EDITOR’S NOTE: This story originally appeared in the November 2001 issue of Magnet and reported in the immediate aftermath of 9/11. We are reprising it here to mark the auspicious occasion of Spiritualized performing at The Fillmore Philly on Good Friday, in support of the new LP And Nothing Hurt. Enjoy. BY JONATHAN VALANIA Somewhere Over The North Atlantic, Sept . 25, 2001 Ladies and gentlemen, we are floating in space—35,000 feet above the Earth, to be exact. We’re on our way to Ireland to tag along on a Spiritualized tour. It’s gonna be fun, but there are some risks […]
THE PINK FLOYD: Arnold Layne
PREVIOUSLY: Win Tix To See Nick Mason’s Saucerful Of Secrets @ The Met!
Win Tix To See Nick Mason’s Saucerful Of Secrets
Some people simply should never, ever trip. Syd Barrett, the former singer/guitarist/central songwriter for Pink Floyd, was one of those people. The van Gogh of early rock music, Barrett cut off his mind to spite his face, still swallowing acid by the handful even as his increasingly deranged behavior dislocated him from his bandmates and, for that matter, everybody else back on planet Earth. Tragically, most of his genius escaped recording, though it did beam directly into the illuminated skulls of the Britpop vanguard, frugging stoned and immaculate at London underground clubs like the UFO where Barrett worked out […]
CONTEST: Win Tix To See Americana Icon Kris Kristofferson At The Keswick Tomorrow Night
This picture was taken back during the Carter Administration when America was still shirt-optional, everyone drove 18-wheelers, women rode around on men knapsack-style, and there was always an explosion in the distance. Always. Kris Kristofferson is older than dirt now, but back in the day, as my mom used to say, he got more ass than the men’s room hopper seat at Howard Johnsons. For all I know, he still does. But back then he forged a career as a badass beardo sex symbol in instantly forgettable movies like Bring Me The Head Of Alfredo Garcia, Vigilante Force and […]
PANDA BEAR: Buoys
On the heels of releasing his sixth studio album, Buoys, in February, Panda Bear a.k.a. Noah Lennox has shared a video for the album’s title track. Starring Beatrice the French Bulldog, it depicts an unusual dating show with an ultimately jubilant ending. The “Buoys” video follows previous videos for “Token” and “Dolphin”. It was directed by frequent collaborator Danny Perez (who also did the Buoys artwork and directed Animal Collective’s visual album ODDSAC), and is part of an ongoing collaboration since 2007 between Danny and Panda Bear. About the video, Danny says, “Dogs see past how many followers we have […]
THE VILLAGE GREEN PRESERVATIONIST: Q&A With The Kinks’ Guitarist/Songwriter Dave Davies
BY JONATHAN VALANIA For anyone under 30, the best way to hear the Kinks’ deathlessly literate, arty, and quintessentially English guitar pop is watching the films of Wes Anderson. Pretty much any one will do – they are all larded with choice cuts indelibly wedded to strikingly precious visual tableaux. The films lend the music a vitality and transgenerational reach that members of the Kinks are no longer capable of. The songs may transcend time, but alas the men who made them cannot. Still, I have long been on record attesting to the fact that if the Martians landed […]
NO SURRENDER: Q&A W/ Amanda F*cking Palmer
BY SOPHIE BURKHOLDER After a six year break from her solo work, singer-songwriter Amanda Palmer is back with a new album called There Will Be No Intermission. Her most personal work to date, she openly sings of her experiences with abortion, miscarriage, and the death of close friends. Now on tour in support of the new record, she plans to re-emphasize an emotional connection with her fans in three-hour-long shows that will arrive in Philadelphia at the Temple Performing Arts Center on Saturday April 6TH. We got her on the phone in advance to talk about the themes of […]
Win Tix To See Amanda Palmer @ Temple University Performing Arts Center Tomorrow Night!
Amanda Palmer is a singer, writer, pianist, activist and blogger who simultaneously embraces and explodes traditional frameworks of music, theatre, community and art. She first came to prominence as one half of the Boston-based punk cabaret duo The Dresden Dolls, earning global applause for their wide-ranging theatricality and inventive songcraft. Her solo career has proven equally brave and boundless, including such groundbreaking works as the fan-funded THEATRE IS EVIL, which made a top 10 debut on the SoundScan/Billboard 200 upon its 2012 release and remains the top-funded music project on Kickstarter. In 2013 she presented The Art of Asking at the […]
Q&A w/ Nick Lowe, Elder Statesman Of Pure Pop
Photo by Dan Burn-Forti EDITOR’S NOTE: This interview originally published on April 28th, 2012. To mark the auspicious occasion of Nick Lowe, backed by Los Straight Jackets, playing a SOLD OUT show at Ardmore Music Hall on Tuesday April 9th, we reprising it here. Enjoy. BY ED KING ROCK EXPERT Nick Lowe’s nearly-half-century-long career as a singer-songwriter, record producer, and all-around musical instigator is a one-man Village Green Preservation Society, to quote the Kinks’ 1968 mission statement. After brief spell in a Cream-influenced psychedelic rock band, Kippington Lodge, Lowe and his fellow UK mates, including future standouts in the late-’70s […]
BEING THERE: Avey Tare @ PhilaMOCA
Photo by JOSH PELTA-HELLER David Portner – a.k.a. Avey Tare – is best known for being one of the founding members of freak folk/noise rock/experimental pop outfit Animal Collective. He met his Animal brethren in high school, and has since laid down some of the most otherworldly recordings this side of the Milky Way – although, to be honest, I have my suspicions that they may have come from someplace much farther out. And while his music takes on such extraterrestrial qualities in both his contributions to Animal Collective and in his eponymous solo project, his diverse instrumentation and melodies […]
BEING THERE: Bon Iver @ The Met
Photo by STEVE GARFINKEL I am old enough to remember when Bon Iver was just a weird-beard folkie lumberjack with a broken heart and a bad liver haunting the woods of Wisconsin, cranking out subterranean heartsick blues in his dad’s hunting cabin like the Unabomber of Love. This was back before he went prog-rock at Newport and started a riot — that was way cray. I remember Father John Misty threatening to cut the power with an axe and the guys from Mumford & Sons had to wrestle him to the ground. Despite the confusion of the moment, when the […]
SEBADOH: Stunned
From Act Surprised, their first album in six years, out May 24th. They play Underground Arts on July 24th. MISSING PIECE: Act Surprised continues the soulful collaboration that’s defined the band since 1991’s Sebadoh III and 1994’s Bakesale. The new batch of songs reaffirms how vital the creative partnership is between members Lou Barlow, Jason Loewenstein, and Bob D’Amico. When Barlow recently moved back to his home state of Massachusetts following a series of personal changes, he pressed the restart button and, in time, felt the incentive to reach out to Jason and Bob again to reunite and start work on […]
BON IVER: 33 “God”
Bon Iver plays The Met tonight and tomorrow night.