goldenSpiral: “Love is The Answer.”
Text by Cameron Robinson. Images by Charles Shan Cerrone.
Settled in a brick building in the warehouse district of Port Richmond, surrounded by gated parking lots and industrial spaces, sits the studio of up-and-coming producer and visual artist Adrian Palashevsky, better known as goldenSpiral.
His studio is reminiscent of a scientist’s lab but instead of chemicals and vials on his desk, he has a Wacom tablet, an AKAI APC40 and an Ableton Push. On the warm maroon walls is artwork, albums and a mask signed by Ghostface Killah. Most noticeable on his desk is not his work equipment but the book “Quadrivium,” a tiny Buddha and a golden Fibonacci spiral. The Fibonacci spiral is the divine proportion, the perfect mathematical ratio found in nature and even in humans.
“I first learned about it reading the book ‘The Holographic Universe’ during my time at Temple University,” Palashevsky says. “What’s weird is that I never actually made the decision to call myself goldenSpiral. I just woke up one morning during my sophomore year and that was my name. I never questioned it.”
And with that awakening came a vision.
“My dream is to have a large following,” says Palashevsky. “Or at least 100,000 people to anticipate an experience that integrates both audio and visual.”
Palashevsky’s grandmother, Irene Palashevsky, began to teach him to play the violin when he was 8.
“She was a world-class violinist and my first teacher,” he explains.
Palashevsky has since become a skilled violinist. He’s been the concertmaster for orchestras, like the Montgomery County Youth Orchestra, where he was featured in solo performances with a full orchestra accompaniment. He also was given first chair of the second violin section in the Philadelphia Symphonia.
While he has love and appreciation for the violin, he found his passion in music production at the age of 12 when he received Mixman Studio software. Over the next few years, he mastered the program popular with electronic musicians.
“It allowed me to mess with warping capabilities and change tempo without affecting pitch,” Palashevsky explains. “I sat on it for four years before upgrading to FruityLoops.”
This upgrade only solidified his passion, eventually leading him to Temple, where he graduated with a major in music and a minor in entrepreneurship.
In early 2009, Palashevsky went to see the musician Pretty Lights. Something in Palashevsky clicked while watching the artist perform.
“I decided on the direction I needed to be going,” he recalls.
That direction was west.
Within months, Palashevsky made his way to Flagstaff, Arizona, where he began to rethink the path he was going. During that time, he formed the electronic group, The City Music Project, though he eventually parted ways with the trio.
“Being in a band is great but the problem is everyone wants to play,” he explains. “Music needs to breathe.”
On his own again and back in Philadelphia, Palashevsky began to dig deeper into the underground electronic music scene, seeking out collectives such as Hungry Ghosts, who are featured on Palashevsky’s recent album Waveformation.
“He fully immerses himself in his priorities,” says O.H.M., a rapper who is part of Hungry Ghosts. “Working with him has showed me that if you’re one with yourself, things will work out.”
Palashevsky’s work has also brought him to the attention of other Philadelphia producers, such as Agent Zero. The two met when they shared the same bill for a show and quickly bonded over their use of Ableton Live.
“I first saw Adrian perform with his old band, The City Music Project,” Agent Zero says. “It was a really interesting fusion of electronic music and hip-hop with live instruments.”
Also interesting is the deal Palashevsky has with manager Isaac Gordon. Gordon’s label, Monster Entertainment, provides artists with an unusual arrangement.
“There is no contract. We work off of trust,” explains Palashevsky. “It’s the future of the music business. If you have a contract, it’s based on distrust”
Since he started working with Gordon, Palashevsky has opened for Ghostface Killah and his music can be found on major distribution platforms like Spotify, Apple and TIDAL. This past June, Palashevsky released Waveformation and recently released the track “The Reckoning,” which features the vocals of Alicia Talia.
“The song is about redemption, forgiveness and being held accountable to our mistakes and transgressions, even the ones that no one knows about,” he explains. “It’s open to interpretation enough for that to mean whatever it means to each listener personally, as well.”
Now, he’s back in the studio, hard at work on the upcoming Cosmic Servant EP and preparing for the PEX HeartBurn 2018 party at The Fillmore in February. The event will take over both The Fillmore and The Foundry, where Palashevsky will perform with his full band.
