Photo by JOSH PELTA-HELLER “I should start by saying that I’ve opened for a lot of bands on this stage before, so to be the main act here tonight is just – it’s really wild,” were the first words out of Lucy Dacus’s mouth last night at Union Transfer. Taking shelter from the pouring rain, a near sold-out crowd of hipsters just old enough to understand some of the darkness embedded in Dacus’ lyrics gathered to witness her energy firsthand in what was the penultimate stop of her recent tour. Though her latest record Historian came out a little over […]
STRAND OF OAKS: Keys
Strand of Oaks (Timothy Showalter) returns with his 6th album, Eraserland, released today via label Dead Oceans. On Eraserland, Showalter is backed by My Morning Jacket members Carl Broemel, Bo Koster, Patrick Hallahan and Tom Blankenship, who played a crucial role in the making of the album. The album also features Jason Isbell. It was produced by Kevin Ratterman and recorded at La La Land Studios in Louisville, KY. Showalter and the MMJ guys are in the midst of a North American tour that stops at Union Transfer on Friday May 10th. “I’ve tried ever since Strand of Oaks started […]
DAMIEN JURADO: Lincoln
Damien Jurado is sharing the opening track from his new album — In the Shape of a Storm, coming out on Mama Bird Recording Co. April 12th — an unearthed two decade-old track, “Lincoln”, which had been slated for his third record but lost in a freak chance technical glitch, only to be re-discovered and re-recorded for the new album. Jurado is about to embark on his album release tour which brings him to Johnny Brenda’s on May 17th (complete list of tour dates after the jump). For more than two decades, Jurado has sung folk songs brimming with […]
LORD OF THE STRINGS: Q&A With Dick Dale
EDITOR’S NOTE: This interview originally posted on July 16th, 2012. To mark the sad passing of Dick Dale at the age of 81, we are re-posting it. BY JONATHAN VALANIA Surf music? Dick Dale invented the stuff. Pure mainlined adrenaline, it is. Like a pocketful of white lightning. Nitroglycerin on hot wax. Surely you’ve seen the opening moments of Pulp Fiction. Easily the most thrilling marriage of profanity, felony and surf music in the history of American cinema. Rock guitar? He re-invented it. He is more or less the bridge between Chuck Berry and Bo Diddley and Jimi Hendrix and […]
BEING THERE: Meek Mill @ The Met Philly
Photo by DYLAN LONG Meek Mill is for the people. This should come as no surprise if you’re even vaguely familiar with the rapper-turned philanthropist and criminal justice reform leader. His ethos is speaking truth to power – on and offstage, in and out of the studio. Hell, City Council just named this weekend “Meek Mill Weekend” to honor his dedicated efforts to use his platform to incite positive change within his community and beyond. This formal recognition of Meek as the king of Philly coincided with his two-night stand at The Met Philly. And what a homecoming it was. […]
NEW DAY RISING: Q&A W/ Former Husker Du/Current Porcupine Bassmaster Greg Norton
BY JONATHAN VALANIA Five years ago, I went to Portland to profile Bob Mould for a MAGNET cover story. In the course of many hours of interviews, I asked Mould the question he’s been asked 457,876,621 times on the off-chance that the 457,876,622nd time he’s asked if Husker Du will ever regroup the answer would be different. No such luck. “There’s no need, there’s no need,” he says.”That band did everything it had to do the first time around. To try to put the lightning back in that bottle ain’t going to happen. You know, I’ll be really simple about […]
DON’T KVETCH WITH TEXAS: A Q&A With Kinky Friedman, The Last Of The Jewish Cowboys
EDITOR’S NOTE: This rollicking interview was originally published on June 12th, 2012. We are reprising it here in advance of Kinky Friedman and Dale Watson performing at the Locks At Sona on Monday March 18th. Enjoy! BY JONATHAN VALANIA Kinky Friedman has worn a lot of hats over the years, both literally and figuratively: Satirical cowboy singer-songwriter (“They Ain’t Making Jews Like Jesus Anymore” and “Get Your Biscuits In The Oven And Your Buns In The Bed”); serial detective fiction novelist; friend to animals; scourge of the phony, the corrupt and the ignorant; purveyor of fine tequila/salsa/cigars, and failed gubernatorial […]
ARCADE FIRE: Baby Mine
From Tim Burton’s forthcoming Dumbo. Easily the best thing they’ve done since The Suburbs.
BEING THERE: Bob Weir & Wolf Bros @ The Met
Bob Weir & Wolf Bros @ Met Philly Friday night. Photo by JOSH PELTA-HELLER Though lift off initially felt a little wobbly, when Bob Weir and Wolf Bros finally noodled their way out of a nebulous aural haze and into a discernible set opener Friday night at Philly’s Met, the Grateful Dead founder, fronting a stripped down trio of legendary producer Don Was on upright bass and Primus alumnus Jay Lane on drums, still managed to elevate the sold-out crowd to stratospheric highs with new interpretations of some old tunes and debuting some unexpected new ones. The opener, Weir’s 80s-era […]
Guided By Voices Announce Next Month’s Release Of War And Woof LP, The Follow-Up To Last Month’s Zeppelin Over China Double LP
Following GBV’s sprawling double-album Zeppelin Over China, Robert Pollard has written and recorded another full-length in record-breaking time. It’s Warp and Woof (April 26, 2019), exuberantly barreling through 24 songs in just 37 minutes with a brevity similar to mid-90s GBV albums Alien Lanes and Vampire On Titus. GBV kicked this one out in a flash, recorded in studios, club soundchecks, hotel rooms and even in the tour van. After completing Zeppelin, Pollard felt the itch to record a few EPs. Just as GBV had done back in 1994, he would use them to channel his everflowing ideas to […]
THE BLACK KEYS: Lo/Hi
First Black Keys’ music since 2014, released today without explanation. PREVIOUSLY: Given the expansive economies of the ’90s, it was no wonder that stripped-down, gutbucket guitar-and-drum duos like Flat Duo Jets and Doo Rag couldn’t get arrested, their minimalist roots-rock exiled to the sub basements of the indie concert circuit and the privileged ghetto of college radio. But in this age of austerity, when everyone is doing more with less, it is stripped-down, gutbucket guitar-and-drum duos like The White Stripes and, more recently, The Black Keys, that have made some of the most seminal and commercially-viable music. Upon the release […]
‘If the Grateful Dead came to town, I’d beat my way in with a fucking tire iron if necessary.’ — Hunter S. Thompson
Bob Weir is one of the founding members of the legendary Grateful Dead. They were an American band. Since establishing the Dead in 1965, Weir has become one of rock’s finest and most distinctive rhythm guitarists. He is currently a member of Dead & Company which features Grateful Dead members Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann along with GRAMMY-winner John Mayer, Oteil Burbridge and Jeff Chimenti. Weir is embarking on a Fall 2018 North American tour with Bob Weir and The Wolf Bros, a new trio featuring Weir, Don Was (on upright bass!) and Jay Lane performing songs of Grateful Dead […]
BEING THERE: Deerhunter @ Union Transfer
Photo by JOSH PELTA-HELLER Over the course of eight studio albums since their inception in 2001, Deerhunter have grown to be a canonical act in the realm of psychedelic indie-rock. Fronted by multi-instrumentalist and founder Bradford Cox, the band have undergone a series of lineup changes marked by tragedy: two bassists, Justin Bosworth and Josh Fauver died while they were in Deerhunter, the former from a skateboarding head-injury and the latter from unannounced causes. Deerhunter’s self-described “ambient punk” has steadily morphed from wild, psychedelic garage-punk to poppy indie-rock. The band are on the road once again following the release of […]