EDITOR’S NOTE: This originally posted on July 17th 2014 BY JONATHAN VALANIA Sometimes I think Dylanology — the obsessive study and consumption of all things Bob — is the new (and improved) Scientology. Think about it: Both are non-denominational pop cults formed in the latter half of the 20th Century that rally around a charismatic leader and rake in boatloads of believer money. Both have celebrity acolytes and promise extraordinary insight. But there is one vast and crucial difference, as vast and crucial as the difference between The Old Testament and The New Testament: L. Ron Hubbard wrote Battlefield Earth […]
BEING THERE: Animal Collective DJs @ The Dolphin
Photo by MARY LYNN DOMINGUEZ Last night I set out to accomplish three things: 1.) See 75 percent of Animal Collective play some tunes 2.) Milk them for any AC-related news, and 3.) Make it in and out of the Dolphin alive and not incarcerated. We started off the night with an Uber driver named Festus, who drove us through the unwelcome November snow showers, and shared with us his grievances about the whole Uber vs. PPA deal. Something, something, current events, the PPA ruled against something and he’s pissed. I tried to follow, but his angry Jamaican accent made […]
THE NUMBER OF THE BEAST: Talking Dope, Arson And Iron Maiden With JJL’s Jay Joseph Laughlin
L-R: Derek Ziglenski, Jay Laughlin, Pete Girgenti/Photo by CHUCKLES BY JONATHAN VALANIA Jay Laughlin has been a fixture of the Greater Philadelphia music scene since the late ’80s, beginning with the posthumously beloved straight edge hardcore band Turning Point, which morphed into beloved pedal-hopping dream-pop merchants Lenola, which eventually morphed into the electro-psych-pop of Like A Fox. Laughlin’s new band, JJL, marks a return to the devil-horned heaviosity of his gloriously misspent south Jersey youth. JJL will celebrate the release of The Tiger, their debut EP, with a record release show at Johnny Brenda’s tomorrow night. Recently, we sat down […]
DEERHOOF: Exit Only
The song is, frankly, unremarkable — sounds like an edgier Veruca Salt — but actor Michael Shannon‘s remarkable dual performance as both the interrogator and the interrogated is must-see stuff. PREVIOUSLY: BEING THERE: Deerhoof @ Union Transfer
BEING THERE: Deerhoof @ Union Transfer
Photo by MARY LYNN DOMINGUEZ At first blush, nothing about Deerhoof’s set at Union Transfer last night screamed ‘critically acclaimed band in their 20th year of music making.’ The awkwardness was tangible, from Satomi Matsuzaki’s adult-sized denim jumper and blue-dyed side ponytail, to drummer Greg Saunier’s haywire mop top and lanky boyishness. Opening with “Mirror Monster,” one of their more comparatively reserved tracks from the new La Isla Bonita, Deerhoof appeared to be holding back for bigger and better things, which soon proved true. The ensuing 16-song set was infectious and kinetic, drawing deep cuts from the full range of […]
BEING THERE: FKA Twigs @ Union Transfer
Photo by MARY LYNN DOMINGUEZ Last night, FKA Twigs — aka The Next Big Thing out of England, and GF of Twilight star Robert Pattinson — arrived on stage for her sold out performance at Union Transfer to strains of “Preface,” the lead-off tracking from her debut, LP1. Slowly emerging from the sultry darkness of the stage, Twigs was draped in a silky white translucent robe and a matching flowing skirt, with a black caged bodysuit underneath and painfully high needle-thin stiletto pumps. Her hair, usually pulled back in her trademark space-bun style, was free flowing and used as […]
BEING THERE: Mark Lanegan @ Underground Arts
Photo by DAN LONG More than a few of my most trusted musical advisors told me “You have to go to Lanegan.” So when I heard he was playing Underground Arts I didn’t hesitate to follow suit, and I’m glad I did. For those of you who stayed home, you missed a beautiful performance that recreated choice cuts from the newly released Phantom Radio, as well as older stock like Blues Funeral and Bubblegum, to name but a few. From the gorgeous lullaby-like “Resurrection Song” to the synth heavy “Harborview Hospital” and the newly released “Floor of the Ocean,” Lanegan […]
