Results tagged “preview”

Anyone who has had both a pulse and a penchant for some loud guitar rock in the last twenty years can probably stroll down memory lane and recall one of the first times they heard or saw Pearl Jam. It might have been the crazy "I'm gonna murder you" eyes of leader singer Eddie Vedder in the ground-breaking "Jeremy" video, their Woodstock '94 performance, their well-publicized boycott of the fascists at Ticketmaster, or their recent tours selling out festivals and stadiums around the country. For this Phillyist, it was Vedder in the "Even Flow" video, standing atop the rafters at a live show, arms outstretched before plummeting into the audience. The first cassette (yes, cassette, that's right) we ever purchased was Vs. the first week it came out, and you better believe it was the first of many Pearl Jam albums to come. And yes, we still have ALL those cassettes...why, you wanna make something of it?

Monday, maybe you should go to the North Star Bar naked.

UK-based Katie Melua will be in town tomorrow night, playing an intimate show at Old City's Tin Angel. She's a big deal in her homeland and has even played for the Queen, but she really likes the smaller venues best, as you'll see below.

We first discovered Final Vinyl at the Washington Township location of Ott's because Ross's mother's dentist plays the drums for the band (he's the one not wearing leather in the photo above). We were a little skeptical of a D.D.S.-helmed classic rock cover band, but ended up having a blast watching the band blaze through a setlist containing everything from Clapton to Petty—and watching their Jersey-riffic fans (seriously, we're not hating on the state, just the people who embody the stereotypes about it) dance rather inappropriately to the music.

What's not to love about the Miniature Tigers? The hipsterriffic foursome rocks throwback facial hair and bad Christmas sweaters almost as hard as they rock killer harmonies and painfully clever lyrics. (Seriously, we defy you not to love the intent or the rhyme scheme in lines like: "This is not a test or an SOS / I'm no longer on a quest to get girls undressed.") Plus, we support any band that embraces its inner nerd enough to feature a Dharma Initiative sticker on any instrument.

There's something awesome about a catchy, poppy song that can't get out of your head. Unfortunately, most of the people who make these songs turn out to be one-hit wonders (anybody remember Matthew Wilder?)—but we've got a good feeling about the two bands playing the World Café Live this Friday. One of them, Peter Bjorn and John proved their awesome singability with "Young Folks," a song so good that you knew you'd never hear from the band again—until the announcement that the band was releasing a new album, Living Thing, which, on first listen, sounds just as awesome as their last. (That'd be Writer's Block—the album "Young Folks" lived on.)

Can you get much better than a Saturday night at Johnny Brenda's? Two dozen local brews on tap and one of the best concert venues in Philly, this time featuring some fresh-sounding indie sensations. I think not.

Fun around town, for $10 or less:

Every once in awhile, you hear a song that grabs your attention from the opening chord and holds it for a solid three or four minutes. A few weeks ago, I was working, with my XM radio online supplying my requisite background noise, when I had that experience. A song stopped me in my tracks, mid-sentence of what I was writing. And when it was over, it was a reaffirmation (one that I need every now and then) that there is some really good rock music out there that unfortunately finds itself labeled as "emo."

A lot of people, when they first hear Duffy (MySpace), might have a knee-jerk reaction of, "Oh, that girl is just trying to sound like Amy Winehouse." It's an understandable, if not entirely fair, reaction to the 24-year-old Welsh singer's brand of neo-soul music. Duffy's music is, at its best, a heck of a lot more thoughtful and personal than Winehouse's. At a minimum, Duffy is unencumbered by the melodrama that seems to consume Winehouse—both musically and personally.

A few years ago, while I was an undergrad, an email went out to all of the Jewish students at Penn. (Whatever joke you're going to make there, don't. It's already been made.) The email informed us that an Orthodox Jewish reggae performer would be doing a special show at Penn. I chuckled at the gimmicky incongruity of the message and largely ignored it, probably opting instead to go to theatre rehearsal or a bar.

We like Ben Kweller (MySpace), and not just because he's from Austin and we love 90% of the music coming out of Austin these days. He's painfully clever and brutally honest in his lyrics, which accompany all kinds of catchy hooks and thumping beats. Plus, he toured with Ben Folds and Ben Lee as The Bens a couple years ago, resulting in one of our favorite Off-Broadway covers ever. He'll be entertaining the masses in advance of the upcoming release of Changing Horses tonight at Johnny Brenda's, along with Australian-based Whitley. It's a late-ish show for the oldheads on the Phillyist staff, but at JB's? We think we can handle it.

