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For someone who’s not exactly a household name, Juliette Commagere has a resume that is relatively mind-blowing. The Los Angeles-based singer/songwriter has played with Maynard James Keenan’s Puscifer, The Bird and the Bee, Nick Lowe, Linda Perry, Liz Phair, and Ry Cooder (whose son, Joachim, is Juliette’s husband and...
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The first time Lucius played Philadelphia there were four people in the room… That’s including the band, the headlining act, and myself… That was more than three years ago and they’ve come a long way. Lucius expanded from Jess Wolfe and Holly Laessig to include Dan Molad and Peter...
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Seasick Mama is a stunning and brilliant creature who, somehow, I identify with to an ineffably intense degree (right down to the people we call “friends”). Seasick Mama is Marial Eve Moon, a singer, songwriter, and model. She has been the face (and body) of several of the most...
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Anna von Hausswolff may be the most poignantly conceptual and boldly experimental artist I’ve ever known to characterize her music as “pop.” Anna is a Swedish singer/songwriter and pianist, who has toured with a handful of noteworthy acts and been frequently compared to Kate Bush. This July her sophomore...
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This Weekend Union Transfer played host to a plethora of heroe… well, to be honest, they were mostly heroines… of the 1990s… Mazzy Star took UT’s stage on Friday night on their first US tour of nearly two decades, while Saturday had the ladies of Luscious Jackson playing their...
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Rosi Golan may be based out of Brooklyn, but she certainly feels at home and welcome in the City of Brotherly Love and Sisterly Affection, where she’s played around a dozen shows in the past few years. I recently got a chance to chat with the ineffably enchanting folk...
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2013 has been a big year for getting-back-together… Kathleen Hanna and Kathi Wilcox, Girls Against Boys, My Bloody Valentine, Mazzy Star… but Luscious Jackson have held a monopoly over my excitement for reunions… The alt rock outfit that existed from 1991 to 2000, releasing four albums that embraced traditions...
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San Francisco-based Debbie Neigher’s musical career is still fairly fresh, although she already has quite an impressive list of credentials. Last week she released her sophomore LP, Unravel, her second to be produced by John Vanderslice, most famous for his work with the likes of Spoon, Death Cab for...
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Los Angeles duo Gliss have been at it for nearly a decade now… but 2013 would seem to be their most profound year to date. The band was first brought to prominence by Billy Corgan, who helped them push their psychy, fuzzy, black-clad brand of post-punk revivalism across the...
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Boston trio Quilt have a sound that I’m going to characterize as “mystically quirky indie pop.” They play with sonic psychedelics, but tend to remain on the sunnier, and not scarier, side of things. They recently released “Arctic Shark” as a 7-inch and their sophomore LP, Held in Splendor,...
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I first fell in love with Kate Nash in 2007. She was a young, British chanteuse of the indie pop variety. Her debut album, Made of Bricks, was proudly juvenile and playfully vulgar, including songs like “Dickhead” and “Shit Song.” When it came to addressing loves never to be...
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My relationship with John McCauley and Deer Tick over the years has been complicated. I actually ignored the Providence-born band for their first three indie folk releases. And then, on a whim, simply because I was a massive fan of McCauley’s then-fiancé Nikki Kvarnes’ band Those Darlins (I’m also...
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Minneapolis’ The Melismatics turned ten this year. They seem to have been “celebrating” that landmark all year, but it was formally commemorated this October with the release of their sixth and most accomplished LP, Rising Tide. The album is a concept album chronicling the lifespan and trials and tribulations...
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Philthy Mag has been profiling a noteworthy number of “sister acts” as of late, however, Bianca “Coco” and Sierra “Rosie” Casady, AKA CocoRosie, have been at it for a decade now, long before it seemed to be any kind of a trend. The two sisters, despite being American by...
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Techno, as a genre, is currently becoming a major player in the world of youth musical tastes, but it is, unfortunately, largely still a boys’ club (although that might not be reflected by the electronic musicians Philthy, personally, tends to cover), but Berlin-based, Austrian Clara Moto has been a...
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For the past two years and change He’s My Brother She’s My Sister have been boldly trekking back and forth across the US of A and beyond with a bold brand of rockabilly, glam, garage, and Americana-inspired southern rock, which, in a live setting tends to manifest itself in...
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The Paper Kites are a five-piece, hailing from Melbourne, who are currently on their first trek across the US, with about a month and a half of dates, which included three weeks opening mega venues for City and Colour in October. Their trip is nearly going to wrap up...
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Canada’s YAMANTAKA//SONIC TITAN are postmodern in every sense of the word. The performance art group abrasively slam high and low art against each other, taking inspiration from Buddhism, doom metal, manga, psych rock, NYC art rock, and classical traditions of Eastern theatre. At the heart of the project are...
