Philadelphia

Weekend Warrior, January 24 – 26

Posted on:
Self-classified riot grrls Cayetana play indie rock meant for high volumes, with punk styling that lacks the anger typical to the genre. Instead, that rage is replaced by wistfulness – but don’t think that makes their music any less impactful. Singer Augusta Koch croons over fast paced riffs, all the while sharing poignant lyrics that call for a second listen. Rollicking music coupled with rousing, and oft nostalgia-inducing, lyricism is what the band does best, and they have fun doing it. (Check out what I’m talking about in their video for "Hot Dad Calendar" HERE!) Headlining this Sunday’s bill at the First Unitarian Church is Waxahatchee, the rock moniker of indie darling Katie Crutchfield. Her project specializes in storytelling – each song a direct address to the listener, like Crutchfield’s whispering a tale for your ears only. Intense intimacy is the hallmark of Waxahatchee’s music, and last years LP, Cerulean Salt, didn’t stray from the pattern: raw honesty rasped over simple guitar lines that flow from one tale to the next. Also performing is local garage-pop outfit, Heavy Bangs, who create lo-fi songs of personal empowerment; they don’t need to shout for their message to pack a wallop. And Columbus, Ohio pop-punk group All Dogs will round out the lineup, bringing a crashing of cymbals and heavy guitar to the stage. First Unitarian Church, 2125 Chestnut St., 8pm, $10, All Ages  – Shaylin O’Connell
 
 
Other places to not freeze your ass off this weekend…
 
Johnny Brenda’s (1201 N. Frankford Ave.) FRI Belgrade, Darling Specter
 
The Boot & Saddle (1131 S. Broad St.) FRI Banned Books, Son Step, Laser Background, Bad Braids
 
PhilaMOCA (531 N. 12th St.) SAT Pizza Face
 
Kung Fu Necktie (1250 N. Front St.) FRI (Early) Esoterica, Ashencult, SUN Underwater Country Club, Pill Friends, Pine Barons
 
Underground Arts (1200 Callowhill St.) FRI Sean Hoots Trio, Travel Lanes, SAT VOSS
 
World Café Live (3025 Walnut St.) FRI Swift Technique, Ju-Taun, SAT Omnivox, Civil Holdup, Honor, Emma Cullen, SUN Jerry Joseph
 
The Fire (412 W. Girard Ave.) FRI The Pretty Greens, Outside Eyes, SAT Paige Allbritton, Emmettt Drueding, SUN Pro Post Time, Snagwing, Candice Martello
 
MilkBoy Philly (1100 Chestnut St.) FRI Thee, Idea Men, The Rivals
 
Ortlieb’s Lounge (847 N. 3rd St.) FRI (Early) Jump Winter Issue Launch Party w/Ali Wadsworth, SUN New Sound Brass
 
North Star Bar (2639 Poplar St.) FRI A Victim of Good Times, Satellite Go, Lo Power Plane
 
Silk City (435 Spring Garden St.) SUN Lo Power Plane, Beyonder
 
M Room (15 W. Girard Ave.) FRI Venice Sunlight, Curtis Jr., Brian Fitzy, Sonnder, Ego Alien, SAT Bastards of Earle, Chris Zurich, Angel Ocana
 
Fergie’s (1214 Sansom St.) SAT (Early) Kevin Killen Happy Hour, (Late) Eli August and the Abandon Buildings, SUN Rusty Cadillac
 
The Legendary Dobbs (304 South St.) SUN Zymotic Flow
 
Connie’s Ric Rac (1132 S. 9th St.) SAT Khalid Quesada, Fantastic Planet, Amber Ladd
 
Voltage Lounge (421 N. 7th St.) SAT Trust The Medic (formerly Face Two Face)
 
JR’s (2327 Croskey St.) FRI The Makeshift Uprising, Alberta’s Court, Bite Size Giant
 
The Grape Room (105 Grape St.) FRI The Great Endangered, Montoj, SAT Pete Grotch, Abilities, Katya Blue
 
Ardmore Music Hall (23 E. Lancaster Ave.) FRI Orion Freeman
 
Flux (30 S. 33rd St.) FRI DRGN King, SHMNS
 
Golden Tea House (Please contact one of the acts or venue for more info.) SAT No Time, Low Charge, Martin
 
Mount Thrashmore (Please contact one of the acts or venue for more info.) FRI Secret Plot to Destroy the Entire Universe, Commonwealth
 
