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This month 4AD brought the City of Brotherly Love and Sisterly Affection a few of its best shows, including post-punk revivalists Dry Cleaning at First Unitarian Church and neo glam rockers The Lemon Twigs at Underground Arts. And next Friday, June 10th, 4AD recording artist Aldous Harding will be...
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“I’m just really excited about the new music. It’s a totally different genre and style,” says singer/songwriter Maddie Poppe. Poppe gained fame as the winner of American Idol’s Season 16 in 2018, before releasing her debut album, Whirlwind, the following year. The Iowa-born artist became known for a folksy,...
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Last year British-born, Berlin-based post-punk-leaning, avant-garde singer/songwriter Anika (real name Annika Henderson) released Change, her second solo album and first since 2010, on Sacred Bones. In September we chatted about the album (which was inspired in equal parts by ‘90s alternative music, the current state of politics, the pandemic,...
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Unfortunately, Chicago trio Dehd’s show scheduled for this past Sunday at Union Transfer had to be cancelled with someone in the group’s touring party testing positive for COVID…. But, just today they announced more than a month of Fall dates, including an October 22nd stop at Brooklyn Bowl Philadelphia. ...
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“It’s Interesting coming back into the world with this pandemic; things are different. It’s great to see friends again, and do our thing, finding good coffee and finding good food,” says Stephen McBean of finally getting back on the road. Although best known as frontman of Vancouver psych rockers...
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Although Slayyyter’s May 25th gig at The Foundry at The Fillmore is technically sold out (along with much of the rest of the tour), as of right now, there are “Verified Resale Tickets” currently going for $23. The date is the second-to-last of her current US headlining tour, which...
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“I’m really excited to play Firefly. I’ve never played a festival before,” says Jordana Nye (better known as simply Jordana), the bedroom-pop-star-turning-legit-alt-pop-sensation behind “I Guess This Is Life” (which has more than a million streams on Spotify). Just yesterday the singer/songwriter released her debut LP, Face The Wall, courtesy...
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I bought a NoSo t-shirt instead of getting a Lyft home. Given the fact I didn’t know who NoSo was before the show last Wednesday, my redirection of cash should speak to how much I enjoyed their set. NoSo’s music is a pure, genuine expression of the emotional spectrum...
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This Saturday night, May 21st, Johnny Brenda’s will likely be rocking quite a bit harder than usual… Portland-based quartet Blackwater Holylight will be bringing their doomy, gloomy, ultra-heavy psych rock to the Fishtown venue best known for hosting darlings of indie pop and experimental rock (not that there’s anything...
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Singer/songwriter Al Olender describes the songs of her debut album (Easy Crier, which dropped this past Friday, May 13th) as, “Storytelling truth bombs,” and, “Folky, indie, yummy earworms.” “I just want to connect with as many people as I can,” she tells me during a recent phone chat. The...
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Over the course of their last three albums (and several interviews with PHILTHY MAG) Minnesota-based experimental indie pop outfit Cloud Cult has played World Café Live, Johnny Brenda’s, Prince Music Theater, and The Foundry (In that order, actually…) However, on their upcoming run of dates, which will have them at our very...
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This Friday, May 13th, 4AD retro Rock N’ Rollers The Lemon Twigs will be headlining Underground Arts… But we’re even more excited about opening act, Tchotchke… Tchotchke are a New York-based trio who kick out sunshine punk jams that would be right at home in a John Waters movie...
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This Wednesday, May 11th, indie pop singer/songwriter Molly Burch returns to the City of Brotherly Love and Sisterly Affection when she headlines The Foundry at The Fillmore. However, we’re equally excited to see opening act NoSo, who is currently on the road supporting Burch. NoSo (shorthand for North/South) is...
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Earlier today NY indie rock trio Sunflower Bean premiered their latest single and music video, “In Flight.” The single is yet another preview to their third LP, Headful of Sugar, which drops tomorrow on Mom + Pop (The band had previously released videos for album tracks “I Don’t Have...
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“POP PUNK IS NOT DEAD!” shouted Simple Plan lead singer, Pierre Bouvier, on Monday at The Fillmore. Seeing the crowd that night, hearing them scream every single word, I can say for certain that Pop Punk is alive and well. Simple Plan kicked off the night with a burst...
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This coming Monday, May 9th, contemporary noise rock legends A Place To Bury Strangers return to Johnny Brenda’s. However, I’m actually far more excited about the opportunity to see Glove, who will be providing direct support. Glove are a four-piece, hailing from Tampa, Florida who, earlier this year, released...
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Last month Nashville-based country pop singer/songwriter Caitlyn Smith released High, her third LP and the follow-up to 2020’s Supernova. And while Smith’s biggest credits still come from songs she’s written for others (Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton’s “You Can’t Make Old Friends,” Cassadee Pope’s “Wasting All These Tears,” Meghan...
