Come Party With JUMP.
Celebrate the launch of the winter 2011/2012 issue with us at these events:
Wednesday, November 16 at the Paley Library at Temple University. After a discussion about music journalism with the crew from JUMP, Decibel and Magnet magazines, Bedroom Problems and Turning violet Violet will play acoustic sets. Free, all ages and everyone is welcome to attend (the discussion starts at 3:30 and music goes on at 5:00). Details are here.
Toy Soldiers, City Rain and Lady will perform on Thursday, November 17 at the Hard Rock Cafe. This is an all-ages show! Details are here.
NICOS GUN (in the video above) will headline a killer lineup on Wednesday, November 23 at The Blockley. Also on the bill: Grandchildren, Prowler, DRGN KNG and DJ Ed Blammo. Details are here.
Follow us on facebook and twitter to learn about more upcoming stuff!
DJ Suga Shay: The Dubstep Diva.
Text by Mercedes Jones. Images at UBIQ by Marie Alyse Rodriguez.
It’s a rainy Friday evening outside PYT and DJ Suga Shay sits, perched on the high end of a bean bag chair. She sets fire to her Marlboro Light and blindly searches for the ice-laden Michelada, a cervezas preparadas, at her feet. As she swirls the drink with a straw, her glitter-coated, oval-shaped fingernails make her look refined and mature.
At first glance, Suga Shay appears to be a pretty girl who blows bubbles with her gum and LOLs after every sentence. And that’s exactly her.
Shaina “Suga Shay” Robinson is a self-proclaimed weirdo who loves Jameson whiskey, cigs and the night life. Though only in the game a short while, Shay, 23, is the dubsteb “it girl,” one of the most rockin’ DJs in a scene loaded with talent.
“DJing is perfect for me,” she admits. “I suck at getting up early.”
This evening finds her in a pleasant mood, still a little hopped up after rehearsal with fellow free spirit Patty Crash, JUMP’s fall issue cover artist.
Raised in a single-parent home in Germantown, Shay describes a childhood of options: life in the city vs. life in the suburbs; music vs. art; hip-hop vs. alternative; and neo-soul sister vs. punk princess.
She loved it all.
“I’m like a rock star,” she says, fluttering her eyelashes at the idea of sticking to one thing. “I’m into what I’m into.”
This youthful whimsy and zest for life is part of her appeal. Quite frankly, the only box she’s worried about fitting into is a Serato box (which was one of her first major purchases once she became an official DJ less than two years ago).
Her sudden popularity parallels the blastoff of a rocket ship. The spark came when she befriended producer Mel “Chaos” Lewis. She then met DJ PHSH, who gave Shay her first lesson on the turntables. Dirty South Joe and DJ Regina Gun$ Garcia took Shay under their wings. They formally taught her how to spin and then set her up with gigs, launching DJ Suga Shay’s career. Luckily, DJ PHSH also introduced her to dubstep, the synth-heavy, UK spawn of reggae and dub. She was immediately hooked on its heavy bass and deep moodiness. She promptly amassed an impressive collection of music.
It only took one kick-ass gig with Isreali DJ Borgore and time spent hosting a dubstep webisode series to make her name synonymous with the genre. Now, Shay’s in a rarified orbit: gigs up the ying-yang, including club residencies, and she’s shared lineups with mega DJs like Diplo.
Time moves fast for her and she knows that she can’t stay footloose and fancy free forever, though it’s obvious that hurtling through space gives her a thrill. Her short term goals are simple enough.
“I want to command a stage,” she asserts.
Jorgan Krug from This is Jazz Talks About DIY Life.
The shit-kicking, beer-spitting, do-it-yourself music scene that has evolved in Philadelphia over the last two decades is thanks in large part to multifaceted individuals like Jorgan Krug. Our Elizabeth Price chats with Krug about being a soundman-about-town, his punk band This Is Jazz, and why we can’t slither down to The Ox anymore.
How did you end up in Philadelphia?
I went to audio production school in New York. I ended up in Philly because I felt like it was a middle ground between New York and my hometown of Pittsburgh.
Who do you do sound work for currently in Philly?
