Striving for a bigger sound, the brothers McGowan (The Tea Club) enlisted the help of whimsical divas like Vinchelle Woods and Kate Foust as well as a cavalcade of talented musical misfits to form a new project in Virtual Virgin. They also recruited the help of other multimedia experts to create a barrage for the senses! Of course, the fact that their music often sounds like the end result of David Bowie brainstorming in a room with LCD Soundsystem and Massive Attack doesn’t hurt either. And when they play much beloved DIY space The Ox tonight, it’s guaranteed to feel like your walking into a whole other world altogether. To help them set the mood for the evening will be the folk-y new side project from Da Comrade! maestro Fletcher T. VanVliet, On the Water, which we have particular fondness for, and artsy indie pop Brooklyn outfit The Lisps. The Ox, (you should know by now or ask a friend), 8pm, $5, 21+

 

More shows to tantalize the senses…

 

Johnny Brenda’s (1201 N. Frankford Ave.) SAT Girls Rock Philly 2nd Annual Album Release Show

 

Kung Fu Necktie (1250 N. Front St.) SUN East Hundred and Turning Violet Violet

 

North Star Bar (2639 Poplar St.) FRI Levee Drivers and Andrew Jude, SUN Cheap Seats

 

The Fire (412 W. Girard Ave.) FRI Goodnight Lights, SAT Parachuting Apostles and Hamburger Hunt

 

Tritone (1508 South St.) FRI G. Calvin Weston, SAT Attia Taylor and Bells Bells Bells

 

Danger Danger Gallery (5013 Baltimore Ave.) FRI Dry Feet, SAT Creeping Weeds

 

Millcreek Tavern (4200 Chester Ave.) FRI Kickin Bear

 

The Trocadero (1003 Arch St.) FRI Rasputin’s Secret Police and Karma Bat

 

JR’s Bar (2327 S. Croskey St.) FRI Kelly & The Ruths, Charlotte Littlehales

 

The Blockley Pourhouse (3801 Chestnut St.) SAT Tommy Conwell & The Young Rumblers

 

Murph’s Bar (202 E. Girard Ave.) SAT The Tea Club and The Nonstop Mints

 

Fergie’s (1214 Sansom St.) FRI Hired Guns Blues Band, SAT 722 Presents

 

Raven Lounge (1718 Sansom St.) FRI Clotworthy

 

Connie’s Ric Rac (1132 S. 9th St.) FRI Lightninging

 

The Barbary (951 N. Frankford St.) FRI Brown Recluse

 

The Rotunda (4014 Walnut St.) FRI Landing Pad

 

A classy take on ‘80s synth-pop and the opener to Attia Taylor’s Short Stories & Small Glories EP, “She’s a Mad Scientist” feels high-tech and retro, pairing precise vocals with fuzzy repeats via a Bill Nye flavored sample of the word “scientist”. Like quirky one-hit wonder – Thomas Dolby’s claim to fame (a.k.a. “She Blinded Me with Science”), Taylor’s clever spin on the focal point of its narrative breathes probable life to the illustrious “she” behind Dolby’s track. The thumping start of “Did I Look Like Myself” brings to mind acts like The Blow with its rhythmic pulse and lyrical brevity. Sincere and emotive, Taylor’s outlook springs from a point of resilience rather than that of a blind optimist. The words “I can’t predict everything you’re feeling” are followed by an “oh you’re feeling,” proving that Taylor’s concerns are relational, heartfelt. Tricked out with beats befitting M.I.A. (pre-Maya madness), “Make Me a Mixtape” proves to be more inventive than its cutesy title implies. With a blitz of clipped quick drumbeats, the song is multilayered, an audible collage in its own rite. The two-note keyboard intro of “Hezekiah and the Car” stretches like a thread through the song, connecting staccato clicks and resonant beeps, sandwiching catchy hooks and alto ah-ahs in-between. Something in the way Taylor delivers each line draws the listener in, carving her place in the tradition of St. Vincent or The Bird and the Bee. The confessional tell-all style of “Dresses on Tricycles” hums of childhood memories painted in hues of nostalgia and a side of disillusionment. Taylor’s breathy voice croons, “They tell me I’m not pretty enough, pretty enough, I’m not pretty enough”, while swirling instrumentation serves as the backdrop to this intimate candid flashback. Possibly the most emotionally raw track of the EP, the close proximity between Taylor and her audience through “Dresses on Tricycles” duration is skin to skin. Here, it is clear that her willingness to share her past and present with strangers through her songs makes her invincible and brave. With the same brilliant creative intuition of Elizabeth Ziman or the overplayed Ingrid Michaelson, Attia Taylor’s Short Stories & Small Glories is pretty enough and more. You can download the album for FREE here.

 

Attia Taylor will be sharing a Sugar Town bill this Saturday Nov. 6 at Tritone with Bells Bells Bells and Hilly Eye (featuring Amy Klein from Titus Andronicus) as well as Sara Marcus, who will be reading excerpts from and discussing her book Girls to the Front: The True Story of the Riot GRRRL Revolution (check out our recent interview for Where Is My Mind? with Marcus here).

 

Girls to the Front: The True Story of the Riot GRRRL Revolution is a lyrical narrative chronicling the powerful, and often misconstrued, radical ‘90s feminist era of Riot Grrrl. Written by Brooklyn writer and former Philly resident and City Paper contributor, Sara Marcus, it’s an unyielding movement, as the book suggests, “of pissed-off girls with no patience for sexism and no intention of keeping quiet”. Five years and 150 interviews later, Marcus uses an authoritative but prosaic voice to tell the tale through the intertwining stories of the girls on the frontlines of Riot Grrrl, making art and music, piecing together ‘zines, holding meetings, organizing conventions and doing whatever activism was needed to get the message across of female empowerment and that violence and discrimination against women are not OK. The Deli had a chance to chat with Marcus, who will read and discuss the book this Saturday for this month’s Sugar Town installment at Tritone, about Girls to the Front, what Riot Grrrl means as a scene and a movement and the future of feminism here.

 

Were you saddened by The Spectrum shutting down? Was it the place where you saw your first concert? Led Zeppelin? Eric Clapton? The Grateful Dead? Prince? Dr. J? Ron Hextall? Well, you can have your very own piece of the historic venue this Saturday! They’ll be holding an event called “If You Can Carry It, You Can Keep It”. It runs from 9am until noon, and for $25, you get a “commemorative Spectrum crystal” and access to all the memorabilia that you can get your grubby little hands on. But the catch is you can’t bring in any equipment (hand trucks, tools, etc.) to help you pry the items from the cold lifeless building, and there is no re-entry once you leave with your goodies. Tickets go on sale at 8am Saturday morning. Also, first come; first serve. So how dedicated/crazy are you? – The Deli Staff

 

Here’s a new music video from The National Rifle for “In the Weeds” from their recent album Vanity Press. It was created with the help of their buddies from Makeshift Media, and was filmed in and around Philly with special thanks to Danger Danger Gallery where they recorded a bunch of it. Can you guess the four bands that they are imitating? They’ll be performing Nov. 13 at Johnny Brenda’s w/Cheers Elephant and The New Connection for Bornpilot’s 7” release party (that’s what she said). (Photo by Tyler R. Westnedge) – The Deli Staff