Suburban Living: Yours to Interpret.
Text by Brendan Menapace. Images by Chris Fascenelli.
In this life, Wesley Bunch is the creative force behind Suburban Living. Not that he thinks that is what he has always been.
“I think everybody has a past life and something embedded in them,” Bunch says. “I think that in a past life, I was a writer, like a storyteller or something.”
CRUISR, Cold Fronts and Needle Points @ The Barbary.
Text and images by Rick Kauffman.
Last Thursday night, Philly’s rock ‘n’ roll heroes vied for the best band name at The Barbary in a homecoming of sorts for CRUISR, who joined with Cold Fronts and supporting act Needle Points for a night of rock riffs, spandex and jean jackets.
Psychedelic rock outfit Needle Points brought the boogie as they opened the all-ages show glammed out with big hair, sequins and eye shadow. Guitarist Davey Chains set the tone with his skin-tight, tiger-print bodysuit. The six-piece crowded the stage and preached songs of love as singer Colin Holloway mesmerized with gyrations of the hips and a smooth finesse of the microphone. Brian Langan, meanwhile, basked in the glow of neon lights and plucked the basslines.
Philly’s Cold Fronts, currently working on their Sire Records debut, played for the crowd a couple of their new diddies as well as some old favorites. Singer/guitarist Craig Almquist punctuated the night with an Iggy Pop-esque plunge into the crowd, belting the finale amidst a sea of women.
CRUISR recently returned from supporting The 1975 at sold out shows across the county – filling venues like the Hollywood Palladium, Tower Theatre in Upper Darby, Terminal 5 in NYC and many others on their 30-stop tour. Last Thursday, they filled a much more petite venue, though the energy was much the same. Andy States swooned and swept up the hearts of fans of the feminine variety who had placed themselves within arms reach for an up-close view as the band performed tracks from their recently released All Over EP as well as a few old favorites.
Afterwards, CF’s Almquist accompanied DJ-compadre Chris Coulton in bringing the hits with Space Jams for the official after-party.
YG and A$AP Ferg @ The Electric Factory.
Text and images by Kevin Cook.
While riding his gold colored trike across the stage – definitely not the most gangster ride, rapper YG held his drink up to the crowd for a cheers.
“I love the East Coast,” he said. “I fucking love the East Coast.”
The BestCoast Connection matched East Coast rapper A$AP Ferg (New York) and West Coast rapper YG (Compton) Saturday at the Electric Factory. The two rappers first teamed up for “Click Clack” in 2013.
They balanced out each other perfectly. While Ferg’s delivery is more aggressive and on edge, YG is more mellow and vibe-driven. Both artists used their music to share thug tales and self-examination, perfectly harmonized with catchy sounds.
YG performed several tracks from his 2014 release, My Krazy Life, while Ferg performed tracks from his 2013’s Trap Lord.
YG, who performed before Ferg, joined him on stage at the end of the set with their large crew. The show lasted until 12:30am.
Philadelphia’s Tiani Victoria and Scholito opened.
Cyberbully Mom Club and Young Rapids @ Jefferson Mansion.
Text and images by Margo Reed.
Cyberbully Mom Club and Young Rapids were among the acts to perform at the Jefferson Mansion on Broad Street on Saturday.
Young Rapids gave both a visually and aurally entertaining performance. Crowd favorite Cyberbully Mom Club closed out the show. During their performance, audience members found themselves jumping, dancing and banging on the low basement ceiling to show their enthusiasm for the band.
Randle Patrick McNuthin, Tim Allen Everson and Andrew Meoray also performed.
Aaron Freeman (aka Gene Ween) and Nik Greeley @ Ardmore Music Hall.
Text by Brian Wilensky. Images by Darragh Dandurand.
Boognish smiled upon Ardmore Music Hall on Friday as Aaron Freeman, formerly known as Gene Ween, took the stage. The near-capacity crowd welcomed him back to the area with rowdy cheering at nearly every available moment, whether it was between or during Freeman’s stripped down versions of Ween’s stoner rock classics.
He appeared to be quite comfortable on stage all night, particularly during “Chocolate Town,” off of Quebec, and La Cucaracha’s “Your Party,” when he let out a satisfied, “Oh yeah,” mid-song and the crowd sang along.
Girlpool, Pinegrove and More @ West Philly Retirement Home.
Text and images by Rick Kauffman.
On Friday night, there was a tight little house show in West Philly featuring bands from New Jersey, New York and a couple of chicks straight from Los Angeles. They packed the narrow basement at the West Philly Retirement Home, named-so for the 25-year-old yet seasoned show-throwers who call the place home.
It was Leaky Soups opening for Battle Ave., O-Face, Pinegrove, Shannen Moser and Girlpool (above), the Philly transplants from LA, headlining the show.
Radio 104.5 is throwing their annual Winter Jam at XFINITY Live! on Saturday, January 24th. The line-up looks pretty amazing.
