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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...
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Last May we saw queer country singer/songwriter Fancy Hagood at the Music Hall at World Café Live when he opened the No One Gets Out Alive tour for our phriend, and fellow Nashville-based Americana artist, Maggie Rose (He’s also toured with our pal Kaitlin Butts!) However, earlier this month...
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We first met LA/Toronto-based singer/songwriter Bria Salmena in the summer of 2021, just as live music was making a return. Bria and longtime musical collaborator Duncan Hay Jennings – in addition to being one-half of Canadian post-punk group FRIGS, at the time the two were also members of Orville...
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“We are a lot more open now to bringing a more raw song to the group, and knowing whatever they do with it is going to be amazing… Earlier on, we were more ambitious with our ideas, but maybe had too many ideas, whereas now we’re more efficient,” says...
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This past Wednesday, April 16th, all of the proudly “sad girls” of the City of Brotherly Love and Sisterly Affection (okay, about 3,000 of them…) were gathered at The Met Philadelphia for opening night of Lucy Dacus’ Forever Is a Feeling Tour, the former Philthy resident’s most profound local...
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“I basically grew up in the First Unitarian Church basement,” says Evan Weiss, best known as the man behind Into It. Over It., whose Pet Symmetry – which also features Ratboys’ Marcus Nuccio and Dowsing’s Erik Czaja – are gearing up to release their fourth full-length, Big Symmetry, May...
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“Working with a genius, you just soak everything up,” says Americana singer/songwriter Valerie June of her upcoming studio album, Owls, Omens, and Oracles, which drops this Friday, April 11th. “Like the first record, there’s blazing electric guitar. We’re kind of returning to it, not that I don’t have blazing...
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Jazzy, folky, funky, soulful, classic rock-infused NYC indie pop outfit Sammy Rae & The Friends have been phriends of PHILTHY MAG for some time now. I first met Sammy Rae in summer/fall of 2021, prior to a sold-out date at World Café Live; checked in with The Friends’ band...
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We last saw indie-pop singer/songwriter Lyncs (the musical moniker of Jacqueline Hynes) last August when she double-headlined The Lounge at World Café Live with Laur Elle. However, the Lancaster-born artist has released quite a bit of music since then, including November’s SICK+SIN EP; “I LIVE IN THIS BODY” single,...
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*Unfortunately, this event has been cancelled. Los Angeles-based alt-rock singer/songwriter Annabel Lee has a lot of impressive credits. She’s toured as direct support for PHILTHY phriend Moon Walker; performed on a SXSW showcase alongside our buddies Zella Day and Indigo De Souza; regularly worked with producer Justin Glasco, who’s...
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If my calculations are correct, the last time indie rock quintet flipturn played Philadelphia proper, they were in a venue less than 1/10th the size of that of their upcoming area appearance (And the last time they were openers and this time they’re headlining…) The Florida band, who we...
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“I’m really proud of the show. I know it’s the best show I’ve ever put on. I’m treating it like a performance, instead of just, ‘We have to play the songs,’” says Canadian folk singer/songwriter Tamara Lindeman, AKA The Weather Station, of her tour behind Humanhood, her seventh studio...
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Tomorrow night queer pop icon Rebecca Black will be playing her biggest show yet in the City of Brotherly Love and Sisterly Affection… and so will our buddies Blue Hawaii, who will be opening for Rebecca Black this Saturday, March 29th, at Theatre of Living Arts. We’ve known the...
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Genre-bending – often metallic, often electronic, often alternative, and often delectably pop – singer/songwriter, performance artist, graphic novelist, and internet sensation Poppy is gearing up to play her biggest-ever headlining show in the City of Brotherly Love and Sisterly Affection next Thursday, April 3rd. Her last two local stops...
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Last month electronic duo Immersion (comprised of Wire’s Colin Newman and Minimal Compact’s Malka Spigel, a “life and art” couple) released the third album of their collaborative Nanocluster series (2021’s Nanocluster, Vol.1 saw them collaborating with our phriend Laetitia Sadier, German post-rock duo Tarwater, and electronic musicians Ulrich Schnauss...
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“It’s a bit of a riff song. It started with a riff, and I had that Shakespeare line, ‘Oh what country, friends, is this?’ And I was looking at ‘country’ and the concept of country in the American context… and Harold Pinter wrote Mountain Language, an amazing play about...
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“Joe’s Cheesesteaks!” exclaims Nick Sampson, drummer of LA-based, self-proclaimed “emo-friendly, punk-curious” duo senses (who are ineffably friendly, themselves) when I ask the band their favorite thing about Philadelphia. senses lead singer/guitarist Madison Taylor goes on to explain, “We walk to Joe’s pretty much every time we’re there, and not...
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“Daniel and I have a 23-year-old daughter, and her friends are interested in music from the ‘90s, and they’re like, ‘You’re parents are in Ida?! What?!’” says Elizabeth Mitchell of herself and husband Daniel Littleton, co-founders of 1990s indie rock legends Ida. This past weekend, Ida kicked off their...
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Every week Y-Not Radio, the home of Philthy Radio, gives away a free pair of tickets for a notable upcoming concert to a lucky listener who votes for the Top 3 Y-Not Songs of the Week for Thursday’s weekly Top 11 @ 11. This week’s tickets are for an...
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“I’m really hoping this is my year. I’m hoping for some more tours… I’m really trying to put out as much new music as possible in 2025,” says LA-based, 19-year-old folk/Americana/pop artist Cloe Wilder. However, she’s already got some touring under her belt, with a European tour supporting Spencer...
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“I think this is the first time I had a unanimous reaction overall from both audience and press… I wish I would have done this album years ago. I feel like I’m stepping into a place that really defines me on many levels,” says Tunisian-American singer/songwriter Emel Mathlouthi (better...
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Canadian folk singer/songwriter Basia Bulat is currently amidst a plethora of North American and UK/Europe tour dates that, as of right now, take her through February of 2026 (with a notable break between July and December). The tour includes the first date the Secret City Records artist will play...
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“I’ve been wanting to do Liberation for so long. I knew I wanted to move further into the blues… The music that really got me started was the blues,” says ZZ Ward, referring to her forthcoming fourth studio album, Liberation, which drops this Friday, March 14th, courtesy of the...
“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...
