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Although Australian indie poppers San Cisco are technically new friends of PHILTHY MAG, they are great friends of our longtime friends Chaos Chaos, who hit up Johnny Brenda’s two years ago together on one of the best “pop”-tours-that-are-still-legitimately-amazing bills we’ve seen in recent years. San Cisco have since returned...
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For all those late-twentysomethings and early-thirtysomethings whose childhoods were soundtrack largely by the beauty of ’90 alt rock, Jeen O’Brien’s (better known simply as Jeen) Tourist should likely be the summer’s most satisfying release… Although Toronto singer/songwriter Jeen may not yet be a “household” name among indie music aficionados,...
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If you’ve wondered what ever happened to quintessential Placebo drummer Steve Hewitt since he parted ways with Bri and Stefan in 2007, he’s actually been up to quite a bit… like, a whole lot, actually… 2009 saw the formation of Love Amongst Ruin, a band fronted by Steve, which...
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The City of Brotherly Love and Sisterly Affection has seen some notable musical legends throughout the month of June – Noel Gallagher. Belle & Sebastian, Morrissey, Paul McCartney – but I’m excited, anxious even, to get back to the bars and clubs. And this week has a number of...
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It is literally impossible for a “rocker” to age gracefully… Like, it actually can’t happen… You either die (ideally, halfway through the recording of your sophomore effort) or you become a mega-corporate arena-filling dinosaur rock entity who is best known for gouging suburban moms and dads of the paychecks...
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The award for the weirdest thing I’ve seen on the internet this week is Amazon suggesting that those purchasing the 2-CD deluxe edition of Sticky Fingers by the Stones also consider bundling that purchase with Sub-Lingual Tablet, the 31st record by brilliant post-punk weirdos The Fall (both of which...
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Radio 104.5 continued their Summer Block Party series at Festival Pier – this time with A Silent Film, New Politics, Misterwives, and Big Data. The next Block Party hits Festival Pier July 12th, with Nate Ruess (from fun.), Philly’s own The War on Drugs, Civil Twilight, and MS MR....
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Although cinema historians may resent the claim, over the course of the past half-century or so, Rock’N’Roll has served as one of the most potent catalysts for introducing people to some of film’s greatest overlooked gems, from the hyper-intellectual (i.e. Bowie’s references to William Klein’s masterpiece Who Are You,...
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The entity that is Marion Walker are beautifully ambiguous squared. The three-piece band is comprised of Jessie Marion Smith, Kyle Walker Akins, and drummer Donovan Jordan Williams. In addition to fronting and writing music for Marion Walker, Jessie is also a choreographer, dancer, and filmmaker, while Kyle is a...
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“We’re like Bob Dylan playing the theme song to Roseanne.” Hutch’s statement held partially true, as Kathy did actually play the Roseanne theme on Tuesday night. However, Hutch and Kathy are much more than that. Taking a break from their punk aesthetic with The Thermals, the duo stripped down...
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The best “rock doc” of 2015 hit shelves via Blu-ray and DVD earlier this week, courtesy of Rhino: R.E.M. By MTV. The doc premiered at select theatrical screenings last month and manages to condense last year’s REMTV 6-DVD box set, containing nearly all the footage MTV ever provided about...
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Although perhaps best known as a star of the teen-pop variety, who actually spent her mid-teens supporting Britney Spears on the Onyx Hotel Tour, in her later life Skye Sweetnam has re-branded herself Sever, lead vocalist for Toronto-based rockers Sumo Cyco, who blend the sonic sentiments of punk, industrial,...
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Although the majority of Noel Gallagher’s most recent press has revolved around his ineffably amusing (and actually quite poignant) commentary on things like gay marriage and the songwriting abilities of Taylor Swift, the Oasis co-founder actually does have new music that you should be listening to. This February saw...
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I’ve described my favorite song by Savannah, GA-trio CUSSES as, “Kathleen Hanna fronting a sleaze rock band, or a riot grrrl taking up vocal duties on the first Buckcherry record.” (Both of which would be equally as interesting and admirable as they were bizarre.) The song is “Sally and...
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Expanding from a one-piece bedroom project to a 5-piece band, Shawn Foree (also formerly of the bands Destruction Unit and Lost Sounds), mastermind of Digital Leather has ambitiously created quite a fury of knock out songs on the new album, All Faded, scheduled to be released on South Philly’s own FDH Records...
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Holly Herndon is my favorite kind of amalgamation, bridging my love of cosmetically dark, avant-garde sonic experimentation (Her most recent album, Platform, was put out by 4AD.) with my current position as an “academic,” as a humanities professor at Temple University (She’s currently working on a PhD and is...