“People are going crazy these days,” he says, swerving back and forth in his chair as if moving to the cadence of his own rhythm. “This might sound corny, but love is the answer.”
And with that, he adds one last message.
“Support indie music,” he says. “And fuck Soundcloud.”
Josh Olmstead: “People Can Change, and Great Divides Can be Bridged.”
The Josh Olmstead Band will play the Peacock Room at Philadelphia Brewing Company on Sunday, celebrating the decade since they released their debut album, Charms.
We hung out with the guys the other day at their rehearsal space at The Sound Gallery Studios. And we spoke to Josh about the project and what he’s been doing since it dropped in 2007.
Ten years? Man. Where you been the last decade?
Believe it or not, by the time Charms came out, I had already been making music in Philly in fits and starts for ten whole years!
Thanks to the help of the musicians, friends, and family around me at the time, I finally found my sea legs as a songwriter and collaborator with Charms, and it gave me a nice second wind going into my second decade of Philly music making.
Since then, I’ve continued putting out records and performing as a songwriter pretty consistently. And I’ve also had the privilege of playing guitar on the records and tours of so many great, fellow Philly songwriters whose work I adore.
How did the project originally begin?
I originally came to Philly to make music with my band Aleksandra in 1997. When that band went its separate ways around the time of Y2K, I went on a pretty long hiatus from playing out in rock bands, even though I remained active in eclectic ensembles like South Philly’s Munier Mandolin Orchestra, and occasionally jammed with friends in West Philly basements.
I think that led to my songwriting turning more inward and craft oriented. I was no longer writing for a group, but purely to express myself, and maybe for the challenge of it all. If I occasionally played out, it would be solo, so the songs had to work with just guitar and voice.
My listening habits also changed as I delved into all the classic singer-songwriters more than ever before. Then, all the right people at just the right time encouraged me to get back in the game, so I branched out, met an amazing new circle of musician friends, and got to work on making my first “solo” record with a new band.
Life was so different back then, wasn’t it?
So different! Back then I fancied myself more of a dog person, and lived across the street from Clark Park, literally a stone’s throw from the Charles Dickens’ statue, with six awesome roommates from PAFA and Tyler School of Art.
Now, I live in Fishtown across from a skate park and basketball court with my awesome partner Katie and our mystical cat Lulu, who has more nicknames than Babe Ruth.
Don’t get me wrong. I still love dogs. It’s just that now I see both sides. People can change, and great divides can be bridged.
The music seems personal – almost nostalgic, yet hopeful. Are you still there?
They are personal, but hopefully not so personal that they come across as too literal. It’s nice to keep things universal, and open to interpretation. Nostalgia crept into the songs I think because we’re always dealing with our own mortality, and after ten years of Philly living, I must have been in a reflective mood.
Revisiting these songs in rehearsal these past two weeks has been pretty emotional. I’ve been inspired to sing in a way that I haven’t been for a long time because I’m realizing in the moment that the words have taken on a new meaning as I’ve grown. They’ve aged with me, and I hope with everyone else.
I think there’s hope in that. So it’s not that I’m “still there,” but I think I’ve made peace with where I was as a songwriter back then, and I can embrace it in a new way, if that makes sense.
The tracks still hold up. There is definitely that mid-00s influence but that sound is pretty popular today.
Yeah, for me, the sound of a record definitely evolves over time depending on our points of reference.
I’ve dug deep into so many records since we recorded Charms. So, you start to notice the little things, the little tricks of the trade, which shed light on your own records in ways you couldn’t have imagined ten years ago. You realize you definitely weren’t the only chef in the kitchen. The other musicians, engineers, and producers all brought their own history, taste, and style to the proceedings. Even the gear you use and the room you’re in contributes its own personality.
You learn to be humble because it’s always a collaborative process. There’s a gentle spirit running through everything, and you start to recognize those subtle influences, and enjoy finding them if you remain an active and curious listener over time. A good pair of headphones and the right mindset are key.
Do you still pine for 40th and Baltimore?
I don’t know if I pine, but I definitely remember the desperation of wanting to catch the very next trolley downtown or the last trolley back home to West Philly.
