Philadelphia

Oh! Pears EP Release Party at JB’s March 13

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When Corey Duncan left Pattern Is Movement in ‘07, he didn’t sever ties with his former band mates completely. Instead, he worked long and hard with drummer Chris Ward to create beautifully grandiose recordings for his project Oh! Pears. 13 people coming together, playing two violas, a violin, two cellos, four guitars, two drum situations, a flute, a trumpet, lots of vocals, and clapping later; the Fill Your Lungs EP was conceived. Tonight’s momentous show at Johnny Brenda’s marks the album release where Duncan and his troop of instrumentalists play with The Mural and The Mint, whose Jack McBrearty happens to be one of the thirteen. Ever since working on Private Pockets with Brian McTear, the band has been gaining widespread local attention. But since you can download their music for free on their website you can easily form your own opinion. Rest assured though, this is certain to be one melodic show. Johnny Brenda’s, 12 01 N. Front St., 9pm, $10, 21+ myspace.com/ohpearsmusic – Bill McThrill

 

Philadelphia

Kong, Toy Soldiers and Cheers Elephant Ramble Through The Fire March 13

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The last time I wrote about TJ Kong and the Atomic Bomb I was musing over drinking, or maybe the act of being drunk. Which is pretty ironic since I don’t remember writing it. I vowed to myself never to write anything about TJ Kong while that drunk again. So here I am, tripping balls and typing vigorously as I watch this prose dissolve and reform into what appears before you (but I’m definitely not drunk). TJ Kong and the Atomic Bomb will be brining their gut-punching blues-folk to The Fire tonight alongside fellow locals Toy Soldiers and Cheers Elephant. Me and this purple flan next to me are super excited to check out the musical time machine that is Toy Soldiers. This eclectic collective utilize any instrument that they can get their hands on to churn out anything from swing, to blues, to folk, to doo-wop and even one particularly invigorating fuck jam in “I Just Want to Make Love to You” (c’mon, no one says that anymore). Lead singer Ron Gallo has an impressive vocal range that allows him to belt with the best of them, and sing with the delicate timbre reminiscent of Devendra Banhart. These guys and gals sound like they are having a hell of a good time playing their music, and I am sure they will get your boots a’tappin’ and your fingers a’snappin’. Along with these bros and broettes will be super British sounding Cheers Elephant (even the name reeks of fish and chips). So step away from the computer and start getting your show on because it is super difficult to type with these damn hooves. Cheerio. The Fire, 412 W. Girard Ave, 9pm, $7, 21+ – Adam G.

 

Chicago

Maps & Atlases Signs with Barsuk

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Yesterday Maps and Atlases announced that they had signed with Barsuk Records and will release their debut album this summer. Barsuk is currently home to bands like Ra Ra Riot, David Bazan, Mates of State and many more. This announcement was timed perfectly and will surely be buzzing around SXSW next week while they play their six different showcases.

L.A.

LA natives Juliette Commagere and The Bird and the Bee double-head El Rey

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Opening up a sold-out performance for The Bird and The Bee at the El Rey theater last Friday night, Juliette Commagere, the former vocalist of Hello Stranger now dropping her first solo album “Queens Die Proudly,” found herself straddling a piano stool in a coquettish red satin dress –her high cheek bones only exceeded by her higher melodies. Finding quite the balance between her lyrical laments and the sprightly brattle of percussionist Joachim Cooder, her tone somehow manages to breach poignant without being utterly hopeless, a feat many indie-rockers have yet to tame.  Click here to continue.

Philadelphia

Weekend Warrior, March 12 – 14

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What’s the plan for this weekend? We’ll be heading over to Kung Fu Necktie Saturday night for Drink Up Buttercup’s debut Album Release Party for Yep Records’ Born and Thrown on a Hook, our March CD of the Month (check out our review below to the right). They’ll be joined by the monster-lovin’ crew Conversations with Enemies. For once, KFN’s weekend band curfew works in our favor. Since the night will still be young, we’ll be making the trek to West Philly to the Mar Bar for the homecoming of Free Energy who just released their debut album earlier this week Stuck on Nothing on Astralwerks/DFA Records (check out our interview with singer Paul Sprangers below). We’ll hopefully be rockin’ out with you at both shows! Drink Up Buttercup – Kung Fu Necktie, 1250 N. Front St., 7:30pm, $8, 21+ (Photo by Bryan Bruchman) myspace.com/drinkupbuttercupband, Free Energy – Mar Bar, 200 S. 40th St., 9pm, $10, 21+ myspace.com/freeenergymusic
 
