Every week, intern Matthew Albasi brings you all the shows he wishes he could go to.
I’m wearing pants. That might not seem like a big deal to you, but it is to me. Not to say I normally walk around with my nether regions totally exposed, but I am wear pants, like, not shorts. I hate shorts. But when the sun is beating down, I don’t have much choice. With the temperatures finally dipping down into the low-60s at night I’m free to cover up my hairy calves and dress like a real boy again.
Diatribe on shorts aside, these cool nights are making me wish I was sitting around a campfire, staying warm and listening to someone belt out tunes on an acoustic guitar. Since the city tends to frown upon me starting fires in my backyard I have to settle for a weekend full of amazing singer-songwriters. With that said, let’s jump on in.
FRIDAY
Nicki Bluhm and the Gramblers, Sean Rowe at Tin Angel
The Tin Angel is a haven for hearing singer-songwriters. It’s small, intimate and sounds amazing. Friday night Nicki Bluhm will be playing her country/folk tunes. Sean Rowe, a burly, bearded, survivalist will shake the walls with his simple songs and gorgeously deep voice. Whenever I hear him sing I just want to crawl into his beard and take a nap.
Norwegian Arms, Laser Background at Double Deuce
These guys are in the midst of an interesting string of shows across the city. Each week Norwegian Arms and Laser Background will reside in a different show house in the city. In each house they will write as much music as they can and at least one song written will be performed. This week the guys are making a couch fort at Double Deuce and playing Friday night. Check it out.
SATURDAY
Steve Forbert at World Cafe Live
Seriously, what can I say about Steve Forbert that hasn’t been said before? The guy has been doing this forever. He was amazing in 1979 when he wrote Romeo’s Tune and he’s still awesome today.
SUNDAY
Ed Sheeran at River Stage at Great Plaza
Ed Sheeran is one of those guys that makes me feel like crap. At the tender age of 21, he has become one of the most startlingly talented musicians I have ever heard. It’s pop-folk, surely, but the British ginger will show you a good time.
Lindsey Stirling at World Cafe Live
Have you ever been listening to a violin concerto and thought to yourself, “Damn, if only this had some dubstep in it.” Yeah, me either, but once you hear Lindsey Stirling you’ll get it. Ok, maybe a dancing violinist with crazy geek cred doesn’t fit into the singer-songwriter theme, but don’t judge me. I’ve got a crush. Can you blame me?
There you have it, folks. Enjoy your weekend of acoustic guitars and girls that dress like Link.
BET Music Matters Tour @ The TLA, with Kendrick Lamar and More.
Text by Niesha Miller. Images by Tiesha Miller.
Before 7 p.m. hit last week, a line formed down the block from the Theater of Living Arts on South Street. Many people stood between 3rd and 4th streets with printed ticket stubs in their hand, waiting to be let in to the venue so they can get first dibs on the front row area in the standing room venue.
Crowd-pleaser hip-hop artist Kendrick Lamar (above) headlined the show for BET’s 2012 “Music Matters” tour. Before he took the stage, a crowd of more than 800 people chanted his name from the floor and balcony overlooking the barely lit venue.
The Cali native approached the stage.
“It feels good to be back in Philly,” Lamar shouted to the crowd. “It feels like home.”
The crowd pushed, pulled and sung along as he performed a bunch of gems from his 2011 independent album Section.80 including “The Spiteful Chant” featuring Schoolboy Q (right) , “HiiiPower,” and “Fuck Your Ethnicity.” There were struggles as people attempted to shove their way closer to the Black Hippy. At one point he pulled a chair on stage, leaned towards the crowd to engage his devoted followers.
“Next time I’m in Philadelphia,” Lamar said, “I’m a let you know the reason I act the way I act.”
Seconds later the beat dropped for “A.D.H.D.” The crowd gasped and exchanged nostalgic looks and placed their lighters and cell phones in the air and moved them from side to side.
He periodically stopped in the middle of a few songs, shouting that Philly wasn’t live enough for him. The crowd would yell and laugh in protest, but the party would start up again.
In between sets, fans shouted their favorite song at the performer. Eventually he told the crowd to tweet him the song they wanted to hear next. He checked his phone, shot the crowd a smile and got back at it.
Later he ended his set with “Swimming Pools,” from his much anticipated major debut album good kid, m.A.A.d city set to be released October 22nd.
He left the stage, where the crowd immediately demanded an encore, chanting his first name.
