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Somehow, bluegrass virtuosos Mipso are yet to sell out their two hyper-intimate shows next Friday (12/17) and Saturday (12/18) at MilkBoy, even after in a recent interview with PHILTHY MAG fiddle player and vocalist Libby Rodenbough shared that each night would have its own unique set. In addition to Mipso...
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Last Friday, December 3rd, CHVRCHES put on the biggest (or perhaps just best) post-quarantine spectacle the City of Brotherly Love and Sisterly Affection has seen yet. The Scottish synth-poppers packed Franklin Music Hall to at least capacity with a surprising mix of matured mall goths and young suburban couples,...
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Philadelphia has grown accustomed to seeing North Carolina-based folk quartet Mipso in exceptionally intimate rooms, such as Boot & Saddle and The Locks at Sona. However, on their current headlining tour they are playing a handful of significantly larger rooms, some holding 1,000+. But, lucky for us, on their...
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Next Thursday, December 9th, Warehouse on Watts will be hosting an alternative holiday celebration presented by Spellbound and DJSC, Dark Holiday Volume 1, a goth/industrial party featuring live performances from Bootblacks, Void Vision, Wingtips, and Crash Cathedral. I recently got a chance to chat with Void Vision (AKA Shari...
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Although Thanksgiving traditionally gives American youth a bit of a break from the annoyances of everyday life, the prolonged time with the family that so many of them are currently attempting to rebel against can also often call for a break from “hometown” life as well. Fortunately, for those...
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Fans of Provo, Utah-based indie rockers The Backseat Lovers are likely beyond excited that the band has currently lapped themselves, tour-wise, with two legs of their current tour already on the books, including more than one stop in a handful of markets, and Philadelphia just happens to be one...
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“I’m really excited to play Baltimore and New York, of course, but the number one place I’m most excited to play is Philadelphia. The TLA is the first venue I went to when I lived in Philly — Philly was the last place I lived before LA — so...
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Although thrash legends Megadeth took the liberties of naming their recent summer shed trek (alongside Lamb of God, Trivium, and Hatebreed) “Metal Tour of the Year,” that title might more accurately and rightfully belong to the current, far-more-intimate, jaunt featuring The Acacia Strain, Kublai Khan, Orthodox, and recently profiled...
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If it weren’t about a month too late, All Them Witches’ jaunt with L.A. Witch that kicks off this week and includes a December 5th stop at Underground Arts would surely be the Halloween tour of the year. However, holiday deadlines aside, it is still likely to be the...
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“The biggest thing to know is I’m a 17-year-old girl and things are gonna change in my life. I’m gonna be a bitch sometimes because people piss me off, I’m gonna fall in love… My goal is to keep continuing my life and let that inspire my music,” says...
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You may know Annie Hart as a composer of synth-heavy, postmodern pop jams, both as one-third of Au Revoir Simone and, since 2017, a solo artist. However, her latest solo effort, Everything Pale Blue, which dropped this May, took Hart in a different direction. In the middle of lockdown...
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It’s Thanksgiving (Happy Turkey Day!), which means it’s just about time to kick into Christmas mode (I realize a few of you tend to be premature about this, but we won’t hold that against you.) And I can’t think of a better way to do this than coming out...
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This year marks the 20th anniversary of Stars’ debut LP, Nightsongs. It also sees the Montreal-based intellectual indie poppers bringing back their customary holiday shows, after last year’s painful drought of live music. Torquil Campbell, Amy Milan, Evan Cranley, Chris Seligman, Patrick McGee, and Chris McCarron will bring The...
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Although the pandemic has provided a number of difficulties and annoyances for many artists who are back out on the road in the second half of 2021, for Bully’s Alicia Bognanno the circumstances have actually worked out quite well: “Touring is completely different for me, because this is my...
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I think my both coolest and cutest musical revelation of 2021 is that prom-ready indie poppers Babygirl, who cite Blink 182 and John Mayer as some of their biggest influences, are also fans of batshit bizarre industrial icons Skinny Puppy (More on that in a bit.) While the sounds...
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Although hailing from the opposite coast, Northern California punk trio Destroy Boys have recently familiarized themselves with the City of Brotherly Love and Sisterly Affection, where they recorded their third full-length album, Open Mouth, Open Heart, which dropped October 8th on Hopeless Records. Early this year the band found...
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Although the pandemic provided a profound plethora of struggles for the vast majority of the world, some of our favorite musicians channeled those frustrations into music that is surprisingly optimistic… possibly none more surprising than ultra-moody San Francisco-based, post-punk-leaning poppers Cold Beat, who released their latest album, War Garden,...