If I got tired of waiting on the corner for the next trolley in the freezing cold, I’d often started walking away from my house toward the 40th Street stop just to create some body heat and keep warm. At least I had a home or usually a place to be going. Whereas I knew a lot of my fellow Philadelphians didn’t and still don’t have that same luxury.
We aren’t alone in our struggle to find warmth. It’s just that some of us have an even greater struggle than others, and we should always remember that. I thought it’d be cool to put that in a song. Now, when I drive by that intersection, it is nostalgic because that song ‘40th & Baltimore’ was the first song of mine to ever be played on the radio. Helen Leicht, bless her, was the first DJ to play my song, and that was the one.
So it’s special. Maybe I do pine.
What’s up with the show at PBC? What should we expect?
Half the fun is I’m not all that sure what to expect.
But I do know the original Josh Olmstead Band lineup of Josh Machiz, Joseph Primavera, and Matt Scarano plan to be there. These are the cats that played on the record and shows surrounding the release of Charms, and have made life so beautiful for a songwriter like me.
I’ve played separately with everyone in other projects, but the four of us haven’t played together as a unit in like seven or eight years. We all put so much of our time and effort into the project traveling to Burlington and Boston and New York and Baltimore on a shoestring budget to make sure the music was played and heard way back then that I thought it was important we pause to pay tribute on the 10th anniversary of the record. And that’s what we plan to do at PBC.
When the four of us get in a room together to play music there’s a real time travel to the past, present and future that happens all at once, and the magical unspoken communication that happens between musicians runs even deeper now.
Plus the amazing singer-songwriters Laura Baird and Natalie Butts are going to play sets for everyone – they alone are worth stopping by PBC for a few Sunday afternoon rounds.
There will be plenty beer, crepes and no cover to get in! In the words of the late, great Leon Russell, “It’s a hippie commune bonafide.”
Bleachers @ The Fillmore with Bishop Briggs and Amy Shark.
Text and images by Alicia Kay.
The Bleachers‘ concert at The Fillmore began with an appearance from the adorable Australian singer/songwriter Amy Shark.
She joked that she’s far from home but when the Bleachers call you up to open for them, you immediately hop on a plane to the States. Shark performed singles such as “Golden Fleece,” “Boy Who Spits on Girls,” “Drive you Mad” and “Blood Brothers.”
She impressed the crowd with her angelic voice and poetic lyrics that every person in the audience seemingly could relate to on some level. Shark expressed her love for rapper Eminem by covering his song “Superman.”
Shark shared a story of calling up a boy back when people still used landlines, and his mom picked up, yelling in her heavy Aussie accent, “Joey! There’s an Amy on the phone for you!”
She joked with the audience, saying, “Bitch it’s not an Amy, it’s the Amy.”
After the crowd roared their approval, she said, “And that’s the inspiration for this next song.”
She performed one of her newer songs, “Weekends.” Shark ended her performance with her breakout single, “Adore.”
Next up was British musician Bishop Briggs. Clad in an Adidas track suit and her signature space buns, Briggs opened her set with “Dark Side,“ setting the tone for the show. She continued the show with singles such as “Wild Horses,” “Fire,” “Dead Man’s Arms” and “Hi-Lo.” She ended her set with and wowed the audience with her best known single, “River.”
Whether it was jumping in place, boxing the air or running back and forth between stage left and stage right, Briggs was a ball of raw energy. It was apparent to the audience that she loves what she does and can’t wait to share it with the world. It was her aura mixed with her strong sound that made her such a great performer.
After such amazing openers, the crowd was pumped and ready for Bleachers.
As the band took their places and the lights went up, the crowd went wild. The spotlight hit lead singer Jack Antonoff on the back of the stage, far from the audience, where he was clad in his iconic bejeweled white suit as seen in the music video for their newest single “Don’t Take the Money.”
They played their new song, “Goodmorning,” and then continued with classic songs from their 2014 album Strange Desire. At one point, Antonoff instructed everybody to get on their friend’s shoulders and enjoy the concert like they would at a music festival. Bleachers also played songs from their newest album, Gone Now, including “Hate That You Know Me,” “Everybody Lost Somebody,” “Let’s Get Married” and “Foreign Girls.”
About halfway through the performance Antonoff stopped singing and announced to the audience that their drummer had just had a birthday and asked the audience to join him in singing “Happy Birthday,” while the rest of the band members brought out a cake.
