Staff Blog
Sebastien Grainger and The Mountains, Dec. 1, Johnny Brenda’s
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| Red Racket | Josh Reichmann and the Oracle Band |
| Photos | Dianca Potts | |
Last
night at JB’s, a humble crowd of friends and fans mingled on floorboards and stools, drinking beer and looking
sharp while West Philly’s Rad Racket warmed things up with their
brand of tenacious, percussive math rock dissonance.
Catchy and tenacious and sporting genuinely explosive energy, Roman Salcic, frontman of Red Racket, crooned out tunes like “Morning Trolley” and “Babe I’m Running From You” while guitarist Adam Katz inserted shredful post-hardcore riffs amidst layers of drums, bass and synth. Though initially delayed due to a strange succession of
broken guitar strings, the West Philly’s band set was well worth
waiting for, thrilling the humble JB’s crowd of friends and fans with their gregarious, tenacious sound.
Ending things with a cover by the one and only David
Bowie, Rad Racket’s performance gave way to the psychedelic, jazzy Josh
Reichmann and The Oracle Band. Currently signed to Paper Bag Records, Reichmann and his bandmates proved toe-tap worthy,
cranking out specimens trippier than Devendra Banhardt’s daydreams/nightmares. Sporting a trumpet,
flute, and sax in addition to the requisite keys, bass, drums and guitar, Reichmann and Co. proved distinctively undefinable (but in a good way). Keeping attention with
tracks lifted from recent and past releases — “King Girl,” the
metaphysically upbeat “Believe in Souls” — they set the mood for even more
mind-blowing rock and roll at the hands of Sebastien Grainger
and The Mountains.
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| Sebastien Grainger and The Mountains |
| Photo | Dianca Potts |
Tall, sincere and friendly, sporting acid-washed jeans, skinny black suspenders and a V-neck tee with a hole near
its hem, ex-Death From Above 1979 frontman Grainger and band started things off with
the Costello-esque “Love Can Be So Mean.” The crowd, already swaying, sang along, bopping heads to the staccatoed backbeat. They followed with “Who Do We Care For,” which featured relevant lines (”Who do
we care for/ Who do we make our friends/ Who do we turn to”) leading into
the new-classic Grainger half-yell half-moan croonage: “Who do we make
our friends?” It was as if he extracted all the vocalized expression that
made DFA1979 such a fire-starting success.
Their set, thankfully
lengthy, also included subtle dance anthems(”I’m All Rage”), more
provocative tuneage (”I Am Like A River”) and the presumable favorite of
the night, “I Hate My Friends.” After the last song, Grainger exited the stage after throwing his guitar strings down onto the floor, leaving the Mountains to tend to,
nurse and tweak the residual aftermath of distortian feedback.
Member by member, the Mountains filed off, leaving Brenda’s balcony silent. Grainger and his cohorts soon materialized, standing shoulder-to-shoulder with showgoers, looking toward the stage and
slowly lifting their hands to clap, contributing to the maelstrom of applause that marked the end of a truly epic evening.
