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Marnie Stern (World Cafe Live, Philadelphia, PA, June 27, 2024) [QUASI]

June 27, 2024 by Paul Debraski

[ATTENDED: June 27, 2024] Marnie Stern

I knew of Marnie Stern mostly from Late Night with Seth Meyers.  I had heard of her before the show as a notable guitar player (she was on Kill Rock Stars, so she was clearly iconoclastic).  So I was surprised that she was going to be on the show as, essentially a rhythm guitar player.  She was fine on the show, but she never really got to shine in any way (but I assume it was a reliable, steady gig).

When she put a new album out last year, I assumed it would be full of guitar wizardry, but I was surprised at just how weird it was.

But here’s a review of the album from treblezine which sums up her career briefly but nicely

Stern is a straight-up shredder whose playing style errs closer to the joyous fireworks of someone like Eddie Van Halen than she does any knotty, noisy experimentalists. That she happened to run in underground circles is by-the-by—there was always a great pop song buried within the chaos of her music. This is more visible than ever on The Comeback Kid. With her fifth and (you guessed it) comeback album, Stern has continued to chip away some of the raw spikiness of her early releases in service of a dozen stellar math pop tracks that might be (:whispers:) her strongest body of work yet.

I really enjoyed being right in front of Marnie, watching her tap away on her complex melodies with such ease. She also smiled and laughed through the whole set as she sang her complicated, sometimes perplexing, always exhilarating songs.

The rest of her band (whose names I didn’t catch) were also great.  Her drummer was incredible (I think it’s Jeremy Gara from Arcade Fire).  He smashed the hell out of the drums and really excelled at the crazy time signatures of the songs. Continue Reading »

Posted in Marnie Stern, Philadelphia, PA, Quasi, World Cafe Live, WXPN 88.5 FM--Philadelphia, PA | Leave a Comment »

Sarah McLachlan: Fumbling Towards Ecstasy 30th Anniversary Tour / Feist (TD Pavilion @ The Mann Center, Philadelphia, PA, June 26, 2024) [DID NOT ATTEND]

June 24, 2024 by Paul Debraski

[DID NOT ATTEND: June 24, 2024] Sarah McLachlan / Feist

I was a big fan of Sarah McLachlan’s music in the 1990s.  I went to a Lilith Fair and loved her for bringing female artists together on a tour and really breaking barriers.

This album is an especially wonderful album from start to finish.

But I also knew I would never go to this show–it was just way out of my wheelhouse these days.   And I don’t love the Mann Center for shows like this.  But it turns out that one of my college friends was there and it would have been fun to see her. Continue Reading »

Posted in Feist, Mann Center for the Performing Arts, Philadelphia, PA, Sarah McLachlan | Leave a Comment »

Ghost: Rite Here Rite Now (Cinemark Watchung, Watchung, NJ, June 23, 2024)

June 23, 2024 by Paul Debraski

[ATTENDED: June 23, 2023] Ghost: Rite Here Rite Now

I don’t write about films (much), and I’m not going to start.

I’m throwing this in because we saw this Ghost tour and this is a concert video of the tour (sort of).

The movie is a concert filmed in Los Angeles.  And there is a story that runs through the film which portends the end of Papa IV.

No spoilers from me.

I wanted to note that when the film opened there was a really funny sequence in which the filmmakers encouraged us to take selfies in all our finery.  We could then upload the pictures for a future project.  Our theater only had three groups of people in it and none of us were dressed up.  But this movie has been hugely successful and I’m sure there were plenty of cosplayers at the other screenings.   It will be fun to see what we could have been a part of.

Also, concert videos are becoming somewhat more common (thanks Taylor Swift). The thing about them that really works for me is the quality of the sound (and usually picture).  Movies like tis sound amazing–they pretty much universally sound better than the actual show. I mean, I heard things in this movie that I’ve never noticed live (and Ghost is 100% better sounding live than on record).

You can’t control what the camera operators film, but they usually know what we want to see when.  So we get good closeups and cool overhead shots.

And the way the story line was threaded into the concert was really well done.

I took my son and his friend and we had a blast.

Highly recommended, especially in a theater with a great sound system.

Posted in Cinemark Watchung, Ghost, Rite Here Rite Now, Watchung NJ | Leave a Comment »

Slomo Sapiens / Wax Jaw / Flatwaves (Johnny Brenda’s, Philadelphia, PA, June 22, 2024) [DID NOT ATTEND]

June 22, 2024 by Paul Debraski

[DID NOT ATTEND: June 22, 2024] Slomo Sapiens / Wax Jaw / Flatwaves

My failed quest to see Wax Jaw again continues.  This show was announced as Wax Jaw’s last show for a while, as they regroup and plan to record a new album.  So I would have really liked to go.  But I had tickets to see Frank Turner and his band who I have been trying to see for longer.  So, never mind.