It might be wet, but at least it’s pretty warm. Don’t be a baby! Go out and put some money back into the economy. Here are some other places to do it…
 
Johnny Brenda’s (1201 N. Frankford Ave.) FRI Faux Slang, SAT Oh! Pears Record Release Party w/The Mural and The Mint
The Fire (412 W. Girard Ave.) FRI The Parsnip Revolt, The Roddies, Hair Rocket, SAT TJ Kong & The Atomic Bomb, Cheers Elephant, Sisters Three, Toy
Soldiers
North Star Bar (2639 Poplar St.) FRI Phantasm, Even The Res, Metroplex, SAT PhillyBloco, SUN Ganto Barn

M Room (12 W. Girard Ave.) FRI Lauryn & EgBot, SUN Red Devil
 
Tritone (1508 South St.) SAT The Lopez, Betty Iron Thumbs, SUN antiEmz

World Café Live (3025 Walnut St.) FRI Swift Technique, The Hustle, Black Landlord

Blockley Pourhouse (3801 Chestnut St.) FRI Chris Kasper and Andrew Lipke

Millcreek Tavern (4200 Chester Ave.) FRI Clamfight and Wizard Eye
Greenline Café (4239 Locust St.) FRI Music & Mentorship Showcase w/Clean Equations and Jim Thomas
Tin Angel (20 S. 2nd St.) Don McCloskey
The Trocadero (1003 Arch St.) SAT Ruder Than You
The Ox (2nd and Oxford St.) SAT Bubonic Bear
Danger Danger Gallery (5013 Baltimore Ave.) SAT The Chimeras and Casual Viking

 

Chicago

Claychella 2010 @ Lincoln Hall

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Are you looking for something to do this Saturday? Do you love to dance and listen to the best in Chicago hip hop? Lincoln Hall is home to this year’s Claychella event and the line-up is insane and the event, taking place tomorrow March 13th, is free between Noon and 10pm and only $5 from 10pm to 2am. Featuring Flosstradamus, Hood Internet, Million $ Mano, Hollywood Holt, Mic Terror, and so many more top acts. Sponsored by Everyone Is Famous this event promises to be action-packed and a lot of fun.

One of my favorite acts appearing at Claychella is Moneypenny. Don’t miss their SXSW mixtape download it at their myspace page.

San Francisco

Record Review: Debut 10-Inch from Weekend

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With the feel of a desperate man at his breaking point, beseeching an immeasurable abyss, Weekend’s debut 10-inch EP is a considerable needle to thread though the ear. Though fuzz inadequately describes the level of distortion on the guitars, Weekend’s hypnotic noise-rock owes much to A Place to Bury Strangers and the traditions of My Bloody Valentine and Yo La Tengo, but imbues the complexity of that shrill, droning musical style with the tender naïveté of best of saccharine pop melody.

Rocking back and forth like a hand on a cradle, “All American” opens up the EP with equal parts penetrating guitar and a lulling rhythm and melody line. It has the soothing quality of falling asleep with your head next to an open window in a car speeding down the highway. As the song progresses and the guitars layer, Weekend creates an intricate space of almost white noise in which the listener may wander about. There is much to explore in the delicate layers of texture, while a disembodied voice continuously ask us where we are going.

Flipping over, “Youth Haunts” opens up with a piercing squeal that rang through my apartment, startling me and waking the neighbor’s baby. Needless to say, he wasn’t happy. With a driving melody like pistons slamming, “Youth Haunts” ebbs and flows like an elaborate sea of noise. Between the two I’d say this is my favorite. Though both have a lot to offer, “Youth Haunts” has wraith-like eeriness to it with several lovely different sounds to seek out in each listen.

Permeated with tangible chills, Weekend’s EP is certainly not for the faint of heart. Layered in textures of fuzz and distortion, this EP offers as much as it asks from the listener and should be a part of any noise-connoisseur’s collection.

 

-Ada Lann

Weekend’s debut 10-inch can be purchased here from Mexican Summer.  Download cards are available with purchase.

 

New England

Deli New England Showcase #2!

