It is a disturbing thing to read, I’m sure, and trust me, an equally unsettling thing to write, but it’s all good,” they wrote. “It’s important to us that you understand that this is not a break up or anything like that. We don’t know what Dr. Dog will do, we just know it won’t include going on tour, except the tour we’re announcing now, which is going to rule.”

And yet, now they were back with a new album an a live show (I don’t know if there were any other shows).

I opted not to go.  The Mann is kind of a pain to get to and I just wasn’t sure I cared enough to bother.  Continue Reading »

Posted in Dr. Dog, Kevin Morby, Mann Center for the Performing Arts, Philadelphia, PA, The Teeth | Leave a Comment »

Mdou Moctar [Unplugged] (PhilaMOCA, Philadelphia, PA, July 10, 2023)

July 11, 2024 by Paul Debraski

[ATTENDED: July 10, 2024] Mdou Moctar 

Mdou Moctar had just played Union Transfer on June 28.  A week later, he announced two intimate acoustic shows and one of them was back in Philly, practically across the street in PhilaMOCA.

I didn’t go to last week’s show but I didn’t want to miss this one:

New York and Philly! We’re doing a couple of intimate last minute acoustic(ish) unplugged shows. We can’t wait to see you! Grab tickets before they sell out! See you soon!

It was funny to have Emily Robb open for this set because she was so loud.  The show was billed as acoustic and I almost didn’t bring earplugs (which we definitely needed for Emily Robb).  Emily said that she had opened for Mdou on a previous tour and I can see when Mdou was on fire that Emily was appropriate.

But indeed I didn’t need them for Mdou’s set. Continue Reading »

Posted in Ardmore Music Hall, Ardmore, PA, Emily Robb, Mdou Moctar | Leave a Comment »

Emily Robb (PhilaMOCA, Philadelphia, PA, July 10, 2023) [MDOU MOCTAR]

July 10, 2024 by Paul Debraski

[ATTENDED: July 10, 2024] Emily Robb

Emily Robb is a guitarist from Philadelphia.  I didn’t know much about her, but the last time she opened a show (which I didn’t attend) I wrote:

Emily Robb plays an electric guitar (and is referred to as a guitar abuser).  She has a solo album out that is an incredible amount of fuzzy guitar noise.

No vocals, no artifice, barely even a drum. It’s a totally fried, mutant offering that’ll entice the twisted seekers– a sustained, distilled meditation on the unabashed revved up freedom of rock.

She came up on stage with her guitar and pedals and amp and… played.   For forty plus minutes.

She played bluesy riffs.  She looped herself.  She played solos over those riffs.  She made noise.  She experimented with melodies and feedback.

Sometimes it was interesting.  Sometimes it was tedious.

She played a whole section in which sliding her pick up the strings was a major part of the sound. Continue Reading »

Posted in Emily Robb, Mdou Moctar, Philadelphia, PA, PhilaMOCA | Leave a Comment »

Cavetown (Skyline Stage at The Mann Center, July 3, 2024)

July 5, 2024 by Paul Debraski

[ATTENDED: July 3, 2024] Cavetown

When I learned of Cavetown from my daughter, who played “Lemon Boy” a lot.  Even a few years later, I think the song is fantastic.  I didn’t really know all that much about him (Robbie Skinner), but I had listened to a few records.  So I assumed that the whole set would be kind of mellow and folky.  It actually seemed like an odd double bill.

But there is a sizable overlap of young trans/non-binary people who make up both audiences so even if the music isn’t similar, the tone of acceptance and respect permeates both (all three actually) bands.

I don’t normally like to be far from the stage–it takes me out of the action and makes me feel like I’m just hearing a band not really experiencing a live show.  That makes me a little insufferable I know, especially to my kids who just want to chill out and enjoy an Event.  And really, an outdoor show is more of an Event.

So, when they walked to the back of the lawn and sat on a blanket, I compromised and left the front area that we were in for Mother Mother and hung back with  them.  Although once everyone stood up, I had to move forward a little because I couldn’t NOT SEE the stage. Continue Reading »

Posted in Cavetown, Mann Center for the Performing Arts, Meet Me @ The Altar, Mother Mother, Philadelphia, PA, Skyline Stage at The Mann | Leave a Comment »

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