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“I would say that this album is a little bit more vulnerable. I wrote about some more personal things and allowed myself to speak about them more openly,” says Demi Demitro, frontwoman of Colorado rockers The Velveteers – who have been known to regularly open mega-stages for the likes...
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“Just the city being so loud and crazy all the time has come through in the music. Also, the constant internal anxiety brain. It’s so fun, but it’s also overwhelming, this constant, crazy, buzzing energy,” says Laveda frontwoman Ali Genevich, referring to how her and guitarist Jacob Brooks’ 2023...
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“I heard that it doesn’t smell like trash in Philadelphia anymore,” says Nathan Williams, vocalist, guitarist, and founder of San Diego alternative rockers Wavves, before expressing his solidarity with the until-recently-striking union: “Power to the people!” However, I hear a collective, “Ohhhh,” from the entirety of the band when...
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If the reunited Pixies were a person, they would’ve turned legal drinking age this April (with the original only making it to the ripe age of seven). However, for all of those latter-era Gen Xers who grew up just a little too young to catch them the first time...
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“This tour is designed to be super energetic and like a party, as upbeat as possible. We all have 35 minutes, so we have to choose all the heavy-hitter songs from our catalogues, all of the fan favorites. It’s almost like a highlight reel. I actually went online and...
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“We’re really gonna try to muss up City Winery,” laughs Adrian Blake Enscoe, one-third of Brooklyn indie-folk-pop-Americana outfit Bandits on the Run, before Sydney Shepherd (his partner in life and music) proclaims, “We’ve performed everywhere from Broadway to the subway.” That is actually true… Adrian, Sydney, and Regina Strayhorn...
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Those of you who listen to Philthy Radio likely know that Lucy Dacus is pretty much our favorite person making music at the moment, with the Geffen singer/songwriter and former Philly resident tied for the most spins ever (Her only company being Pixies and Lucy’s one-time Matador labelmates Belle...
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The last time we saw Choctaw singer/songwriter Samantha Crain in the City of Brotherly Love and Sisterly Affection was August of 2022, when she opened Union Transfer for Murder By Death. And while Adam Turla’s indie rock outfit are preparing to return to the Eraserhood venue for their last-ever...
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“We play every show like we’re the headliner… give it a million percent every time,” says Coco Kinnon, frontwoman, multi-instrumentalist, and co-producer of Winona Fighter, which is rounded out by Kinnon’s best friend (Dan Fuson) on lead guitar and husband (Austin Luther) on bass and production duties. Lucky for...
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Phriend of PHILTHY and sapphic pop superstar on the rise Rachel Bochner recently let me know that Pride Month 2025 will officially extend to this coming Wednesday, July 2nd, when she wraps her current tour at Silk City for her first-ever headlining show in the City of Brotherly Love...
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This coming Monday, June 30th, MilkBoy is hosting my most anticipated show of the summer. Vienna-based, multidisciplinary artist Sofie Royer will be headlining the barroom that I regularly refer to as “Center City’s last old school rock club.” Royer is touring behind LP #3, 2024’s Young-Girl Forever, a collection...
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Last week Kasey Chambers – who you may have heard on the latest edition of Philthy Radio with her double-platinum No. 1 single “Not Pretty Enough,” off of 2001 sophomore LP Barricades & Brickwalls, which would go on to win the hearts of horror fans for its appearance in...
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“I will say, it is really fun to take a space that feels like a jazz club and just fucking tear it up,” jokes Lomes Oleander, frontwoman of Olympia-based country/punk band Pigeon Pit, who were supposed to play the Music Hall at World Café Live this coming Friday, June...
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“When you release an album, it’s really magical, like opening a door, and I feel like I can finally have some fun,” says Raquel Berrios, one-half of Puerto Rican indie duo Buscabulla, going on to say she and her husband/Buscabulla’s other-half, Luis Del Valle, are excited to get out...
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The last time we saw Blondshell in the City of Brotherly Love and Sisterly Affection was when she opened Franklin Music Hall for Exile in Guyville’s 30th anniversary tour, which — I find out during a recent Zoom chat — was apparently the first encounter our phriend, and one-time...
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We were super bummed to have zzzahara’s headlining show last month at MilkBoy get cancelled… but super excited to see that the LA-based singer/songwriter – whose music draws references to shoegaze, garage rock, and emo, alike — will be back in town this week (accompanied by jazz musicians that...
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Experimental rock outfit Deerhoof are currently celebrating their 20th album and 31st year (That’s china and a clock, for gifting purposes.) April 25th saw the release of Noble and Godlike in Ruin via Joyful Noise, followed by the first leg of the 31 Flavours Tour, which kicked off the...