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Brooklyn’s Folding Legs are ambiguous not only culturally (Members hail from NYC, Vienna, and Stockholm.) and sonically (Their influences range from high-minded pop music spanning several decades to performance artists), but even in terms of artistic mediums themselves (In addition to music, they take inspiration from theatre and film,...
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We Are The Brave are what happens when a singer/songwriter (Jess Chalker) gets together with a hip-hop producer (Nathan Cunial aka OXY). The Australian duo came together over a mutual love of a number of things that seem like they would be of very little interest to a singer/songwriter...
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Like the recently profiled Blessed Feathers, Tic Tic Boom!’s Leilani Francisco (vocals/keys) and Mike DeLay (instrumentation/engineer) are not only musical partners, but real-life partners. The LA-based duo make a highly infectious, sugar-coated, and synth-heavy brand of dance pop that is equally indebted to artists of each of the past...
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There may be a lot of artists currently exploring Americana and the idea of the Great American Wanderer, but Blessed Feathers may have an edge, when it comes to authenticity. Although Philthy Mag first introduced the band to you this March, in case you’ve forgotten, Blessed Feathers are Donivan Berube...
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Love Inks are a blend of history’s most poignant and transgressive pop music and postmodern, off-the-grid musicality. They compose spacey dream pop on analogue recording devices, while playfully and delightfully ringing of the of post-punk of Blondie and the synth pop of Depeche Mode. The Austin-based trio released their...
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This February Sallie Ford & the Sound Outside released my favorite album of 2013, Untamed Beast. The album is a confrontationally sassy amalgam of Americana, soul, garage, rockabilly, and Southern rock that, to me, sounds quite a bit like post-riot grrrl with a Southern twang. The Portland, Oregon-based outfit...
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Maine’s Coke Weed recently traded in a folk rock aesthetic for something that more closely (quite closely, in fact) resembles the fuzzy, gazey, and psychedelic beauty of ‘90s alt rock. The songs found on their third and latest album, Back to Soft (released this past July) sound like something...
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Super Wild Horses are one of those beautifully and admirably unrefined entities that actually manage (to a certain degree) to appeal to a popular aesthetic… albeit in a very anti-/post- way… Super Wild Horses are Amy Franz and Hayley McKee of Melbourne. When the two first began the band...
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I recently caught up with Chris Ward and Andrew Thiboldeaux of Philadelphia’s own “Pattern is Movement”. They were the 2008 January issue of Philly Weekly’s “biggest indie bands” (and in 2013 are Philthy Mag’s biggest indie band to watch). If you look them up online they are likened to Dirty Projectors, Beirut and Grizzly...
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There’s something especially satisfying about art that is not only good, but that disappoints… This past Saturday Fiona Apple and Blake Mills graced the Merriam Theater for something that… well, was apparently not what many concertgoers had expected. The duo are currently nearing the end of a collaborative tour...
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I recently turned 29. And as an “ambitious outsider” and “resident alien,” I find myself wondering if my youthful transgressions from popular culture and a “healthy” Western lifestyle are still relevant, if my identity still addresses and confronts those aspects of heteronormativity that I despise so much and if...
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Portland trio Lovers are both quite accomplished and quite new to the music scene. Although technically on their seventh album, as the band’s current formation, the Portland-based trio, are only on their sophomore effort. Lovers are comprised of songwriter Carolyn Berk, producer and performance artist Kerby Ferris, and producer...
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Holly Conlan is my kind of person. “From the time I was a little kid, I was always worried about having the right shoe and the right necklace… I’m in love with fashion and if I weren’t in music, I’d probably be doing that,” the Los Angeles-based singer/songwriter tells...
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Despite a newfound maturity (relatively speaking), Austin, TX’s Wild Child are still more than suited for their moniker. Earlier this month the indie folk outfit released their sophomore effort, The Runaround, on Ben Kweller’s The Noise Company. The album was even produced by Kweller, himself. While the band’s 2011...
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Cristina Orbé is a Seattle artist who is perhaps best known for her work with regional hip-hop artists, yet her sound is impossible to tie to any particular genre. Cristina Orbé’s musical career began in 2001, when she relocated from New York to Seattle and decided, “to live alone;...
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Michigan trio Breathe Owl Breathe is a band that, over the past decade, has made a name for themselves by writing and recording big, nearly indescribable, and certainly uncategorizable, sounds. Next Tuesday, October 15th, their latest album, Passage of Pegasus, drops and I was fortunate enough to recently get...
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Considering Temple’s departments of English and Intellectual Heritage pay my bills (well, almost) and the word on the street is that the humanities are on their way out of higher education, I was very happy (and a bit charmed) to find out upon calling Providence, Rhode Island-based singer/songwriter Lizzie...