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deliposter

Deli New England is proud to announce a showcase for the ages. On Friday March 19th at the Armory Cafe, Dan Blakeslee, Brendan Hogan and Jenee Halstead come together to offer a sample of some of Boston’s best folk. Blakeslee, a self-described "Artist Musician Type", designs the flyers for each show he plays (see above). He carries the non-nonsense attitude of Johnny Cash, while holding a soft Dylan-esque spirit. Hogan just celebrated the release of his first album, Long Night Coming in January which was well-received. You can read the interview we did with him HERE. Halstead teeters on the rural side of the folk spectrum. Like her influences, Emmylou Harris and Patty Griffin, her songs are wise and saccharine with audible roots in the past. We are very excited to present these fine, fine musicians. Dan will be selling his art at the show as well. The Armory is a short walk from Davis Sq T stop on the Red line or Union Sq. There is free parking in the back of the building. It is a large white castle-type building. Can’t miss it, just like you can’t miss this show! 

BUY TICKETS HERE

Friday, March 19th – 7:30pm – Arts at the Armory Cafe – 191 Highland Ave. Somerville, MA – 7$ – All ages

–The Deli Staff

 

Philadelphia

Locals Get Funky at World Café Live March 12

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If you’ve had a long week and just feel like lettin’ loose and gettin’ funky, World Café Live has a local bill that is sure to rain down some horns on you. Looks like kicking off the night will be Black Landlord. This is why you know it’s going to be an ass-shakin’ night. These seasoned pros, who could actually headline and bring the house down on their own, are taking the early slot to get the party started. They’ll let the young bucks, The Hustle and Swift Technique, close out the evening. The Hustle are led by WXPN lyrical darling MC Kuf Knotz and vocalist La Ru, whose fun-lovin’ energy is infectious. Backed by a group of learned musicians and friends, their polished sound finds new heads nodding with approval at each gig. And you know Swift Technique would like nothing more than to perform a funkified marathon set leaving it all out on the stage. For you older heads, go home take a nap after work and get yourself ready while the younger cats will be rolling in from multiple happy hours. Either way, get yourselves ready! World Café Live (Downstairs), 3025 Walnut St., 8pm, $15, All Ages – H.M. Kauffman

 

L.A.

Moonrats live in Spaceland for month of March

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Wondering what to do next week when all your favorite L.A. bands pack their bags and fly the coop to Austin’s SXSW festival? Easy—Spaceland’s Monday-night residency features a palatable blend of indie grunge, experimental bubble-gum pop, and hand-clap folk. The Moonrats will play gratis in front of the sparkly curtain for the next three Mondays, joined by other L.A. notables Corridor on the 15th, He’s My Brother, She’s My Sister on the 22nd, and Pizza! and Warpaint on the 30th. So you don’t have to go through withdrawal for very long.

 
Chicago

Far & Near

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The latest ep from Panda Riot, Far & Near, maintains their signature wall-of-sound sonic base, but pushes their sound into a cleaner more developed realm. There is a driving undercurrent of pure pop sounds that makes this ep more accessible than anything else the band has done. The first track that jumps out in this way is “Motown Glass” and in fact this sonic cocktail and name sake fuzz is almost completely gone on this one. The song instead is driven by this funky drummer, this groove that hadn’t been present in their prior releases. It so exciting to see a band progress and grow into style like this, and Panda Riot is still growing and changing with show and song.

Panda Riot will release Far & Near on May 11th. This is their first release since 2007’s She Dares All Things.

NYC

NYC Artists on the rise: Fan-Tan – CD release at Mercury on 03.26

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Fan-Tan’s origins lie in the college town of Chapel Hill, N.C., which has sparked the musical careers of the likes of Superchunk and Archers of Loaf and more recently, The Love Language. The quintet’s distinctive “city” sound – dark, mysterious and alluring – probably disoriented the town’s residents and sonically clashed with other local musicians. Now based in Brooklyn, Fan-Tan is comfortably playing shows with artists that compliment its synth-pop sound such as Cale Parks and Led Er Est. On the band’s second EP “The Age of Discovery,” the urgent vocals compel the vivid guitar and looming bass with an overlay of atmospheric, subtle synths. The music is full of dramatics and tension, and it has an unyielding ability to remain in listeners’ heads for days. To celebrate the release of “The Age of Discovery,” Fan-Tan will be playing with New Zealand’s Surf City at the Mercury Lounge on March 26. Tickets are $10. – Nancy Chow