Music

More film fest stuff this weekend. I caught a little bit of the Lost Film Fest 8.0 on Friday, including 156 Rivington, a documentary about the legendary New York arts/activism space ABC No Rio, and a selection of short films and interesting copyright lecture by Carrie McLaren, curator of the infamous Illegal Art exhibition and editor of Stay Free magazine. Then I had to fly back across town for the Philadelphia Film Festival presentation of … See more →

Dirty Three and Shannon Wright played an awesome, 3+ hour show at the TLA. Shannon Wright played the guitar with her whole body. Dirty Three’s Warren Ellis provided hilariously long-winded explanations for the origins of each composition the band played. It was a happy night of sad music.

Two shows, seven bands at the Church this week. Sentence fragments ahead.

Sunday

Dysrhythmia: My favorite Philadelphia band; missed the first half of their set. LickGoldenSky: Screamy hardcore not unlike other screamy hardcore. Hot Cross: shrieking metal/melodic hardcore hybrid, a la Drowningman. Burnt by the Sun: What Pantera might have sounded like if they ever got into Black Flag. Singer sounds exactly like Phil Anselmo, but does not appear to be a redneck.

Tuesday

An… See more →

An Albatross: The east coast’s answer to The Locust. Lineup was a little different from the last time I saw them, including requisite addition of cute keyboard girl who couldn’t look less interested in what she’s doing. Singer needs to lose the Mick Jagger/Iggy Pop schtick. Decent set otherwise. Angry Atom: Radio-ready Avail. Only caught the last couple songs. Mih. Wesley Willis: Highlight of my week. Indescribable entertainment value. Played a handful I never heard… See more →

Dysrhythmia: My favorite Philadelphia band; missed the first half of their set. LickGoldenSky: Screamy hardcore not unlike other screamy hardcore. Hot Cross: shrieking metal/melodic hardcore hybrid, a la Drowningman. Burnt by the Sun: What Pantera might have sounded like if they ever got into Black Flag. Singer sounds exactly like Phil Anselmo, but does not appear to be a redneck.

Lightning Bolt’s Wonderful Rainbow refuses to detach itself from my playlist, and has come dangerously close to bullying the rest of the playlist’s discs into silence. I very much like the other music currently in rotation—such as Isis’s Oceanic and Aereogramme’s Sleep and Release—but have thus far permitted Wonderful Rainbow its thoughtless self-indulgence because it is so damn good that its wild cries for attention simply cannot be ignored. The album is no less… See more →

Interpol and The Raveonettes played the Troc last night. I was quite pleasantly surprised by the feedback-drenched Raveonettes, who sounded kind of like a garage-y Jesus & Mary Chain. I think I shall purchase their record. Interpol turned in another stoic performance devoid of spectacle, which is not to say I did not enjoy it. I admit my attention wandered at times (I often wondered, for example, how bored the superfluous keyboard player must be… See more →

Interpol and The Raveonettes played the Troc last night. I was quite pleasantly surprised by the feedback-drenched Raveonettes, who sounded kind of like a garage-y Jesus & Mary Chain. I think I shall purchase their record. Interpol turned in another stoic performance devoid of spectacle, which is not to say I did not enjoy it. I admit my attention wandered at times (I often wondered, for example, how bored the superfluous keyboard player must be… See more →

I waited in line for an hour last night in 20º weather to see Godspeed You! Black Emperor, the first of what is supposed to be many R5 shows at the Starlight Ballroom on 9th St.

The Black Dice opened up. Apparently they decided at some point to take a very different direction from the crazy noisecore stuff I’ve heard. Samplers and effects pedals and loops, oh my! There are lots of people out there… See more →

What to do? I’ve been cursing Clear Channel because their inflated ticket prices are keeping me from attending four anticipated shows in the next two months, including Mission of Burma ($22.50), The Roots ($27.50), Sigur Rós ($29.50), and Television ($25.00). But now I see that King Crimson is playing on March 7th, and tickets are a whopping $45.00. I’ve never seen King Crimson; I’ve always wanted to see King Crimson; and considering they’ve been doing… See more →

Peter and I took a trip up to New York yesterday. The early afternoon was occupied by sifting through galleries in Chelsea, the highlights of which were the Tim Gardner and Michael Craig-Martin exhibitions, held (respectively) at 303 Gallery and Gagosian Gallery. The late afternoon was spent being herded around NBC Studios in Rockefeller Center, waiting to see Interpol perform on “Last Call with Carson Daly”. The vast majority of the audience was Interpol fans,… See more →

The Relapse Contamination Festival took over the Troc for the weekend and what a wicked weekend it was. To avoid exhaustion, I pared it down to the essentials and saw only seven of the fourteen bands that played. And I was more than satisfied.