What is it about bands with variations of the word "fuck" in their names? First we fell in love with The Fucking Champs, then Holy Fuck, and now Fucked Up. Fucked Up is a hardcore punk band from Toronto, and their latest full-length release, The Chemistry of Common Life, quite simply rocks. The title track is probably our favorite, but pretty much all the songs on there are full of the kind of brutal beats, angry lyrics, exciting music, and crazy screaming that we love. You can catch Fucked Up at the Barbary with Vivian Girls and Philly locals Amateur Party this Saturday. Don't miss it.

Now that it's the fall, and we won't have to deal with annoying shore traffic, we think it's about high time we made another trip to Atlantic City. All we need is a good excuse to do so, because, frankly, the lure of the blackjack table alone isn't enough to overcome our desire to save the gas and toll money. So we need a little added incentive. Thankfully, we're getting it, and from one of our favorite bands, no less: Death Cab for Cutie (MySpace) will be playing the House of Blues Atlantic City at Showboat on Sunday night.

Canadian singer-songwriters Tegan and Sara (MySpace) are coming to the Electric Factory tonight, and in honor of that occasion, we wanted to let you know we think they're cool, and that it's totally not just because they're lesbian identical twins. In fact, we didn't even know they were lesbian identical twins until we read their Wikipedia page. No, we like Tegan and Sara because we've been listening to their most recent album, 2007's The Con, a lot recently, and it's just really, really good. Seriously, there's not a bad track on this thing. We do have particular favorites: the title track, the creepy "Knife Going In," "Back in Your Head," "Burn Your Life Down," and "Nineteen." Sure, it's indie pop. But it's catchy, beautiful indie pop, with powerful vocals, clever lyrics, great beats, and lovely melodies. And it's certainly worth a trip to the Electric Factory tonight.

For those of you who were lucky enough to catch Rachael Yamagata last year during her three nights of residency shows at Johnny Brenda's, you probably already have your tickets for tomorrow night. And for those of you who have only heard Rachael's gorgeous voice on CD or on the radio, find a way to beg, borrow or steal yourself a ticket to her sold out Johnny Brenda's show to see her perform live. It's a moral imperative.

I've got to admit, when I go looking for some good music to listen to, I rarely consider instrumental music. It's not that I don't like jazz, classical, or instrumental rock; in fact, I'd list certain jazz albums among the best records of all time. It's just that I really prefer some words with my songs. It probably has something to do with my general obsession with words. Anyway, I point this out by way of explaining why Mogwai isn't my usual cup of tea. The Scottish post-rock band's latest album, The Hawk Is Howling (which gets its official release on Monday), has no lyrics whatsoever—although it does have some pretty interesting track titles, like "I'm Jim Morrison, I'm Dead," "I Love You, I'm Going to Blow Up Your School" (one of the best tracks on the disc, along with "Batcat"), and "Thank You Space Expert." Still, it does have lots of guitars roaring away, and some really fantastic music, so I'm going to go ahead and recommend you see Mogwai when they play the Starlight Ballroom tonight with experimental group Fuck Buttons. We're betting they're even better live than they are recorded. But if you'd like some recordings first, just to whet your appetite, swing on over to R5 Productions (who are presenting the show) to download some samples.

It's fair to say that Built to Spill is one of my favorite bands of all time. Their music is eerie and layered; their lyrics clever, funny, and evocative; and their many guitars create a massive wall of sound that can totally knock your socks off. Their early work, on discs like The Normal Years and There's Nothing Wrong with Love, is dirty and fun, but things took a turn for the complex with the release of their first major label album, Perfect From Now On, in 1997. The songs on this disc are longer, with more of an epic, prog rock feel to them (yes, that's a compliment), and the sound in general seems more polished, deliberate, and carefully thought-out. A particular favorite of mine is the album-opener, "Randy Described Eternity," which does indeed, as the title suggests, consist of a rather awesome (in both the classic and modern senses) description of eternity. "Stop the Show," with its amazing and lengthy instrumental intro, is another kick-ass track. But really all the tracks are pretty fantastic.