I work at World Cafe Live, R5 Productions and any independent bands that want to hire me for their gigs. This month I’ll be working at the TLA. I did the Defiance, Ohio show this summer at the First Unitarian Church.
This is Jazz. Tell me about it.
This is Jazz is a four-piece. I provide vocals, Chris Pires plays drums, Mark Roscoe plays bass and Philip Holmes plays guitar. We recently played three house shows with One Win Choice.
You were involved with the Ox (the Kensington venue/residence that was shut down in February). What was it like for that to come to an end?
Ultimately, the reason why it stopped was that we had had cops coming by for awhile and making their presence known. When Two-Piece Fest happened, they actually swarmed in, stopped the show, took everybody’s IDs down. Because of the space’s zoning and because we are living there, we “temporarily” stopped doing shows. I say “temporarily” because it’s been six months and we’ve only done a couple since. It was home to about twelve people. In February we did fifteen shows. That’s more than one every other day. It made sense to take a break at that point. Read more…
On the Road With June Divided.
Text by Melissa Menago, lead singer of June Divided. Top image by G.W. Miller III. Bottom image by Doug Seymour.
The car is packed, guitar is strung and false eyelashes are on. I couldn’t really ask for more as I hop into the car with my manager and the rest of my bandmates and head for the New Jersey Turnpike.
Our debut EP, The Other Side of You, was released just months ago, so our work is definitely cut out for us. We’ve been pretty successful in Philly and now we’re trying our luck in other places to spread the word. This is what brings us into northern New Jersey tonight.
We really don’t know what to expect, other than some friends we have up there who will attend. Regardless, we’re excited, in good humor and ready to rock.
If you’re wondering what a car ride with June Divided is like, here it is: the music is never predictable, the conversation could inspire or disgust you and the language could make you blush or die laughing. While on the road, I’ve seen pee in a bottle, smelled the foulest of farts, stopped at the creepiest rest stops and ate some disturbing amounts of candy. This short trip is no different. Read more…
Manchester Orchestra @ The Electric Factory.
Text by Ashley Hall. Images by Brandee Nichols.
On Friday, Manchester Orchestra managed to take The Electric Factory, one of the largest venues in Philly, and turn it an intimate, honest conversation.
The guys grabbed the crowd’s attention with strength, opening with “April Fool,” a single from their most recent album Simple Math. Frontman Andy Hull sent chills through the crowd, intertwining his crisp sound with power-filled screams, each one answered by fan’s approval.
The band seemed to put all they had into each song, and for good reason. Hull has repeatedly called Simple Math an autobiographical album, created from the struggles he has had, and his recreation.
Although the setlist was filled with songs off their newest album, there was a balance kept with older favorites like, “Shake It Out” and “Colly Strings.”
The show ended as it started, potent and sincere. The three-song encore included the heavy hitters: “Virgin,” “Everything To Nothing” and “The River.”
Opening acts included The Dear Hunter (the two images below) and White Denim (the bottom image).
Data Garden: Plants You Can Hear.
Text by Lauren Gordon. Images by Sarah Hull.
Imagine purchasing a discreet piece of paper, unsuspecting in every way except for its slightly grainy texture, with a digital album code printed on it. Now imagine after using that code to download new and exciting music, you plant that card in the ground and watch as it grows into a real live plant. Sound too Magic School Bus for you?
Believe it or not, it works. And it’s the premise behind a new eco-friendly music label, Data Garden, which specializes in merging electronic music with, well, biology. The company officially launched their line of plantable music in October with a celebration concert at Bartram Gardens in Southwest Philadelphia.
The concept has been brewing since the spring of 2010, when Joe Patitucci, who performs under the name Tadoma, sold out his run of CDs. Printing more copies seemed illogical to him.
“I just started thinking about how we don’t really need to be printing plastic to distribute music anymore,” Patitucci recalls. “So my buddy Alex Tyson and I thought to start up Data Garden.”
Data Garden merges the digital download with a physical object that lives and grows. The download card is basically a biodegradable eco-paper embedded with real seeds. Once planted, the paper composts away and out grows what Patitucci calls “plants you can hear.”