Surprisingly enough, that day just happened to be the birthday of a girl in the front row. In a beautiful moment that could only happen at a Bleachers concert, Antonoff heard the girl exclaim it was her birthday and pulled her up onto the stage, gave her a hug and had her blow out the candles. He then handed her the cake and instructed her to bring it back with her and pass it around the audience.
The concert continued while the audience sang along to the next few songs and passed around the cake, taking handfuls, stuffing their faces, and laughing as each person consequently became a mess with frosting on their face and fingers.
Going to a Bleachers concert is an experience all in its own, part of which stems from Antonoff’s love of music. From his instruction to the crowd during “Rollercoaster,” to having riff offs with his fellow band members during the songs, his fun loving attitude made the concert experience so much more beautiful. He was frank with the audience, telling stories about his thought process while writing the songs.
At one point during the concert, Antonoff shushed the audience and had them listen to a low hum, a sound he identified as sad but also comforting. The sound, which comes from a Roland Juno 106 keyboard, was the inspiration for many Bleachers songs. Antonoff explained that he would lock himself in his room, with only that sound playing, and write from the heart.
The songs would sound sad but once the creative genius that is Jack Antonoff added a keyboard, bass, two drums and even a saxophone, the songs became the beautiful and upbeat ones that the audience knew and loved.
Antonoff understands the innate beauty of music and strives with each concert to translate that into a beautiful experience for the audience.
And translate it does.
Text and images by Chip Frenette.
What are you thankful for this Thanksgiving? For Nik Greeley and the Operators, it’s funk. And they served it up at MilkBoy non Friday.
After a day of fighting for $99 flat screens, followed by devouring leftover-turkey sandwiches, the funk faithful found their way to the Chestnut Street club. Many in attendance were greeted with hugs from Greeley as he roamed the room covered under a pashmina scarf while West End Blend got the night started.
The New England-based funk act began the final month of their fall tour at MilkBoy, promoting their new album, Attitude.
Then Nik Greeley and the Operators took the stage.
Greeley paused between tracks to give thanks for a lot of things. Many of those things included funk music, family, friends and his band.
“My band, they are my brothers,” said Greeley between his soulful R&B vocals.
Greeley shouted out keyboardist Sammy Gutman, who designed the new shirts for the band. The shirts feature a bear donning a flat brim hat and using an antique telephone.
Greeley welcomed several guests to the stage during their two sets of funk. Among the guests were guitarist Chester Dragon, Chris Bullock of Snarky Puppy, Adam Dotson of Rubblebucket and Danny Meyer Music from the Eric Krasno Band.
Bully @ The Church with Aye Nako.
Text by Mike DiGuilmi. Images by Ben Wong.
Escaping the frigid cold, attendees arrived at the First Unitarian Church Tuesday evening to see rock band of Nashville origins, Bully, and opening act, Aye Nako. Descending the concrete steps before providing their name in the corridor, ticket holders were welcomed into church’s intimate byob, grungy VIP-esq charm, which cannot be replicated sans basement.
Aye Nako (pronounced eye nuh-co) is a Brooklyn-based four-piece citing “homopop, queercore, punk, non-college rock, bullsh**,” as its genre on the band’s Facebook page.
Sheena McGrath on drums and Joe McCann on bass bring the tempo and underlying trajectory of Aye Nako’s set, allowing Jade Payne and Mars Ganito, who both play guitar and split vocals, to carry listeners through their punk catalogue.
“This next song is sad and angry,” said Mars, setting up the song “Nothing Nice” off of the band’s album, Silver Haze, which was released this past April.
Aye Nako carves its own space by traversing resonant, ever-dire issues and delving into queer and racial politics, all while layering their set with dissonant melodies and harmony.
Bully, comprised of Alicia Bognanno, Clayton Parker, and Reece Lazarus, kicked off their set with “Either Way” from their new album Losing, which was released on October 20th.
Following a quick, smooth, chord progression, Bognanno commanded the audience from the opening line, “I stayed up last night, I was tearin’ up in bed,” welcoming listeners into the world of Bully. A world of scabs, blood and unpaid dues was then expressed in their song “Brainfreeze,” off of their debut album Feels Like.
