It starts out quiet as a mouse, fingerplucked acoustic guitar and brush beats on the drums. But as we’ll learn, it’s best not to let the mellow mood set the bar for your expectations of Andy Cabic and Vetiver. During the nomadic five piece’s hour-long, very-sold-out set at Kung Fu Necktie last night, they ever-so-gradually built up the pace, pulling heavily at first from last year’s Tight Knit. The ringing triangle on “Sister” was the initial crowd pleaser, a jaunty midtempo rhythm and pretty melody masking melancholic lyrics. Then there was the pepped up ’60s pop of “Everyday,” the acoustic guitar bouncing and drummer Otto Hauser bringing up the beat. Dude is totally the backbone of this band, going from an understated economy of percussion on the quieter moments, to a more emphatic beat the rousing 12-bar guitar jam “You May Be Blue” from the band’s 2006 record To Find MeGone. By the concluding cover of The Dead’s “Don’t Ease Me In,” the sticks were hitting fast and fierce, Cabic was leaping and strutting, and the crowd seemed to forget that the night started on such a tender, tranquil note. Click For More »
Even though Holly Otterbein convincingly blew their cover yesterday, I nonetheless showed up at Johnny Brenda’s quietly wondering if this mysterious band billed as Meth Beach was actually a freeform ambient drone headtrip. Nope – it was indeed the boys from Dr. Dog, warming up some material from their new Shame, Shame, due out April 6 on Anti- Records. Quite a bit of it, actually; of the forthcoming record’s eleven tracks, the band played a generous six of them, intermixed with favorites from 2008’s Fate and 2007’s We All Belong.
The most punctual show in the history of Johnny Brenda’s…
…but that can probably be attributed to Reading Rainbow. The delightfully minimal Fishtown noise-pop band we introduced you to a few months back had very little in the way of a setup. I’m talking a floor tom, a snare, a splash cymbal and a vintage Ampeg cab. The unfussy configuration meant less time dillydallying with a soundcheck and more time getting straight to the rock, right on schedule. Click For More »
Waiting for Espers to take the stage at Johnny Brenda’s last night, a buddy and I debated their catalogue. He’s a loyalist to the original document, the self-titled debut. Myself, I’m partial to the deep, dark chasms of Espers II. We eventually agreed that it’s compelling and commendable how each of their releases — particularly the brighter, more serene new Espers III — has its own distinct identity. And then we watched as those identities bended seamlessly with one another when performed live. Click For More »
Three songs into Imogen Heap’s hour-plus set at the TLA last night, her equipment’s power went dead. “Everything’s fine, I’m just going to do some interpretive dancing now,†she said cheerily, mumbling to herself and pacing around the stage and playing with whatever noisemakers were in arm’s reach. (Among them: bird squeezey toy.) To distract us from the technical misstep, Imogen asked us if we’d like to meet Harold. “Woooo!†we replied.
Harold, turns out, is no sound technician or stage manager, but rather Imogen’s stuffed lion, which she brought on stage and clutched lovingly for a moment, until the fuss was settled and she and her backing bandmates launched into a powerful synth-brassy “Headlock.†By then, of course, the lioness had us hooked.
Equal parts dotty and dominant, Imogen has mastered the art of the lovable space cadet. That, or she really is in outer space. Either way, it’s charming to hear her tell little tales between songs, or fill the dead space with snippets of conversation in that delightful British alto. Before “Aha!†she launched into a story about a friend — “well, I’ll allow we were more than friends†— who came over for lunch, claiming to be a vegan and requesting a special meal. When he reached for a definitely-not-vegan biscuit, Imogen reported, she realized that perhaps they wouldn’t be “friends†for much longer. All of this is to say that “Aha!†is, in part, inspired by the biscuit-eating vegan (which would explain the lyric “Caught you red-handed in the biscuit tinâ€). “But the song isn’t entirely about him,†she admitted, “because it ends up talking about a serial killer.†Click For More »
“I threw flowers in your face on my sister’s wedding day.â€
We were still waiting in the will-call line when “The Strangers,†St. Vincent’s first track from 2009’s Actor (4AD), came blaring through the Electric Factory’s walls promptly at 8. Damn. (It didn’t help that the bitchiest guy in Philadelphia was ahead of us in line, whining that he shouldn’t have to wait in such a long line.)
