Photo by DYLAN LONG Seeing Brit indie-weirdo sensation King Krule at Union Transfer last night, I was reminded of the wise words of the late great Bo Diddley: You can’t judge a book by lookin’ at the cover. Frail and shrimpy, the baby-faced 23 year-old Londoner looks like Ron Weasley in desperate need of a sandwich or seven. But when he opens his mouth, it’s another matter altogether. His scratchy deepwater baritone, thick Brit accent and fierce stage moves tends to stops traffic and silence skeptics — something he has been doing since the tender age of 16. His new […]

Photo by DAN LONG EDITOR’S NOTE: This originally posted on 9/16/14. We are reposting it today to mark the sad passing of Tom Petty today at age 67. I was in the sixth grade the first time I saw a picture of Tom Petty. He looked like a stick with blond bangs and lidded rabbit eyes. I was fairly certain he was going to die soon. Turns out he was just high. In October he turns 64 and having learned a thing or two about longevity over the course of the last 40 years, I’m pretty sure he’s never gonna […]

Photo by JOSH PELTA-HELLER A healthy showing turned up at Union Transfer last night to see the Philly stop of Dinosaur Jr.’s tour in support of their latest release, 2016’s Give a Glimpse of What Yer Not. The evening’s warm-up was Easy Action, their vocalist, John Brannon, a seasoned performer whose resume includes fronting the early 80s hardcore band Negative Approach and The Laughing Hyenas. Hailing from Detriot, Easy Action fully embraces the gritty rock n’ roll of their hometown, finding room to maneuver creatively within that space between proto-punk and hardcore. With an intense glare and mashed upper lip, […]

Photo by DYLAN LONG A$AP Mob is arguably the biggest hip hop collective in the game right now. Their two first studio albums, Cozy Tapes Vols. 1 and 2, managed to blow expectations out of the water and do so in a seemingly effortless manner, all in a span of 10 months. Founded by A$AP Bari, A$AP Illz and the late A$AP Yams, the Harlem hip-hop supergroup now features household names such as A$AP Rocky and A$AP Ferg. However when it came to showtime, the massive amounts of hype surrounding the group’s visit to Philly unfortunately couldn’t quite save the […]

Photo by DAN LONG Josh Tillman, AKA Father John Misty, has carved a place for himself in the hearts of many of the indie music audience with his beautiful singing voice, ability to craft accessible songs, and with lyrical content that smashes the veneers that society force feeds us. He’s done all of this after leaving Fleet Foxes because of an inability to work with frontman Robin Pecknold. Tillman’s beef with Pecknold would be the first of many controversies that Tillman would find himself embroiled in. Ryan Adams called Tillman out, saying, “He sounds like shit Elton John but if […]