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It may be starting to get chilly out, but this Friday, November 12th, The Foundry at The Fillmore will be hosting a sold out night of punk rock summer jams. Headlining the evening will be Pittsburgh punk legends Anti-Flag, with support coming from all-female outfits Bad Cop / Bad...
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Philadelphia has seen Half Waif (Nandi Rose) play support to some of the coolest artists of recent years, including Alex G, Julien Baker, Mitski, Land of Talk, and Pinegrove (of which she’s also a member), but this Saturday, November 13th, she will be bringing her headlining show Johnny Brenda’s. ...
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Last Wednesday it looked as though The Fillmore were hosting this year’s Dracula’s Ball: 2,500 twentysomethings donning fishnets, vinyl, knee-high platforms with enough buckles to restrain Dr. Lecter, and intentionally faded and mangled vintage band shirts that have actually probably been produced in the last calendar year… On second...
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“The Philly show is gonna be lit! People just need to be ready to rage!” says UPSAHL. Last month the 22-year-old, sassy-as-fuck (although exceptionally sweet in real life) songwriter released her debut LP, Lady Jesus, a collection of infectious alt pop songs with a razorblade edge that would be...
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“I had the greatest thing in the world that could ever happen to me happen. Elton John somehow came across my new record and called me up and asked if he could play piano on my next record,” Aaron Lee Tasjan tells me, laughing, after asking him if he’s...
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“If you couldn’t tell from the album, I’m a fan of big productions,” says Mia Berrin, singer, songwriter, and mainperson behind Pom Pom Squad. This Wednesday, November 3rd, the Brooklyn-based band kicks off their first-ever tour, which has them supporting ‘90s alt rockers Nada Surf, at our very own...
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Blues-rock guitar heroine Samantha Fish’s latest album was met with a little resistance from longtime fans but, during a recent phone chat, she tells me that that’s something she’s okay with: “Everyone initially freaks out because it’s different. They’re like, ‘Tech N9ne? Synthesizers? No!’… but my favorite reactions are...
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If you were lucky enough to get yourself a ticket for Madison Beer’s sold out show this past Tuesday at Theatre of Living Arts (and if you had the foresight to show up a little early for the direct support slot), you’ve already heard Maggie Lindemann’s latest single, “She...
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Upon asking them if they’ve noticed patterns amongst their fans and earliest supporters, BLACKSTARKIDS tell me, “They’re always really cool every time. There must be a correlation .” The band, that oozes early 2000s nostalgia, kick out a brand of jams that Alternative Press characterized as a “sunny version...
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It’s hard to imagine a sold-out Union Transfer ever feeling quite as cozy as it did for Lucy Dacus’ Home Video Tour, which made the cavernous Eraserhood venue its home Wednesday, October 20th and Thursday, October 21st. Literal home videos shot by Dacus’ own dad played on a theatre-size...
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For those still looking for plans for Halloween night, might I suggest Emily Wolfe at the perpetually-decorated-for-the-holiday Kung Fu Necktie? “I love to play live, and I love a rowdy audience,” says the guitar virtuoso during a recent phone chat, before adding, “We may dress up, we’ll probably play...
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London-based Postmodern pop prodigy Tiberius b got the gig opening TOPS’ current US tour in kind of an interesting way: “Part of the reason I’m touring with TOPS is because they had one space left in their van, so they said if I can perform my stuff solo, I...
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“As my first headlining tour, I set manageable expectations, but I’ve been utterly blown away,” says Madison Cunningham. She’s chatting with me over the phone, en route to her next gig. Although just on her first headlining tour, the folk-pop singer/songwriter already has a laundry list of achievements of...
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For the past decade and a half Eilen Jewell has been kicking out jams that she has come to describe as, “Hillbilly-Rock n’ Roll-Noir,” a blend of the origins of alt country, Rock N’ Roll, and garage, that pay homage to the kinds of music celebrated by the Mystery...
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While the pandemic has left many artists with latest releases that are several years old and upcoming releases that are still quite a way off, indie folk artist Laura Stevenson’s latest release seemed to drop at just the right time. Her sixth and self-titled album was released August 6th...
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It’s been a while since we’ve heard from post-punk popper Frankie Rose (formerly of Vivian Girls, Beverly, Crystal Stilts, and Dum Dum Girls). Her last studio album, Cage Tropical, inspired by ‘80s sci-fi films and the extraterrestrial, dropped in 2017. However, during a recent chat, she tells me about...
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Saleka is not exactly a household name just yet, but there’s a good chance that you’ve recently heard a song or two of hers. This summer, the Philadelphia-based singer/songwriter released “Remain,” a song that she wrote and recorded for big screen thriller Old by M. Night Shyamalan (Saleka’s own...
