SANDY (ALEX G) @ UNION TRANSFER SATURDAY NOVEMBER 20TH SOLD OUT
WORTH REPEATING: The Troubles With Spikol
PHILADELPHIA MAGAZINE: My psychiatrist first floated the idea that I don’t have bipolar disorder months ago, when we were spending another session dissecting my history of disasters. That’s what you do in therapy, in case you’re not familiar — you take out your calamities and examine them, hold them up to the light until you can see them without shadow. Then, if you’re lucky, you fold their shiny sharp edges in tissue paper, place them in a box, and shove the box to the back of a shelf you can’t reach without a ladder. When all the boxes are on […]
ALBUM REVIEW: Twin Peaks’ Lookout Low
Chicago-based indie-rockers Twin Peaks have been releasing the same wallpaper indie rock over the course of three albums, sounding more like a bland melting pot of their favorite bands than anything else. Their third album Down in Heaven is the first time the band seemed like they were coming onto their own, but most of the album was drowned out with more filler that sounded just ok. Nothing terrible or nothing even bad, just entirely unexceptional. Most of the time while I’m listening to Twin Peaks, I’m thinking about what a waste of the name they are. To name your […]
BEING THERE: Angel Olsen @ Franklin Music Hall
Photo by JOSH PELTA-HELLER Somewhere from the back of Franklin Music Hall last night, a fan let out a blood-curdling “AN-GELLL” that sent an echo of similar calls and pleas for attention all the way up to the stage, where Angel Olsen stood in a black dress and a pair of cat ears, with mock whiskers painted on her face. She let the crowd’s wave of drunken Halloween nonsense fill the room, waiting for one brief quiet moment to say, “What other thoughts do you have? I’m ready.” Standing before a crowd costumed in kitschy face paint, wigs, headdresses, glitter, […]
Win Tix To See Roseanne Cash & Ry Cooder Perform The Songs Of Johnny Cash @ The Met On Sunday
Not sure what I can tell you about Johnny Cash that Joaquin Phoenix hasn’t already taught you. Presumably, at this late date, there is no need to run down The Man In Black’s CV — walked the line, shot a man in Reno just to watch him die, swallowed enough trucker speed to stay five feet high and rising for the better part of the 20th Century, fell into a burning ring of fire, woke up Sunday morning with no way to hold his head that didn’t hurt, etc. — but let us be clear: Johnny Cash remains a […]
BEING THERE: Sleater-Kinney @ The Fillmore
Photo by JOSH PELTA-HELLER Dressed in black, Sleater-Kinney kicked off their set at the Fillmore last night with the slow futuristic dirge of “The Center Won’t Hold,” the title track of their latest album. Here was the new, layered, and organized sound of Sleater-Kinney, sweethearts of the 90’s riot grrrl movement, almost 25 years after their debut. The songs from The Center Won’t Hold aren’t bad by any means, but next to the electric charge of Dig Me Out or The Hot Rock, they sound sort of tame and jaded — at least on the studio versions. After the ominous […]
NEO SOUL SURVIVOR: Q&A W/ Macy Gray
Photo by GIULIANO BEKOR BY LARA MICKLE It’s been 18 years since she won a Grammy for “I Try,” but Macy Gray is a neo soul survivor. Over the course of the last two decades, Gray has released 10 studio albums, embarked on countless world tours and racked up dozens of film, television and video game credits. Concurrently, she has weathered multiple micro-controversies, all of which have proven, in the fullness of time, to be proverbial tempests in a TMZ teapot. Through it all, one thing has remained above reproach: that voice. Like honey on sandpaper, Gray’s voice signals both […]
WORTH REPEATING: How I Became A Weirdo
EDITOR’S NOTE: The following essay by Phawker almnus Elizabeth Fiend [pictured below] about her early days as a weirdo punk rocker/comic strip artist is included in THE BOOK OF WEIRDO just published by Last Gasp. Legendary in alt-comic book circles, Weirdo was a comics anthology created by R. Crumb in 1981 and ran until 1993. THE BOOK OF WEIRDO includes a comprehensive history of the publication, interviews with its three editors — R.Crumb, Aline Kominsky-Crumb, and Peter Bagge (of Hate fame) — and testimonials from artists that contributed over the years, including Miss Fiend, hence this essay. Robert Aline […]
FRANCES QUINLAN: Rare Thing
Hop Along’s Frances Quinlan has made a name for herself as one of the most prominent songwriters with one of the most distinct and inimitable voices in the indie rock space over the past decade. Today the Philadelphia-based musician announces her stunning solo album Likewise, which will be released on January 31st on Saddle Creek. While Hop Along began as Quinlan’s solo project (originally titled Hop Along, Queen Ansleis), Likewise is Quinlan’s debut under her own name. Recorded with bandmate Joe Reinhart at The Headroom, Likewise sees Quinlan tap into new sounds. “Working with Joe on this made me able […]
DESTROYER: Crimson Tide
The lead-off single from Have We Met, the new Destroyer album due out January 31st. Destroyer plays Underground Arts March 8th with Nap Eyes. Tickets go on sale Thursday October 24th at 10 AM.
BEING THERE: IDLES @ Union Transfer
Photo by MATT SHAVER Bristol post-punk outfit IDLES is not the heaviest band out there, and they certainly aren’t the edgiest. They are, however, indubitably one of the angriest bands around. The fundamental rebelliousness that is the driving force of punk rock music, in the case of IDLES, manifests itself through a twisted (though profoundly humane) depiction of love. You heard me right: the thematic heart of IDLES’ punk-ness is a kind of re-imagined Flower Power. Their two debut full-length records, Brutalism and Joy as an Act of Resistance are both unashamedly anti-fascism and an unconditionally inclusive call for community. […]
Q&A: w/ Black Keys Drummer Patrick Carney
BY LARA MICKLE After a five year hiatus, the Black Keys are back with a new album called, simply enough, Let’s Rock, and a tour that stops at Wells Fargo Center on October 14th. Re-connecting their basement-rocking roots, Let’s Rock channels a distinctly bell-bottomed 70’s rock vibe by keeping it stone-cold simple and using no instruments made after 1978. Last week we got bespectacled Keys sticksman Patrick Carney on the horn. DISCUSSED: What the hell they’ve been up to for the last five years (a lot, it turns out); making babies; producing other people’s albums; seeing Wu-Tang Clan at the […]