Navigating attendees through both albums, Bognanno roared through vignettes of her life, from breaking her sister’s arm in “Six,” and how breaking her own arm didn’t make them even, then tenderly delivering bouts of reflection in “Blame.”
“This is definitely our favorite venue in Philadelphia. This venue rules,” Bognanno expressed during a tuning break before recounting the other venues they’ve played while in town. Then, immediately, the band went into their song “Focused,” off of Losing.
Bognanno’s voice swept through the basement of the church during the duration of the set, through heart-rendering soft moments and rasp-induced roars that invited attendees to participate in angry, cathartic release. This was most notably illustrated through their song “Trash,” off of their debut album, which culminated in the audience harmonizing Bagnanno’s chorus, “Feels like trash!” on loop like a collective mantra, while each person in the room rocked and swayed.
Bully closed their set proper with the final track off Losing, “Hate and Control,” and then without leaving the stage, tuned up for their encore.
“I can’t wait to go lay down on one of the pews and gather my thoughts,” said Bognanno before regaining the nights momentum with “Running,” off of Losing, which, attune to the set’s trend, had the entire basement harmonizing through chorus.
Bully closed the set and the night with “I Remember” off of Feels Like, which left the listeners in motion, a kinetic mass, until Bognanno’s hair-draped face closed the night, hanging the audience on familiarity, “I know everything that freaks you out, that makes you mad, that makes you melt.” A knowing friend wrapped, which acted as a parting gift for the attendees for the cold world which awaited them up at ground level.
Phoebe Ryan @ The Foundry.
Text and images by Alicia Kay.
New Jersey native Phoebe Ryan kicked off her 2017 fall tour at The Foundry last month.
Having written for big names such as Britney Spears and Melanie Martinez, Ryan is a veteran songwriter. She wowed the crowd with her signature electro-pop sound.
Beginning with “Mine,” a fan favorite from her debut album of the same name, Ryan set the tone of the show with her heartfelt lyrics combined with a light tone, all tied together with a smile.
Because the show fell on Halloween night, Ryan first emerged wearing a handmade green robot costume her mother made, letting the crowd know that this was going to be a fun show.
She continued the show with crowd pleasers such as “Chronic,” “Dark Side” and “All We Know,” a song she collaborated on with The Chainsmokers. She also performed some brand new songs that were just released a few weeks ago on the James EP, such as “Should I,” “Aspirin,” “James Has Changed” and “Be Real.”
Ryan said the James EP tells a story from beginning to end.
“It’s not a love story,” she said. “But it is about love.”
After her set, Ryan reemerged for an encore, dawning an acoustic guitar and hopping off the stage into the audience. She performed a new, unrecorded track titled “Unicorn.“
She ended the show with a mashup of R. Kelly’s “Ignition” and Miguel’s “Do You.” It was the first song she released as a solo artist, bringing the show full circle and leaving the audience with an awe-inspiring sense of how far she has come as an artist.
The Dears @ Boot & Saddle.
Text and images by Ben Wong.
The Dears performed in Philly on Saturday, the last East Coast show for a while for the veteran indie rockers from Montreal.
They brought their Times Infinity Volume Two Tour with indie-pop singer Lou Canon as the opener to Boot & Saddle and opened with “Taking it to the Grave,” the first track from their latest album.
The Dears showed Philadelphia that in their 17 plus years of touring, they have not lost a step. They focused on their newer material but they also peppered in classics, like the “Whites Only Party” and “Hate then Love.”
They closed with “Lost in the Plot,” the song that drew comparisons between The Dears and The Smiths, as well as between frontman Murray Lightburn and Morrissey.
Ninth Floor Mannequin: “Creating Music is the Activity that Gets me out of Bed in the Morning.”
Jarrod Pedone was hit by a speeding car in Fishtown in 2012, leaving him in a coma for 12 days. The longtime musician and Berklee College of Music graduate lost months of his life recovering, going through speech and occupational therapy to regain his sense of self.
Making music became his own therapy. He started a personal project, Ninth Floor Mannequin, and launched an album, Green & Blue for Blackness, four years later.
Pedone recently released his sophomore album, 5 Characters (In Search of An Exit), so we caught up with him to learn more about him and his work.
What’s going on in this new album? Why are you looking for an exit?