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Although child star-turned pop icon JoJo normally enjoys the glam life, donning a full-length vinyl trench coat from the stage of the catacomb-like Underground Arts, she more closely resembled an anti-heroine straight out of the pages of a Marvel publication. Last Tuesday, October 5th, the songstress brought her Trying...
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The last time I caught up with Brooklyn-based indie folk rockers Big Thief was in 2016, when they were opening for Nada Surf at World Café Live, so their headlining show last Saturday, October 2nd, the second of two sold-out nights at the 1,300-capacity Union Transfer, was something quite...
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Last March, just before sold-out tours supporting Kero Kero Bonito and Yumi Zouma were cancelled due to the pandemic, Mica Tenenbaum of LA-based electro indie-pop duo Magdalena Bay told me, “We really love pop music and it’s obvious and we hope that that shows through. I mean, we’re solidly...
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This July Berlin-based musician Anika (Annika Henderson) released Change, her first album since her 2010 debut, Anika. Although, despite this decade+ gap between LPs, the British ex-pat certainly never left the music world, taking up DJing, forming Exploded View, and collaborating with the likes of Shackleton, Dave Clarke, Tricky,...
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“It’s all totally autobiographical, down to transcripts of conversations,” says Samia about her music. She goes on to add, “People hear my songs and ask me if those stories are real and I’m like, ‘Yeah!’” This summer the 24-year-old singer/songwriter released Scout, a four-song EP (on Grand Jury) and...
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Although best known as vocalist, guitarist, and songwriter for New York indie poppers The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, Kip Berman has spent recent years embracing a different sort of lifestyle… parenting, husbanding, but also making a slightly different kind of sound as The Natvral. Earlier this year,...
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This coming Wednesday, September 29th, the City of Brotherly Love and Sisterly Affection will finally see the re-opening of our favorite listening room(s), World Café Live. And while the official “Re-Opening Party” will be in The Lounge with SnackTime and Deborah Bond, I would argue that the best party...
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It’s well established that an indie act has officially “made it” when no one in attendance to one of their sold-out shows seems to have ever attended a concert before… This was certainly the case for Soccer Mommy’s September 18th stop at Union Transfer, which had what appeared to...
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“You put content of music out into the abyss and that doesn’t always feel like when you put music out to a person,” says Khalid Yassein, guitarist, vocalist, keyboardist, and songwriter of Canadian folk rock trio Wild Rivers. The band spent the better part of the pandemic working on...
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“It’s rare to see such a large project, and it’s nice to see a lot of people all care about each other at the same time,” says Sammy Rae, frontwoman of Sammy Rae & the Friends, describing her band. She goes on to say, “I think it’s really special...
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Miss Madeline is every pop star you’ve ever wanted to be rolled into one. She’s decadently raunchy, unapologetically nasty, ineffably gorgeous, and inexpressibly fabulous. She’s what your parents pray you won’t become and what your boyfriend (or girlfriend) prays you will. Her “megasuperstarprincess” style is a candy-coated, TRL-inspired take on...
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Alt (in every sense of the word) country sensation Orville Peck may have just kicked off his Drive Me, Crazy Tour, but two of his bandmates have some additional news of their own. Multi-instrumentalists Bria Salmena and Duncan Hay Jennings, of Peck’s backing band and Canadian indie rockers FRIGS,...
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It’s been a while since we’ve heard from San Diego surf punks Beach Goons… But during a recent phone chat with Beach Goons mainman Pablo Cervantez, he tells me that he’s spent the pandemic working on what’s next for the band, and apparently there’s a lot: “I’ve just been...
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“The show is like extremely energetic, people are going crazy in the shows, so it’s kind of like going to a big, crazy, massive party,” says Noga Erez. The Israeli electropop musician and producer is about to kick off her first-ever US tour this Friday (9/17) at Cat’s Cradle...
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Although Faye Webster’s September 23rd show at The Foundry has been sold out for quite some time now (There are still Verified Resale Tickets available.), when I talked to the singer/songwriter last month, she told me that she still had no idea what fans could expect of her current...
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“I’m in service to the songs. And what I mean when I say that is songs kind of have a life of their own. There’s an energy when creating a song where I want the song to do what the song wants to do and not necessarily what I...
Somehow, bluegrass virtuosos Mipso are yet to sell out their two hyper-intimate shows next Friday (12/17) and Saturday (12/18) at MilkBoy, even after in a recent interview with PHILTHY MAG fiddle player and vocalist Libby Rodenbough shared that each night would have its own unique set. In addition to Mipso...
Last Friday, December 3rd, CHVRCHES put on the biggest (or perhaps just best) post-quarantine spectacle the City of Brotherly Love and Sisterly Affection has seen yet. The Scottish synth-poppers packed Franklin Music Hall to at least capacity with a surprising mix of matured mall goths and young suburban couples,...
