Laura Poitras, 2015 Investigative Reporters & Editors Conference, Marriott, 10:54 AM by JONATHAN VALANIA PHAWKER: What do you make of the so-called NSA reform legislation currently making the rounds of Congress? LAURA POITRAS: It’s good that we are actually having this debate. Obviously, in a democracy we shouldn’t have secret laws and secret interpretations of laws that violate the Constitution, but [the reform legislation currently before Congress] doesn’t go far enough. PHAWKER: What do you say to people who insist that we would have been right where we are right now, having this debate about the overbroad powers of the […]

Photo by RORY MCGLASSON During the start of the sold-out Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds concert at the Merriam Theatre last night, a brazen (and presumably drunken) heckler asked Noel of the whereabouts of his younger brother, the ex-Oasis frontman. “Where’s Liam? the man screamed. With two hands on the left side of his chest, Gallagher said, “He’s probably sitting down somewhere at home doing absolutely fuck all.” The crowd — a mix of soccer-loving Manchester City-clad ex-pats, and diehard Noel devotees from Malaysia, Germany, and Jersey — cheered his response. These are Noel’s fans. They absolutely adore him, as […]

[Via KODAKLENS] RELATED: Our Complete Coverage Of The Roots Picnic 2015

[CLICK HERE TO VIEW] BY DYLAN LONG Year after year without fail, The Roots have managed to wrangle just the right combination of iconic — and destined to be iconic — artists from the realms of hip hop, rap, reggae, R&B, electronica, indie and soul, to showcase at their annual Roots Picnic in Philadelphia. This year was no exception. The eighth annual Roots Picnic kicked off Saturday with sets from the soulful Marc E. Bassy and Donn T, the little sister of  Questlove, The Roots Don Dada, drummer and all-around ambassador of good vibes and goodwill. Mr. E. Bassy, hand-picked […]

Photo by SEAN CALDWELL It was an evening of magnificent sensory overload last night at Johnny Brenda’s as the Japanese grind-pop duo Melt-Banana performed amid a vivid array of animated lights and electric colors, triggering the sold-out crowd to erupt in a wild, mass of exuberant imbalance. Touring in support of the band’s newest release, Return of the 13 Hedgehogs (MxBx Singles 2000-2009), vocalist Yasuko Onuki and guitarist Ichirou Agata created a perpetual frenzy of blast beats and over-amplified pop melodies complimented by Yasuko’s cartoonish pitch. Sharing the bill last night were the Philadelphia-based crust oddity HIRS and the synth-driven […]

Photo by DAN LONG We were a collection of blissed-out bobbleheads beating the air in unison last night at Johnny Brendas as the Italian psych metal trio Ufomammut delivered unto us an onslaught of riff-borne aggression within a haze of deafening sonic bliss. Touring in support of their latest album, Ecate, Ufomammut’s performance followed the space age post-metal atmospherics of Philadelphia’s Ominous Black and the scream-laden slowed up doom of Portland’s Usnea, an interesting duality culminating in Ufomammut’s third act as the band churned out weighty blankets of reverberating tone and rhythmic density that would violently unwind. While none of […]

Photo by DYLAN LONG Jane’s Addiction is plumbing its history — and the latent demon of nostalgia — by touring the nation, playing each and every track of its first studio album “Nothing’s Shocking,” the 1988 album that helped the band graduate from L.A. scenesters to legitimate international alternative stars. It’d be easy to say that Jane’s, at least this incarnation, has aged about as gracefully as the music industry itself, but that’d be a lie. What transpired on Saturday night at the Electric Factory was, in fact, a snapshot of a band — its historical record firmly rooted — […]

Photo by DAN LONG Last night, I stood in the uncomfortable throng of enthusiastic attendees at the Electric Factory’s sold out Faith No More gig, the room alive with an ear-crippling volume from both the band and the voices around me. Faith No More, the alt-metal superstars whose appreciation and influence peaked in the early to mid-90s, were gracious and thankful for the positive reception from the crowd. Following an impressive and highly entertaining performance from the opening band, Le Butcherettes, (whose wildly charismatic DEVO-meets-Grace Slick frontwoman Teri Geri Bender who abandoned the stage at one point to shimmy, shuffle, […]

Photo by MARY LYNN DOMINGUEZ Skulking into the basement of the First Unitarian Church last night to see the sold-out show of noise-rock duo Lightning Bolt felt like more of a “Boys Only” club than most concerts usually do for me. Unsurprisingly, the guy to gal ratio was at an unhealthy 10:1, and that’s counting the begrudgingly-dragged-along girlfriends. Regardless, I can only assume that everyone there was a loyal and willing fan, seeing no issue with having his or her face violently torn off by Lightning Bolt’s signature machine-gun-meets-outer-space vortex of sound.  Getting the appropriately themed lightning bolt-shaped marks on […]