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South London-based quartet Dry Cleaning are likely the most qualified band of their generation to bring the “post-punk” tradition to moody, morose, and musically nerdy teens and twentysomethings that can’t find a feel for contemporary fads. While their music is far from any sort of overpowering nod to the...
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Last week Australian dream pop singer/songwriter Hatchie released her sophomore LP, Giving The World Away, courtesy of Secretly Canadian (Cherry Glazerr, Faye Webster, Skullcrusher). Although the album follows-up 2019’s Keepsake, Hatchie has said it feels like a restart of sorts. Without losing any of the charm of Keepsake or...
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Montreal indie rockers Land of Talk released their last LP, Indistinct Conversations, in the summer of 2020 and are already working on a follow-up… Yet, in addition, they managed to churn out a four-song EP in-between. Calming Night Partner was made possible thanks to some extended time at home and...
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This coming Friday, April 29th, Baby Tate (formerly known as Yung Baby Tate) is set to drop dual single “Dancing Queen”/“Yasss Queen,” also known as The Queen Pack. However, the City of Brotherly Love and Sisterly Affection was treated to live renditions of the two tracks last Monday, April...
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*Unfortunately, Kevin Devine’s April 29th show at the First Unitarian Church has been cancelled due to positive COVID tests. Last month singer/songwriter Kevin Devine released his 10th studio album, Nothing’s Real, So Nothing’s Wrong, courtesy of Triple Crown Records. Although written prior to the pandemic, the album was largely...
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Over the past decade, New York-based art-rock outfit Guerilla Toss has gained a reputation for more or less reinventing themselves with every release… And last month the band released Famously Alive, their fifth full-length and first on Sub Pop. The album, while embracing the noisier elements of their past,...
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Friday, April 29th, Nashville-based singer/songwriter Caroline Spence will be releasing her fourth full-length, True North (via Rounder Records), which has already produced some of the year’s best Americana singles (“Clean Getaway,” “The Gift,” and, most recently, “Scale These Walls.”) Although her headlining show at MilkBoy was cancelled after the...
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Tomorrow night (April 23rd) 21st Century glam legends The Darkness will be bringing the Rock N’ Roll spectacle back to the City of Brotherly Love and Sisterly Affection. The band are currently touring their seventh studio album, Motorheart, which dropped last year. They’ll be playing (and possibly defacing, rearranging,...
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Two weeks ago The Weather Station (Tamara Lindeman) was named as support for a week’s worth of Mitski’s upcoming tour, including her long-sold-out rescheduled date at Franklin Music Hall on Sunday, July 24th. However, the folk singer/songwriter will be playing her biggest headlining show in the City of Brotherly...
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This Friday one of Coachella’s most impressive sets (at least according to the seven songs that appeared on the livestream) came from experimental R&B singer/songwriter Raveena. The Indian artist (who grew up on America’s East Coast) released her sophomore album, Asha’s Awakening, earlier this year. The LP is, “a...
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Beyond-bourgeoning pop star Rina Sawayama’s first-ever Philadelphia headlining show has already undergone more updates and upgrades than she has proper releases… The Japan-born, London-based songstress originally sold out The Foundry’s 450-capacity almost instantly, and quickly did the same with the 1,000-capacity upgrade to Theatre of Living Arts. However, two-plus...
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Although MØ’s recent stop at Union Transfer last Wednesday (April 13th) didn’t leave quite the impression on the city as a whole that Waxahatchee’s two sold-out shows at the venue did earlier that week, for the modest crowd in attendance, the hour-long performance seemed to pack a profoundly satisfying...
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“I’ve been looking forward to this show for so long, for years now,” said Katie Crutchfield, better known as Waxahatchee, four songs into her set last Sunday night, before launching into “The Eye” off of the indie rock singer/songwriter’s 2020 album Saint Cloud. The performance was the first of...
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Last month Australian duo Good Morning – who Stereogum characterized as, “Chill and organic indie rock” — announced the re-release of their entire back catalogue (“six records of varying sound and length”) courtesy of Polyvinyl Record Co., slated for May 27th (with pre-order available now). Coinciding with this announcement,...
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Shilpa Ray’s recent singles “Heteronormative Horseshit Blues” and “Bootlickers of the Patriarchy” obviously reflect a focus on recent social tumult (She’s described her latest single, “Lawsuits And Suicide,” as, “a diss track to my abuser from a relationship I had suffered through in my mid to late 20s.”), despite...
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Grungy, garage-y alternative rockers Slothrust have been playing the City of Brotherly Love and Sisterly Affection for about a decade now, from house shows to the mega-stage of The Fillmore, where they opened for Manchester Orchestra last October. Last September the Boston band released their fifth full-length, Parallel Timeline,...
