Shaking Through: Purling Hiss’ “Lolita.”
Since January 2010, Weathervane Music and WXPN have collaborated on a music and video web series, Shaking Through. Led by Brian McTear of Miner Street Recording studios, they provide opportunities to rising, independent artists. The series has included several Philly bands, including Creepoid, Hezekiah Jones, Party Photographers and Reading Rainbow.
The latest installment features another Philly favorite, Purling Hiss, whom we profiled in our spring issue. The episode was curated by Adam Granduciel from The War on Drugs.
Download the track for free here:
We profiled Weathervane in our summer issue last year. Learn about the amazing project here.
Like this:
Get out your 3D glasses and check this out new video from our spring issue cover boys, Cheers Elephant.
This is some trippy stuff.
The guys have been busy lately, with their new album officially dropping last Tuesday. We caught them playing the Apple store on Walnut Street that day. See some of their other new videos here.
FYI: our summer issue drops in print next week! We’ll begin distribution on May 25. Copies will be available around the region by June 1. The issue features The Roots, the Tough Shits, Cold Fronts, OCD: Moosh & Twist, El Malito, Vacationer and so much more.
Jay-Z stopped off in Philly to announce that he’ll be curating the two-day, three-stage music festival over Labor Day weekend. It will take place in front of the Art Museum but it won’t be free, like Live 8 was in 2005.
No word on who will play the festival yet, though Jay-Z said that about 70 percent of the 28 acts were booked. Freeway, who was previously signed to Jay’s label, appeared on stage (above) for the press conference but is not slated to perform at the show.
There will be a variety of genres represented at the festival, dubbed “Made in America” and sponsored by Budweiser.
We’re hoping there will be plenty of Philly representation on the stages. For instance, we saw Chill Moody (right), who will perform at The Roots Picnic, hanging with the crowd during the press conference. It’d be great to see the West Philly native open up the show for the Jigga man.
The full lineup is expected to be announced next Monday. Tickets for the September 1 & 2 events will go on sale next week, on May 23. Tickets will cost $99 and a portion of the sales will go to charities served by the United Way.
Spiritualized (and Nikki Lane) @ The TLA.
Text by Chad Sims. Images by Mike Bucher.
On Friday night, Spiritualized played the TLA with Nikki Lane opening.
Nikki Lane played a great set with nothing accompanying her incredible voice but her acoustic guitar. She sounds like one of the legendary female country singers of yore (think Loretta Lynn, Dolly Parton, etc.) but looks somewhat like Zooey Deschanel. My favorite of her songs was the tune “Sleep for You.”
While her performance was incredible, it was marred by an audience member shouting a crude comment suggesting that the singer expose her anatomy. Dudes, it is 2012 can you learn how to act at a concert and show the performers some respect?
Luckily, Lane didn’t let this bother her much and even called the guy out on his questionable, non-prescription eyewear (he may have been wearing Oakley’s).
Jason Pierce (aka J. Spaceman) and his band Spiritualized played a long, varied set. Material from across their seven albums was sprinkled through the night. It is not surprising that Pierce is fairly low key in his performance and allows the music to speak for itself.
The crowd blew up when they played some well known songs like the title track from masterpiece album 1997’s Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space.
Overall amazing show and a good paring of an established band and an upcoming artist who I hope to hear more from.
Like this:
We don’t know what exactly will be announced on Monday but the mayor’s office is asking the media to attend a press conference at 10:30 am. Their only clue about the subject matter is this line: “Mayor Nutter and Shawn ‘JAY-Z’ Carter to make major announcement.”
We’re hearing it’s a massive, multi-day festival over Labor Day weekend.
Jay-Z posted the video above as a teaser.
No clues about the location of the presumed festival. But Jay-Z has performed at the Art Museum steps before, when he participated in the Live 8 concert. Check out the video of his performance then:
Eve @ Kung Fu Necktie.
Text, video and image by Morgan James.
Uptown’s fiercest lyricist and the industry’s most swagged female rapper is revving to make 2012 the year of E-V-E.
Back after a music hiatus – aside from a bevy of smash features and prominent acting gigs, Eve is poised to release her first full-length effort in ten years.
Eve kicked off the free “Reebok Classics” series sponsored by Reebok and Complex Magazine this week in her hometown (Eve graduated from Martin Luther King High School). The series of live concerts features hip-hop’s biggest icons and will visit Philly, NYC, Las Vegas and more throughout the summer. Concurrent with the campaign, the shows will be documented as part of an exclusive Complex film series.
Wednesday afternoon, Complex’s film crew captured hip-hop heads and Eve supporters wrapped around the corner at Kung Fu Necktie in anticipation. DJ Mike Nyce pumped up the volume and Eve wowed the crowd looking better than ever with some of her own classics “Hot Boyz,” “Satisfaction” and “Love Is Blind.”
During the performance she sampled two new tracks off of the upcoming album Lip Lock. She led the bar in a thumping reggae inspired track and later showcased an introspective song she dedicated to her brother, warmly telling the crowd and eyeing her father standing stage-left, “He graduates high-school this year and he’s going to college!”
A decade ago Eve rapped “Let Me Blow Ya Mind.” This year she is ready to blow minds again. And she just might.
Text, images and video by Rachel Barrish.