If you're picking up a copy of Inquirer columnist Faye Flam's first book, The Score (subtitled "How the Quest for Sex Has Shaped the Modern Man") looking for a titillating chronicle of men's sex lives, look elsewhere. Likewise, if you're looking for groundbreaking scientific research explaining why, for instance, guys like porn, you've picked up the wrong book. Flam is a journalist, pure and simple, so she's neither trying to arouse nor to astound. What she is doing—what she does quite well—is reporting, educating, and informing.

busk (v) – [To] perform (esp. music) for voluntary donations, usually in the street or in subways

A couple of pretty cool psych rock bands are going to be playing Johnny Brenda's tomorrow night. We're talking about Thrill Jockey label mates Arbouretum and Pontiak. Pontiak is made up of three brothers from the Blue Ridge farm country of Virginia. Pontiak's latest and second full length release, Sun on Sun, was literally recorded in a log cabin, and alternates between eerie, groovy, guitar-driven rock and atmospheric instrumentals. Also, there's an organ! Arbouretum is headed up by songwriter, guitarist, and singer Dave Heumann, who lives and works in Baltimore. According to Thrill Jockey, "Heumann’s idea for the band was one whose songs would evoke natural forms and movements as opposed to architectural constructions with rigid forms and linear progressions." Pontiak and Arbouretum worked together on a split LP called Kale, featuring many John Cale covers. It's a collection of slower, but still guitar-driven, tracks, that have a sad, thoughtful, Warren Zevon-type feel to them.

It's surprisingly difficult, if not downright impossible, to get biographical information about The Fratellis (MySpace). Much like the Ramones did way back when, each of the three members of The Fratellis use their band's name as a surname, but as to who they are really, or what they did prior to the band's formation in 2005? Well, even Wikipedia isn't helping.

Artists have used the expression "This one's for the fans" to excuse any number of musical atrocities, from crappy concert set lists to shitty albums that only a fanboy or girl could love. In the case of NIN's The Slip, the phrase was an excuse to give away the band's eighth major album. In May, lead singer Trent Reznor made available the entire album for download, as a gift to fans for years of support. Doing Radiohead one better, instead of a pay what you wish model, fans were not prompted to pay anything at all. Many critics have hailed the album as a return to form, something akin to The Downward Spiral. Although we enjoyed the ambient sounds of Ghosts I-IV, we are definitely part of the chorus that is happy again to hear Reznor's voice.

The Omaha electro-pop quintet The Faint is coming to the Trocadero this weekend, and we suggest you check them out. We've been listening to the latest album from the band, Fasciinatiion, and we're pretty impressed. Fasciinatiion is the band’s first album in four years, and the first on their newly formed label, blank.wav—which is a great name for a label, btw. The band has something of a knack with titles, actually; they got on our good side right away by titling one track on Fasciinatiion "The Geeks Were Right," a rocking song which unsurprisingly turned out to be one of our favorites on the disc. Fasciinatiion was written, recorded, produced, and art directed entirely by the band, making it their purest expression of themselves in their history. The result is a highly entertaining record loaded with catchy, danceable tracks, clever lyrics, and a vaguely familiar but still otherworldly sound. Besides "The Geeks Were Right," our favorite song is probably "Machine in the Ghost." But we understand their live shows are even better than their recordings; in fact, they're described as "sweat-drenched, full-on parties" that are "a favorite amongst music lovers." Sounds worth a trip to the Troc to us. Even the opening bands are pretty good: they're playing with Jaguar Love, whose new album Take Me to the Sea, though uneven (is it old fashioned to want a band to sing in key?), contains a few rough gems, and Shy Child, whom we've only heard one song by ("Astronaut")—but it was a good song! So check it out. We think you'll have a good time.

When we go to see a band that's been around for awhile, we usually find ourselves excited to hear them play our old favorites (because the new crap they've been putting out just doesn't measure up), or we're excited to hear the new material (because it took the band a couple albums to find their stride, but now they're putting out really killer stuff). But with Counting Crows (MySpace), we're excited to hear everything, the new and the old.

