Philadelphia City Paper - Music Picks:
Music Picks: Hot Hot Heat [ rock
These B.C. punky-poppers hit one out of the park way back in the "return of rock" heyday of 2002 with their Sub Pop debut Make Up the Breakdown which still feels impossibly urgent. Since then it's mostly been a long downhill slide up the milquetoast major-label mountain but a recent demotion back to batting in the indie leagues has done them good: The new Future Breeds (Dangerbird) is more fun and more fierce than they've been in ages a throwback to the jittery dance-punk firepower that earned them their name.
Sun. Sept. 5 8 p.m. $15 with 22-20's and Hey Rosetta! North Star Bar 2639 Poplar St. 215-787-0488
northstarbar.com.
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Music Picks: Best Coast [ indie pop
"Fine fresh fierce" doesn't quite hit the mark — I mean Best Coast's frill-free sunny-indie-pop m.o. is definitely none too novel and that is a kitty cat collaged onto the cover of Crazy for You (Mexican Summer) — but Bethany Cosentino sure has got it on lock in terms of the blog buzz love cruise and it's not hard to hear why her band's strummy simplicity and the richness of her Kim Deal/Liz Phair flashback vocals invite such a consensus of good will even if it's hard to picture anyone getting truly amped about this stuff. Bonus points for the refreshing scarcity of fuzz.
Tue. Sept. 7 8 p.m. $12-$13 with Cults and Slutever First Unitarian Church 2125 Chestnut St. 877-435-9849
r5productions.com.
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Music Picks: Marina & The Diamonds [ art-pop
So yeah: Yet another entrant in the U.K. quirk-pop princess parade (q.v. Lily through Florence et al.; the dubious heirs of U.K. quirk-pop queen Kate Bush) who hearkens to piano-pounding pixie-mavericks like Tori and Regina without quite mustering the former's innate gravitas or the latter's insouciant charm. Also Marina Diamandis has a habit of singing in a hammy lip-twisted sometimes faux-operatic wail that makes her dime-store feminism and pseudo-deep social commentary (sample rallying cries: "Guess what I am not a robot!"; "American dream is the American queen") feel as overwrought as they are clunky and awkwardly affected to boot. But you know melodies ... plenty of 'em strong enough to make The Family Jewels (Chop Shop) a borderline compulsive listen. Plus a genuinely fun sub-Gaga fashion sense. And a willingness to trick out some of her best tracks as glitzy synth-pop barnstormers (check "Shampain.") Did I mention the melodies? Aw shine on you kerrrazy diamonds.
Fri. Sept. 3 8 p.m. $18-$26 with Young the Giant World Café Live 3025 Walnut St. 215-222-1400
worldcafelive.com.
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Music Picks: Delaware Valley Bluegrass Festival [ roots/bluegrass
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Lest you get overwhelmed let's take this day by day: In addition to pure bluegrass from legends like Dan Paisley Friday offers a treat for kids: Riders in the Sky. Yes from the Cartoon Network. They're actually exceptional musicians and comedians delighting adults as much as kids. Later see Cherryholmes who went from inexperienced bluegrass fans to headlining family band in very few years. Saturday: Several of Kathy Mattea's biggest country hits were written by her thoroughly bluegrass fellow West Virginian Tim O'Brien so she's always had that leaning. Now Mattea's voice roars over the fiddle and the banjo frequently focusing on the biggest topic of her home state — coal. There is no more passionate soulful voice in bluegrass today. Even if Sunday is your only free day it's worth the trip. The Seldom Scene despite many lineup changes remains true to its progressive bluegrass charter. Michael Cleveland closes the festival with the best traditional Appalachian style fiddling ever.
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Music Picks: Queerchannel rock/pop
Everybody should have a problem as good as Steph Hayes. As the longtime poetic centerpiece of Stargazer Lily and Cory Hayes knows her way around emotive lyrics and temptingly contagious (but never obvious) roots-rocking melodies. Plus she's a damn fine guitarist; dobro dude Mike Brenner don't let no slouches into his sacred-steel hip-hop ensemble Slo-Mo. Still it's Hayes' current band The Good Problems where she sounds most at ease — and productive. There was Dirty Hearts in 2006 and Mostly True Stories in '08 and by year's end we'll also have Made to Change a live recording of 12 new songs. This Thursday Hayes and Chris Schutz (with whom Hayes also plays in The Tourists) bring together a host of local gay talent — music arts film everything — for QueerChannel: Aiden James Puppett Rastello Nicole Reynolds Dangerous Ponies Liberty City Kings Lulu Lollipop of Peek-A-Boo Revue and more. A percentage of the night's take goes to the Attic Youth Center the only independent LGBTQ youth center around.