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The Hunts are the most recent of “family bands” to enamor PHILTHY MAG (The Last Bison; Mission Zero; The Staves; Haim; He’s My Brother, She’s My Sister…) The Chesapeake, Virginia-based band of seven siblings are set to release their debut album, Those Younger Days, on June 9th, courtesy of...
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Although Little May’s career may still been in its infancy, Hannah Field, Liz Drummond, and Annie Hamilton are lifelong friends. And despite the fact that the band is still kinda a new thing, they’ve already achieved some pretty lofty accomplishments: more than one million Soundcloud plays in just a...
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Before Hutch Harris and Kathy Foster became the punk rockers we know them as today, they wrote and recorded a self-titled, folk-inspired LP. While the LP was initially released back in 2002, Hutch and Kathy took a back burner as The Thermals took off. As part of Record Store...
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It makes me frowny that more people aren’t talking about ADVAETA… because they fucking RULE… The Brooklyn trio is comprised (in equal measures, a very important point) of Lani Combier-Kapel, Amanda Salane, and Sara Fantry. Last month they released Death and the Internet on Fire Talk Records. The LP...
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Kristyna Myles’ story is one that is getting more and more common in the current state of the music industry… Although whether that is ultimately for better or worse is hard to say… (Musically, definitely for the better, but it certainly doesn’t make artists’ lives any easier.) Half a...
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Although Arrow Video is perhaps best known for their restorations of films that fall into a category somewhere in-between horror “classics” and “must-see” B/C-movies, Nico Mastorakis’ Island of Death, out today, May 26th, on Blu-Ray and DVD in the US courtesy of the UK’s Arrow and our very own...
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Intergalactix has been exciting crowds with their funky microphone effects and head-bopping beats for nearly a decade. This multi-instrumental electronic duo, hailing from Sydney, Australia, consists of long-time friends Serg Dimitrijevic and Kristian Attard, who, after moving to the States, decided to combine visions and create music which they...
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Angelspit have been kicking out jams from the realm of cyberpunk and pretty-much-every-category-of industrial for more than a decade now… They’ve also been putting on a plethora of insane live anti-spectacles to accompany each of their releases… However, this past year or so they’ve undergone some major changes and...
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The last time we caught up with North Carolina Americana outfit Mandolin Orange was exactly one year ago this week. At the time the band, comprised of Emily Frantz and Andrew Marlin, were getting more comfortable than ever before. They were currently supporting Willie Watson as a duo (sans...
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Crystal Bright may not be a “storyteller” in a traditional sense, but she’s the most intriguing I’ve encountered in quite some time. Bright is the leader of Crystal Bright and the Silver Hands, a Greensboro, North Carolina band that whimsically (and at times abrasively) combines elements of dark cabaret,...
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Sóley has apparently been through a lot since we first met in November of 2012 (which I’ll let her tell you about). At the time the Icelandic singer/songwriter was supporting Of Monsters and Men on tour, who had a sold out show at The Tower Theater. She was touring...
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Sannhet are a Brooklyn instrumental trio who are more than slightly difficult to characterize (In fact, Pitchfork’s Brandon Stosuy recently published a featured interview entitled “No Words: Sannhet’s Uncategorizable Squall.”)… But that’s something that makes them happy. They’ve been called things like “post-black metal,” “post-rock,” and “experimental,” and they...
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This Wednesday, May 13th, Theatre of Living Arts will be hosting a one-off double-bill that will surely be talked about by those in attendance for decades (i.e. “You’ll never believe it, but this one time at the TLA I saw Ministry and Laibach double-headlining.”) Yes, for one night only...
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Remember Be Your Own Pet? Yeah, they were pretty great; their self-titled debut LP was like the best punk record since Dig Me Out and their live shows were on par with The Stooges and Refused (Remember when they played that house show in South Philly and got drunk...
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If I had to pick a favorite artist to emerge since my time as a music critic, I don’t know that it could be anyone other than Nashville’s Those Darlins (which shouldn’t be news to any regular PHILTHY readers). The band is the lovechild of Nikki Kvarnes and Jessi...
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In Philadelphia, you know summer is officially here when the Radio 104.5 Block Parties begin. The first of the summer series kicked off Sunday at the Festival Pier at Penn’s Landing with Bad Suns, Catfish and the Bottlemen, BANKS, and The Airborne Toxic Event. Check out photos below! The...
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While being a 30-year-old music journalist can be more than a bit frustrating (if not downright maddening) in the age of the largely non-paying blogosphere, being asked to cover a personal hero, who soundtracked my formative years, is still, admittedly, quite exciting and quite flattering… especially when they’re willing...
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It’s hard to believe that Finnish cello metal savants Apocalyptica are already on their third decade… But this year marks their 22nd as a band and last week saw the release of their eighth studio album, Shadowmaker. The album marks a new chapter in the band. Although they’re known...
