Photo by PATRYK MOGILNICKI BY KYLE WEINSTEIN Although born and raised in Massillon, Ohio, Mark Kozelek’s professional music career began in San Francisco with the formation of Red House Painters in 1988. Their first album, Down Colorful Hill, showcased, early on, Kozelek’s profound talent for sincere and deeply personal lyricism, which he would carry through his career into the present. The band’s style quickly became associated with sadcore/slowcore, and assumed an important role in influencing that realm of ‘90s alternative music. In ’92, the band were signed to 4AD after its head honcho, Ivo Watts-Russel, heard their jaw-dropping demo tape […]
Win Tix To See Mac DeMarco @ The Skyline Stage
Photo by DANNY COHEN Wise men say only fools rush in where angels fear to tread. But apparently nobody told pepperoni playboy Mac DeMarco and Indieland is all the better for it. Still, all things must pass, and somewhere around 2014’s Salad Days, DeMarco took a giant step forward in his ongoing transition from “wacky indie guitar boy” to “actual person with feelings and shit.” Going forward, there were less gimmicks and more self-reflection as DeMarco flirted with adulthood, which admittedly was a ballsy move for a songwriter beloved for cigarette anthems, stoner odes, and chorus pedal abuse. But despite […]
DIY IRL: Q&A W/ David Commins & Rachel Pfeffer, Publishers Of The Philadelphia Secret Admirer Zine
BY MARIAH HALL A zine is a self-published, limited circulation and often hand-distributed work, often featuring art, photography, poetry, and prose. Zine culture is rooted in the social and political activism of the ’60s and ’70s, and later became associated with the underground music scene. In a reflection of D.I.Y. values, zines are more focused on expressing particular views rather than gaining profits, and they act as a mode of communication and a platform for those not typically granted a voice. The last decade has witnessed a resurgence of zine culture, a revival of print media in a paperless […]
Win Tix To See Asleep At The Wheel, The Texas Kings Of Western Swing, At Ardmore Music Hall!
What’s that you say? ‘What is Asleep At The Wheel?’ Oh brother, where art thou? Where have thou been? OK, let’s start with the beginnings, as per All Music Guid: Since the early ’70s, Asleep at the Wheel have been the most important force in keeping the sound of Western swing alive. In reviving the freewheeling, eclectic sensibility of Western swing godfather Bob Wills, the Wheel have earned enthusiastic critical praise throughout their lengthy career; they have not only preserved classic sounds that had all but disappeared from country music, but have also been able to update the music, […]
NPR 4 THE DEAF: We Hear It Even When U Can’t
FRESH AIR: Today we’re starting a series featuring interviews with Emmy nominees. They’ll find out if they’re winners on Monday, September 17. We’re starting with John Oliver, whose satirical news show Last Week Tonight is nominated in nine categories, including Outstanding Variety Talk Series, Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series and Outstanding Interactive Program. Oliver moved to the U.S. from England in 2006 to become a correspondent on “The Daily Show” with Jon Stewart. Oliver started his HBO show in 2014. He typically starts the show with a comic, trenchant review of the week’s news, and then he takes […]
Q&A With Crazy Rich Asians Author Kevin Kwan
BY DAN TABOR FILM CRITIC Based on a trilogy of best-selling books, Crazy Rich Asians is the story of Rachel Chu (Constance Wu), an economics professor at New York University who is invited by her boyfriend and fellow NYU prof Nick Young to accompany him to Singapore to attend his best friend’s wedding. What Rachel doesn’t know about Nick, her soon-to-be fiance, is that he is also a scion of one of the wealthiest families in Singapore. When Rachel gets to Singapore she’s not only forced to confront this secret, but also to contend with Nick’s overbearing mother (Michelle […]
BEING THERE: Jeff Lynne’s ELO @ Wells Fargo Ctr
Photo by JOSH PELTA-HELLER The year is 1977. Eleven-year-old me is sitting on my best friend’s bunk bed listening to his older brother’s copy of Electric Light Orchestra’s Out Of The Blue on the Hi-Fi, staring at the neon starburst-colored spaceship on the gatefold sleeve which, he informed me, was used to clean your weed on. Being 11 I had no earthly idea why somebody would collect weeds nor why they would want to clean them, and said as much. My best friend didn’t seem to really know either, but said he had it on good authority, i.e. his older […]
NPR 4 THE DEAF: We Hear It Even When U Can’t
FRESH AIR: Today we join people throughout America on both sides of the political aisle in remembering Senator John McCain. His memorial service will be held at the National Cathedral next Saturday, one week after his death from brain cancer at the age of 81. We’re going to listen to an interview I recorded with him in 2000 after his best-selling memoir Faith Of Our Fathers was published in paperback. But we’ll start with the interview I recorded with him in 2005 after the publication of his book “Character Is Destiny.” This was five years after he’d lost the […]
BEING THERE: Interpol @ Union Transfer
Interpol by JOSH PELTA-HELLER If it’s intimidating to open a sold out show for a band as influential as Interpol, any trepidation was well-hidden by Brooklyn punk outfit Honduras. They banged through a set that seemed like a Joy Division impression, conjuring images of studded leather jackets and quadruple-pierced earlobes. This may explain why they were tapped for this tour, satiating nostalgic cravings for 80’s post-punk revival. Interpol drew a diverse crowd— I was squeezed between someone’s mom squinting through horn rimmed glasses and a scraggly-bearded barista in denim. Interpol emerged in somber funeral attire, shadows stalking across the stage, […]
INCOMING: Cinephilia
RELATED: The 27th Philadelphia Philm Phestival
THE BASSMAN COMETH: Talking Tech, Trump And The End Of Americana With Wylie Gelber Of Dawes
Photo courtesy of COLDSMOKE APPAREL BY SOPHIE BURKHOLDER In their nearly ten years as a band, Dawes has earned a reputation for old timey, scuffed denim sonics and sepia-toned Americana narratives that sound like this 21st Century version of the Laurel Canyon Sound. But on “Living In The Future,” the lead-off track from their latest album Passwords, Dawes plumbs the darker premonitions of America circa now with a colder, harsher sound that conjures the paranoia and darkness of the Age of Trump. Currently on tour with the Jeff Lynne’s ELO, Dawes play the Wells Fargo Center on Friday August 24th. […]
NORTHERN EXPOSURE: Q&A W/ Comic Ian Bagg
BY KEELY MCAVENEY Recovering Canadian and and former explosives engineer, Ian Bagg blew up on contact with the stand-up comedy scene, first in the far north hinterlands of British Columbia and later in New York and then the world. Not that he really cares about fame or money, he proudly holds the title of Only Comedian To Work With Judd Apatow And NOT Become A Multi-Billionaire. He is a master at working the crowd for unscripted laughs, not for nothing is his 2015 comedy special called Getting To F***ing Know You. You may have seen him on NBC’s “Last […]
CINEMA: Free Passes To A VIP Searching Screening
Searching, which opens August 31stis the new cyber thriller starring John Cho as David Kim, a father whose 16-year-old daughter has gone missing. After 37 hours and not a single lead by the investigation, David decides to look on his daughter’s laptop for answers. This leads David down the rabbit hole,the film uses technology and the way we internalize it to tell its story of one man’s search for his daughter in the dark recesses of the internet. We have 60 passes for two to an advance screening Thursday, August 23rd at 7:30PM at the United Artist, King of […]