The Gaslight Anthem, Cold War Kids, Walk the Moon and Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness on the main stage and We Speak in Sounds, Cruisr and Cheerleader on the local stage.
There is going to be a ski ramp.
You could get tickets at a Ticket Raid.
Or…
You could enter this contest to score:
· Pre-show lunch with Chevy at the VIP Lounge in XFINITY Live!
· Meet & greets with festival artists
· Meet & greet with Radio 104.5 DJs
· Interview opportunity with the local opening act
· VIP access
Uhm, free VIP access?
To enter, all you have to do is share this on Twitter or Facebook, and shoot an email to us at FreeJumpStuff@gmail.com and tell us your wildest or most fun experience on your way to or from a concert. Make sure to put WILD RIDE in the subject line.
The winner will be picked next Thursday.
Reef The Lost Cauze, Barrel Brothers and Mic Stew @ Underground Arts for the Red Bull Sound Select.
Reef The Lost Cauze jumped on stage last night and told the crowd about how he and his wife recently had a baby.
“I’m just happy to be out of the house,” he told the crowd at Underground Arts during the Red Bull Sound Select, curated by Veteran Freshman.
Then he ripped into a series of classic tracks and jumped into the crowd, where he bounced around in a cipher-like circle. It was the highlight of a fun night.
Mic Stew opened and gritted his way through his set despite being ill. With his long hair recently trimmed, he spit rhymes with a gravelly voice, ending his set with some freestyle.
The Barrel Brothers – Skyzoo and Torae – closed out the night with a lively set. They joked about having to get on the bus back to Brooklyn (and then they ended the show before 11 pm). But they paid tribute to Philly hip hop, name dropping Chill Moody and a few other rappers who were in attendance.
The Underwater Sounds: Legendary Misfits of Sounds.
Text by Brian Myszkowski. Image by Jessica Flynn.
As Sean Youngman drives along Grays Ferry Avenue toward Southwest Philadelphia, he notices a disheveled youth standing by the roadside, asking for change. He stops his car and roots around the back seat that is occupied by laundry baskets filled with freshly pressed albums and promotional posters.
“I knew I had them in here,” he mumbles as he tosses items around. Youngman locates a box of granola bars, quickly rolls down the window and waves the beggar over. He hands the vagabond a bar with a smile, stating, “I like to keep them around and hand them out to people on the streets. I think it’s good karma.”
It seems that karma has really paid off for Youngman and his fellow musicians in The Underwater Sounds, a West Philly band on the brink of launching into exciting endeavors. The Sounds’ newest release, Visions of Love & Light, Part 1 – recorded at Fishtown’s East Room Recording – has just been pressed in time for a tour.
Weyes Blood and The Story of Our Country.
The road to discovery lies in experimentation. And Brooklyn folk artist Weyes Blood – aka Bucks County native Natalie Mering – is intent on traveling that road, personally and professionally.
Mering, 26, grew up in Doylestown and graduated from Central Bucks West High School before dropping out of college and pursuing music. Her music blends a choral folk style with experimental noise (fans of the latter genre will recognize her soprano voice from Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti’s “Mature Themes“), mixed often in equal parts: beautiful ascending piano or mandolin will suddenly falter like a warped record and eventually give way to echos and strange rumbling noises.
Mering also seems to find it difficult to stay in one place physically. She’s traveled around the country twice, living in locations as varied as Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Arizona, and California. Our Kyle Bagenstose caught up with Mering before her tour kick-off show at Johnny Brenda’s last Saturday to talk about the buzz building after the release of her second album in December, her roots in Pennsylvania and what she found out traveling America.
Images by Grace Dickinson.
So you’re a Delaware Valley native. How’d you get started in music?
My father’s a musician, so music was always in my house. I started playing guitar when I was like 6-years old. But I didn’t start really singing like I sing now until middle school, when I joined a bunch of choirs. I got super into choir and singing classically. Before I sang in school, I sang in church.
Was that driven by your own interest or pushed by your family setting?
It was my own desire but my parents both loved music and that definitely impacted me. My dad did teach me stuff on the guitar and I also took piano lessons. It was just a very musical household.
How did your early music development transition into recording?
I went to one year of college at Lewis & Clark College and then dropped out to go on tour with the band Jackie-O-Motherfucker but I was never in bands really before that. I was always a solo musician.
I’ve read from other interviews that you actually prefer working more on your own than in a band. Why is that?
I could just never find a band to be in at a young age, so I just got used to playing and doing everything myself. And now I like to have the control. I’m touring with a backup band now, but it’s with a lot parts that I’ve written. In general, it’s just what I’m used to, and it kind of came out of necessity. Being friends with a lot of guys in bands that didn’t want me in their band because I was just a girl or something. Read more…
JUMP: The Philly Music Project 