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Last month Metropolis Records released HAU RUCK 2025, a 20th anniversary remixed and remastered edition of industrial legends KMFDM’s 14th LP, HAU RUCK. And just last week KMFDM vocalist and keyboardist (of a quarter century now…) Lucia Cifarelli kicked off her first-ever solo tour, which has her handling opening...
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London indie rock band, Bloc Party, perform at The Met, celebrating 20 years of the band and their first album, Silent Alarm. The crowd consisted of older and newer fans alike, and everyone brought the most energy they could to celebrate this big milestone. Check out my photos from the...
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During a recent Zoom chat with vocalist/guitarist Eric Egan, I found out that, for a number of years, a lot of people thought Heart Attack Man were from Philadelphia… While the punk trio did record 2017 debut LP, The Manson Family, at Headroom Studios, and they have played more...
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This Friday, June 13th, MilkBoy will be playing host to the best double-headlining jaunt of the summer, The Go For Broke Tour, featuring Canadian punk rockers NOBRO and Bad Waitress (with our local buddies Puppy Angst opening the show for good measure!) Montreal’s NOBRO are touring behind sophomore LP...
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You may have caught NYC dreamgaze outfit PANIK FLOWER last year when they opened MilkBoy for our phriends partygirl. And, during a recent Zoom chat with four of the five members of PANIK FLOWER, I find out that it was apparently a highlight of their young career. This Thursday,...
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“We play a bunch of new stuff until the audience is like, ‘Well…’” jokes Dean Wareham; singer, songwriter, and guitarist of Galaxie 500, Luna, and Dean & Britta; who has spent the past several months touring behind That’s the Price of Loving Me, his fourth solo LP, which dropped...
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Momma, the indie rock band based in Brooklyn, New York, performed at Union Transfer on May 30th. Their fourth album, Welcome to My Blue Sky, was released in early April. This was my second time seeing and shooting Momma, the first time at Johnny Brenda’s a couple of years...
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“I wasn’t sure how I wanted to write about love and being happy without being totally annoying,” laughs Siri Undlin, AKA Humbird, regarding her recent EP, Astrovan: The Love Song Vignettes, whose origins began when Undlin was suffering from an exceptionally bad case of writer’s block. The 11-track EP,...
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Brooklyn indie rockers Phoneboy – who we saw last year supporting our phriends Beach Weather at The Foundry and playing The Fillmore’s big room with Grayscale – have officially been on the road for more than a month now, touring behind the release of their third full-length, Heartbreak Designer,...
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“Going into that first record, I was kind of in disbelief it was happening at all, and didn’t know if it would ever come out. For this one, I was dying to put something out… I’m 35 now, and I was in my twenties for the first one,” says...
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The last time we spoke with indie rock singer/songwriter Samia was September of 2021, just as live music was returning and she was preparing to headline a sold-out show at Johnny Brenda’s. However, we’ve seen her in the City of Brotherly Love and Sisterly Affection quite a few times...
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Next Friday, June 6th, folk outfit The Head And The Heart return to The Met Philadelphia for the first time since 2019 and to Philadelphia itself for the first time since… well, earlier this month, although it was a private show… The Seattle six-piece have a new album that...
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“Philly has this attitude that, ‘We don’t care, but we really do care,’” jokes Canadian electro-pop legend Lights, who’s spend quite a bit of time in the City of Brotherly Love and Sisterly Affection over the past decade and a half, including a plethora of shows at The TLA. ...
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“I absolutely adore it! It sounds like two people slipping on a banana peel and accidentally catching lightning in a bottle. To me, Treats is this little freakshow island of a record,” says Derek Miller, producer, guitarist, and one-half of Sleigh Bells, whose debut LP, Treats, which dropped on...
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South Texas shoegaze band Glare — whose debut LP, Sunset Funeral, dropped April 4th — performed to a sold out crowd at Union Transfer as direct support for hometown(ish) heroes Superheaven last Friday, May 16th. The show featured Minneapolis alternative rockers Prize Horse, who kicked off the...
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You may have heard Remy Bond’s breakthrough bop “Summer Song” on the May edition of Philthy Radio, my monthly show on Y-Not Radio (now streaming). However, today the NYC singer/songwriter dropped another summertime jam, “Moviestar,” whose live debut will almost definitely take place in the City of Brotherly Love...
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“We knew right away it was our last record. Patrick didn’t want to do any records after Pollen, but we thought we needed to do this right and with respect for our fans,” says Alaina Moore, one-half of indie pop duo Tennis (along with husband Patrick Riley), who announced...