Before Lamar tore the stage apart, the show was opened with performances by his fellow Top Dawg Entertainment (TDE) members Jay Rock, Ab-Soul, and Schoolboy Q, along with guest Stalley for the Mayback Music Group.
Stalley
Ab-Soul
Jay Rock
Man Overboard Spends The Afternoon in Philly.
Text and image by Brittney Bowers.
On Saturday afternoon, Man Overboard teamed up with Property of Zack to conduct a scavenger hunt throughout Center City. Clues to the locations were announced via twitter. All of the locations had some connection to Man Overboard and their music.
Prizes were handed out to those that arrived first at the first four locations. The locations were Repo Records, Govinda’s, the First Unitarian Church, and Broad and Walnut Street in front of The University of the Arts.
The fifth and final location was in front of U Got Munchies on Temple University’s main campus, and everyone was rewarded with a prize – Man Overboard’s lead singer Zac Eisenstein performed an acoustic set.
A crowd of more than forty pop-punk lovers gathered to sing along to “Montrose,” “Atlas” and “Love Your Friends, Die Laughing,” among others. Eisenstein also performed a catchy, newly written song that is expected to be on Man Overboard’s next demo.
U Got Munchies announced that on Saturday, October 6, at the Lincoln Financial Field, before the Temple Owls take on South Florida, there will be a barbecue in the parking lot along with another free show with Man Overboard.
Lucy Stone: The Young Veteran.
Text and image by Rachel Barrish.
Lucy Stone’s life is crazy these days. She constantly bounces from place to place – singing, writing, recording and going to school, all while managing to maintain a social life.
“I drink, like, six of these a day,” Stone says, referring to the iced coffee in her hand.
She has strawberry hair and she sports a tattoo on her arm of a candle burning at both ends. It’s a philosophy that she lives by; work to the bone, but have fun.
She writes all of her own material, with her style varying from indie rock to sweet, soulful melodies, crossing over to folk.
She grew up in nearby Flourtown, an only child whose parents introduced her to greats like Elliot Smith, one of the main musical influences in her life. Her parents used to harmoniously sing The Beach Boys’ “Surfer Girl” to her every night. When Stone was 14, her dad punished her by taking her to a Belle & Sebastian show with The New Pornographers.
She began making and performing music when she was 12 years old. At 14, she and her best friend created a Duke Ellington tribute band called Yuke Ellington. She has literally been in 10 bands since she was 14 – and she’s only 20 now.
Stone came to Philly to participate in Drexel’s Music Industry program.
Her main project now is her Lucy Stone outfit, which includes two guitarists, a bassist and a drummer. Each serves an additional role to the project. Drummer Sean Donaghy is the booking agent. Bassist Paul Impellizeri is the manager. Guitarist Brandon Bost is the producer. Guitarist Isaac Louis is the publicist.
They released an EP, Would You?, in July and then spent the summer performing around the region – from the Arts Festival at Penn State to Musikfest in Bethlehem. They opened for Rusted Root at the Stone Pony in Asbury Park.
This fall, Stone and her bandmates will tour the Northeast, Midwest and Canada.
WHY?, Serengeti and Doseone @ Union Transfer.
Text and images by Brian Wilensky.
WHY? plays pop music. No, WHY? is hip-hop. But they also get labeled as indie rock because of Yoni Wolf’s heart-wrenching lyrics.
Unfortunately, I missed most of their set Friday night at Union Transfer because Sophia, the girl selling their records and other merch held my attention a little too much. She was a real sweetheart. But I did catch “Sod in the Seed,” from this summer’s buzz-worthy EP of the same name early in their set. Their double-drummer action on that one is worth the buzz in itself.
As for the rest the show, it was out of order. Serengeti coming on before Doseone had to be a mistake.
Serengeti’s laptop-hop was tight. From his raps about MMA fighting to “California” off of Family & Friends, he killed it. After his set, he did the hang-at-his-own-merch-table gig and when my friend bought a t-shirt, Serengeti simply threw in a CD with it and put the cash directly in his wallet.
Then Doseone came on. And before he started pushing buttons on some synth or drum/loop machine that said, “check you asschildren” on it, he asked the crowd how many people had their chest shat on by their mother.
Then I heard a cricket.
And Doseone just said, “Yeah, you don’t talk about that.”
Maybe I’m square, but it wasn’t my type of humor. Nor was his music.
Serengeti (left) near the merch table
Doseone
Bloc Party @ The Trocadero.
