Photo by MATT SHAVER Khruangbin, an acclaimed coven of Houston psychedelic soul gurus, have been amassing an impressive following since their Thai-flavored 2015 debut LP, The Universe Smiles Upon You. “Khruangbin” is Thai for “aeroplane,” literally translating to “flying engine.” They are currently on tour in support of their latest album, Con Todo El Mundo (2018), which draws upon Spanish and Middle-Eastern influences. They have been consistently jamming sold-out shows and last night’s concert at Union Transfer was no exception. The group — which features Laura Lee on bass, Mark Speer on guitar, and Donald “DJ” Johnson on drums — […]
EMISUNSHINE: Amazing Grace
She is 11.
BEING THERE: Speedy Ortiz @ First Unitarian
Photo by JOSH PELTA-HELLER Headlining an indie rock triple-threat bill supported by Maryn Jones’ Yowler and Palberta, Speedy Ortiz laid waste to the First Unitarian Church’s basement last night. Leading the charge was vocalist Sadie Dupuis, stage-stomping in her tennis sneaks, thrashing her trademark pale salmon-colored electric flat top with customized headstock featuring her solo pseudonym Sad13. Three full-lengths deep, Speedy can take their pick of plenty of fan faves to fill a nearly two-hour set of straight-up indie rock and roll, with enough guitars and guile to make their forebears proud. There’s echoes of Jenny Lewis’ lyrical smartassery and […]
O BROTHER, WHO ART THOU: Q&A With Actor/Writer/Director Tim Blake Nelson, Star Of The Coen Brothers’ The Ballad Of Buster Scruggs
EDITOR’S NOTE: On the occasion of the release of The Ballad Of Buster Scruggs, starring Tim Blake Nelson as…wait for it…Buster Scruggs, we are reprising this 2013 interview with Mr. Nelson. Enjoy. BY JONATHAN VALANIA If you don’t know who Tim Blake Nelson is, the short answer is: the guy in O Brother Where Art Thou? who isn’t George Clooney or John Turturro. Any friend of the Coen brothers is a friend of mine, brother. Truth be told, he’s a whole lot more than that, as you’ll soon find out. I recently had cause to speak with Mr. Nelson […]
BRITISH STEEL: Q&A W/ Comedian Gina Yashere
BY ANTONIA BROWN Gina Yashere is a UK-based comedian of Nigerian descent who took the roundabout route to becoming a stand up comedian by earning a college degree in electrical engineering. After college Gina worked at Otis Elevator Company building and repairing lifts, and occasionally rescuing riders trapped in stalled elevators between floors. But all along, she dreamed of a funnier future, moonlighting as a stand-up comedian at clubs around London. In 1996, she was a finalist in the Hackney Empire New Act of the Year, a long-running annual national competition for British comedy and variety acts, which she […]
WORTH REPEATING: Three Steps From God
THE RINGER: The best television episode of the 1990s starred a short, blond man and his band. On November 18, 1993, at Sony Music Studios in New York City, Nirvana took on MTV Unplugged. That night, the biggest group of the decade staged one of the most hypnotically intimate rock concerts ever captured on film. Wearing a fuzzy cardigan, ratty button-down, Frightwig T-shirt, jeans, and Converse sneakers, Kurt Cobain—with help from drummer Dave Grohl, bassist Krist Novoselic, guitarist Pat Smear, and cellist Lori Goldston—orchestrated a performance that was heartfelt, funny, uncomfortable, and mesmerizing. Nirvana’s appearance on the acoustic series […]
RIP: Ricky Jay, Master Magician, Scholar, Raconteur, Author, Prose Stylist & Debunker Of Fraud Masquerading As The Supernatural, Dead @ 70
NEW YORK TIMES: As a teenager, Mr. Jay ran away to work in Lake George, the upstate New York resort area. He was later booked at the Electric Circus, the East Village hippie-era temple, doing his act between Ike and Tina Turner’s music and Timothy Leary’s lectures on LSD. Eventually he enrolled in five different colleges but by his account never advanced past freshman status at any of them. “Early on, I knew I didn’t want to do the kind of magic other people were doing,” he said in the New Yorker profile. “So I started buying old books” […]
BEING THERE: Thom Yorke @ Franklin Music Hall
Photo by JOSH PELTA-HELLER I think most music appreciators have a handful of bands or artists that totally reprogrammed their perception of music. I remember the first time I had listened to Radiohead. In fifth grade, my mom had begun noticing that I was kind of a weird kid, so she gave me two CDs she thought I might like: Kid A and OK Computer, which were given to her by one of her best friends, a photographer and painter named Yelena Yemchuck, who dated Billy Corgan around the turn of the millennium. I stuck the CDs in my disk […]
CINEMA: Creedence
CREED 2 (Directed by Steven Caple Jr., 130 minutes, USA, 2018) BY DAN TABOR FILM CRITIC Creed 2 picks up a few years after the first film where Adonis Johnson (Michael B. Jordan) wins both his Mustang and the world championship title from Danny ‘Stuntman’ Wheeler. With Johnson now the world champion, from the shadows emerges Ivan Drago and his son Viktor to challenge him, not just the title, but for a chance at redemption. After the events of Rocky IV, we find Ivan was left disgraced not only in front of Russia, but his family as well. Ivan’s wife […]
DARK SHADOWS: Q&A W/ Comedian Joe DeRosa
BY TONY CARO Philly homeboy Joe DeRosa’s dark brand of comedy isn’t for the faint hearted — it’s for the people who realize that laughter is the only rational response to an absurd universe where everything born will one day die. Born and raised in Collegeville, DeRosa got his start on the Philly stand-up circuit. In the mid-aughts he moved to New York where he eventually hooked up with Bill Burr for a show called Uninformed on Sirius Satellite Radio show, which he parlayed into regular appearances on The Opie & Anthony Show. He’s released six stand-up comedy albums, […]
NPR 4 THE DEAF: We Hear It Even When U Can’t
Illustration by MATTHEW BRAZIER FRESH AIR: If you ask the Coen brothers about how they write their films, you might not get a straight answer. “It’s mostly napping,” Ethan tells Fresh Air’s Terry Gross. “We go to the office, we’re there, we’re in a room together,” Joel adds. “We take naps, but, you know, the important thing is that we’re at the office, should we be inspired to actually write something.” The brothers don’t split up writing responsibilities — they “talk through” the dialogue and “work it out together,” Joel explains. The process seems to be working for the brothers […]
0 F*CKS GIVEN: Once Upon A Deadpool 2 Trailer
GIZMODO: The PG-13 recut of Deadpool 2 will feature much of the film’s original footage […] as a kind of test run to gauge how successfully the studio might be able to fold Deadpool into Marvel’s larger cinematic universe which has always skewed more family-friendly. MORE
BEING THERE: We The People Rally @ Independence Mall
Photo by HENRY SAVAGE The threat of a large contingent of violent, pro-fascist Proud Boys and racist skinheads descending on the MAGA-aligned We The People rally this morning at Independence Mall never quite materialized. In fact the two dozen flag-waving MAGA types that assembled behind a vast police cordon on the lawn on the northside of Market street were outnumbered by hundreds of anti-fascist #PushBack counter-demonstrators who taunted them from across the street with chants of “WHO’S GOT THE NUMBERS?” and “ASS-HOLE” and signs that read NAZI PUNKS FUCK OFF and SMASH THE FASH. There was a giant pussy puppet […]