Photo by SOPHIE BURKHOLDER There’s almost nothing so darkly cathartic as an emo concert. Though many bands of the genre have drawn criticism for their controversial and cliched lyrics, those at the forefront are more serious and skilled than ever. Two such bands are Pianos Become the Teeth and Philadelphia-based The World Is a Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid to Die (TWIABP), who last night performed their final show of a joint tour in support of their new albums, Wait for Love and Always Foreign, respectively. The bloated lineup also featured emo-punks Teenage Wrist and soft rockers […]

Photo by DYLAN LONG Australian rock bands are killing it right now. The Australian rock scene is chock full of bands that are sick as hell and on the come-up, and I will not hold back my enthusiasm. Eclectic jangle rockers Dune Rats just wrapped up touring as main support for the well-established surf-rock group Wavves in the UK. The joyful garage rock trio Skegss are riding a gnarly wave of sold-out shows in pretty much all major cities across Straya, with solid support from local bands Dumb Punts & Los Scallywags . Which leads us to one of the […]

Photo by JOSH PELTA-HELLER Entering the U2 Experience at the FU Center last night (yeah yeah, I know, but c’mon – it will ALWAYS be the FU Center), I did little in the way of recon. I have not heard these so called Songs Of Experience nor those of Innocence. I don’t know if the Line On The Horizon even had a lead-off single, and heaven knows, my ex can tell you with all honesty that I have no idea How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb. In other words, I haven’t listened to the entirety of an actual U2 album […]

Photo by JOSH PELTA-HELLER Monday night marked the start of a month long residency at the Boot N’ Saddle for The Voidz, former Strokes frontman Julian Casablancas’ new project. The show kicked off with Promiseland, a one-man band of electronic distortion and screamed poetry. Known for his crowd interactions, he walked throughout the small room and worked the crowd like a good hype man should. Promiseland’s powerfully loud set combined with the seedy backroom ambiance of the western-themed bar and the loop of Pixies and Sonic Youth on the PA between acts should have been the perfect build-up for The […]

Photo by JOSH PELTA-HELLER Despite torrential downpours and flooded streets, Union Transfer was packed last night for a sold out show headlined by Japanese Breakfast. The first opener was the Philly-based pop punk Radiator Hospital. Bed-headed and chronically-blushing, Sam Cook-Parrott wrapped himself around the mic in a wide-legged straddle, his voice pitched at a droning whine. The set primarily featured tracks from their latest release, The Songs You Like. LVL UP followed with a moody lo-fi set that contrasted pleasingly with the barbed edges of Radiator Hospital. Even with their mellow vibe and blasé attitude, the band unboxed some energetic […]

Photo by ALEX BUSCHIAZZO courtesy of 215Music It was late last year that Primus released The Desaturating Seven, a concept album based off of Ul de Rico’s The Rainbow Goblins, a children’s book about a group of goblins who consume the colors of the world, “desaturating” it of our precious ROY G BIV. Primus mastermind and bassist Les Claypool used to read the story to his children, and, as with Willy Wonka, was musically inspired by its content. Their current tour is focused on music from their new album, naturally, and features a rainbow-through-tree-silhouettes backdrop. The sky was looking iffy […]

Photo by JOSH PELTA-HELLER Truth be told, my first impression of POND was that they’re some sort of alternate-universe MGMT if something were to have gone cringefully wrong early in their career. To me, they were missing something – the hyper-catchy melodies and stellar chord phrases that I’ve come to expect from the latter. I just could not shake this toxic point of view. But last night, the Perth-based Tame Impala offshoot blew me away. What was going on inside Union Transfer that I hadn’t been hearing on POND’s records? For starters, front man Nick Allbrook was glittered up like […]

Photo by JOSH PELTA-HELLER From the floor of Johnny Brenda’s on Saturday night, Kate Stables watched every second of the opening set from Landlady’s Adam Schatz, before taking the stage with an ensemble that included Schatz on keys and brass. This is the current iteration of Stables’ project, This Is The Kit, which still sounds bright and new, even at fifteen years and four full-length albums deep. Standing confidently with her green Hofner hollow-body, Stables presents distinctive Bristol-based folk-rock with a unique paradox. Her music often evokes that of Joni Mitchell or Nick Drake, or very early 70s era-defining harmonies […]

Photo by JOSH PELTA-HELLER Few bands have pulled off such a consistently strong, decades-long discography as sludge-metal legends The Melvins. Throwing down hard since their ’86 debut, Deep Six, their latest, the just-released Pinkus Abortion Technician, is no exception. Named after the Butthole Surfers’ infamous 1987 album, Locust Abortion Technician, Pinkus Abortion Technician delivers five original tracks and three covers, including The Beatles’ “I Want to Hold Your Hand.” The album’s title is not the only element borrowed from Butthole Surfers. As the title suggests, former Surfers bassist and songwriter, Jeff Pinkus, joined forces with The Melvins to write and record Pinkus Abortion […]

Photo by JOSH PELTA-HELLER As the sun set on a Philly swooning with the first blush of spring, lazy fingers of sunlight skimmed bared necks in the evening glow. After downing tap beers at Interstate Drafthouse, me and my posse wandered the grungy back alleys of Fishtown, woozily making our way to the Fillmore to see the King of Krule, indie’s It Boy of the moment. Brooklyn-based jazz/hip-hop ensemble Standing on the Corner was midway through their opening set as we breezed into the twilit showroom. Despite the sultry clime, SOTC’s frontman wore a black parka with the hood up, […]

Photo by MARK LIKOSKY Ty Segall is like a combination Buddy Holly, Jerry Garcia and every character who’s ever died in a Mad Max film — but shorter, thicker, with a moonpie face and long dirty blonde Cousin It hair. We go way back. I’ve seen him in small venues like The Knockout back in his budding SF days. Those were smaller scale performances but he’s retained that same sincere demeanor of a committed devotee to shredding a hole in his private darkness and unleashing a blinding haze of purifying rock n’ roll light to awaken the masses. He is […]

ELECTRIC HORSEMAN: Wayne Coyne astride his mighty Unicorn last night PREVIOUSLY: For someone who’s been a fan and a follower of the Flaming Lips for going on 27 friggin’ years—who was there when the acid hit the punk rock, when Jesus still shot heroin and priests still drove ambulances, back before she started using Vaseline, before clouds started tasting metallic, back before we realized the sun don’t go down, it’s just an illusion caused by the world spinning ’round—going to Wayne Coyne’s house is, without exaggeration, like winning a golden ticket to visit Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory. I amble up […]

Spoon mainman Britt Daniel @TLAPhilly last night by JOSH PELTA-HELLER A looming nor’easter didn’t seem to dampen attendance or enthusiasm last night at the TLA where Spoon fans packed the room like sardines on a school night. When the house lights were cut, Alex Fischel took his place in the dark at his keyboards, and proceeded to stab at the first notes of his intro to “Do I Have To Talk You Into It” before Britt Daniel and co. emerged moments later to warm howls. This show sold out fast,” marveled Daniel, “in like a day?” He wasn’t quite telling […]