I love the name Slomo Sapiens  I first heard of them last year and I wrote

Slomo Sapiens continues the tradition of great band names from Philadelphia.  I didn’t know much about them, but they are described as a psychedelic “sludge rock” trio, which sounds pretty good to me.  I’ve listened to a couple of songs and psychedelic sludge rock is right on the nose.

This show was actually an album release party for The Holy Babble, their second album.  It’s pretty good and I imagine they are lots of fun live.

Flatwaves are Philly-based garagegaze. And that’s pretty accurate.  They have a shoegaze vibe but with a kind of heaviness that’s a twist on the genre.

I’m sure this would have been an enjoyable show

 

Posted in Airiel, Blushing, Bodywash, Johnny Brenda's, Philadelphia, PA | Leave a Comment »

Frank Turner and the Sleeping Souls / Amigo the Devil / Bridge City Sinners / Micah Schnabel & Vanessa Jean Speckman (Fillmore Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, June 22, 2024) [DID NOT ATTEND]

June 22, 2024 by Paul Debraski

[DID NOT ATTEND: June 22, 2024] Frank Turner and the Sleeping Souls / Amigo the Devil / Bridge City Sinners / Micah Schnabel & Vanessa Jean Speckman

I had been wanting to see him for a long time because I’d heard his live shows were amazing.  I saw him last year in a solo (more or less) performance.  And it was great.  So next, I wanted to see him with his band because I’ve heard the band version is even wilder with a more punk aesthetic and I do love a fun punk show.

For the last couple of years he has disappointed me by having a show on Mother’s Day and then on Father’s Day.  This year it was the week after and I was sure I would be able to go.

And then my son and his friend had car/motorcycle trouble about 90 minutes away.  There was no way I could go out and have fun while worrying about them.  So I stayed home (they had made arrangements to get home by then, but had been out in the heat and sun for nearly ten hours).

So, yet again, I miss Frank Turner and his band.  Luckily, he never stops touring, so I’m sure they’ll be back again, on some other inconvenient holiday, no doubt. Continue Reading »

Posted in Amigo the Devil, Bridge City Sinners, Frank Turner, Frank Turner and the Sleeping Souls, Micah Schnabel, Philadelphia, PA, The Fillmore Philadelphia, Vanessa Jean Speckman | Leave a Comment »

Isiliel (PhilaMOCA, Philadelphia, PA, June 21, 2024)

June 22, 2024 by Paul Debraski

[ATTENDED: June 21, 2024] Isiliel

Seven months ago, I spontaneously bought a ticket to see Isiliel at PhilaMOCA.  The show was weird but fun.

I’m going to repost (almost my entire review from that show and then add some details for this one:

So, who is Isiliel?  She is Himari Tsukishiro who is the main singer in the Japanese band Necronomidol.  As her site puts it

Isiliel is a solo dance/vocal project by Himari Tsukishiro (NECRONOMIDOL).
Mixing genres as diverse as folk, blackgaze and city pop via a worldwide team of veteran songwriters such as King Dude and NARASAKI of COALTAR OF THE DEEPERS, through Isiliel Himari will express hitherto unexplored depths of pathos and beauty on stage.

As Isiliel, she has one album out.  It is, as implied, a heavy metal sounding album, with heavy guitars and a lot of double bass.  But she does not sing like a heavy metal singer.  Her delivery is quiet and slow (and it’s in Japanese).

I hadn’t heard of either her or her main band until about a week before this show was announced.  But when I saw what Necronomidol looked like, I wanted to go to this show too.  It turned out she has some real fans in Philly.  The audience was probably about 30 people, but the show had about a week’s notice.  And several of these fans brought identical small red lanterns which they waved in time to the beat (I asked the merch guy if he was selling them and he said no–they brought them in!)

She wasn’t in corpse paint (like the other band), rather she was dressed much like she is on the album–a midriff baring top (with a metal breastplate) and short skirt.  Her hair is crazy long.

When the music started she began dancing.  It was sweet and a little weird–it reminded me a but of when my daughter was little and she would make up dances that seemed to fit with the music. Continue Reading »

Posted in Isiliel, Necronomidol, Philadelphia, PA, PhilaMOCA | Leave a Comment »

Ted Leo + Pharmacists (Union Transfer, Philadelphia, PA, June 21, 2024)

June 21, 2024 by Paul Debraski

[ATTENDED: June 21, 2024] Ted Leo + Pharmacists / Ekko Astral

I saw Ted Leo + Pharmacists back in 2019 and really enjoyed the show.  At the time IW rote

Even though I like Ted Leo I really don’t know a lot of his songs–I’ve been more of a casual fan.  So I was delighted by the variety of sounds and styles he played from throughout his career.

Over the last five years I’ve wanted to see him again but for one reason or another I didn’t.  So when he announced a show at Union Transfer I grabbed a ticket.  I didn’t really give much thought to the fact that he was playing Shake the Sheets because I don’t really know any of his albums per se.  So I didn’t really care about that (It turns out when I saw him last time he played a bunch of songs from that album).

