Text by Scott Signorino. Images by Jonathan Van Dine.
On Friday, I accompanied Jonathan Van Dine to Johnny Brenda’s. Our mission: to catch a veritable trifecta of female-fronted indie rock talent – headliner Marnie Stern supported by North Carolina’s Barren Girls and Philadelphia’s own Little Big League.
Ghostface Killah @ The Blockley.
Ghostface Killah took the stage at The Blockley well after midnight, all geared-up in Mitchell & Ness. He played up to the excited crowd by hyping Philly repeatedly.
Clearly, the man knew his audience.
He even invited a few people from the audience to jump on stage to perform ODB’s portion of the Wu-Tang classic “Protect Ya Neck.”
“This being Philly and all,” Ghost said, “if he don’t earn it, you tell him.”
Gold Fields @ The TLA.
Capital Cities headlined the TLA yesterday as part of the Dancing With Strangers Tour but Gold Fields put on a headliner performance.
The Australian five-piece features two drummers, which created an infectious, tribal rhythm that drove the set and had the crowd bouncing from the moment Gold Fields hit the stage.
Their music is poppy with an electro feel but there is a darkness to the sound that is mysterious, almost melancholy.
Armin Van Buuren @ Festival Pier.
It may seem odd to many people to pay $35 (plus fees) for a ticket to watch a DJ standing behind a booth while you are surrounded by 3,000 people. The dude is really far away and you barely have room to dance.
But man, the EDM life is an experience.
Alice Russell @ World Cafe Live.
The Brits have long loved American rhythm and blues but things are starting to just get weird.
Over the past few years, numerous female artists from the UK have come out swinging with these booming voices and classic American soul sounds, from Amy Winehouse to Joss Stone to Adele.
Well, yesterday, we caught Suffolk-born songstress Alice Russell, who performed at the World Cafe Live as part of WXPN’s Free at Noon series.
The audience seemed middle aged (or older), and mostly white. We’re thinking this is mostly based upon the promotion via WXPN. If you closed your eyes, however, you might have thought it was the reincarnation of Teena Marie on stage.
Alice Russell belted out a lot of funk and soul. It was an impressive 30 minute performance that featured much of her new album, To Dust. Released about two weeks ago, it’s her fifth solo release, which forces you to wonder, “Why isn’t this woman with the powerful voice a huge figure here?”
Well, after her tour supporting this album, maybe she will be.
Martha Graham Cracker Cabaret @ L’Etage.
Martha Graham Cracker entered the room at L’Etage last night dressed in full geisha (gay-sha?) attire – summery yellow kimono, wooden sandals and white face.
“Kunichi-fucking-wa,” she said to the crowd.
And then she launched right into the controversy that had surrounded her this week.
DRGN King: The Making of a Musical Kingdom.
Text by Beth Ann Downey. Images by Ryan Treitel.
It’s about 9 p.m. on a blustery, cold Wednesday. Inside a cute rowhome on South 18th Street, a bunch of dudes in or related to Philly-based indie band DRGN King stand around, talking about meat.
Meats of various shapes and sizes, including large turkey legs that only seem like they existed in medieval times, are currently smoking in the oven. But the mid-January indoor barbeque isn’t happening for fun. The meat will be used in a scene for DRGN King’s video for “Wild Night,” a single off the band’s first album, Paragraph Nights, which has just been released a day before on Bar/None Records.
DRGN King frontman Dominic Angelella is slightly more dressed up than he’s usually seen around the city. He sports a blue blazer and off-color maroon cords. His distinctive curly red hair looks the same as it does most other days and much less relaxed than Angelella himself. Though his project that has been three years in the making has just been released to the world, Angelella is chill, confident and excited.
“That was the first album I’ve ever put out,” Angelella says between sips of his Yards brew. “In a way, I’ve been waiting to do that since I was, like, 15. But it was one of those things where, suddenly, it wasn’t that stressful anymore. I thought about that all the time and then it was like, ‘Oh, that happened.’ It was one of those things that I’ve always wanted to do. It was a dream of mine, and it went down.” Read more…
The first Nude Beach event at Underground Arts back in February was, let’s say, just a little out of control. The Sailor Jerry was flowing and the beers were cheap and the sold-out crowd danced all night. As much as we can remember, it was a fantastic night.
We expect the same chill vibes will happen on Friday for the second installment of the now-regular event. Vacationer will be joined by Body Language and Night Panther, followed by DJ sets from Le Bump and Vacationer.
Oh, and we’re giving away tickets to the show.
Email us at FreeJumpStuff@gmail.com to enter to win a pair of tickets (give us your name and put “Vacationer” in the subject line).
If you want to play it safe and get your own tickets, find details for the show here.
Dream Oven: The Kiln for Creativity.
Text and image by Nikki Volpicelli.
Once upon a time, there was a big bread oven conspicuously placed in the middle of the dingy basement on Frankford Avenue. Just sitting there, taking up space, front and center to many a basement house show.
The renter of the house, Marshall James Kavanaugh, gave that oven a story. He made it an idea, a vehicle for alternative expression, a symbol for a creative community on the rise.
Kavanaugh called it the Dream Oven and started using the moniker to book shows at local venues, including Little Berlin, Kung Fu Necktie and El Bar.
He started building a base at his own home, in the loose likeness of Gertrude Stein’s Parisian salon and her open-house philosophy. The writer would open her doors to her great contemporaries including Pablo Picasso, Ernest Hemingway and James Joyce. She helped initiate what’s known as the Lost Generation of now-renowned writers, poets and painters.
“That’s the main thing I’m trying to accomplish with the Dream Oven, to offer an open art space for a community to perform within, and a place where people can just hang out and be friends,” muses Kavanaugh, whose East Kensington space is flush with expression in the form of letters, paintings and literal, triangular hand-crafted freak flags strung on a rope by the stairs. Read more…
Dragonette and The Presets @ Union Transfer.
Text and images by G.W. Miller III.
The Presets may have been the headliner at Union Transfer last night but it was Dragonette that entranced the crowd.
“‘My Legs‘ is my life,” a fan shouted from the front of the stage, referring to Dragonette’s popular dance track.
“Your life is about to begin,” bass/keyboard player Dan Kurtz replied.
And with the start of the song, the crowd erupted, everyone bouncing up and down.
Another fan barked at lead singer Martina Sorbara, “I love your legs!”
A frantic young man at the foot of the stage looked at Kurtz and said, “I’d rather see his legs.”
JUMP: The Philly Music Project 