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Every in-the-know music snob and postmodern sonic geek knows Martin Bisi and his BC Studio for being a major player in Brooklyn’s post-punk, hip-hop, and avant-garde scene of the 1980s, producing, engineering, and recording records for the likes of Fab Five Freddy, Herbie Hancock, Afrika Bambaata, Sonic Youth, Swans,...
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About three and half years ago I was falling in love hard with the music of Madi Diaz, a singer/songwriter — who grew up in Bucks County and went on to be a star pupil of Paul Green’s School of Rock – who had recently shifted her aesthetic from...
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Not that I’m necessarily the best person for prophesying these kinds of things, but Zella Day definitely deserves to be the next great pop star… And not only that, but the next pop star that is actually worthy of your attention. The songstress, who hails from Arizona but resides...
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As far as band names go, Los Angeles’ Gothic Tropic is the best interface I’ve come across in quite some time. Although characterized as psych-pop, there is something distinctly beachy about their sounds… intermingled with the playfully morose aesthetic of some of the ‘80s best and most subversive stars...
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I wonder if my students even know what a boxset is… Unfortunately, it seems to have become yet another lost art form of yesteryear… Sure we have “digital box sets”… whatever that means… And every so often indie mega icons will re-release their entire back catalogue on vinyl for...
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I honestly don’t know where to start with this review. Not because it was bad, it was fucking amazing. But it was so good I’m almost at a loss for words. Dan Deacon shows are somewhat expected – a good, sweaty, fun-filled time, with crowd dance competitions and weird...
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Every person experiences pain, but life is about accepting and being able to release that pain. Sufjan Stevens is an artist who has never been shy about his pain. From anger, guilt, to memories of absence, Sufjan has poured out his heart into beautiful melodies. After a hiatus from...
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Evoking the soulful, funky psychedelic sounds of the late 60’s and early 70’s by capturing the vibe and the energy of the genre but with a unique feel for the present and expression all their own, Monophonics, a six-piece from San Francisco, celebrate the release of their new LP...
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Dan Deacon is nothing short of an electronic mastermind. Creator of infectious compositions and compelling melodies, Deacon became a household name in the electronic world after the success of 2008’s Spiderman of the Rings. In 2012, Deacon released America, which led to a new direction for the producer, using...
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My early, yet confident, prediction for Philly’s best concert of 2015 is between Belle & Sebastian, June 9th, at The Tower Theater, and The Ting Tings, this Friday, April 10th, at Union Transfer. While kings-of-twee Belle & Sebastian are, admittedly, my favorite band of all-time, Katie White and Jules...
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This past Friday Twin City power poppers Sick of Sarah announced the release of their upcoming EP, Anthem, due out June 30th. The EP is their first self-released effort, and while it was long in the works and displays a maturity and evolution in the band’s process, it maintains...
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In 2013 I was excited by no other artist more than Brooklyn-based Aly Spaltro, AKA Lady Lamb the Beekeeper, more recently known as simply Lady Lamb. The singer/songwriter was preparing the release of her debut LP, Ripely Pine, which hit shelves in February of ’13, which I described as...
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The last time Jolie Holland played Philly (at Milkboy) was her both most intimate and badass appearance in the City of Brotherly Love and Sisterly Affection in quite some time. Holland was supporting the 2014 release of Wine Dark Sea, an album that saw the artist, best known as...
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I’m not going to lie, I’m really glad that Dom La Nena and her latest album, SOYO, turned out to be quite amazing, because my initial interest in agreeing to cover her stemmed primarily from hearing that, in her late teens, she had toured with Jeanne Moreau, the actress...
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Like the recently profiled Whirr (but, perhaps, different in every other way), Tess Henley isn’t exactly a Philly artist (She’s based on the West Coast. Seattle, to be precise.), but I would consider her to be an honorary contributor to the music scene in the City of Brotherly Love...
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Although we at PHILTHY MAG aren’t necessarily interested in mainstream tastes or predicting trends in the listening habits of college students, it is nice to see friends do well for themselves… and our friends in The Last Bison, whom we first met in 2012, have come quite a long...
Although Australian indie poppers San Cisco are technically new friends of PHILTHY MAG, they are great friends of our longtime friends Chaos Chaos, who hit up Johnny Brenda’s two years ago together on one of the best “pop”-tours-that-are-still-legitimately-amazing bills we’ve seen in recent years. San Cisco have since returned...
For all those late-twentysomethings and early-thirtysomethings whose childhoods were soundtrack largely by the beauty of ’90 alt rock, Jeen O’Brien’s (better known simply as Jeen) Tourist should likely be the summer’s most satisfying release… Although Toronto singer/songwriter Jeen may not yet be a “household” name among indie music aficionados,...