Thu. Aug. 26 7:30 p.m. $18 World Café Live 3025 Walnut St. 215-222-1400
worldcafelive.com.
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Music Picks: Scissor Sisters pop/dance
From the ass-tastic 1980 Robert Mapplethorpe cover shot to the entendre-riddled lyric sheet and the gleaming greased-up disco grooves contained within Night Work (Downtown) finds Jake Shears and co. returning from a too-long absence in revitalized deliriously hedonistic form. This is their gayest sexiest simultaneously campiest and most earnest outing to date. It's got space for wiry new wave rock ("Running Out") and strutting pop-metal ("Harder You Get") — though not the eyebrow-raising twang of their recent Kylie Minogue cover — but they've streamlined their sound for the dancefloor throughout with an able assist from retro-electro savant Stuart Price (Killers Madonna Les Rythmes Digitales) on instant classics like "Whole New Way" — a bouncy delightfully chipper paean to butt sex — and the searingly anthemic "Skin Tight" which is at once a thinly coded meditation on condom use and a totally gorgeous love song. Don't worry too much about whether they're smirking or sincere just be stoked that they're back. These scissors swing both ways.
Fri. Aug. 27 8:30 p.m. $30-$32 with Sammy Jo Electric Factory 421 N. Seventh St. 800-745-3000
electricfactory.info. ...
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Music Picks: Conversations with Enemies rock/pop
CwE is a shaggy Dr. Dog-like West-Philly-to-Fishtown quintet that makes easy breezy summery pop with a rough-and-tumble feel. There's lots of screeching girl/boy harmonies and squelchy rhythms and blaring trumpets. On occasion you can hear waves under the old-school surf pop. And the live shows are shambolic. On their debut concept album Nowhere OK they sing raw-knuckled tales of zombie love vampires and devils' doings like nobody has since the first Roky Erickson and the Aliens album. Add in some rich full-moon gypsy folk interludes and you can almost see the wolf bane blooming over F-town.
Sat. Aug. 21 9 p.m. $10 with Jay Purdy Toy Soldiers and Cheers Elephant Johnny Brenda's 1201 N. Frankford Ave. 877-435-9849
johnnybrendas.com.
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Music Picks: Bells Bells Bells/Acres of Diamonds rock/pop
This Friday at JB's is all about living in the moment: Yesterday be gone tomorrow be damned. For stormy spooky rockers Bells Bells Bells it's the last hometown show of the summer. Let 'em rest on the lovely laurels of January's A Ghost Could Live Here. Reverbing guitars and Amandah Romick's operatic vocals make every second tense desperate and darkly beautiful. Meanwhile dreamy pop architects Acres of Diamonds should be in a sweet and sour mood. On one hand they're dropping their first 7-inch and it's a moody pretty slice of rock 'n' roll. On the other this is their last gig with drummer Kathryn Doherty-Chapman before she moves back to Portland. Case you didn't know she's been a fixture in so many righteous things in this city: Kensington Kinetic Sculpture Derby Lady Fest Girls Rock Philly Neighborhood Bike Works. Kat's one of the all-time greats.
Fri. Aug. 20 9 p.m. $10 with Lo Power Plane and Giant Mind Johnny Brenda's 1201 N. Frankford Ave. 877-435-9849
johnnybrendas.com.
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Music Picks: Angel Band roots
Philly's bluesy bluegrassy Angel Band has been touring madly of late which is probably why Nancy Josephson ordinarily a very chatty sort has been hard to get on the phone. Or maybe she just wants the songs on their just-released CD Bless My Sole (Appleseed) to speak for themselves. Except for the one Beatles cover she wrote them all. As ever she takes a clear-eyed look at tough situations like the urban purgatory of "Black Tar Sway." Clear-eyed doesn't preclude hope and encouragement however; "Same Boat" reminds friends and neighbors that we would be well-advised to pull together. The Angel Band's sound continues to focus on the tight trio of women's voices — including Kathleen Weber and newcomer Aly Paige — with acoustic support from stellar players like Josephson's life/music partner David Bromberg.
Fri. Aug. 13 7:30 p.m. $15 with Carsie Blanton Tin Angel 20 S. Second St. 215-928-0770
tinangel.com.