Fresh off a triumphant performance at last weekend’s Lollapalooza festival in Chicago, in which lead singer Kele Okereke sported a fetching Barack Obama T-shirt, English dance-rock foursome Bloc Party rolls into town tonight to play a sold-out show at the TLA, along with opening act Does It Offend You, Yeah? and its annoying, grammar-check-baffling moniker. This show should be anticipated for several reasons. First, there is the opportunity to see if Bloc Party’s sailor’s-knot-tight rhythms can possibly hold up under live scrutiny. Second, there is the opportunity to find out if seemingly elastic drummer Matt Tong really does have eight arms, as his speedy beat-keeping suggests. Third, there is the opportunity to find out if the inclusion of the song “Helicopter,” off of the group’s 2005 debut LP Silent Alarm, on Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock causes the crowd to be as annoyingly young as this Phillyist is expecting. And finally, there is the opportunity to find out if the warm-up band with the pretentious comma and question mark in its name is as good as their headliners would suggest. Not only are the Reading, Berkshire, United Kingdom natives opening for Bloc Party here, but they will be opening for Nine Inch Nails when they make their end-of-the-month trek through Philly. Hey, who knows, maybe they are strong enough to make you clap your hands and say yeah? Early prediction: a band with two strong albums and a third in the making, along with one that has been compared to Justice and Digitalism? Should be aah-ite.

Singer and guitarist Thalia Zedek has been active in the American music scene for almost thirty years. She's been through a lot in that time—many band formations and break-ups, and even a heroin addiction—and it shows in her ragged, evocative voice, a voice that's been described as "a frightening tool for conveying existential despair and nothing-to-lose freedom." Now she's got her own band—the Thalia Zedek Band—and a new album from Thrill Jockey, Liars and Prayers. It's a solid, likable indie rock effort with eleven strong tracks and zero bad ones. And there's plenty of existential despair and nothing-to-lose freedom included. Check out Zedek and her band when they play the Khyber tomorrow night with Major Stars and Neighbors on the Moon.

These New Puritans (MySpace) only just put out their first full length (Beat Pyramid) back in March, but they're already being hailed as the next big thing from the UK. And after listening to the record a couple of times, we can sort of see why. They have a fascinating, eclectic sound; they've been compared to, or inspired by, such disparate folks as the Wu Tang Clan, The Fall, Franz Kafka, Elizabethan magician John Dee, Sonic Youth, and Yo La Tengo. The closest we can get to describing their music is electronic dance punk. The point is, it's fun stuff, with an incredible beat, and the band is playing live, tonight, at Pure. Check 'em out if you can.

Liverpool-based band Clinic (MySpace) is playing Johnny Brenda's this Friday with BBQ (which is actually just the name under which Mark Sultan performs, and not a tasty, belated Memorial Day celebration). We mention this because we've been listening to Clinic's latest, Do It! (released early last month), and it's pretty darn good. The music is solid indie rock with a strong beat and a deep sound, but it also has a unique '60s flavor, probably thanks in large part to the prominent use of vintage keyboards and organs, and thanks in smaller part to Ade Blackburn's ragged vocals. (Btw, over on the R5 Productions site you can supposedly download some free MP3s, but keep in mind we can't actually get the links to work at the moment.)

We'd be the first to admit that Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra & Tra-La-La Band is an incredibly unwieldy and pretentious name for a band. Said band is Canadian, which might explain a little. The group was formed in 1999, and three of its seven members are also involved with Godspeed You! Black Emperor (at least, according to the Wikipedia page, although, as the page itself mentions, singer and guitarist for the band, Efrim Menuck, has said that the Wikipedia page is "full of wrong stuff"). When we popped their latest CD, 13 Blues for Thirteen Moons, into the player, we really didn't expect to like it, especially when we realized that despite the thirteens in the title, the album actually has 16 tracks, and only four of them are really songs (the first twelve are each only a few seconds long, and contain nothing but a kind of screeching, whistling noise that serves as the introduction to the album). But we listened anyway, and Silver Mt. Zion quickly won us over. Because those four tracks, each an average of about 14 minutes long, are really pretty amazing. We're not sure how to describe the sound; the band is often associated with post-rock, but the length and grandeur of the songs reminds us more of prog rock. It's thrilling, epic, and fantastic, with slowly building and repeating musical and vocal motifs. When describing the band, R5 Productions says: "Melding sound-loops with dense layers of cello & violin, blending and differentiating over a backdrop of ragged repeating guitar and sociopolitical lyrics." Yeah, that works, too.