I began the weekend’s festivities Saturday night, battling over parking with the cursed throngs of Philadelphia International Auto Show-goers, arriving just as Alabama Thunderpussy finished up and Cephalic Carnage prepared to… See more →

My Philly faves Dysrhythmia kicked the ass of the packed after-party, as they seem destined to do at every show they play. They’re recording with Steve Albini next week. I can’t wait to hear what that sounds like.

On Sunday night I confirmed the Eagles’ loss before leaving for the show, securing a drive unobstructed by face-painted merrymakers overturning cars in anticipation of the Super Bowl. Today Is The Day made a whole bunch of scary noise that was way better live than it is on their records, at least the later ones. The microphone was halfway down Steve Austin’s throat for the duration of their set. High On Fire was likewise impressive;… See more →

I began the weekend’s festivities Saturday night, battling over parking with the cursed throngs of Philadelphia International Auto Show-goers, arriving just as Alabama Thunderpussy finished up and Cephalic Carnage prepared to take the stage. Neither of those bands ever really piqued my interest, so their antics merely served as mild amusement while I awaited the mighty Mastodon, whose Troy Sanders sports one of the greatest metal faces I’ve ever seen as he bellows through their… See more →

I had a dream that Sebastian Bach (of Skid Row fame) moved in with my next door neighbors. In the dream, I was really excited to tell the world about it here on my web site, so out of respect for the “dream me,” I’ve decided to tell the world (or at least whoever reads this site) about it anyway. Here’s hoping that in subsequent dreams, Baz and I can belt out the classics together… See more →

Sonata for the Unaware, the new k10k issue by carbonatedjazz, is the best issue I’ve seen in a long time. There are three simultaneous video clips of public places in Philadelphia; the candid movements of the random people who appear in the clips generate varying bass notes, percussion, and tone frequencies. The 4MB download might scare off the dialup crowd, but it’s totally worth the wait.

I guess it’s been pretty quiet around here. In the last month: I braved the Philadelphia blizzard fallout to get to the sold-out Interpol show at Gasoline and was rewarded with a terrific performance. I caught the final two Andrew W.K. club dates of the year and even got kicked out of one of them (apparently the Chameleon Club in Lancaster has recently found reason not to tolerate members of the audience getting up on… See more →

I caught the final two Andrew W.K. club dates of the year and even got kicked out of one of them (apparently the Chameleon Club in Lancaster has recently found reason not to tolerate members of the audience getting up on their stage).

I braved the Philadelphia blizzard fallout to get to the sold-out Interpol show at Gasoline and was rewarded with a terrific performance.

Okay, Tolkien by himself (or even filtered through the eyes of demigod Peter Jackson) generally bores me, but somehow the mythos of Middle Earth becomes completely tolerable when in the hands of a German power metal band. And so it was with great excitement that I ventured to New Jersey last night to see the triumphant Blind Guardian on the sixth date of the first ever US/Canada tour in their 15-year career. Since their albums… See more →

Halloween was fun. The afternoon was begun with a matinee of P.T. Anderson’s pitch-perfect Punch-Drunk Love, and rounded out by a few hours of my traditional Halloween rock-a-thon, jumping around the house to an exclusively old-school Misfits soundtrack, careful not to expend too much of the energy that would be needed for the evening’s Andrew W.K. show at the Troc. Judging by the way I was able to wring out my shirt afterwards—if not by… See more →

Judging by the way I was able to wring out my shirt afterwards—if not by the fact that my child-size fireman costume was still reasonably intact—I’d say a good time was had.

Happy Birthday, Dad!

Lethargy month is drawing to a close. I’ve been out and about for the usual films and rock shows, but the time spent at home has been occupied with less will to be creative than to stare at the walls and play countless hours of TimeSplitters 2, which might be time better spent if the game wasn’t significantly less good than Perfect Dark. I’m in the process of lulling myself out of… See more →

Skeleton Key at the Balcony was a bit disappointing, as I noticed that singer/bassist Eric Sanko is once again the only surviving founding member, and the new dudes don’t really do it for me.

