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Featured Artists:

Title		Artist		Genre
Electric Hoe Down		Nat King Tron		Eclectic
My Name Is Tron		Nat King Tron		Eclectic
Tied		Bruce Torres		Acoustic Rock
CityGirl		Bruce Torres		Acoustic Rock
Canción Que Nace En Mi		Tribal Scream		Latin Rock
Te Podria Pasar A Ti		Tribal Scream		Latin Rock
Obey		T.P.D.		Indie Pop
Something Delicious		Stellarscope		Indie Rock
Cryogenic Sleep		Stellarscope		Indie Rock
Insomnia		Psylichon		Electronic
Broken Open		Psylichon		Acoustic Rock
Medicine		Jimbo		Punk

Philly Music & Nightlife:

 • Sonorous sax and post-bop roar
    When saxophonist/composer Bobby Zankel left New York and its avant-garde loft scene for Philadelphia in 1975 he'd already plied his skills with masters of the free-jazz trade such as Cecil Taylor. >> read more or comment


 • Slightly reinvented they're still rock's diffuse explorers
    Sonic Youth isn't quite self-conscious enough for the title of its 16th album The Eternal to refer to the band itself. But it's hard to imagine a time when Sonic Youth didn't exist. >> read more or comment


 • MUSIC: Our critics sound off about this week's shows
     >> read more or comment


 • They're a duo on and off stage
    Being both a romantic couple and a musical duo it makes sense that the Brooklyn band Matt & Kim - Matt Johnson and Kim Schifino - can spend more time on the road than most. They recently played shows on four different continents in the space of a month and not long after Johnson suffered a back injury that led to the cancellation of a leg of their U.S. tour. >> read more or comment


 • Concert Previews
    Jay Reatard Jay Reatard's new album due in August is entitled Watch Me Fall. But since leaving Memphis and finding his way (eventually) to alt-rock's biggest label (Matador) he's done nothing but rise. British post-punk fan Wire enthusiast and Al Gore >> read more or comment


 • Concert and club listings
    In Concert Anson B. Nixon Park N. Walnut St. Kennett Square; 610-444-1416. ansonbnixonpark.org. Blue Roots. *FREE* 7/8 7-9 pm. >> read more or comment


 • Casino shows and concerts
    Casinos Atlantic City Hilton Boston at the Boardwalk Atlantic City; 609-347-7111. www.hiltonac.com. The Monsters of Classic Rock. $15. 7/3 9 pm. Joe Cocker. $60. 7/4 8 pm. >> read more or comment


 • Michael Jackson Tops Charts
     >> read more or comment

Philadelphia City Paper - Music Picks:

 • Music Picks: Japandroids
    

rock/pop

Brian King and David Prowse always meant to make their garage rock outfit a trio but never got around to finding a lead singer. The result? Paired with a heavy helping of fuzzed-out reverb and a driving guitar-drums setup the vocals sound like you’re with your buddies — in the car at a party at the bar — sing-screaming your favorite song. But the songs off Japandroids’ debut LP Post-Nothing aren’t your favorites. Yet.

Tue. July 7 8 p.m. $10 with Matt & Kim and Team Robespierre First Unitarian Church 2125 Chestnut St. 866-468-7619 r5productions.com.

... read more >>


 • Music Picks: Sonic Youth
    

rock/pop

There was probably a time when it seemed that Sonic Youth might deconstruct rock music into nothingness. But that was back during the Reagan administration. Picking up where 2006's ultra-tuneful Rather Ripped left off their new disc The Eternal (Matador) makes the predecessor sound positively mild. By cranking up the freaky guitars and Steve Shelley's joyous drumming songs like "What We Know" and "Thunderclap (For Bobby Pyn)" are brimming with rock energy. As the band hits one crescendo after another The Eternal maintains an almost ridiculously high level of excitement. The closing "Massage the History" a near-10-minute contemplation with slide and acoustic guitars and an eerily compelling Kim Gordon vocal unfolds unpredictably. Twenty-seven years after their first release Sonic Youth maintains the element of surprise.