Maybe I just remember the last time Bloc Party played Philly – in 2009 at the Electric Factory. Maybe I’m just not a huge fan of their new album, Four, which dropped a few weeks ago. But something seemed off during their show at the Trocadero on Saturday. They just didn’t seem that into the performance.
Their new material is kind of all over the place, ranging from the sharp-hooked, indie dance-pop that made them famous to a new, more aggressive, hard rock sound. As they weaved through their catalogue during the show, there wasn’t a solid flow. There were moments of bliss, for sure, like when they played “Hunting for Witches” or “The Healing.” But the steady, building energy of their 2009 show wasn’t replicated. And singer Kele Okereke, who is reportedly shy, danced a bit and chatted with the audience but he almost seemed to be going through the motions. Their passion seemed missing.
When they performed “This Modern Love,” for instance, they seemed almost annoyed, cruising through a beautiful song as though it was “Auld Lang Syne.” They ended the night with “Helicopter” played at double speed, as though they couldn’t put that behind them fast enough.
It was still a thrill to see them perform. They were tight throughout, and Kele has such a wonderful, interesting voice. But they appear to be a band in transition, reluctant to be pigeonholed by their 2005 masterpiece, Silent Alarm and the successes that followed.
Void Vision: Analog Vision Quest.
Text by Maddy Court. Image by G.W. Miller III.
Void Vision is the name Shari Vari gives the gloomy, labyrinthine electronic music project based out of her Fishtown basement.
“I call it synthpop,” she says. “I get lumped in as cold wave because I’m associated with Wierd Records but I feel like my music isn’t that minimal. It’s a little more complex.”
Void Vision’s original incarnation as a full four-person band was short-lived. Soon after founding the project in 2009, Vari and guitarist Hayden Payne decided the project worked best as a synth duo. A year or so later, in the middle of recording their first 7-inch record, Vari and Payne decided to part ways after artistic differences made collaboration impossible.
“They were 98 percent my songs,” Vari says. “I had put a lot of time and effort into it. I believed in it. I just kept going. It was my project. Usually in guy/girl duos, the girl isn’t very technical. She’s just a front, eye candy. But I wrote all these songs and did all the directing.”
Now 27, Vari is emerging from a two-year recording absence with a new, yet-to-be-named Void Vision LP. The album, which she expects to complete by November, features “To the Sea,” a waltz-like ballad about love gone wrong. It’s a heavy, emotive song befitting of someone whose love for electronic music is rooted in childhood nostalgia growing up in Holland, Pennsylvania.
“I was always really tuned in to the music in commercials, video games and TV shows,” Vari explains. “I used to watch my brother play a lot of video games. I would try to transpose music onto the piano.”
When she was 12, Vari’s brother introduced her to Buzz Tracker program, minimalist software that allows users to make electronic music. As a teenager, Vari used the fledgling Internet to indulge her interest in synthpop and obscure retro music.
“The Internet helped me a lot because I was out in the middle of nowhere growing up,” Vari offers. “There were no other kids at my school who were into the same music as me. I had 13 channels on my TV. There were no music shows. I found things by downloading stuff from the Internet.”
Today, Vari is the web animator behind the hoagie-ordering computers at Wawa. She uses computers at work but would rather create her music on the analog synth and drum machines that fill her basement. Much of her equipment dates from the ’70s and ’80s. Vari believes that technical limitations spark creativity and make artists work with more thought.
“You can do anything on a laptop,” she says. “I prefer people in rubber monster suits to computer-generated monsters. Special effects take away from the creativity. You don’t need computers to make cool things.”
Vari’s attention to craftsmanship and ability to alchemize old into new material shines through in each Void Vision song.
Deathwaltz Media: DeathFest in 2013? Maybe!
Deathwaltz Media Group is a Philly promotion company with an ear for originality. Justin Berger started the company a year and a half ago after he realized that managing bands might be easier than making it in a one. Our Brian Wilensky spoke to Berger about the business.
What do you look for in bands that send you material?
We look for new, fresh artists that defy a single genre. We aren’t too interested in any acts that keep it safe. I grew up listening to a lot of fusion, and the idea behind Deathwaltz is to really push the genre-bending as far as we can.
You work a lot with jam, dance, improv and world music. What draws you to those genres?