The sounds that stream through your MP3 player came to life on Walnut Street Tuesday evening when Cheers Elephant, our spring issue cover band, played a free set at the Apple Store.
“We turned down playing at the Dell store for this,” joked singer/guitarist Derek Krzywicki.
The band’s third LP, Like Wind Blows Fire, was just released that day. And they made sure to promote its availability on iTunes.
It was especially great to catch them in such an intimate setting. Derek jumped from one leg to the other, acting out the lyrics to “Doin’ it, Right,” the hit single off the new album. Drummer Robert Kingsly wailed in the back, his long hair bouncing in front of his face the majority of the time.
Especially considering it was such a random place to play, they put on a stellar performance. This just goes to show that you can make music at any place at any time. All the bandmates seemed to enjoy the laid back and flavorful atmosphere in a salesroom full of friends, fans and Apple staffers.
You’ll be able to hear more from Cheers Elephant this Saturday, as the band is part of the inaugural Philadelphia Local Music Day, part of the Loves Local Music movement. Their music will be spinning at various local outlets including Federal Donuts, Honey’s Sit ‘n Eat, Johnny Brenda’s, The Abbaye, Honest Tom’s Taco Shop, The Marvelous! Music Record Store, Rocket Cat Café, Trophy Bikes North, Lola Bean, Ultimo Coffee, Green Aisle Grocery, Repo Records, Smak Parlor, One Shot Coffee and Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction.
If you visit one of those locations, you can get a free card to download tracks from Cheers and the other four bands participating in the event – Work Drugs, Buried Beds, The Extraordinaires and Band Name.
The Extraordinaires will perform a free, all ages, acoustic show at The Rocket Cat Cafe at 1 p.m. Saturday. See here for details.
Like this:
Norwegian Arms: Tired of Being Cold.
Our old friend Keith Birthday, aka Brendan Mulvihill of Norwegian Arms, reached out to us to say that Norwegian Arms dropped the first song from their forthcoming LP (most likely due out in the fall).
“It’s a song expressing frustration at being stuck in -40 degree temperatures for an extended period of time in a place one doesn’t feel comfortable in and longing for home,” Brendan wrote to us. “Homesickness at it’s rawest. That being said, the song is really upbeat.”
The song was recorded at Meth Beach, also known as the Dr. Dog studio, by Michael Chadwick (of the now-defunct Armchairs). It was produced with Jose Diaz of the Seattle band Neighbors.
The track, as well as the full album, was written while Brendan was on a Fulbright scholarship in Siberia, in Tomsk, Russia. He wrote about his experiences for JUMP last summer. You can find the story here.
Brendan’s partner in Norwegian Arms is Eric Slick, who also drums for Dr. Dog. Check out our story about Eric from the winter issue.
Norwegian Arms will play tonight at Kung Fu Necktie with Warm Weather and Ecce Shnak. Find details here.
Text and images by Kirsten Stamn.
It was the worst of circumstances – a beautiful, summer-like Friday that gave way to torrential downpours and bright flashes of lightning, effectively ruining any and all plans for those (i.e., me) who are too skittish to venture out in the rain. A rather brilliant compromise? Taking refuge at Milkboy, where three bands decided to keep the low key crowd entertained with a variety of vaguely dreamy yet peppy music.
Opening the night was Philadelphia’s very own The Homophones (above), who kicked off their set with hilariously mumbled goading of the audience.
“How’s everyone doing tonight? I can’t see shit,” said lead singer Jason Ferraro, who took a long swig of his drink before commanding listeners to approach the stage. Nobody (myself excluded) complied.
With their drawling dreamy, retro tunes, The Homophones have a very distinct and appealing sound. When not rocking out on his baby blue guitar with his taciturn bandmates, Ferraro took the time to interact with the audience, ranting about people who tell others they look like celebrities, thanking his sister for coming and explaining the inspiration behind certain songs.
“I’ve been writing songs about Encore shows lately,” he said. “This one is called ‘Fried Green Tomatoes.’”
Next up: Ape School, another Philadelphia-based group that could barely fit on the tiny stage with their plethora of members. After some complaints about broken equipment, the group launched into their rather beachy and breezy (yet also somehow old-school psychedelic rock) songs. At this point, the crowd was warmed up and, with a rapidly filling bar, approached the stage less cautiously than before.
Ape School certainly got the love from their local musician friends, who laughingly shouted advice and taunts from the crowd. Despite technical difficulties, the group delivered a great show.
The final act, Caveman (below), introduced themselves with, “We’re from Brooklyn, baby.”
Steadily gaining buzz for their indie mellowness, the group has been booking gigs faster than you can say “hipster” five times fast. They ended their national tour the day after playing at Milkboy, on a lineup with Beirut and Atlas Sound at New York’s Howard Gilman Opera House (Fun fact: Caveman frontman Matt Iwanusa used to sing at the venue back when he was with New York’s Metropolitan Opera for six years).
Overall, while the music was solid, friends of the bands deemed the vibe “weird.” Maybe it was the stormy weather outside. Perhaps the technical difficulties, which plagued all three acts, were a factor.
However, the undeniable fact remains that all three groups were a success in delivering great music for folks in desperate need of a little brightening to a dreary night.
Like this:
MusicTown: Church Singers Serenade the Runners.
Members of the First Tabernacle church on Broad Street near South stood on their steps today and sang to the folks participating in the Broad Street Run.
