PITCHFORK: In an interview with The Washington Post, Peter Bauer said that after some shows next week, the Walkmen have no plans to continue. Though they note that they aren’t “officially breaking up,” Bauer said, “We have no future plans whatsoever. I’d call it a pretty extreme hiatus.” Later, he added, “It’s been almost 14 years now. I think that’s enough, you know?” Their final two shows for the foreseeable future are tomorrow at Union Market in Washington, DC and December 4 at Philadelphia’s Union Transfer. The future of the band, both as a recording and touring entity, is uncertain: “We really just have no […]
MOGWAI: The Lord Is Out Of Control
Possibly the greatest song title ever made. Filmed on location in Hawaii by Antony Crook. From the Rave Tapes box set, out January 21st on Sub Pop. Mogwai plays Union Transfer on May 8th. You have been warned.
Win Tix To See Amos Lee @ The Tower On Wed.
It’s always heartening to see a young, talented and hard-working artist climb his/her way up the food chain from coffee shop to the big top. It’s even better when it’s somebody local. His gentle, homegrown folk/soul/blues amalgam is perched somewhere between John Prine and Norah Jones — think what if Bill Withers grew up in South Philly — earned him an elite slot on the Blue Note roster and touring invites from everyone from the likes of Bob Dylan, Elvis Costello, Paul Simon, Merle Haggard, Van Morrison, John Prine, Dave Matthews Band, Adele. Last month he released his fifth […]
BEING THERE: Minor Alps @ World Cafe Live
Photo by PETE TROSHAK Juliana Hatfield and Nada Surf’s Matthew Caws brought their collaborative acoustic project, Minor Alps, to Philly for an eminently entertaining show at World Café Live Friday night. The duo is touring in support of their excellent and critically well-received debut album Get There, which successfully blends ’90s alt-rock with Everly Brothers style harmonies. They took the stage armed with just their acoustic guitars and a small mellotron-style keyboard that Hatfield occasionally jammed on. This duo doesn’t need extra equipment, their magic is in how perfectly Caws and Hatfield’s voices mesh. Live and on record, Caws’ strong […]
BEING THERE: Mazzy Star @ Union Transfer
Photo by LUZ GALLARDO Not sure how Mazzy Star wound up being one of those band’s that releases a new album with the regularity of a Haley’s Comet flyover, but as a long time fan of all things Mazzy Star-connected (Rain Parade, Dream Syndicate, Clay Allison, Opal) I’ll not look a gift horse in the mouth. It’s kind of like you’re cool stoner older brother who went to Paris to become a painter and disappeared into the sweet oblivion of heroin for 17 years suddenly showing up for Thanksgiving unannounced. Nobody asks too many questions, we’re just glad he’s here. […]
BEING THERE: Sleigh Bells @ Union Transfer
Photo by MARY LYNN DOMINGUEZ When Sleigh Bells took the stage last night at Union Transfer, I got the feeling that some serious ass-kicking was about to take place. A military-style drum line track introduced the four-piece band as they took their places accordingly, building up anticipation for the arrival of frontwoman Alexis Krauss. Emerging onstage dressed in a flashy, silk cheetah-print boxing robe with the words “Bitter Rival” across the back, Krauss made it seem as if the show was merely a pit-stop after a run up the steps of the Art Museum with Rocky Balboa. She made it […]
THE PRINCE OF DARKNESS: Q&A With Erik Prince, Founder & Former CEO Of Blackwater
Illustration by ALEX FINE BY JONATHAN VALANIA Blackwater founder Erik Prince will be speaking at the Free Library on Friday to promote his new book, Civilian Warriors: The Inside Story Of Blackwater & The Unsung Heroes Of The War On Terror, his compelling counter-narrative about the rise and fall of Blackwater. Not surprisingly, in Prince’s telling Blackwater is essentially blameless for any and all murder and mayhem that has occurred on its watch. Yesterday we got Prince on the phone and asked who, in the final accounting, will have to answer for all that murder and mayhem. Turns out nobody […]
Win Tix To See Fred Armisen @ Underground Arts
We have come here today to hand out lollipops and tickets to see Fred Armisen/Ian Rubbish @ Underground Arts on Thursday November 14th — and we’re all out of lollipops. To qualify, all you have to do is sign up for our mailing list (see right, below the masthead). Trust us, this is something you want to do. In addition to breaking news alerts and Phawker updates, you also get advanced warning about groovy concert ticket giveaways and other free swag opportunities like this one! After signing up, send us an email at FEED@PHAWKER.COM telling us a much, with […]
BEING THERE: Paramore & Metric In Camden
Photo by PETE TROSHAK A packed house witnessed an impressive double bill on Friday night in Camden. Metric came first, performing a short laser focused set of their best. Emily Haines alternated between jamming away at a bank of synthesizers and stomping around the stage wailing into a gold mic as the band delivered eight of their best songs. Highlights were a beautiful, ethereal “Breathing Underwater” and a stadium rocking “Gold Guns Girls.” Next came Paramore who are touring in support of their critically and commercially successful self-titled album produced by bad-ass bass player/Beck collaborator Justin Meldal-Johnsen. The band were […]
BEING THERE: Kate Nash @ Union Transfer
Photo by PETE TROSHAK In 2011 British singer Kate Nash was dropped by her record label. She then started her own label and changed up her style, ditching her keyboard and melding her cheeky pop confections with a more aggressive almost punk-like musical style. If her impressive show last night at the Union Transfer is any indication, Nash made the right move. She took the stage wearing a white bass with the name of punk band FIDLAR scrawled on it, joined by an all-girl backing band of two guitarists and a drummer. Nash delivered some rumbling bass notes and the […]
BEING THERE: The Black Lips @ First Unitarian
Photo by MARY LYNN DOMINGUEZ As a Black Lips newbie assigned to review this show, I thought I’d get a crash course to all things Black and Lips by attending the Wednesday night Ritz 5 screening of their Middle East tour documentary Kids Like You And Me. The film documents the bands 2012 tour of places rife with things Americans fear most: radical Islamist protests, the threat of terrorism, and perhaps most frightening of all, People Who Aren’t Americans. The noble purpose of the tour was to find common ground and connect with the youth of places like Egypt. What […]
MILESTONE: 45 Years Of Astral Weeks
My current fave Sunday-morning-coming-down album, Van’s transcendental 1968 masterwork still holds its secrets all these years later. The converted need no further preaching about Astral Weeks, so it’s the uninitiated I’m reaching out to here. First you need to dispense with the image of Van as the largely irrelevant pot-bellied sourpuss we know today. Flash back to Belfast in the mid-’60s: Van is winding down his tenure as blues shouter for Them — a roughneck collective of bruising whiteboy R&B and flame-throwing garage-punk snarl — ready to make the leap from drunk-up wailer to cosmic poet-seeker. Legend has it […]
ASK A WIZARD: Backstage w/ Wayne Coyne
In conjunction Scrapple TV, our partner in New Media crime, Phawker sat down with Flaming Lips mainman Wayne Coyne on his tour bus a few hours before their performance at the Festival Pier last month and rolled film. DISCUSSED: Sex, drugs, rock n’ roll, why the new Lips album is so goddamned dark, why he has Nick Cave’s blood, the story behind the Wayne Coyne Hand Grenade Incident, how he got Erykah Badu naked and covered in cum and glitter, and if he wasn’t the lead singer of the Flaming Lips what would have he done with his life. The […]