“We thought about bringing potted plants to shows but then I had horrible visions of what touring would be like,” he laughs.
Patitucci’s interest in electronic music and his work as Tadoma began almost as organically as his new business endeavor.
“I was really bored of writing lyrics,” he says. “It felt a little self-indulgent. So I started taking in the sounds around me – the wind in the trees, the sound of the buses, anything you could hear – and tried to work it into my music.”
Data Garden is meant to be a full-on community. Their website is an online magazine for electronic music and sustainable art. They operate the music label, where they support electronic artists and bands like Cheap Dinosaurs, and Ray & the Prisms, as well as Tadoma. The label releases all of their music on the biodegradable cards.
“The traditional model for the record label is broken,” says Patitucci, who runs the operation with Tyson and Ian Cross. “We are looking to redefine what it means to be a record label. We are looking to be a destination for people who are interested in electronic music, bio-art, video art. We are not just bringing in music nerds but all different kinds of nerds.”
Orchestral Maneuvers by Steve Goldberg & The Arch Enemies.
Text by Kevin Stairiker.
The genre description on Steve Goldberg & The Arch Enemies’ Facebook page is as incredibly apt as it is humorous: “If it ain’t baroque, don’t fix it.”
Steve Goldberg and his band have been living in that world since they released their first album in 2007 and they continue to produce their complex but catchy pop, with classical instruments and three-part harmonies, on their new EP The Flood, due out in December.
Goldberg is the only constant member in a band with a revolving door of musicians. Around 20 different people, including Turning violet Violet’s Sarah Gulish on flute, contributed to the new album in some fashion. You’ll hear around 30 different instruments played on the five tracks, including a violin, viola, cello, piano, trombone, trumpet, clarinet, flute and glockenspiel.
The result is an EP-sized masterpiece that lives up to Goldberg’s orchestra-sized ambitions. Goldberg writes all of the incredibly precise orchestral arrangements on every song the band releases, which has been an unfortunately low number, Goldberg admits.
“It can take me a long time to figure out the songs since so much goes into each of them,” he explains.
As a graduate of Carnegie Mellon University with a degree in composition, however, Goldberg believes he’s up to the task. But there are certainly limitations to what a baroque pop band can do live, which he has conquered through inventive ways in the past.
“When I was studying abroad in London,” he says, “I would play a show where it was just me on guitar, and then have two other people playing tuba and cello.”
While that got the job done at the time, he plans to have a full band in place by the time of the release show at Johnny Brenda’s on December 10th.
It’s been a long time coming for the EP. It began with Goldberg pouring his own money into the project. Then, he launched a Kickstarter campaign for $5,000. He raised the funds in 30 days, allowing him to finance such things as the mixing and mastering of the EP.
“While I was making the album, all I wanted to do was complete it the way I wanted and then figure out how to do it all later,” Goldberg continues. “But it’s a lot of work, man.”
Second Saturdays at Cedar Street Studios.
Text by Jilliam Mallon.
Ted Richardson converted the third floor of a former casket factory in Port Richmond into a much livelier place – a homey recording studio that doubles as an unusual performance space.
Richardson started Cedar Street Studios in 2006 after running a multimedia company.
“It really got me away from being creative in the music industry, which is really my natural habitat,” says Richardson.
A longtime musician, producer and engineer, Richardson found a space in the Atlas Building with lofty ceilings and wide-open floor plans.
“I met my wife and she quit her job and started working full-time with me here,” says Richardson. “Our house is connected to the building. Everything just made sense.”
The list of artists who experimented with arrangements or set down tracks at Cedar Street is long, including acts like Portugal. The Man, Chiddy Bang and Lost in Company.
“When I moved over here, I made the decision that I am going to do things in a way that is natural,” Richardson says. “The big decision was to have a place to be creative.”
In September 2010, Richardson began running monthly showcases of the talent that was working with Cedar Street. On every second Saturday of the month since then, there have been free live events promoting the studio.
