Turned Up For a Cause: The Temple Spring Block Party.
Text and images by Sofiya Ballin.
Carlisle Street quaked with heavy bass, and tilted slightly on its side after a massive electric slide. The Temple Block Party was back and in full effect, brought to you by Power Hour Musik and Campus Night Out. Created by Saleem “DJ Taaj” Sabree, this was the fourth annual block party.
The Mischievous Side of Chill Moody.
As part of our partnership with Philly Beer Scene magazine, we’re documenting Philly’s relationships between music and beer. For the most recent issue of Philly Beer Scene, G.W. Miller III spoke with Chill Moody, the West Philly rapper who has a mischievous side.
Listen to Chill Moody’s lyrics and you can’t help but feel excited, optimistic and, well, inspired (which is actually the name of one of his songs).
The rising young rapper from West Philadelphia broadcasts a positive message in a smooth flow, his rhymes building upon the ideas that you can achieve anything if you try, and that we all should be saying nice things to and about each other.
So when Chill started being critical of music a few years ago, his friends thought it was out of character.
“People had a hard time separating rapper me from me being a fan of music,” says the 28-year-old graduate of Overbrook High School and Millersville University who sold out the Theatre of Living Arts in December.
One night, while he was having drinks with friends at PYT in Northern Liberties, he decided that his more mischievous side needed an outlet. Chill, who is the epitome of a social networker, created the Twitter handle @DrunkChill.
“Instead of watching my mouth all the time, I can say whatever I want,” he says with a laugh.
Last week, Grammy U kicked off their “The Era of the Engineer” tour featuring three time Grammy-nominated audio engineer Young Guru.
Drexel University students and Grammy U participants gathered in the URBN Annex on Drexel’s campus to learn the role engineers play in today’s music industry, how production involves more than utilizing the mixing board, the downfall of the recording industry and why keeping up with advancing technology is important.
Young Guru, who previewed Kendrick Lamar and Jay-Z’s “Bitch Don’t Kill My Vibe” remix at this year’s SXSW, elaborated on the need for a professional education in music and audio engineering, and what it takes to standout in the burgeoning music production field.
Cold War Kids @ Union Transfer.
Text and images by Grace Dickinson.
Like boys on a basketball court, the amount of bandmate camaraderie displayed at Cold War Kids show Friday overflowed. Though less butt slapping and more back tapping, there was a constant touch and feel chemistry present up on stage, even as the night wore on.
Cloud Cult @ Johnny Brenda’s.
Text and images by Marisa Lyon.
“This is gonna be fun,” said Cloud Cult lead vocalist, Craig Minowa, smiling as he fed off the energy of the enthusiastic crowd at the sold-out Johnny Brenda’s on Friday. “Our first show here in Philadelphia, I think we played for two people. So this is amazing.”
Belgrade: Finding The Right Balance.
Text by Rick Kauffman. Images by Michael Bucher.
What makes Philadelphia different from cities larger and denser, or from those smaller and sparser, is that our artists stay here, stick with their friends and grow from their home as much as their home grows from them.
Belgrade, a shoegazing indie rock band, is a shining example of that.
“Our band would have never happened without the locality and proximity of Philadelphia,” says guitarist Matt Hanemann. “We were able to call on people who were really good musicians to build this group.”
It wasn’t a stretch to find able-bodied and accomplished musicians to complete the band. In fact, they felt as though the long list of possibilities was overwhelming. Drummer Jeff Meyers, for example, has been a part of 27 different bands.
“Does that make me a whore?” he jokes. Read more…
Commonwealth Choir @ The North Star Bar.
Text and images by Grace Dickinson.
What Commonwealth Choir never fails to bring to a show is energy. On stage, sweat is always flowing in abundance and tambourines are flying through the air. To say the band likes to jump around would be a bit of an understatement, especially for lead singer Davis Howley. Read more…
Jamie N Commons: The Blues Are the Source of All Music.
Jamie N Commons has the voice of a hardened American blues man but he hails from the UK and he’s in his early 20s.
Though he’s just at the beginning of his musical journey, Commons has all ready received industry recognition. He signed with Alex Da Kid, a Grammy-winning producer who has worked with Eminem and Rihanna. He achieved the dream of many musicians of playing at the prestigious Montreal Jazz Festival. Recently, Commons appeared on the Conan O’Brien show. His debut EP, Desperation Blues, was released in March. He’s now on tour with Brit sensation Lianne La Havas.