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We first met twen in November of 2019, when they were on the road supporting Welsh retro alternative rockers The Joy Formidable on their most intimate tour in a decade. The Nashville-based (at the time), Boston-bred indie poppers – led by vocalist Jane Fitzsimmons and guitarist Ian Jones —...
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Last week Lindsey Jordan, better known as Snail Mail, played her first show since the pandemic at Idaho’s Treefort Music Festival. The performance was the first since both the singer/songwriter’s critically acclaimed sophomore LP, Valentine, and since she had surgery to correct vocal cord polyps, which delayed her tour. ...
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“Whenever you do something really specific and personal you don’t know if people will be able to relate to it, so to see it resonate with people is so great,” says Charlie Martin of True Love, the latest LP from Texas indie pop duo Hovvdy. The album dropped last...
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Last Fall Chicago-based musician Lala Lala (Lillie West) released one of our very favorite pandemic albums, I Want The Door to Open, via Hardly Art. The album, the artist’s third, has already received a plethora of critical acclaim. Pitchfork said, “I Want the Door to Open slips into new...
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“I love Philly so much… It feels like an extension of New York or something, even though they’re so different,” singer/songwriter Margaret Glaspy tells me during a recent phone chat. Just last November the New York-based, folk-leaning musician opened Theatre of Living Arts for Ruston Kelly with a solo...
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This Monday, March 28th, Theatre of Living Arts was at full capacity for emerging pop star Tate McRae, whose resale tickets — according to gossip heard while waiting in a line that wrapped well around the block – were apparently going for up to $800. And while the 18-year-old...
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“We’re a middle-aged band in the middle of their career and put out a pretty good record that’s not just putting along,” says Cary Ann Hearst, one-half of Charleston-based husband-wife Americana duo Shovels & Rope. Last month the band released Manticore, their latest LP, which focuses on the intimacy...
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“Fucking Kathleen Hanna Tweeted about my record and I literally shat my pants! I’m literally thinking of getting that Tweet printed on a fucking shirt!” Madi Diaz tells me during a recent phone chat. The last time I talked to the Nashville-based artist was last August, just prior to...
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This coming Thursday, March 31st, Minneapolis-based Americana outfit The Cactus Blossoms (composed of brothers Jack Torrey and Page Burkum) will bring the sounds of their third studio LP, One Day, to the Music Hall at World Café Live. Last month the band released this latest full-length of theirs on...
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Last year slowcore legends Low released their 13th full-length, Hey What, to massive critical acclaim. The album, which came courtesy of Sub Pop, made year-end slots on “The 50 Best Albums of 2021” for NPR, Pitchfork, Paste, and The Guardian, in addition to their very-first Grammy nomination, after just...
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In the decade that Adia Victoria has been kicking out twangy blues jams (In the MC5 sense, not the hippie or party-ready sense.), she’s managed to play all of the City of Brotherly Love and Sisterly Affection’s favorite barroom dive venues, from local metal mecca Kung Fu Necktie, to...
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The last time Sierra Ferrell played World Café Live she played to a sparse, still-filtering-in crowd as support for Parker Millsap in July of 2019. However, last year the West Virginia-bred, Nashville-based Americana singer/songwriter played a rousing afternoon set at WXPN’s XPoNential Music Festival, in addition to a virtual...
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“I feel like we’re at the peak of ourselves as a band, so I’m excited to get out there and play these songs,” says William Keegan, guitarist and vocalist of SoCal power-poppy garage rockers Together Pangea. The trio released their fifth full-length, DYE, last October on Nettwerk Records, and...
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The last time the City of Brotherly Love and Sisterly Affection saw viral-performance-artist-turned-pop-star Poppy was February of 2020, when she last appeared at Theatre of Living Arts, supporting her recently released third LP, I Disagree, which had the candy-coated cyber princess transform into a legit metal vixen (The album...
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Although child-star-turned-pop-sensation JoJo is definitely a “downtown” kind of girl, post-lockdown she’s established herself as a staple of Eraserhood, the City of Brotherly Love and Sisterly Affection’s art district most famous as the inspiration behind David Lynch’s Eraserhead. Last October she headlined an exceptionally intimate (and exceptionally sold out)...
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An hour before doors opened, “Verified Resale Tickets” for FLETCHER’s show at The Foundry last Friday were going for $305. And while the rapidly-blowing-up pop star normally performs on a massive-for-a-nightclub, two-tiered stage, the modest stage of the 450-capacity venue had no room for that, making for an extra...
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“The first album was vegetarian, this one’s an omnivore,” says SASAMI of her sophomore LP, Squeeze, which dropped last month on Domino. The singer/songwriter (who played synths in Cherry Glazerr from 2015-2018) is chatting with me via phone during a brief break between two headlining jaunts. Squeeze follows-up SASAMI’s...