INCOMING: The Deerhoof Hunter
No one asked to dance (Deerhoof) by Deerhoof When we first meet Bernard Jaffe, the Beatle-wigged “existential detective” played by Dustin Hoffman in David O. Russell’s 2004 impenetrable enigma of a black comedy I Heart Huckabees, he’s standing in front of a blackboard riddled with a Jackson Pollock-like splatter of chalk-drawn squares and rectangles. What, pray tell, do they add up to? Not much, as it turns out. Like life, they form an interconnected lattice of unrelated coincidences, a lot of sound and fury signifying nothing. But hey, they look really cool when Hoffman leans against the blackboard and the […]
Win Tix To See The Dismemberment Plan On Friday
WHO: The Dismemberment Plan is a Washington D.C. based indie rock band formed on January 1, 1993. Also known as D-Plan or The Plan, the name comes from a stray phrase uttered by insurance salesman Ned Ryerson in the popular comedy Groundhog Day. While drawing heavily from previous Washington-based art-punk acts such as Fugazi and Jawbox, the Dismemberment Plan were significant for incorporating R&B (in stage banter, Morrison often talked of his obsession with Gladys Knight) and hip-hop influences to their sound. Influential indie rock criticism website Pitchfork Media has called them the fathers of the late-1990s/early-2000s dance-punk movement, […]
BEING THERE: Glitch Mob @ The Electric Factory
Photo by CLAYTON RUSSELL It was a creepy, bone-chilling Halloween at the Electric Factory and just about everyone came dressed for the occasion — a cross-generational array of costumes that spanned The Fonz from Happy Days to Finn from Adventure Time. With high fives and good vibes being thrown all around the venue you could tell that everyone was ready for there to party and party hard. So hard an ambulance was on standby outside of the Electric Factory for when it gets crazy. With most EDM shows you go to there’s a person or two behind a DJ booth […]
BEING THERE: The Damned @ TLA
Photo by DAN LONG Halloween came to Philly a day early with last night’s lineup of punk legends at the TLA. The night started early with a solid set of moody garage-rock from local faves A Brood Of Vipers. I always like to see a local band on the bill with a touring band, and Vipers were an excellent match for this stop on the Hallow-East tour. The crowd and the energy grew and as Seattle’s The Briefs took the stage, blasting out a solid set of buzzsaw anthems. Let the pogo-ing and raucous Buzzcocky New Wave Punk commence! You […]
BEING THERE: Weezer @ The Trocadero
By DYLAN LONG We can all agree that Weezer needs no introduction, nor did they get one this past Saturday night at the Trocadero. Instead, after almost an hour and a half of fans trickling in to fill the joint to capacity, Weezer mainman Rivers Cuomo meekly appeared on the lip of the dimly-lit stage in front of the curtain and kicked off an acoustic set that mixed deep cuts (“You Gave Your Love To Me Gently,” “Why Bother”) with the classics (“El Scorcho,” “The Good Life” and of course “Buddy Holly”). Each song seemed to lure another Weezer member […]
BEING THERE: Thurston Moore @ Boot & Saddle
Photo by DAN LONG The Boot & Saddle is a 125-person capacity South Philly venue with a long Country and Western history that was shuttered years ago and recently revived with punk rock charm. I knew right away this was going to be the smallest and most intimate venue I’d get to see Thurston and company play. Last night, the Thurston Moore Band — My Bloody Valentine bassist Debbie Googe, experimental guitarist James Sedwards and ex-Sonic Youth drummer Steve Shelley — kicked off their set with “Forever Love” and then segued into “Speak to the Wild” for a trifecta of […]