I finally saw Matt Pond PA play at the Troc and they were damn good, though I thought it a little odd to play a record release show virtually devoid of new material.

I’ve been back from Ottawa for nearly a week now and the annoying cold I contracted while I was there is on its last leg, so I am finally getting around to reporting on the festival. This was the third bi-annual Ottawa International Animation Festival I have been to; I counted seeing 162 short films in just about three days and for the first time there was nothing that really blew me away. Which is… See more →

Last night I went to the Philadelphia Ethical Society in Rittenhouse Square to see Mark Eitzel and the beautiful, beautiful Low. I was previously unfamiliar with Mark Eitzel and I really enjoyed his performance: intense, occasionally humorous acoustic folk, and his voice reminded me of the late Mark Sandman from Morphine. Low was awesome. Given their somewhat extensive discography, the set was perhaps a bit uneven with material almost exclusively from their last two albums,… See more →

Apparently a 2-disc Faith No More tribute album called Tribute of the Year: A Tribute to Faith No More was released in July. Considering the numerous superstar nü-metal wankers that cite Faith No More as a major influence, I would have expected this thing to be soiled by Limp Bizkit, Papa Roach, et al, but instead it’s soiled by a bunch of obscure industrial bands. Real Player crashed my computer when I tried to listen… See more →

There was much rocking this week.

Saturday night was Andrew W.K. in Jersey, at this weird sprawling complex filled with teenagers called The Birch Hill Concert Hall. Not quite as much fun as the last A.W.K. show since it was so packed and I couldn’t be bothered to wade through the masses to get on the stage. Still a good time, though.

Sunday night was Technician and Dysrhythmia at the Pontiac, and I’m really glad… See more →

I then headed over to the Balcony to see The Trauma Queens, who are always a great time.

Friday night was a packed screening of Stan Brakhage’s The Text of Light at the International House with a live improvised score by William Hooker, Christian Marclay, Lee Ranaldo and Alan Licht. It was very cool, but the hypnotic, non-objective nature of the 80-minute film somehow heightened my awareness of just how horribly uncomfortable the seats in that place are.

Thursday night was Wire and Oxes at Gasoline Warehouse. Oxes put on a great wireless show as usual—this time with no setlist—though they were clearly displeased with the Philly scene’s usual mundane lack of participation. As for Wire, I know they’re legends, but I just never listened to much of their stuff before, so I didn’t really have a frame of reference for their performance. From what I understand, they did mostly new stuff, with… See more →

Monday night was Andrew W.K. again, this time in Allentown at a super-cheesy club called Crocodile Rock. Best A.W.K. show yet, in spite of a stage-diving mishap that had me walking funny for the rest of the week. That guy’s energy and charisma is amazing.

Sunday night was Technician and Dysrhythmia at the Pontiac, and I’m really glad these guys are from Philly so I have plenty of chances to see them. Dysrhythmia: Complicated, technical mix of math rock, metal, punk, jazz and prog. Sounds unlike anyone else. Technician: Often compared to Shellac. Very stripped down, winding and unpredictable song structures. They’re touring together this fall, so check ’em out if they come to your town.

Saturday night was Andrew W.K. in Jersey, at this weird sprawling complex filled with teenagers called The Birch Hill Concert Hall. Not quite as much fun as the last A.W.K. show since it was so packed and I couldn’t be bothered to wade through the masses to get on the stage. Still a good time, though.

Oh man, this Interpol Turn on the Bright Lights album is soooo good; I cannot stop listening to it. Spacey, melancholy, shoegazey rock with touches of goth and ’80s influences like Joy Division and The Cure. The singer sounds like the offspring of a secret marriage between Peter Murphy and Michael Gira from Swans. I’ve never been a huge fan of any of the bands I just mentioned (not that I particularly dislike any of… See more →

During a relaxing and uneventful four days in Ocean City, MD, I couldn’t say no to “The Metal Issue” of Spin on the rack at the 7-11, and shucks if I only own half of the 40 Greatest Metal Albums of All Time. I know this is all a matter of opinion and everything, but I thought that even a rag as insipid as Spin might have put together a more sensible list, and might… See more →

After having been informed that an MP3 from the forthcoming Dillinger Escape Plan / Mike Patton collaboration is now online, I rushed home to download it. I had to listen to it like five times in a row. So far, it sounds even better than I had hoped (which is saying a lot considering how highly I regard the talent involved). The EP comes out on August 27 (on Epitaph Records, for some reason). Go… See more →

I drove 100 miles last night to see Andrew W.K. play in Towson, MD (near Baltimore). I found out about the show three hours before I left.