... read more >>


 • Music Picks: Witch Hunt
    

punk

Even for a West Philly punk band Witch Hunt is pissed off. That they manage to channel it into some furious glorious music is some kind of public safety miracle. Burning Bridges to Nowhere — their third LP and first with Jello Biafra's Alternative Tentacles label — is an avalanche of shouting/barking male-female vocals tommy gun drums and occasionally catchy guitar hooks. Hostile City seems to be a pervasive influence on their pessimistic worldview judging by their MySpace pages where three of the four call Philly "shitty" in their profiles to insane anarcho-crust-Hsker-D anthems like "Septa Death." They want a new world order. They want the U.S. out of Iraq. They want another drink. It's hard to tell what they want sometimes so rapidfire is their venom-spitting elocution. But it sounds like they give a shit.

Wed. July 8 6:30 p.m. $12 with The Subhumans and The Ray Gradys Barbary 951 N. Frankford Ave. 866-468-7619 r5productions.com.

... read more >>


 • Music Picks: Erik Rico
    

Anthony Demby

hip-hop/r&b

This may be the closest you'll come to someone who was discovered by Randy Jackson. International artist Erik Rico is gracing Philly as Eavesdrop and Karmalux presents another soul-hitting ass-shaking showcase. Rico has worked with Tupac Jurassic 5 and our very own Dave Ghetto but don't let the hip-hop fool you — Rico can get down with any genre.

Wed. July 8 10 p.m. $10 with Dot.matic Kanu Mydnite Angel Silk City 435 Spring Garden St Philadelphia PA 215-592-8838 eavesdropsessions.blogspot.com.

... read more >>


 • Music Picks: Bobby Zankel and the Warriors of the Wonderful Sound
    

jazz

Philadelphia composer/alto saxophonist Bobby Zankel doesn't need a 14-piece ensemble in which to make dense horn charts fly or dynamic rhythms pounce. But it don't hurt. Caught between the devil deep blue post-bop and frenetic free jazz the likes of which would raise Sun Ra happily from his resting place his Warriors' recent CD Ceremonies of Forgiveness turns Zankel's chromatic harmonic Sound into a joyful noise. Elliott Levin John Swana Tom Lawton and Rick Iannacone co-star.

Thu. July 2 9:30 p.m. $10 Tritone 1508 South St. 215-545-0475 tritonebar.com.

... read more >>


 • Music Picks: Kindred
    

r&b/soul

Three albums and a few children later Aja and Fatin still possess that true love of soul and self that you've been reading about in City Paper for almost a decade. The days of going to the Five Spot for $5 are long gone but the Black Lily groove keeps going. Their 2008 album The Arrival (Hidden Beach) gave fans a sense of nostalgia but also hope that the neo-soul movement has a bit of life left.

Wed. July 8 8 p.m. $25-$35 World Café Live 3025 Walnut St. 215-222-1400 worldcafelive.com.

... read more >>


 • Music Picks: Cryptacize
    

Itsy-bitsy California indie project Cryptacize is slowly turning into an actual band. Used to be it was just Nedelle Torrisi and Chris Cohen gently clanging their guitars and wiggling their tambourines. Now they've got a bassist and on their new Mythomania (Asthmatic Kitty) I think I hear some actual drums chugging along behind all that blissful twee kitten juggling. Still spookily spare though.

Thu. July 2 7 p.m. $12 with Casiotone for the Painfully Alone First Unitarian Church Chapel 2125 Chestnut St. 866-468-7619 r5productions.com.

... read more >>


 • Music Picks: Magos Herrera
    

jazz/latin

Whether singing in English Spanish or Portuguese Magos Herrera's expressive voice bridges language barriers through pure emotion. On Distancia she reaches across those borders thematically as well as linguistically with a set of tunes about longing and separation. The Mexico City-born New York-based singer gathered a cast of NYC's finest — many of them bringing along their own cultural fusions — for her U.S. debut a vivid blend of Latin and African-inspired grooves and a rainbow's worth of pastel-hued vocal colors.

Fri. July 3 5:45 and 7:15 p.m. free with museum admission of $16 Philadelphia Museum of Art 2600 Ben Franklin Parkway 215-763-8100 philamuseum.org.