Opening for Andrew Bird, St. Vincent — aka Annie Clark, former member of the Polyphonic Spree — stuck with Actor tracks for the most part of her nine-song set, wavering between the exquisite, ambient swell that’s become her signature and a much more dissonant, spazzier sound that I don’t think anyone was expecting. As my boyfriend said, “It’s like she goes from Regina Spektor to Sonic Youth in the span of a song.â€
Not that there weren’t lovely moments amid the madness. “Save Me from What I Want†started as a slow crescendo of harmonic oohs between lead singer and violinist, slowly building to a wall of perfect sound. By the end, that which had been pleasing to the ear had devolved into a sort of dragged-out, heavy-guitar cacophony with St. Vincent at the center, shaking her head like she’d heard an off note, or she’d fallen into some kind of trance. Click For More »
There was something extra Frenchy about last night’s Cirque du Soleil performance at the Liacouras Center. It seemed like every other group in the audience seemed to be swishing tight, accented syllables out of their thin, pursed lips. My guess is they were friends and family members of the performers, all of whom stayed true to the tasteful traditions of the dramatic circus fused with sideshow and street entertainment. I wasn’t allowed to take photos, but I was so close to the stage that I’d have only gotten pictures of their derrières anyhow.
This French-Canadian show sends you home wondering about things you couldn’t even imagine with the help of psychedelics, like contortionists walking on their throats while resting their butts on their heads; a man dance-hovering horizontally inside a giant hula hoop; and a tribal-looking dude juggling fire with his bare hands, feet and mouth. Sacre bleu!
The performers don’t just come out and do a few cool tricks that you want to go home and practice on your own. They put on full, 10-minute routines of physical elegance so bizarre that your imagination sits and takes notes while you question everything you’ve ever learned about gravity and the human body. The best part is they do it all in slippers — sparkly, magical slippers.
Although there were no motorcycles in cages and not a lot of audience interaction, even the clowns, whose airplane sound effects sounded French, pulled squeals of laughter out of les jeunes enfants in the audience. There really is no ethnicity, age or class of people that wouldn’t be fascinated by this show. Just watch out for those ruthless audience members — they’ll steal your seat as soon as you get up to go to la toilette.
Everybody knows just where she gets her clothes
A watercolor painting in a Renoir pose
Gossip is not the raw, dirty little indie trio you saw at the Khyber all those years ago. They rolled out some deep, rich cuts from the new Music for Men at the TLA last night to prove it. This four-piece Gossip is slick, with synths and guitar and even bigger (and more frequent) choruses for the gracious, bodacious Beth Ditto to show off her amazing voice. Everything was fast, loud and pro. The polish suits them. Ditto still rules the stage like a blues goddess, but she’s got a little bit of disco diva/anthem singer, too. It’s all rock and roll, of course — even when she’s doing a call and response take on “What’s Love Got To Do With It.” Oh c’mon, Beth. It’ll all about love.
“Hey remember that time that I would only … what would I do?â€
For a split second I thought to scream out “READ THE BACKS OF CEREAL BOXES!†with the rest of the crowd in what I imagined would be a fun call-and-response, since this audience seemed to be singing along every word to every song. But then Regina stopped strumming her sea-foam-green electric guitar and put her hand to her left temple, looking perplexed. “Wow, this is the biggest fuck-up so far on the American tour.â€
Herein lies the beauty of Regina Spektor: No one can ignore that incredible voice, but what really makes us swoon is her imperfect charm — she lets her hair go wild, she doesn’t care what you think of her outfit, she fucks up her lyrics sometimes, she is never afraid to sound downright ugly.
In fact, part of the brilliance of her space-cadet moment during “That Time†was the freedom it gave her to really play with the rest of the song. “I thought I was gonna be sickghhhhghghhh,†she uttered gutturally, captivatingly uncivilized. Click For More »
`Kill Rock Stars, Merge, and Sub Pop showcases all on the same day. That is just awesome!` »
GODMAN ENZO ferrari, WE SAY JEWS ARE FRIENDS OF MUSLIMSBECAUSE HASRATH ALI WORKED WITH JEWS the holy quran with out rasool a khuda and his family, the book is only worth a car magzine on
`GODMAN ENZO WANTS TO THE THANK PHILADELPHIA'S CITY PAPER FOR GIVING US A CHANCE TO WRITE WHAT WE FELT, SOME VERY DIFFERENT FROM THE NORMAL COMMENTS RATHER ` »
`Maybe we should just offer critiques of the artblahg loser's work instead of pretending we don't know who he is.
You can call me VINCENT and I'm just ` »
`And when you head west to Lancaster, be sure to check out BUiLDiNG CHARACTER, Downtown Lancaster's Creative Outlet with 30+ vendors selling architectural ` »
`KB, the reason that high school students are using interpreters is that many of them have lived in the US for only a few months.
One thing that news ` »
The student the School District blamed for the violence at South Philadelphia High School shares his story. It's not the same one District officials have been telling.
Staff Blog