The majority of my songs are based on my favorite episodes of the original The Twilight Zone series. There is a famous episode, titled “Five Characters in Search of an Exit.” The EP title pays homage to that episode.
These five songs were written about different subjects (explained in the lyrics sections of Bandcamp & Soundcloud) and I felt that they all belonged on the same release despite being varied in subject matter, much like the episode.
It materialized much quicker than Green & Blue for Blackness. And under much different circumstances, right?
Yes, it materialized much more quickly. Green & Blue for Blackness was more of a retrospective project.
On the new EP, with the exception of “Understudy,” these songs were written, recorded, mixed and mastered from scratch within a few months in a small room by myself. Though that seems like a slow turnaround, it’s much faster than is normal for me.
I wanted to record an EP quickly with Ninth Floor Mannequin in mind and make it more cohesive than my debut album.
The lyrics are very interesting, as though you are sending a message to people. “In a brand new way, we relearn to trust?” What’s on your mind, Jarrod?
That song is based on an episode of The Twilight Zone, titled “Two.” The episode is about a man and woman who meet in a post-apocalyptic wasteland, wearing opposing military uniforms. They cannot communicate but relearn to trust each other through actions, despite their fear of each other.
As with all of my Twilight Zone-themed songs, the sentiment of the episode can be contorted to fit your personal experiences. This can be applied to the events in relationships and altercations in your own life…or it could merely be a commentary an episode of The Twilight Zone.
Here’s a music video for clarification:
How is your recovery going? Are you still impacted by the accident?
It’s going well. I still struggle with the standard after-effects of my injuries – memory loss, anxiety, mental exhaustion, balance, lack of smell/taste, weakened sense of touch, sleeping issues, etc.
I live a normal life, though. Creating music is the activity that gets me out of bed in the morning. I can’t complain.
Who are you away from Ninth Floor Mannequin? What do you do with yourself?
Away from music, I’m kind of a boring guy.
I run a lot. I just broke 2,500 miles on my running app. I just finished The Stand by Stephen King and I’m now in the middle of 1984 by George Orwell. I teach about 50 young drummers. I play drums for The End of America. I attend shows occasionally.
I just quietly live my life.
What comes next?
More performances and new music come next. As I said, I don’t exactly churn out new music at a feverish pace. So, it might be a bit but I’m already getting the itch to record new stuff.
As soon as I release music, I tend to think that it’s not too great and that I could do better. So, I try to cover my mistakes by releasing better music than I did the last time. If the music draws some interest and people enjoy it, I’d be happy to hit the ground running with performances.
I just hope that people enjoy the music to the point where live performances would be necessary. If not, I’m sure that I’ll play more shows regardless.
Video by Cady Elliott. Images by G.W. Miller III.
The inaugural Philly Music Fest happened last weekend at World Cafe Live, with hundreds of people experiencing the likes of Strand of Oaks (below), Cayetana, Ceramic Animal, Ivy Sole, New Sound Brass, Pine Barons, Skull Eclipses and more … all under one roof.
For those in attendance, it was pretty amazing. Free donuts, local beers on tap, local artists selling their goods and some of our favorite Philly bands on stage. And the array of talent was impressive – from R&B to pop punk, from rock to funk, brass to electronic.
The crowd could have been larger but it can be hard to get people to buy tickets to see acts that play Philly so frequently (looking at you, West Philly Orchestra). And the ticket prices may have scared off some of the scene kids, who would probably rather see their faves at a house show anyway (looking at you, Slaughter Beach, Dog).
Greg Seltzer, the fest creator, already has plans to do the event again in 2018, bringing another 20+ Philly acts to the stage on 9/28 and 9/29. We’re excited to see how things progress, and what changes he will make.
It’s an amazing time to be involved in music in this city. The fest really showed off what makes this scene so special.
The War on Drugs @ The Dell Music Center with Land Of Talk.
Images by Natalie Piserchio.
The War on Drugs, which released their newest album last month, performed al fresco last night at The Dell Music Center as part of former Philadelphia Eagle Connor Barwin‘s Make The World Better foundation. Proceeds from the event will go toward assisting children, families and parks in the city.
Land of Talk opened the show on a beautiful night to be outdoors.
JUMP: The Philly Music Project 