I started really promoting when I became fascinated with world music. The shows were almost exclusively at The Rotunda in West Philly, and always free or with a donation. The shows were part of a project I called the Diaspora Series, which focused on experimental world music, and all seemed to have an audience of avant-garde musicians who sat down in chairs and studied the musicians pretty hard. It’s sort of the antithesis of what I have been doing for the past 2 years with electronic music. The change in direction happened when I began helping out in a managerial role for the band Grimace Federation. They had abandoned the jam scene for a few years and I felt it was necessary to have them get back into the jam/electronic world. When I made the transition to the more accessible live music, I saw that crowds began to flock and even combine. Since then, I have had a lot of fun placing two or three bands on a bill whose scenes never seemed to intermingle.
Philly hasn’t had a major annual festival until the announcement of the Made in America Festival. Why do you think that is?
The reason there hasn’t been a major music festival in Philly is because there hasn’t been a promoter that is willing to give it a shot. There is an enormous amount of work that goes into making a successful festival. It’s really a goal of ours to put together a large festival one day. We realize, however, that it’s important to have the perfect team to make such a thing possible. So this year we made it a priority to be involved in some fashion with every major festival so that we can start to assemble a team of the baddest motherfuckers in the business. We are focusing a lot of our time to making this goal a reality. DeathFest? We’re still working on a title.
What does Philly offer to you as a promoter other markets don’t?
Until recently, there weren’t really any promoters in Philly that worked with everyone. It made it very difficult to get things done. For some reason, I haven’t had any issue working with the majority of venues and promoters in the city. Because of this, I am able to know when to do things and when not to do things. I like to think its because everyone that works for the company is charming, good-looking, and hard-working, but I think the times have just changed. Everyone knows it’s more important to work together and prosper together, rather than all compete. I’m not sure that our neighboring cities have this theory down yet.
What does the Philly scene still need?
A Center City venue that everyone loves to death.
Intern Matthew’s Weekend Picks: From Psychedelic to Metal, and Everything in Between.
Hey there boys and girls. I’m Matthew Albasi, JUMP’s newest intern. Every week I will bring you all the shows I wish I could go to. Since Geo doesn’t pay me, I have to bartend to pay the bills. That means every weekend I’ll be living vicariously through you. So here are all the shows I wish I could be hitting up this weekend.
FRIDAY
William Elliot Whitmore and Samantha Crain at Underground Arts
Underground Arts will be awash in beautiful folk music Friday night, with William Elliott Whitmore channeling the not-so-dead ghost of Tom Waits and Samantha Crain, crooning like the long-lost sister of Woody Guthrie.
John K Band and Boris Garcia at The Blockley
In the mood for something a little bit more 70s than 30s?
John Kadlecik steps away from Further to play his psychedelic-solo music at The Blockley on Friday. Also playing is Boris Garcia. This local band has a lot of talent and always puts on a good show. They manage to blend Americana and bluegrass into a perfect mix. (Image of Jon Kadlecik by Andrew Mendelson).
SATURDAY
Swift Technique, Cheers Elephant and Orbit to Leslie at Johnny Brenda’s
The afterparty for The Dude Hates Cancer Benefit rages at Johnny Brenda’s with a lineup of a few JUMP favorites. Swift Technique (above, in a photo by Ashley Hall) leads the party with their crazy costumes and all-instrumental funky jams. Philadelphia favorite Cheers Elephant (right) will bring their danceable indie to the stage as well. Orbit to Leslie fills out the roster with their percussion heavy genre blending tunes.
Problem Solving, The Dirty Cut, Evergreen, and Motive at North Star Bar
So, I’m not terribly familiar with any of the bands on this ticket but there’s a few reasons to go. First of all, the North Star Bar is one of my favorite venues in the city. It’s always a good time no matter who is playing. While I’m not familiar with all their work, everything I’ve heard from Problem Solving is pretty awesome. They’re a mix of a little rock n’ roll, a bit of shoegaze with just a touch of The Smashing Pumpkins. Finally, I’ve never heard of The Dirty Cut but I want to. They publicized this show on their Facebook by saying “We are not a four piece rock act but we might make you throw up.” If that doesn’t make you want to come out I don’t know what will.
SUNDAY
Bon Iver with Anais Mitchell at the Mann Center
This is the big show for the weekend. Bon Iver, forever making women swoon and men jealous, will be playing the Mann Center. I don’t need to describe his sound, you have all heard him. The real attraction at this show is the slightly less legendary Anais Mitchell. She’s a girl with a guitar and a broken heart and she kills it.