It was held for the first two months at North Star Bar. Then, Richardson decided that he could save money and better promote his work by holding shows at his studio. Among the bands that have performed all-ages shows at Second Saturday events are The Mechanicals, TivaTiva and Bravo, Utah!
Even though the studio usually loses money on Second Saturdays, they often lead to business.
“We never make money through that,” Richardson admits. “But I’ve got a couple of bands who have started to record here because of the Second Saturdays.”
Find what’s playing at Cedar Street on the second Saturday of every month by checking here.
Noni’s Patois: The Next Black Lily?
Text by Chesney Davis. Images by G.W. Miller III.
At Noni’s Patois, a weekly event held at Dowling’s Palace on North Broad Street, soul reverberates through the room.
And when Kindle Burrows, the event’s creator and host, stands on the red-lit stage and introduces the house band and DJ, energy flows through the audience.
One by one, each of the evening’s lineup of artists takes complete ownership of the stage, jamming – even if for a short time – with no hints of nervousness or uncertainty.
Burrows (in the above photo with co-host Taron Green) created the event last March with the intent of fostering creativity.
The name, she says, represents “God’s gift of different languages.”
“The name Noni’s Patois is a reminder,” says Burrows, a poet and songwriter. “It’s your gift from God, your language, what you speak to people, how you affect a person everyday. This is your gift. So when you come to Noni’s Patois, you have to be a part of that and feel that.”
A welcoming person, Burrows says she tries to be a nurturing figure to the artists who perform every week, many of whom are still establishing themselves in Philadelphia’s arts community. While many of the acts that have come through are R&B or soul-influenced, the event is about live talent of all sorts – rock, hip-hop, jazz, whatever.
“I think she brings something that no one else has brought,” says Brandy Smith, Burrows’ sister-in-law, who helps book artists. “You can trust her when she says, ‘You’re cool,’ and when she says, ‘I love what you do.’”
A Philadelphia native, Burrows says she found inspiration for her project from neo-soul-based events of the past, specifically Black Lily. Black Lily ran a weekly showcase during the early 2000s, serving as a launch pad for the careers of Jill Scott and Jaguar Wright, among many others.
“I want the event to be a sequel to what Black Lily did,” Burrows says.
So far, the event has been a success – large, appreciative crowds have witnessed impressive talent, much of which is based in the city. Burrows has also booked an impressive list of established artists, including Jaguar Wright and China Black.
Even with her accomplishments, Burrows says growing her first event as a promoter has been challenging at times. There is the occasional microphone distortion or cancelled performance.
“That doesn’t stop the sprit in the room, that energy and that constant flow of happiness and euphoria,” Burrows insists.
The community of folks at the Wednesday events have become a like a family.
“Everybody supports each other,” says D’Armand, a gospel/pop singer. “We grow together. Everybody is teaching each other something. I love it.”
Eric Slick: More Than a Fan.
Text and images by Brandee Nichols.
Eric Slick is dressed in business casual attire – jeans and a button-down shirt – in preparation for a meeting later with fellow Dr. Dog bandmates. They’re going to finalize the details for their upcoming album release. For now, however, he sits eagerly with his coffee by the window at Milkcrate Café in Fishtown.
“Okay, I was born at Jefferson Hospital on May 15th, 1987,” he enthusiastically jokes, when asked about his history.
Slick says he started playing drums after seriously wearing out his crib and bongos. He was just 5-years-old.
“I broke everything I had,” he says. “Even to this day, I break my drums. I’m cursed,”
He started his first band with his sister shortly after learning to play.
“There are a lot of early recordings of me and my sister banging on stuff and singing about our mom,” he reminisces. “I would love to find those tapes because it’s pretty embarrassing.”
Slick, 23, has since played with an extensive number of bands: the Adrian Belew Power Trio, Project/Object, Goldbug, Lithuania and even the original version of Nicos Gun, then called Young Ice. He currently plays in Dr. Dog, Norwegian Arms with roommate Brendan Mulvihill, Ape School with Michael Johnson, and Paper Cat with sister Julie Slick and Robbie Seahag Mangano. He devotes most of his time, however, to Dr. Dog and Norwegian Arms. Read more…
JUMP: The Philly Music Project 