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...

When I discovered The Octopus Project they were the most intriguing instrumental band I’d ever heard.  I discovered them sandwiched between Austin-based peers …And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead and The Sword on a 2005 bill.  In-between the brilliant proggy, post-hardcore art rock collective and...

Hurray for the Riff Raff began nearly a decade ago when frontperson Alynda Lee Segarra left the Bronx to travel the country via hitched rides and hopped trains.  They eventually settled in New Orleans, where they’ve been writing and recording since, backed with a revolving lineup of like-minded musicians...

Mark Brooks may be best known for being a member of 90s noise outfit Warlock Pinchers, along with directing videos for the likes of Danzig and Slayer, not to mention Cartoon Network’s Metalocalypse, but he also has quite the taste for the popularly palatable.  His latest project, Night Club,...

Bambi Lee Savage is about two and a half decades into her career, yet her third album, Darkness Overshadowed, just dropped last year… Although the story behind her slow progression is pretty existentially romantic.  In the late 80s and early 90s she worked behind the scenes, as a recording...

As an avid cultural anthropology and semiotics enthusiast, nothing annoys me more than artists who don’t know the origins of their craft.  That is not the case for Sydney-based singer/songwriter and producer Rainbow Chan.  And not only does that make her far cooler than the average musician but, also,...

Nadine Shah is a young artist, but she works fast… She’s already released two EPs this year and her debut full length is due July 23rd on Apollo/R&S Records… It has the best title of any album to come out all year… Love Your Dum and Mad (produced by...

Los Angeles’ Leftover Cuties are on the verge of releasing their sophomore LP and critics are still not entirely sure what to make of them (Not that that’s a bad thing.)  They’ve been characterized by phrases like “noir-pop,” and “jazz-pop.”  Their sound includes upright bass, accordion, and the ukulele...

We generally don’t think too fondly of sleep-inducing art… However, that’s what Lenka was going for on her third LP, Shadows. In a recent chat with the Australian-born, New-York-residing singer/songwriter, she admits to me that she actually quite likes the notion of falling asleep to music and cites Sigur...

Hey Ocean! write really lush pop songs that also kind of kick ass… in the quirkiest way possible.  They’re quite sunny, but they also make your most sassypants friend want to dance quite a bit.  The Vancouver-based trio is comprised of David Beckingham, Ashleigh Ball, and David Vertesi, who...

Italy’s Tying Tiffany pairs abrasive, postmodern electronic sounds with an abrasive, politically postmodern take on recent history and life itself (inspired by things like Dadaism, feminist studies, and explorations of occultism).  She’s shared stages with the likes of Iggy Pop and the Buzzcocks and collaborated with people like Nic...

White Dove are one of those bands that it would be dangerously misleading to listen to anything anyone has said in an attempt to characterize their sound (including myself).  They’re sort of a new band, but sort of veterans… It’s clear that they’re well-schooled in Americana, but they’re also...

Much like male/female harmonies, musicians currently obsessed with analog synthesizers is another “trend” of sorts that I’m not even close to sick of… LA’s Soft Metals are one of such bands, comprised of vocalist/keyboardist Patricia Hall and multi-instrumentalist Ian Hicks.  The two met at a DJ night in 2009...

The Colourist are an indie pop band from Orange County…  They’re into Phil Collins and ghosts…  They’ve only recorded two songs, but Interview and FILTER are already fans…  Their debut 7″ dropped earlier this month…  They’re about to kick off a string of summer dates, starting with a July...

Like any fan of Morrissey, I’m quite charmed by those bluntly self-deprecating existential realists.  I recently got a chance to chat with Portland folk singer/songstress Alela Diane, whose fourth LP, About Farewell, was released this past Tuesday digitally (It will be out physically July 30th.) and she quite charmed...

Of all of the great Americana artists to grace the subcultural (and sometimes, even popular) airwaves of recent years, Sean Rowe might be the most “authentic.”  He comprised his debut album, Magic, based on the inspiration he got as a naturalist, after spending 24 days in the wilderness, left to...

So there are a handful of legitimately good acts who will be performing at the Firefly Music Festival in Dover, Delaware this weekend. But, if you’re looking for something a little bit more intimate and a little less taking-place-in-Delaware, Austin’s Mother Falcon will be taking the stage upstairs at World...

My favorite thing about Her Royal Harness is the existentialism in their craft.  Songwriter Helene Jaeger explains that the inspiration behind the project’s moniker is the notion of individuals being forced to fit into pre-existing identities: “From the time you are born, people around you continually attempt to define...

While I’m, personally, not a big fan of leaving the apartment, much less Center City, much less the state, I have to admit that the Firefly Music Festival, taking place this weekend in Dover, Delaware, boasts quite an impressive lineup, from recently profiled acts like He’s My Brother She’s...

If you’ve been monitoring Philthy recently, you’ll know that we really appreciate the “blood harmony” provided by a good sister act (The Staves, Haim, First Aid Kit).  Well, there’s a new group of sisters we’re currently getting excited about, the Jurkiewicz’s, AKA Lily & Madeleine.  The teenage sisters, who made...

Indeed, I do “live in a heartbeat city,” “ in love every minute on the street,” but Kim Boekbinder takes the cake for my #1 crush of 2013.  Boekbinder is a Canada-born, NYC-based electro singer/songwriter and visual artist, who has made a name for herself collaborating with the likes...