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Music Picks: Dragonette dance pop/rock
Canadian retro-wavers Dragonette want nothing more than to come off as total wanton sleazeballs. They've got the backstory for it — the band's genesis was an adulterous tryst backstage at a musical festival — and plenty of deliciously impious refrains ("I say yes when I oughtta say no"). But their Go-Go's-grade spunkiness and the sweetness of Martina Sobrara's melodies combined with their adorable habit of injecting their hook-perfect electro-pop songs with gratuitous handclaps banjos Bollywood beats or Tin Pan Alley twinkle makes them just too cuddly to spurn.
Sat. Aug. 14 9:30 p.m. $12 with Shy Child Johnny Brenda's 1201 N. Frankford Ave. 877-435-9849
johnnybrendas.com.
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Music Picks: Dâm-Funk Master Blazter electro/funk
Toeachizown last year's lavishly decadent entrée into the freaky world of Los Angeles cyber-funk maestro Dâm-Funk was a properly brain-blazing accomplishment: For its length for the audacity of its single-minded aesthetic vision but mostly for the way it resembled an all-night turn-of-the-'80s talkbox radio station.
Thu. Aug. 12 9 p.m. $10 with Spirit Animal and Robotique DJs Johnny Brenda's 1201 N. Frankford Ave. 877-435-9849
johnnybrendas.com.
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Music Picks: Bill Kirchen rock/pop
"I know in the morning that it's gonna be good/ When I stick out my elbows and they don't bump wood." Those are the first of many nuggets of original philosophy Bill Kirchen spins on his new Word to the Wise (Proper American). The man has come through the rock meat grinder; he provided the guitar sound for Commander Cody's '70s hits and lived the road life. ("Too Much Fun" was one of his songs from that era.) Now he's grateful for every day and always looking to make converts to his sunny outlook. This is a rare family-friendly (non-bar) gig so here's your chance to let the shorties hear how rock guitar should twang and roar.
Sun. Aug. 15 7:30 p.m. $19.50 Sellersville Theater 24 W. Temple Ave Sellersville 215-257-5808
st94.com.
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Music Picks: Rihanna/Ke$ha pop/dance
This double-bill features one of pop's current reigning sovereigns plus one of its brashest snottiest new faces. Each has put plenty of effort lately into projecting a singularly unpalatable persona — one a harsh hard-bitten violently moody woman scorned; the other a gleefully trashy obnoxious brat. Both halves of this remarkably incongruous duo are easily as fascinating image-politics-wise as say Lady Gaga. Rihanna's Rated R (Def Jam) was a dark daring curveball from a hitherto featherweight-seeming (albeit zillion-selling) diva flush with dense turgid overwrought productions and Gothic melodrama — the effervescent "Rude Boy" sounds basically nothing like the rest of it — but impossible to look away from. As for Ke$ha (pictured) of brushing-with-Jack infamy: If you're repulsed by the singles — which constitute a strong second front in electro-pop's Gaga-led assault on U.S. charts now with extra Euro-bosh jolliness — feel free to steer clear of Animal (RCA) but it's a surprisingly solid yuk-filled (both kinds) brainless-pop pleasure cruise that actually winds up making her seem sorta endearing.
Wed. Aug. 18 7:30 p.m. $31-$106 Susquehanna Bank Center 1 Harbour Blvd. Camden N.J. 800-745-3000
livenation.com.
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Music Picks: Here We Go Magic rock/pop
It would be overstating it to say Here We Go Magic's new album has a "sedative" or "hypnotic" quality but I'd put it on a road-music mix only under controlled circumstances. Pigeons (Secretly Canadian) is some of the gentlest dreamiest boy-based indie pop out there. Even when the snare drum's chugging along at break-Twix speed Luke Temple's moussey voice and those chiming synths keep your pulse slow and steady.
Mon. Aug. 9 9 p.m. $10 with The Powder Kegs Johnny Brenda's 1201 N. Frankford Ave. 877-435-9849
johnnybrendas.com....
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Music Picks: Post Post Neal Santos |
rock/pop
Don't let the friendly faces fool you these Bryn Mawr kids are sly and hot-blooded. Their first studio recording the brand-new Residents EP is a little angsty a lot fiery and somehow totally wide-eyed and haunted at the same time. The heartache and desperation ("How'd I get so good at losing?" repeated for emphasis) are so snugly wrapped in jangly guitar and dreamy keys you might dance the pain away. And lines like "Sometimes I try to light a fire just to see how you'd react" — well they're just psychotic. In a really charming way. Driven by Michelle Zauner's breathy-then-belting vocals Residents continues Post Post's impressive skyward trajectory. Four songs of coy catchy indie-pop.