... read more >>


 • Music Picks: The Most Serene Republic
    

rock/pop

Yes they're from Canada (Milton Ontario) have myriad members (seven current four former) and write sprawling operatic songs with so-precious titles ("You're A Loose Cannon McArthur...but You Get the Job Done"). But don't lump in The Most Serene Republic with Arcade Fire Stars and Broken Social Scene and then call it a day. Yes there are similarities but think of TMSR as these bands' younger brother — a bit naïve a bit wide-eyed and always willing to pull off some crazy stunt to get attention. Sometimes the results are stunning and sometimes they're not. Luckily the former outnumber the latter on the band's third LP ...And the Ever Expanding Universe (Arts & Crafts).

... read more >>


 • Music Picks: Violent Kin
    

I've seen dozens of fashion-forward pics of this stylish Canadian sister-brother duo but haven't had much luck finding one with musical instruments. (Oh wait is she holding a keyboard in that one? Why is she holding a keyboard?) But know this: Violent Kin does make music and it's dreamy catchy spooky rock and roll. Sounds as good as they look.

... read more >>


 • Music Picks: Telepathe
    

electronic/pop

Brooklyn duo Telepathe will tell you: Bad dancing is better than no dancing at all. Check YouTube. Their sci-fi synths electronic beats and angelic vocals always seemed to be matched with poorly choreographed shuffling. It's endearingly awkward. It's exactly right.

... read more >>


 • Music Picks: Popped/2nd St. Festival
    

Last summer it was the Battle of the Indie Rock Superish-stars. This time Popped — partnered with 2nd St. Festival — is a casual stroll through Northern Liberties. No pressure have a good time we're all friends here. On the bill: free music (by Benjy Ferree Arc in Round many more) beer gardens (by Standard Tap 700 Club and so on) and miscellaneous (skate ramp moon bounce etc.). Who needs the Ting Tings? Nobody needs the Ting Tings.

... read more >>


 • Music Picks: AlasNoAxis
    

Robert Lewis

jazz

Jim Black is without question one of the most inventive drummers in modern jazz as evidenced by his work in bands like Human Feel and Bloodcount pairing rock drive to a spontaneity and intellect born of avant-jazz. But unlike many a drummer handed the reins Black's work is far more constrained under his own name. The five discs by his band AlasNoAxis channel his abilities into tight blissed-out post-rock songs with Chris Speed's tenor tracing keening melodies over Hilmar Jensson's guitar crunch while Black and bassist Skli Sverrisson lock into grooves that coil with growing intensity.

... read more >>


 • Music Picks: Anthony Hamilton
    

r&b/soul

... read more >>


 • Music Picks: Little Joy
    

rock/pop

The members of Little Joy (featuring among others Strokes drummer Fabrizio Moretti and the amazingly named Binki Shapiro) take their moniker from an L.A. bar. It fits. Listening to their self-titled record (Rough Trade) you can see the members lounging around throwing back cheap Mexican beer strumming ukuleles and keeping time on bar counter tops. Why? Because you want to be right there along with them.

... read more >>


 • Music Picks: Patrick Wolf
    

rock/pop

... read more >>


 • Music Picks: Bee Eater Showcase
    

hip-hop

... read more >>


 • Music Picks: Pansy Division
    

Lauren Bilanko

rock/punk

In 1994 Pansy Division used their opening slot on a Green Day theater tour to smash barriers satirize stereotypes and toss dildos around the stage. These days they're playing to the choir in front of fans who don't need convincing. Will this expose "Cocksucker Club" or "Dick of Death" as well the tacky songs they are? Perhaps. But there's also songwriter Jon Ginoli's classier side heard on the rumbly "I'll Never Be the Same" the jaunty "Luv Luv Luv" and on at least half of the new That's So Gay (Alternative Tentacles).

Wed. June 24 7 p.m. $12 with Percocettes and Sgt. Sass The North Star Bar 2639 Poplar St. northstarbar.com.

... read more >>


 • Music Picks: The Tallest Man on Earth
    

Dusty folk rambles and country blues are hardly typical fare for year-end lists so Shallow Grave Kristian Mattson's understated 2008 debut made an unlikely candidate for critical love. But the Swedish troubadour (who's apparently somewhat on the short side despite his cocky moniker and notable pompadour) doesn't just nail the sepia-toned sound of his American forebears with his feverish finger-picking and resonant croak; he also makes it relevant and utterly inviting with a wryly cryptic writerly voice all his own.