The show was opened by some crappy Seattle screamo pop punk band with matching tattoos called Vendetta Red, followed by the carefully groomed punkers Total Chaos (they’re still around and they’re still not joking), who were quick to inform the uninitiated that they are “a band that’s been… See more →

Mary and I were all set to go see Tuatara last night before we discovered that they cancelled the show in favor of a second stage opening slot for The Who. Rather than pay $35 to see them do a shorter set on an enormous stage from seven miles away, I was talked into renting The Mothman Prophecies, which turned out to be just the snore of a two hour “X-Files” episode I expected it… See more →

Friday night was a rewarding but ultimately forgettable show at the Troc with The Shins, Beachwood Sparks, and some horrible band whose name I didn’t bother to remember. (I should probably look into it so as to avoid accidentally seeing them play in the future.)

Saturday night I went with some friends to see Road to Perdition. I gave Sam Mendes top marks for American Beauty, but he doesn’t seem to have much respect for… See more →

Tonight my friend Jason’s band The Trauma Queens played at the Khyber. Garage, blues, punk, ala The Hives. Loads of energy. Great show.

Friday night was a rewarding but ultimately forgettable show at the Troc with The Shins, Beachwood Sparks, and some horrible band whose name I didn’t bother to remember. (I should probably look into it so as to avoid accidentally seeing them play in the future.)

Ah, the Khyber. I hadn’t been there in awhile. Tonight’s crowd was just the size I like: the audience was large enough to make the bands feel loved, but small enough to allow me to breathe. Tonight’s highlight was Aereogramme (not coincidentally the band I went to see), a melancholy Glasgow rock band with loud/soft dynamics kind of similar to fellow Scots Mogwai, but also with some weird time signature power-riffing ala the sadly defunct … See more →

I was very pleased today to discover that the lineup on the new Skeleton Key album Obtainium is identical to their original lineup, with the apparent exception of the drummer. There was cause for alarm when I saw them in NYC last year with a new stripped-down lineup that did not include junk player Rick Lee or guitarist Chris Maxwell, but apparently they have returned and brought the rock back with them (which isn’t to… See more →

Great show last night at the Balcony.

Thoughtstreams kicked off the show around 10:00. I’d heard of them before (mostly from them playing shows with Dysrhythmia), but this was the first time I’d seen them. Impressive. Very technical, jazzy avant-metal, kind of reminiscent of Cynic, but less focused. I have to appreciate the genre parody of such song titles as “To Devour Ovaries.”

Up next was Technician, who I’ve been digging on for several months now,… See more →

Just got back from a weekend in New York, primarily for two nights’ worth of sold out shows at North Six in Brooklyn.

Saturday night was The Fucking Champs, Rye Coalition, and Drunk Horse, the denser of the two shows in terms of quality. The Fucking Champs were excellent as usual, Rye Coalition was significantly more entertaining than the last time I saw them (insane energy, plus the singer put on some weight and has… See more →

There were five bands on the bill Sunday night, including Lightning Bolt, Deerhoof, Wolf Eyes, Thurston Moore with Carlos Giffoni, and 5ive (not the British boy band). The incomparable Lightning Bolt was the highlight of the show, opting to do their set on the floor on the right side of the club instead of the stage, actually cutting off the final song of Deerhoof’s set. Rock. Deerhoof was the only other band that really grabbed… See more →

Saturday night was The Fucking Champs, Rye Coalition, and Drunk Horse, the denser of the two shows in terms of quality. The Fucking Champs were excellent as usual, Rye Coalition was significantly more entertaining than the last time I saw them (insane energy, plus the singer put on some weight and has a kind of John Belushi thing going on that really works for him), and Drunk Horse, who I hadn’t heard of before, rocked… See more →