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“I think headlining shows are, above all, most fun. You can fuck up and you kind of laugh along with your fans,” says Momma’s Allegra Weingarten, before Etta Friedman – Momma’s other co-founder, singer, songwriter, and guitarist – adds, “I think that those moments are very endearing. We never...
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“Every kind of venue has its own perks. The crowd can be more attentive if they’re seated, like a concert, but the standing venues can have a certain energy to them. But I do love a theatre,” says Brooklyn-based singer, songwriter, and guitarist Mei Semones, whose official website characterizes...
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“I moved here in 2023, and I’ve been loving every minute… I feel like it’s the Midwest of the Northeast in my mind, with old-old history, but really real people… the art, the murals, the diversity of all kinds that you have here,” says singer/songwriter Alaina Stacey, who originally...
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This spring The Met has presented us with an abundance of phenomenal shows, and tonight (5/20) they will be hosting a stellar, nearly-sold-out, three-act bill with opening night of the Long Hair, Long Life Tour, which is entirely comprised of phriends of phriends of PHILTHY MAG. Co-headlining the evening...
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The powerpop/punk band from Essex, Bad Nerves, return to the States for their Still Nervous Tour. San Francisco punk rockers, Spiritual Cramp, join them as their openers. I attended and photographed their Philly show at Underground Arts, and it was one hell of a show. Bad Nerves...
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Sunflower Bean premiered nearly half of their fourth full-length, Mortal Primetime, right here in the 215, during the second half of their eight-song set on the April 18th edition of WXPN’s Free At Noon at World Café Live. In the time since, the NYC rock trio (who we last...
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Last year Portland neo-psychedelic legends The Dandy Warhols celebrated their 30th anniversary. After spending much of the year touring their 12th studio LP, ROCKMAKER, they celebrated their third full decade together with a string of West Coast dates last December. “All of them were super fun… We did multiple...
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The last two times we saw Ginger Root – the synth-heavy, alt-disco/indie soul outfit of Cameron Lew – in the City of Brotherly Love and Sisterly Affection was just last October, when the Southern California band played a WXPN Free At Noon at World Cafe Live prior to a...
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Austin noise-pop/shoegaze outfit DAIISTAR apparently have a lot of phriends in common with PHILTHY MAG. In 2023 the quartet toured with The Dandy Warhols (keep checking the site for my recent chat with Dandys guitarist Peter Holmström, ahead of their May 14th show at Ardmore Music Hall), last year...
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Djo, the musical project of Joe Keery from Stranger Things and Fargo, put on an incredible performance this past Saturday at a sold out Franklin Music Hall. His latest album, The Crux, was released just last month. Last year, his song End of Beginning went viral on TikTok, garnered...
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Alisa Xayalith has played the City of Brotherly Love and Sisterly Affection a lot over the years, including shows headlining the stages of The Trocadero and Union Transfer. However, this Friday, May 9th, she will be returning to the 215 to play her most intimate area show ever at...
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“When I play Philly, it feels full circle because of the people. My family will be there, my friends will be there,” homegrown indie-pop artist Anna Shoemaker tells me during a recent phone chat. The last time I spoke to the singer/songwriter, she was preparing for a few performances...
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“It saved my life, for sure… I don’t know how people survive without writing songs. I don’t know how to process anything without it,” says Kelsey Wilson, frontwoman and bandleader of Austin soul/funk/R&B outfit Sir Woman (also of Americana band Wild Child). This February, Sir Woman released If It...
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New York minimalist folk outfit Florist have played a number of noteworthy shows in the City of Brotherly Love and Sisterly Affection. The summer of 2023 had them double-headlining Underground Arts with Skullcrusher and the previous summer saw them headlining The Lounge and World Café Live. They’ve also played...
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The last time SASAMI headlined the City of Brotherly Love and Sisterly Affection was in March of 2022 at Johnny Brenda’s, which the singer/songwriter told me during a chat last November was an especially memorable experience: “That was a great show! I think I injured my guitarist at that show… I...
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This Wednesday, Americana artist Allison Russell kicks off the U.S. leg of the All Returners Tour, a jaunt that was originally scheduled for last fall, but was postponed after Russell booked her Broadway debut as Persephone in 8 x Tony Award winning musical Hadestown, by Anaïs Mitchell. The second...
“I would say that this album is a little bit more vulnerable. I wrote about some more personal things and allowed myself to speak about them more openly,” says Demi Demitro, frontwoman of Colorado rockers The Velveteers – who have been known to regularly open mega-stages for the likes...
“Just the city being so loud and crazy all the time has come through in the music. Also, the constant internal anxiety brain. It’s so fun, but it’s also overwhelming, this constant, crazy, buzzing energy,” says Laveda frontwoman Ali Genevich, referring to how her and guitarist Jacob Brooks’ 2023...