... read more >>


 • Music Picks: Sunset Rubdown
    

rock/pop

I'll eat up anything histrionic Canuck Spencer Krug (Wolf Parade Swan Lake Sunset Rubdown) puts out. Sometimes I'm not sure why. Here's my impression of a Krug song: intro that's either soft and melodic or nervy and anticipatory; into oblique lyrics that might be crazy; building to crescendo with banging piano guitars and drums; climaxing in warbly fever-pitch lyrics that yes are crazycrazycrazy (and maybe mythological); into a gasping spazzy shout-along chorus. If it's a formula it's a weird one and one that Krug's managed to keep fresh because manic hysteria is rarely boring. There's "Idiot Heart" on Sunset Rubdown's fourth LP Dragonslayer (Jagjaguwar) with its refrain of "I hope that you die in a decent pair of shoes" or the title-says-it-all "Apollo and the Buffalo and Anna Anna Anna Oh!" Each Krug piece is a longish swirl that feels at some point like it's about to spin completely out of control. Which I guess things are these days.

Sat. June 13 9 p.m. $12-$13 with Elfin Saddle Johnny Brenda's 1201 N. Frankford Ave. 215-739-9684 johnnybrendas.com.

... read more >>

coming soon...

Current Exhibitions at the Philadelphia Museum of Art:

 • A Director’s Vision: The Legacy of Anne d’Harnoncourt
    April 25 2009 - July 19 2009: Anne d’Harnoncourt (1943–2008) the Philadelphia Museum of Art’s late and beloved Director who served the Museum and its audiences for four historic and transforming decades reveled in the art of all ages and cultures. This exhibition celebrates Anne her passion for art and her drive to share creativity’s treasures with all.http://www.philamuseum.org/exhibitions/348.htmlApril 25 2009 >> read more or comment


 • Henri Matisse and Modern Art on the French Riviera
    December 13 2008 - October 25 2009: Including 42 works total 35 paintings and 7 sculptures from the Museum’s collection and local private collections this year-long installation celebrates the French Riviera’s mythic allure for modern artists.http://www.philamuseum.org/exhibitions/334.htmlDecember 13 2008 >> read more or comment


 • Bruce Nauman: Topological Gardens
    June 7 2009 - November 22 2009: *Location: Venice ItalyBruce Nauman: Topological Gardens is the official United States representation for the 53rd International Art Exhibition—La Biennale di Venezia. A three-part presentation in Venice Italy Topological Gardens exhibits works by Bruce Nauman in the U.S. Pavilion of the Biennale’s Giardini as well as in spaces located on the premises of two of the most highly esteemed academic institutions in the city.http://www.philamuseum.org/exhibitions/349.htmlJune 7 2009 >> read more or comment


 • Philadelphia Treasures Eakins’s Gross Clinic and Saint-Gaudens’s Angel of Purity
    August 2 2008 - July 19 2009: The Museum welcomes two masterpieces made for Philadelphia by two of nineteenth-century America’s finest artists Thomas Eakins and Augustus Saint-Gaudens. Close contemporaries and friends they both trained in Paris and traveled in Europe before returning to the United States about 1870 to begin distinguished careers. Sharing a belief in the expressive power of the human body as a subject for modern painting and sculpture they developed different styles.http://www.philamuseum.org/exhibitions/325.htmlAugust 2 2008 >> read more or comment


 • Hello! Fashion: Kansai Yamamoto 1971–1973
    May 24 2008 - July 2009: Kansai Yamamoto is one of the founding fathers of Japanese contemporary fashion. Best known for his work during the 1970s and 1980s his avant-garde designs are inspired by the colorful Azuchi-Momoyama period (1568-1600) and traditional Kabuki theatre. The exuberant Pop-like quality of his work contrasts with what is today associated with Japanese fashion Zen-like simplicity and deconstructed silhouettes.http://www.philamuseum.org/exhibitions/318.htmlMay 24 2008 >> read more or comment


 • DaidÅ� Moriyama: Tokyo Photographs
    February 28 2009 - August 23 2009: DaidÅ� Moriyama is one of the most important and exciting Japanese photographers of our time having made prolific often experimental pictures of modern urban life since the 1960s. This exhibition showcases a group of approximately 45 photographs made in and around Tokyo in the 1980s when Moriyama focused his mature aesthetic on the city with renewed intensity.http://www.philamuseum.org/exhibitions/342.htmlFebruary 28 2009 >> read more or comment


