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;...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

… 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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

San Francisco-based Maryam Qudus, better known as DOE EYE, has been making quite a splash in the music industry in the past two years.  It all started with a four-song demo she recorded before she started her first semester at the Berklee College of Music.  One of the album’s...

Sadly, I will have to wait a few more weeks to check out the 215’s latest in hip hotspots, Boot & Saddle, as dreamy electro-poppers Savoir Adore had to cancel their September 25th stop in South Philly due to scheduling conflicts.  However, I did recently get a chance to...

I love whenever those within the realm of the “popular” can take a turn for the quite “conceptual.”  Los Angeles-based, Atlantic-signed GROUPLOVE would seem to be giving this a go on their current (in-progress) US tour.  The highly-danceable five-piece electro indie pop outfit, who have achieved quite a bit...

If the names and faces of Nate Eiesland, Alissa Ricci, and Ryne Estwing sound and/or look familiar, it’s likely because they were three-fifths of dreamy, folk-inspired, often minimalistic, Chicago indie poppers, Scattered Trees.  However, they recently left that project behind and currently exist as On An On, a project...

Portland’s Blouse have become known for making sounds along the lines of Nico fronting Joy Division: A morose chanteuse serving to temper a slightly insane rhythm section by using hyper-lush voice to coax listeners into a reverie of dark pleasures.  In Blouse this lush voice is courtesy of lead...

Often it seems that bands produce their most profound work in their seemingly darkest hour.  This would seem to be the case with Brooklyn’s Grooms. They recently released their third LP, Infinity Caller, on Western Vinyl… an album that almost never happened.  After the band’s first two ...

I’ve recently chatted with many musical artists who enjoy having a project with a revolving cast of musicians, many of which have commented, “It’s like a Hip-Hop collective… but, you know, not doing Hip-Hop.”  However, this newfound association with “collectives” being property of the Hip-Hop scene is not quite...

Kate Perdoni and Adam Hawkins are Eros and the Eschaton.  They’re also a couple.  They recently made a young boy.  Even more recently, they released their debut album, Home Address for Civil War, which dropped August 13th on Bar/None.  They’re also currently on the road and will be in-town...

The Albertans’ latest album, Dangerous Anything, is a bit like the Twin Peaks soundtrack… if you could dance to it… It’s sparse and dreamy, but in a largely haunting and ominous way.  The album, the band’s third, is their most ambitious and least concise yet.  I have trouble considering...

“It will probably be pretty loud and high energy… I’m guessing it will be loud and raw.  Kathleen’s been working on some dance moves,” says Carmine Covelli.  Covelli is currently drumming for The Julie Ruin, the Kathleen Hanna-fronted supergroup, featuring fellow Bikini Kill alum Kathi Wilcox, along with Kenny...

Jessica Hernandez and her backing band, The Deltas, are an interesting amalgamation… Jessica embodies the identity of a classic chanteuse, with an undeniably alluring voice and sassy swagger, embracing a conventional brand of loveliness, while also boasting a soulful intensity found in many of music history’s most profoundly revolutionary...

I kind of want to hate Sandra Vu… She’s been drawing comparisons to The Smiths, The Cure, Siouxsie, Cocteau Twins, Lush, and Slowdive… I draw comparisons to Russell Brand… However, she’s certainly earned all of the glorious comparisons.  In her latest project, SISU, she produces a kind of anti-pop...

Philthy’s Style Department & Features Editor LZ RN recently spent some time in Australia… and is tentatively considering moving there… I have recently chatted-with and crushed-on a number of Aussie artists (The Falls, Rainbow Chan, Lenka, Emma Louise, Emperors)… and I’m starting to think that that locale may be...

In the Valley Below exist at an intersection of traditional Americana folk and blues and postmodernly intellectual art pop.  They don’t sound like they’re from Mars… but they certainly seem to be aggressively refusing to fit into any genre.  And in terms of subject matter, they would seem to...

Like many of Philthy’s latest musical crushes (Lily & Madeleine, Girl in a Coma, The Casket Girls, The Staves, Haim, Pascal Pinion…) , Sacramento’s Dog Party are a band of sisters… And despite still being in highschool, they’ve already released their third full-length.  17-year-old Gwendolyn handles guitar, while 15-year-old...

Potty Mouth are my favorite band of 2013 for as many reasons as there are things that characterize the whole of their identity.  They’re named after Bratmobile’s debut album, they’re well versed in gender studies, they enjoy brash rants about things like ageism and sexism, they write beautifully simplistic...

Like recently-profiled Big Black Cloud, Louisville’s Coliseum are both quite heavy and quite heady, taking things like high art and the humanities as inspiration for their particularly abrasive musical exercises.  Coliseum have been kicking out hardcore-inspired punk jams for ten years now and they released their fourth LP, Sister...

Despite nearly a decade of existence, Portland’s Big Black Cloud still remain a bit of an enigma.  There are only a small handful of YouTube clips of the band playing their brand of loud, groovy, avant-garde scariness .  They tend to draw characterizations such as, “A huge, swirling mess...

The Stargazer Lilies see themselves as hangover music to the best kind of dance party… But I would also characterize their sound as road tripping music for the hip… They embody a dreamy psychedelic haze, but it’s far more progressive (and introspective) than anything that a jam band has...

Cristina Black is a piano, ukulele, and harp-wielding songstress who writes quirkily postmodern ballads that are both endearingly curious and profoundly devastating… She’s often compared to some of recent history’s most acclaimed singers and songwriters, but I think she manages to imbue her quite somber and introspective works with...

I recently got a chance to chat with Will Schwartz, a childhood hero of sorts.  I was a big fan of his Imperial Teen in my middle-and-high-school years (When I was 17 I saw the band opening for The Breeders and, still being at an age acceptable to request...

When Philthy first caught up with producer/vocalist/beat-maker Morgan Neiman, AKA Ducky, we discussed her love of both trip hop and punk, sampling porn, and how a school photo with a stuffed duck led to her moniker. In our most recent chat I caught her right in the middle of...

Old Monk are a Brooklyn trio who are a big fan of video games, “Shit”ty bands, and henges.  They released their first album, Birds of Belize, last year and they’ve released two singles this year, “Seymour” and “Fowl and Foe.”  They write pop songs that are enjoyably sloppy and...

Montreal’s Sarah Neufeld may be best known for her violin work in epic indie rock ensemble The Arcade Fire, but she’s also a member of experimental outfit Bell Orchestra, and has played with indie poppers The Luyas.  However, after a decade in the industry, establishing herself as a brilliant...