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Family of the Year are the kind of band that are hard not to like… even if you have little interest in any of their apparent influences. The Los Angeles quartet blend classic, sunshiny California folk pop of the 1960s with the kind of slightly-sassy pop used to soundtrack...
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LA-based singer/songwriter Lily Kershaw is someone I like… quite a bit, in fact. Not only does she write songs that blend the brilliance of the most existential folk with the aesthetic of the ’90s most heartbrokenly-driven and impressive songwriters (She reminds me of Tegan and Sara at their earliest...
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Anyone who knows me knows I’m a sucker for a band with a reading list… The (International) Noise Conspiracy… YACHT… and, most recently, international alternative dance rock sensations and revolutionaries, Crystal Fighters. The London/Basque band released their much-anticipated sophomore effort, Cave Rave, earlier this year, a work that, like...
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I must admit that it doesn’t hurt to sometimes look for something on the brighter side… Such is the case with one of my new favorite bands, LA duo Cobalt Cranes, who have recently started to let go of the garage sound found on their 2010 EP, In Media...
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Caroline Smith has been going through changes… pretty profound ones. The Minneapolis-based singer/songwriter recently got comfortable with womanhood, found what she feels to be her true self, and traded in an indie folk sound for something more soulful, inspired by the 90s R&B that she grew up loving. Her...
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Sophomore efforts can be quite a tricky thing for musicians… trying to conjure up emotions to inspire something as profound as their first (and often-most-impressive) stab at artistic self-expression… However, in the time since her 2009 soulful, blues-laden debut, Bible Belt; which had her making late-night appearances for the...
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… It’s been a few years since I’ve listened to a band that regularly references headbanging and circle pits… But Black Moth (not to be confused with Black Moth Super Rainbow) does the “heavy” thing in a way that can be appreciated by someone who hung up his studded...
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I’m especially excited that BOY are back in town this Saturday night… primarily because the last time I “saw” them I didn’t actually get a chance to see them. The Swiss/German duo had a literally packed house for a sold out show upstairs at World Café Live (which I...
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This Wednesday, October 2nd, brilliantly postmodern singer/songwriter Angel Olsen will be stopping in Philadelphia for an appearance at Johnny Brenda’s. Yet, I suspect, immediate support, Pillars & Tongues, will prove to be an equally interesting entity of the evening. The Chicago-born, yet-recently-prone-to-wandering, outfit have spent recent years producing organically...
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From someone who was groomed by the world of both Glam-and-Sleaze Rock, it’s hard not to be enticed by someone who goes by Trash McSweeney. And for someone who attended a fine arts school and was equally enchanted with the postmodern “high arts,” it’s hard not to take note...
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Anyone who knows me knows that I enjoy ambiguity, both in my personal identity and that of those that I admire. Melissa Ann Sweat, better known as Lady Lazarus, certainly embodies such ambiguity. The sound of L.A.-based singer/songwriter (in addition to artist and creative writer) embodies an aesthetic at...
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Every year there seems to be one big-time, mega star of the music world with whom I’m actually (despite my “indie” leanings) quite taken. This year, it’s ZZ Ward, the most enchanting chanteuse of blue-eyed soul since Duffy (yet with far more “edge”). The singer/songwriter began her musical career...
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In a recent chat with Les Jupes singer/songwriter Michael P. Falk, I ask him what kind of a band he considers Les Jupes to be, to which he replies, “I think the songs are pretty energetic with a strong lyrical content that hopefully has some meaning or thought behind...
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Meghan Remy is one of those artists whose work questions the very medium on which it exists… causing you to re-think it for yourself. She uses lo-fi, avant-garde techniques and traditions to create what could easily be considered “pop music.” … Or there’s a chance that she popularly plays...
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HEAR EYE GO is a 25-minute-long sun-drenched, psychedelic foot-stomper that documents the past five years in the lives of Tommy Eisner and Linda Beecroft, better known as Golden Animals… a pretty monumental order. The album is the band’s sophomore effort, following up their 2008 debut, Free Your Mind And...
For someone who’s not exactly a household name, Juliette Commagere has a resume that is relatively mind-blowing. The Los Angeles-based singer/songwriter has played with Maynard James Keenan’s Puscifer, The Bird and the Bee, Nick Lowe, Linda Perry, Liz Phair, and Ry Cooder (whose son, Joachim, is Juliette’s husband and...
The first time Lucius played Philadelphia there were four people in the room… That’s including the band, the headlining act, and myself… That was more than three years ago and they’ve come a long way. Lucius expanded from Jess Wolfe and Holly Laessig to include Dan Molad and Peter...