 • Richard Schultz: Five Decades of Design
    April 5 2009 - August 23 2009: In this exhibition several works created over half a century by legendary outdoor furniture designer Richard Schultz are being presented by Collab and the Philadelphia Museum of Art on the Perelman Building's Cafe Terrace.http://www.philamuseum.org/exhibitions/352.htmlApril 5 2009 >> read more or comment


 • Spectacle: Photographs from the Collection
    June 18 2009 - September 7 2009: Comprising more than 40 photographs from the Museum’s collection this exhibition explores the manner in which photographers from the nineteenth-century through the present day have documented spectacular scenes and events along with the curious spectators who observe them.http://www.philamuseum.org/exhibitions/355.htmlJune 18 2009 >> read more or comment


 • A Taste for Modern: The Jeanne Rymer Collection of Twentieth-Century Chairs
    May 16 2009 - September 20 2009: This installation of twenty-three chairs is selected from an important group given to the Museum in 2007 by Jeanne Rymer a retired professor and head of the Interior Design Program at the University of Delaware.http://www.philamuseum.org/exhibitions/356.htmlMay 16 2009 >> read more or comment


 • Visual Delight: Ornament and Pattern in Modern and Contemporary Design
    May 16 2009 - September 20 2009: This exhibition drawn primarily from the Museum’s modern and contemporary design collection features some thirty objects dating from the mid-1960s to the present.http://www.philamuseum.org/exhibitions/357.htmlMay 16 2009 >> read more or comment


 • Willem Kalf and the Sumptuous Still Life in the John G. Johnson Collection
    November 28 2008 - fall 2009: John G. Johnson acquired many seventeenth-century Dutch and Flemish still-life paintings including three by Willem Kalf; an early kitchen scene and two of the later pronk or sumptuous still lifes for which Kalf is best known.http://www.philamuseum.org/exhibitions/340.htmlNovember 28 2008 >> read more or comment


 • The Art of Japanese Craft: 1875 to the Present
    December 6 2008 - October 18 2009: This exhibition offers one of the first surveys of Japanese crafts in all their rich diversity of media and techniques through the entire 20th century from Japan’s first forays on to the international stage of World’s Fairs to the heady internationalism of the 1920’s and 1930’s to the dynamic creativity of the post-WW II period and to the present.http://www.philamuseum.org/exhibitions/316.htmlDecember 6 2008 >> read more or comment


 • Notations: The Closing Decade
    November 21 2008 - October 25 2009: Arguably the last decade of the twentieth century started in 1989 with the fall of the Berlin Wall and ended twelve years later with the horrific attacks of September 2001. That extended decade witnessed some of the most profound and lasting transformation in society since the postwar period. This presentation of works from the Museum’s collection exemplifies the vast range of artistic practices during this time of profound transition bringing together a diverse group of artists working in a variety of mediahttp://www.philamuseum.org/exhibitions/333.htmlNovember 21 2008 >> read more or comment


 • Shopping in Paris: French Fashion 1850–1925
    April 11 2009 - October 25 2009: The glamorous and cutting-edge fashions created in Paris have always inspired American dress. This exhibition explores the American experience abroad between 1850 and 1925. Such luxurious designs as the House of Worth and the classic elegance of Lanvin are being paired with American fashions based on these Parisian prototypes.http://www.philamuseum.org/exhibitions/347.htmlApril 11 2009 >> read more or comment


 • Skyscrapers: Prints Drawings and Photographs of the Early Twentieth Century
    June 6 2009 - November 1 2009: Icons of modernity and testaments to human achievement skyscrapers rose to towering heights in major cities across the United States during the early decades of the twentieth century. More than fifty prints drawings and photographs chosen from the Museum’s collection demonstrate the many ways artists chose to portray the new giants in their landscape.http://www.philamuseum.org/exhibitions/353.htmlJune 6 2009 >> read more or comment


 • An Enduring Motif: The Pomegranate in Textiles
    February 21 2009 - February 21 2010: Artists have been inspired by the inner and outer beauty of the pomegranate since biblical times. The objects on view in this exhibition represent a cross-section of textiles from the Museum’s collection that feature this richly symbolic fruit.http://www.philamuseum.org/exhibitions/344.htmlFebruary 21 2009 >> read more or comment

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