Photo by JOSH PELTA-HELLER Kristin Hersh rocked Boot & Saddle so hard on Monday night that you could almost guess the shampoo brand of the short middle-aged woman at the front of the crowd enthusiastically thrashing her stylized white coiffure. Hersh pounded her clenched fist against the body of her green Fender while drummer Rob Ahlers and bassist Fred Abong negotiated an intro, her eyes narrowed in a thousand-yard stare into the abyss at the back of the room as she delivered a verse’s gritty vocals, and then broke for a middle-eight with a chillingly disaffected gaze over her scorching […]

Photo by JOSH PELTA-HELLER Since his days fronting Jane’s Addiction, Perry Farrell has convened several other projects, including alt-rockers Porno For Pyros, concept-electronica crew Satellite Party and, now, his eponymous Kind Heaven Orchestra — a self-proclaimed “solo project” that reads more as supergroup collective. For their debut, Farrell tapped industry heavyweight Tony Visctonti — known for his work with Iggy and Bowie and T. Rex — to produce a record featuring the likes of Matt Chamberlain (of Pearl Jam and Soundgarden), Tommy Lee (of Mötley Crüe, and Pamela Anderson), the Foo Fighter’s Taylor Hawkins, plus George Harrison’s kid, the guitarist […]

Photo by JOSH PELTA-HELLER Delicate placidity often led to sudden uproar when the streams of dark-wave singer/songwriter Emma Ruth Rundle and the ethereal post-rock of Japan’s MONO were crossed at Union Transfer Sunday night. Rundle and her touring band, comprised of Wovenhand’s Dylan Nadon on drums and Jay Jayle members Evan Patterson on guitar and Todd Cook on bass, kicked off their set with “Races” from 2018’s On Dark Horses. Rich with reverb, Rundle’s guitar sounds hung in the air as she leaned toward the microphone, her voice gentle and softening the music beneath. Before transitioning into “Light Song,” Rundle […]

The Meat Puppets’ Curt Kirkwood by JOSH PELTA-HELLER After the Meat Puppets’ first song at Underground Arts on Friday night, Curt Kirkwood’s son Elmo responded with a little cheek to a fan who called out his name to cheer him on. “What?!” Maybe he was annoyed, maybe not — but he almost immediately broke the tension with a fiendishly disarming grin, flashed from somewhere behind his cascading curls, and when the fan returned “We love you!,” the Pups’ heir-apparent backed down some more: “I love you too.” They’re not much for stage banter, these hirsute Phoenix indie-rockers-cum-desert-mystics — in fact […]

Photo by EVAN HUNDELT On top of being a master of moustache, musical composition, and satire, Frank Zappa is undisputedly one of the greatest guitarists of all time. He released 62 albums over the course of his career, and 50 more have been posthumously released by the Zappa Family Trust. Somehow, out of the 112 albums, no two are alike – his spectrum of styles encompasses amorphous improvisational shredding, free jazz, comedy rock, prog rock, orchestrated toy-like noise, and an array of uncategorizable whackery. Since the passing of Frank’s widow, Gail Zappa, their eldest son, Ahmet, has been the controversial […]

Photo by ERIC ASHLEIGH The dark lords of the drone metal Sith, Sunn O))) consists of guitarists Stephen O’Malley and Greg Anderson, a pair of spooky black druid robes, and lots and lots of smoke. Trafficking in tectonically slow strumming and seismic sludge tones, Sunn O))) create one of the most unique musical spectacles of our time. They’ve collaborated with other spectacles over the years, such as Boris, Ulver, Nurse With Wound, and even Mayhem’s Atilla, and have just released their latest album, Life Metal, for Record Store Day, recorded by legendary recording engineer Steve Albini. Their next album, Pyroclasts, […]

Photos by JOSH PELTA-HELLER Sooner or later all British men turn into Michael Caine and Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason is a very British man. But, judging by his masterful helmsmanship of Saucerful Of Secrets at The Met Philly Saturday night, the 75-year-old Mason’s chops remain undiminished by the passage of a half century-plus since Floyd’s inception. Nick Mason’s Saucerful Of Secrets is, for those not in the know, the titular drummer from Pink Floyd joined by some Floyd org alums, plus the guitarist from Spandau Ballet (don’t ask), performing songs from The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn — […]

Photo by JUSTINE PATRICK OAKES If Brian Wilson had been a ’90s alt-rocker, he might’ve been something like Jason Pierce. He’s a man who turns catchy melodies into pulsating mantras, and layers them to create prismatic sonic mandalas. Spiritualized is a glowing comet on its blissful journey through the heavens, with Pierce at the center of its orbit. Or maybe it’s a diffuse nebula formed from the remnants of Spacemen 3’s supernova, and Pierce leads his continuously shifting Spiritualized crew on a voyage through shimmering interstellar vistas, while we folks back on Planet Earth get to watch their transmissions from, […]

Photo by JOSH PELTA-HELLER David Portner – a.k.a. Avey Tare – is best known for being one of the founding members of freak folk/noise rock/experimental pop outfit Animal Collective. He met his Animal brethren in high school, and has since laid down some of the most otherworldly recordings this side of the Milky Way – although, to be honest, I have my suspicions that they may have come from someplace much farther out. And while his music takes on such extraterrestrial qualities in both his contributions to Animal Collective and in his eponymous solo project, his diverse instrumentation and melodies […]

Photo by STEVE GARFINKEL I am old enough to remember when Bon Iver was just a weird-beard folkie lumberjack with a broken heart and a bad liver haunting the woods of Wisconsin, cranking out subterranean heartsick blues in his dad’s hunting cabin like the Unabomber of Love. This was back before he went prog-rock at Newport and started a riot — that was way cray. I remember Father John Misty threatening to cut the power with an axe and the guys from Mumford & Sons had to wrestle him to the ground. Despite the confusion of the moment, when the […]

Photo by JOSH PELTA-HELLER “I should start by saying that I’ve opened for a lot of bands on this stage before, so to be the main act here tonight is just – it’s really wild,” were the first words out of Lucy Dacus’s mouth last night at Union Transfer. Taking shelter from the pouring rain, a near sold-out crowd of hipsters just old enough to understand some of the darkness embedded in Dacus’ lyrics gathered to witness her energy firsthand in what was the penultimate stop of her recent tour. Though her latest record Historian came out a little over […]

Photo by DYLAN LONG Meek Mill is for the people. This should come as no surprise if you’re even vaguely familiar with the rapper-turned philanthropist and criminal justice reform leader. His ethos is speaking truth to power – on and offstage, in and out of the studio. Hell, City Council just named this weekend “Meek Mill Weekend” to honor his dedicated efforts to use his platform to incite positive change within his community and beyond. This formal recognition of Meek as the king of Philly coincided with his two-night stand at The Met Philly. And what a homecoming it was. […]