When the Isiliel show was announced for the same night I was quite torn.  I thought that the Ted Leo show would be more fun, but I didn’t know if Isiliel would ever come back, so I opted for that one. It ended at 10:30 and I had seen that most of the Ted Leo shows were ending around 11:30.  Since Union Transfer is about four block from PhilMOCA I decided to pop in and catch the end of Ted Leo and I’m really glad that I did.

So I missed the entire set from openers Ekko Astral (whom Ted praised very very highly and made me wish I had seen them–if I could have seen them in stead of Isenmor, that would have been amazing).  I’s like to make sure I see them again someday.

Luckily for me (but I would have hated this is I was there), Ted and the band didn’t go on until 9:40.  I just found out though that there were actually TWO opening bands, which explains the delay for Ted.

The middle opening act was Continue Reading »

Posted in Dead Best, Ekko Astral, Philadelphia, PA, Ted Leo, Ted Leo + Pharmacists, Union Transfer | Leave a Comment »

Isenmor (PhilaMOCA, Philadelphia, PA, June 21, 2024) [ISILIEL]

June 21, 2024 by Paul Debraski

[ATTENDED: June 21, 2024] Isenmor

I hadn’t heard of Isenmor before this show.  They are

a dual-violin-fronted Gewyrdelic Folc Metal. Isenmor fuses the heart of the Old World with the spirit of those who sought out new shores.

They were good fun, dressed in vaguely period and vaguely authentic-looking costumes (not in the picture on the right), the two lead violins (Nick Schneider & Mark Williams) were great fun.  They both played lead, but there was also Pete Lesko on lead guitar who played solo or in harmony with the violins.  There were two lead singers.  Schneider was also the main lead singer and Tim Regan the second guitarist also sang a few songs.  David Spencer was on drums.  Folk metal has lots of stylistic changes and the drums have to match up–slow and quiet or some hefty double bass action.  (Keyboardist Jon Lyon was absent).

There were a surprising number of technical issues.  From the start, bassist Mike Wilson told us that he broke his bass just before the show!  So he was playing a guitar (although I thought his bass sound was still really good).  There were also a few glitches with the drums.  But they dealt with the problems very well and during one pause Schneider played a ripping jog that got the crowd clapping along. Continue Reading »

Posted in Isenmor, Isiliel, Philadelphia, PA, PhilaMOCA | Leave a Comment »

Folly / Paulson / Teenage Halloween / The Best of the Worst / Silk Sheets (Crossroads, Garwood, NJ, June 21, 2024) [DID NOT ATTEND]

June 21, 2024 by Paul Debraski

[DID NOT ATTEND: June 21, 2024] Folly / Paulson / Teenage Halloween / The Best of the Worst / Silk Sheets

I heard about this show because I saw Teenage Halloween open for THICK and really liked them.  I assumed they were headlining, but as more details came to light, they were in the middle of five bands I knew I wasn’t going to go.

Folly are a screaming punk band.

Hailing from northern NJ, Folly’s eclectic sound fuses the fury of hardcore, chaos of metal, urgency of punk rock, and jubilation of ska/reggae. They are known for their energized and immersive live shows,

Paulson was from Midland Park which is near where I grew up.  They apparently broke up many years ago and this is  their first show in 12 years.

The Best of the Worst are a new Jersey ska-core band.  So it’s screaming punk, with horns!

Silk Sheets are another Jersey band that are the loudest and most cathartic of the lineup.

Teenage Halloween definitely rocks, but they don;t seem to be quite heavy enough for this show.  This would have been exhausting.

 

Posted in Crossroads, Folly, Garwood, NJ, Paulson, Silk Sheets, Teenage Halloween, The Best of the Worst | Leave a Comment »

Airiel / Blushing / Bodywash (Johnny Brenda’s, Philadelphia, PA, June 19, 2024) [DID NOT ATTEND]

June 19, 2024 by Paul Debraski

[DID NOT ATTEND: June 19, 2024] Airiel / Blushing / Bodywash

I saw Blushing open for Ringo Deathstarr and I really liked them a lot.  That was five years ago and I was ready to see them again.  Even if they were second on the bill.

I hadn’t heard of Airiel even though they’d been around for over twenty years.  They had been pretty dormant for much of it. so I guess its not too surprising.  I listened to some of their songs and really liked them. And then I felt as though I liked them a little less each time I listened again.

They describe their music as “It’s loud, it’s pretty and you can dance to it”

I was intrigued, but ultimately decided to stay home because I had gone out the two nights before and was going out the two nights after.

Bodywash play a shoegaze style (with synths) and two singers Chris Steward and Rosie Long Decter.  They are from Montreal. Continue Reading »

Posted in Airiel, Blushing, Bodywash, Johnny Brenda's, Philadelphia, PA | Leave a Comment »

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