Nightwish and Kamelot at the Electric Factor
If you’re feeling less “gooey heart” and more “melt-y brain” than go see Nightwish and Kamelot at the Electric Factory. Nightwish is a Finnish metal band with a female lead singer. They strike a nice balance between chest thumping screams and melodic singing. Kamelot will bring their symphonic and demonic metal to the stage as well. Remember, this show is BYOVS (bring your own virgin sacrifice).
See you all next week. Enjoy the shows.
Attia Taylor: From Inconvenience to Independence.
Philly musician Attia Taylor was forced to take the stage alone at SXSW. She conquered her fears, had fun and learned about herself along the way. Here, she writes about her experiences.
Ever since I started writing and singing, I just knew I would need someone to help me out and back me up. A part of being a solo artist is trusting yourself. I never truly trusted myself until I had to.
This year I was asked to play a few shows at South by Southwest. I asked my five piece band to travel along but they couldn’t go.
I was afraid. It was always my dream to hop on stage and create a full and luxurious sound by myself because that would be the moment I knew that I had complete control over my music. This “inconvenience” was the time for that because I was not turning this opportunity down.
Music is in my blood. It became an obvious variable a long time ago. My fascination with sound started with the use of Styrofoam plates and cups to make shakers and drums when I was very young. We didn’t have a lot of money growing up, so I always had to be resourceful. When I got to high school, I became jealous seeing independent female musicians because, for some reason, I thought there couldn’t be too many if there would be room for me. I kept asking myself, “How come they get to be that confident?”
To give you a good idea of my musical past and love for sound, I used to adore hip-hop. This was ’90s hip-hop. My grandmother bought my sister and I a Biggie Smalls CD after we begged and begged her for almost a week. I was also a fan of anything poppy and colorful. Somewhere along the way, I ruined my Fisher-Price cassette player listening to the soundtrack to Beauty and The Beast on repeat. I have remained somewhat consistent and keep all of this in mind when I’m working on my music now. I always need a chilled out, down-tempo beat and a flute or keyboard to wrap around it and charm it up.
When I started planning for my performance in Austin, just the thought of being alone on stage and making all of those ideas come to life seemed extremely daunting. The best thing I could do was suck it up and make it work. At the time, I was living in a tiny apartment with my family and there was virtually no space to practice. Not to mention, I was in the middle of a 16-credit semester at Temple and working. I was calling it South By South Stress because I had no instruments, no space and no idea how I was going to turn songs that I had already worked on for two years with a band into songs that I would play live, alone, halfway across the country in just a month.
The first thing I bought was a set of brand new speakers. I had no one to listen so I had to videotape my set over and over and critique it. I figured my laptop would be a good idea to use because it’s what I use to make music in the first place. I bought a 25-key midi-controller to make travel lighter.
Then, I got what I have wanted for the past 2 years – a Boss vocal loop pedal (I swear I kissed the package when it arrived). There was something special about hearing my voice six times at once and looping words like “wild forest” that still makes me so content. I used sound clips of French people speaking on a train during my trip to Boston, employee training videos I found online, strange British cartoons and anything else that seemed interesting. I wanted every odd sound in my set. I love the feeling of taking things that aren’t traditional or safe and making them catchy. I even decided to loop a slide whistle for a circus of strange sounds. I had so much fun with the production that I forgot that I had to pack it up and take a three-hour flight in a week.
I went over my set vigorously, practicing every morning and every night. I made tons of new songs, worked on older songs, and recreated my entire sound.
Here I was, finally solo, being that woman I always wanted to be and navigating the world of electronics. In high school, I wanted to be this “woman who made music.” I wanted to figure out how everything worked. I wanted to navigate sounds on my own. I listened to Frou Frou and The Bird and The Bee and completely fell in love with their ability to make music that caught my attention and wasn’t cliche or cheesy.
Through the force of nature, everything worked seamlessly. If I could do it all over again, I would have given myself a little more time but I’m glad I was forced to seize the day. I am much more confident now than I have ever been about my abilities.
I had no idea that I was capable of manipulating my own sounds live. Even though my old neighbors hate me now, I’m sure, I created a set full of plush, whimsical songs, learned how to be truly independent on stage and I got to play at SXSW, for crying out loud.
Attia Taylor is an East Falls native and an alumna of Girard College, Temple University and Girls Rock Philly. She co-founded Lady.Bang.Beat., a blog that champions the efforts of female musicians.
JUMP: The Philly Music Project 