Lead off single from, Himalaya, the splendid sophomore LP from Philly-homeboy-turned-Brooklandian Bill Richinni’s Summer Fiction, due out June 16. This is how God intended the electric guitar to sound. They play the Boot N’ Saddle on June 20th. PREVIOUSLY: Summer Fiction is the new nom-de-rock for South Philly bedroom pop autuer Bill Ricchini who has recently returned from a five year hermitage of domesticity, home-improvement and crock pottery with a self-titled debut full of rumors and sighs and fallen lovers outlined in lipstick traces. Breezy, bright and eminently tuneful, Summer Fiction picks up where Ricchini’s previous releases — 2002’s Ordinary […]
BEING THERE: Hiatus Kaiyote @ Underground Arts
Photo by MARY LYNN DOMINGUEZ Underground Arts, which more closely resembles a long-ago closed subway stop than a concert venue, was a fitting setting to catch the subterranean rumblings of genre-defying Aussie group Hiatus Kaiyote. The band’s go-to sound is a dizzying combination of jazz, hip-hop, electronic, soul, rock and pretty much everything in between. The true disciples of Hiatus Kaiyote were a similarly diverse lot. However, they managed to pack the floor space as early and tightly as possible in order to fully experience the impending eruption of sound. For me, perpetually lagging behind on long-winding-road-suburban-girl time, this meant […]
HOP ALONG: Powerful Man
From the magnificent Painted Shut (Saddle Creek) by destined-to-be hometown heroes of Hop Along. Best video we’ve seen in in a dog’s age. “Waitress” is the stunner in the bunch and it screams out for similar treatment. They play Union Transfer tonight, with Thin Lips and Clique.
RUSSELL BRAND WATCH: The Agony Of Defeat
BY JAMIE KNERR Russell Brand, the infamous cad/ comedian/ actor-cum-political firebrand, has been taking some heat the past 48 hours or so. On his video op-ed show “The Trews” Brand has made no secret about his distrust in big government, overtly stating over and over that the system is, and always has been, rigged against the interests of the common man. A main pillar of his ideology has been outright rejection of that system, in which participation only makes one complicit in the crimes being committed by our elected officials. He has strongly and repeatedly advocated AGAINST even voting. […]
MATS WEEK: All For Nothing & Nothing For All
BY MIKE WALSH If, like me, the new Replacements EP, Songs for Slim, doesn’t quite satisfy your hankering for a Replacements fix, you have a few other options. 1. The most obvious choice to listen to the expanded, remastered versions of the Mats eight records released by Rhino/Rykodisc in 2008. All of these disks contain lots of extra tracks, mostly alternate takes, demos, and live covers. For example, the expanded version of Sorry Ma… has 13 extra tracks. These releases sound great too, but that’s an expensive option. 2. Listen to the two songs Paul and Tommy recorded for Don’t […]
KEY & PEELE: Negrotown
PREVIOUSLY: Key & Peel On Fresh Air PREVIOUSLY: KEY & PEELE: Substitute Teacher PREVIOUSLY: KEY & PEELE: What’s In A Name?
MATS WEEK: Children By The Million
EDITOR’S NOTE: In honor of the re-activated Replacements playing the Festival Pier on Saturday, we’re re-running Mats Week. Look for Replacements lore and legend all week on a Phawker near you! PAUL WESTERBERG FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES: HOW does one react to the death of one’s mentor? My mind instantly slammed down the inner trouble-door that guards against all thought, emotion, sadness. Survival mode. Rock guitar players are all dead men walking. It’s only a matter of time, I tell myself as I finger my calluses. Those who fail to click with the world and society at large find […]
Happy 100th Mr. Welles, Wherever You Are!
VOX: He took naps in the projection booth and stayed up all night — making history the entire time. Born on May 6, 1915, Orson Welles would have celebrated his 100th birthday today. When he was still under 30, he became famous as one of radio and cinema’s greatest artists. But even after his greatest successes were behind him, he was addicted to his job — a workaholic through and through. As he recalled in Barbara Leaming’s Orson Welles: A Biography, in his youth Welles was always a dynamo fueled by his addiction to art. He lived the manic […]
MATS WEEK: The Last Temptation Of Bob Stinson
EDITOR’S NOTE: In honor of the re-activated Replacements playing the Festival Pier on Saturday, we’re re-running Mats Week. Look for Replacements lore and legend all week on a Phawker near you! BY JONATHAN VALANIA The Replacements were made to be broken, and it’s a minor miracle they lasted eight albums, spread out over the course of a lost decade. In the end, the dream got too tired to come true, but for a brief and shining moment, it seemed like anything was possible. “For a while there, Paul had no idea how good a songwriter he was,” says Jesperson. “I […]
WORTH REPEATING: The Bug Man Cometh, A Teachable Moment Of Senseless Violence
EDITOR’S NOTE: The following originally published on Philly Mag and Huffington Post back in January 2013 in the wake of the brutal and senseless murder of Children’s Hospital pediatrician Melissa Ketunuti by exterminator Jason Smith. We are re-running it now to mark the commencement of Smith’s murder trial starts today. BY JONATHAN VALANIA Shortly before noon last Monday, Melissa Ketunuti [pictured, below right], a 35-year-old Children’s Hospital pediatrician and research scientist, was beaten, bound, choked to death and then set aflame in the basement of her own house on a tony block of Center City Philadelphia. The gruesome brutality of […]
WORTH REPEATING: Deep Inside Amy Schumer 3
NEW YORKER: Raunchy, rough, a destabilizing mixture of daffy and caustic, Schumer’s series débuted under the radar, in 2013. A blend of standup routines, mostly about sex; person-on-the-street interviews, also about sex; and satirical sketches, the series had an unusually high hit rate for a new comedy show. But this spring is clearly Schumer’s breakout moment. She’s on the cover of Entertainment Weekly, in a parody of the poster for “American Beauty,” blond curls splayed, lying on a bed of minibar liquor bottles rather than rose petals. In July, her romantic comedy “Trainwreck,” directed by Judd Apatow (who has […]
SHAMIR: Darker
From the Rachet (out May 19 in North America and May 18 everywhere else via XL).
REVIEW: Ugly Mane’s Third Side Of The Tape
THIRD SIDE OF TAPE by LIL UGLY MANE Lil Ugly Mane AKA Lyle Ugleman AKA Shawn Kemp surprised fans with a new release yesterday entitled Third Side of Tape. Fans of the eclectic and mysterious rapper will not be disappointed, as the bundle of six tracks is weird, dark, sinister, and full of the musical menace we have to come expect from the underground hero. This is another unexpected release, as Ugly Mane’s Soundcloud page still sneers that, “LIL UGLY MANE IS A DEFUNCT PROJECT” and promises an upcoming boxed set I am convinced will never ever exist. Ugleman continues […]