Despite the seemingly overnight success, Commons is extremely humble. He kept fixing his black fedora hat before posing for pictures with concert-goers. When our reporter, Jumah Chaguan, approached him for an interview after his recent show at World Cafe Live, he apologized for not dressing better. Read more…
We’ve got a pair of tickets for you to see a few really cool bands at the intimate venue under the El on Saturday. Toronto noise-punks Odonis Odonis will blow out your eardrums and SKATERS will have you dancing (even if you don’t know how). Should be super fun.
Like us on facebook and email us at FreeJumpStuff@gmail.com to enter to win a pair of tickets (give us your name and put “SKATERS” in the subject line).
If you want to play it safe and get your own tickets, find details for the show here.
DRGN King, Norwegian Arms, Total Slacker and More @ Pi Lam.
Text by Nikki Volpicelli. Images by Rick Kauffman (and find more pics from the show here).
Total Slacker
Delicate Steve
Cold Fronts
Human BBQ fans
Dom Angellela of DRGN King
Keith Birthday of Norwegian Arms
Cold Fronts
Flesh was cookin’ Saturday outside, next to the windows on the stone patio that’s in front of PiLam, a fraternity-venue full of Penn punk kids with good musical taste.
Boxes of burgers moved in and out of the house by the same bodies that flip-flopped them on the grill outside. It was as if Arizona Iced Tea sponsored this event – green bottles were everywhere. The live line up was indicated by black and white printed schedules taped to walls with “up” and “down” denominators telling us where to go and at what time, with sets changing at :15 and :45 marks and on the hour.
This DIY venue runs a tight ship(sometimes), an impressive type of punctuality that’s due to the fact that this day’s event, the Human BBQ, is on its 35th consecutive year and the kinks have seemingly been worked out.
This year’s event featured Memorial Gore, Jon Pfeffer, This Temper, Cold Fronts, Celebrations, Plates of Cakes, Radical Dads, DRGN King, Laser Background, Ghost Light, For Sleeping or Jumping, Slow Animal, Oh Adeona, Banned Books, Total Slacker, Norwegian Arms and Delicate Steve.
Next door, guys in khaki pants and collared shirts spilled out onto their respective lawns, red cups in hands and on long tables, soaking up the sun and electronic dance music. Down the street, girls hobbled in uncomfortably high heels with dress lengths that couldn’t be comfortable either. But here there were coeds in black and white Human BBQ t-shirts, faces and hair and bodies covered in layers of dried paint. This is a different tradition than what’s expected from Ivy League University of Pennsylvania. It’s the island of misfit toys in a sea of sharp-dressed Soc’s, and this island is built on rage-rock.
Cold Fronts started the day off early, with drummer Al Smith requesting a nap somewhere mid-set. But hours later, after the synth-rock group played its evening show at North Star, he was back at the BBQ, going strong in support of the other acts with later sets.
Downstairs, DRGN King sonically assaulted the dimly-lit, crumbly-looking basement, tearing through tracks from this year’s debut album, Paragraph Nights. Frontman Dominic Angelella kept one eye over his shoulder to abuse an amp back into shape with a kick of his foot every so often. The group introduced a cover song, briefly, as a frat-sister (yeah) demanded, “No covers in this house!”
DRGN King then tore into their single, “Wild Nights.” Angelella abruptly halted the song in the middle of the first refrain to change plans.
“No, no, no, stop, stop, stop,” he said. “Fuck that. This song’s called ‘Wolfman.'”
Boston’s For Sleeping or Jumping taunted the crowd that was half-lit with afternoon light seeping through the upstairs windows. Lead singer Gio Coviello flexed and jerked with the same epileptic moves as Pissed Jeans’ frontman, Matt Korvette. He switched back and forth from stage to crowd, his catchy crass rock reelings inciting moments of mass confusion. A friend I was with noticed (after the set) that she’s ripped the lid from her fountain soda cup into multiple pieces in some animalistic fit of rage.
Total Slacker
Nearing the end of the night, Norwegian Arms stoked the crowd with mandolin-heavy magic sounds off of January’s Wolf Like a Stray Dog. Eric Slick and Michael Trillions shared drum duty, barreling through songs before introducing the last act, NJ/NY natives Delicate Steve. The group led the audience into an experimental sound garden. Their bean-stalky frontman (named Steve) thrashed through fully instrumental experiments and varied tempos under a searing light show that turned the room unreal.
JUMP: The Philly Music Project 