Sat. Aug. 7 9 p.m. $3 with Pet Milk Kung Fu Necktie 1250 N. Front St. 215-291-4919
kungfunecktie.com.
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Music Picks: Susana Baca folk/world
Before Susana Baca drew attention to African musical traditions in Peru they were little acknowledged inside the country let alone beyond. Baca's most recent CD Seis Poemas (Luaka Bop) is a tribute collection of songs by late Peruvian nueva cancion singer/songwriter Chabuca Granda Baca's colleague from the early days. Fragile but insistent peaceful and hypnotic her voice makes you understand the songs whether or not you speak Spanish.
Mon. Aug. 9 7:30 p.m. $24-$37 World Café Live 3025 Walnut St. 215-222-1400
worldcafelive.com.
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Music Picks: Fol Chen Juliana Paciulli |
art/dance/pop/rock
The Residents had some good ideas but I wouldn't call them "fun." Los Angeles band Fol Chen seems like the next evolutionary step an art-pop project you can groove to. They're coy with their faces and identities. (There's at least one lady and one dude and they wear Chucks.) The music is shrewdly odd but catchy maybe even dancey. Their lyrics stitch the pretty to the apocalyptic. This is exactly what I thought we'd be listening to in 2010: trancey clangy absurd half-hopeful over-processed pop for the bombed-out/beat-up/4channing/music-stealing post-Lost endless-war generation. I miss Lost.
Thu. Aug. 5 9 p.m. $10 with Baths and Virtual Virgin Johnny Brenda's 1201 N. Frankford Ave. 877-435-9849
johnnybrendas.com.
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Music Picks: Robyn/Kelis pop/dance
Despite some parallels with the Rihanna/Ke$ha tour that'll be passing through town in a few weeks — apart from the corresponding initials and rampant mononymity both pairings highlight the rapidly crumbling divide between electro-pop and R&B circa 2010 — this is truly the dance-diva double bill to beat this summer. Two uncommonly well-seasoned pop-world vets Robyn and Kelis (pictured) both debuted way back in the 1990s. Each can boast at least one bona-fide classic ("Show Me Love"; "Milkshake") and plenty of close contenders; each has seen her share of label woes and fan-base fickleness; each embodies a strong sexy funny distinctly noncomformist persona all her own. And each is currently making arguably the finest work of her career. Robyn's Body Talk Pt. 1 (Cherry Tree) is a brief but unmitigated earworm-crammed delight with more on the way while Kelis' Flesh Tone (A&M) may be the real stunner: a full-on plunge into hard-edged dance and tribal house with heart-tugging inspirational lyrics addressed to her son Knight who turned 1 last Thursday. Aww.
Tue. Aug. 3 7:30 p.m. $20-$22 with Dan Black and Far East Movement The Trocadero 1003 Arch St. 215-336-2000
thetroc.com.
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Music Picks: Arcade Fire Eric Kayne |
rock/pop
The Suburbs (Merge) won't be released until the day after Arcade Fire plays the Mann but that's not important for two reasons: 1) The phrase "omg the new arcade fire just got leaked" popped up across the web last weekend around the same time music critics got their review copies (watermark protection — activate!) so maybe you've already heard it you thief. 2) You already know these songs anyway or you'll feel like you do. Win Butler's pretty-pretty words? Check. Dreamy strings and grandiloquent crescendos? Check check. The long and lovely Suburbs won't blow you away with new tricks. It'll just blow you away in the normal way.
Mon. Aug. 2 7:30 p.m. $29.50-$49.50 with Spoon Mann Center for the Performing Arts 5201 Parkside Ave. 215-893-1999
manncenter.org.
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Music Picks: Wailin' Jennys roots
How the Wailin' Jennys' latest album landed on the Billboard bluegrass chart is a mystery to anyone who knows what bluegrass sounds like. Was it the close harmonies — albeit more sweet than high lonesome and biting? Their label Red House guessed it was "all those acoustic instruments"; there's plenty of banjo fiddle and guitar. Despite the misfiling people are still finding the Jennys. Live at the Mauck Chunk Opera House has been on that chart since its release — last August. As in 2009. Right now Heather Masse and Ruth Moody are also working solo recordings while Nicky Mehta is raising young twins on the road so the Jennys' schedules are harried. Still somehow when they sing together it's a pristine and peaceful thing.
Sun. Aug. 1 8 p.m. $22-$38 World Café Live 3025 Walnut St. 215-222-1400
worldcafelive.com.
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