LAVA Space (Please contact one of the acts or venue for more info.) SUN Swarm
 
Don’t Tread On Me House (Please contact one of the acts or venue for more info.) FRI Family Vacation, Besting Tensions, The Jawn, Jantones
 
4QHQ (Please contact one of the acts or venue for more info.) FRI Batworm, New Crime
 
The Mitten (Please contact one of the acts or venue for more info.) FRI Benefit for Women Against Abuse w/Ex By V, Amanda X, See-Through Girls, Mermaid Parade
 
Colde Club (Please contact one of the acts or venue for more info.) SAT The Downtown Club
NYC

Walk The Plank: First Place in The Deli’s 2013 Best of DC Area’s Year End Readers’ Poll.

Posted on:

DC’s Walk The Plank are keeping the hardcore punk they grew up with in the city alive and well. Forming in 2010, they’ve played a blistering amount of shows (literally hundreds), and their persistence is paying off with a strong following in the community. In 2013 they released a split 7” with Supreme Commander. In May of 2014 they will release yet another split 7”, this time with Daycare Swindlers. Walk the Plank play ALL THE TIME, so keep an eye on the listings and you’ll see them soon. Upcoming local shows include 2/7 at the Sidebar in Baltimore (for RABTFest), 3/11 at DC9 in DC, and 3/12 at Strange Matter in Richmond. 

L.A.

Zig Zags play Jam in the Van Live Taping at The Bootleg 1/25

Posted on:

No need to rub the sleep from your eyes, you read that right. Tomorrow morning, Saturday January 25, Jam in the Van will present a live taping session at the Bootleg. It’s apparently Free and open to the public. It’s as good a reason as any to work those day drinking muscles just in time to build up your stamina for SXSW and the rest of the festival season. Taping kicks off at 11am with The Silent Comedy, followed by performances from Great White Buffalo, Roses, Zig Zags, and Tara Fox. Our 2013 Emerging Band of the Year, Zig Zags, play at 3:30pm, which will surely give you enough time to shake off Friday night’s regrets. The band has been releasing singles, 7"s, covers (with Iggy Pop no less), cassettes, and re-issues over the past two years, but 2014 has come, and the wait for their full length release is anticipated to be over. Rumors, confirmed in interviews and from photos on their facebook page, of a Ty Segall-engineered album have been buzzing. From the looks of it, the as-yet un-named LP, set for release sometime in the spring, seem more real than ever before. Especially since they’ve been dubbed "One to Watch in 2014" by both LA Weekly and CMJ. Check out this live video of a brand new song, "Voice of the Paranoid," recorded at Converse Rubber Tracks Studio to get a taste of what you’re in for. – Jacqueline Caruso

Chicago

Deep Freeze Festival

Posted on:

Epitonic’s Deep Freeze Festival kicks off one week from today, Jan 31st and Feb. 1st. Spanning three venue around Wicker Park, Subterranean, Double Door, and Public Work’s Gallery, the event will include performance by some of the best up and coming bands from around the city while mixing in an element of comedy. You can find the full line up here, but some of the band’s you will find are Meat Wave, Chandeliers, Secret Colours, Wedding Dress, Carbon Tigers, Pillars & Tongues, and many more.

NYC

Modern Merchant Reinvents the Beach One Wave at a Time

Posted on:

If you feel that beach time music has been overwhelmed by an invasion of washy guitars and falsetto , then it’s time to look for alternatives to Beach House. While Modern Merchant runs miles with these trademarks, the quartet also allows room for strings, keys, and even a clarinet solo. And they do all this while keeping the tone light and breezy for their new EP ‘For The Fields.’ It’s a surprisingly broad and adventurous record, but it would still do you just as well if you’re more interested in getting some time laying on the hammock instead. Listen below and see them when play at Baby’s All Right, next Thursday, Jan 30th. – Mike Levine (@Goldnuggets)

Portland

Modern Kin at Rontoms 1.26

Posted on:

Modern Kin plays Rontoms on the 26th and promises quite the show. Having trimmed from a four to a three-piece in 2012, the group took time to re-orient sonic priorities and spit out a raucous self-titled debut in late 2013 off their own label, Amigo/Amiga. Drummer Jeremiah Hayden claims this was “a record of growth” in which they “wanted to introduce more rhythm and movement in the drums and the bass.” Mission accomplished. Each song is a call to arms, a lesson in combustion, a manifesto to the mundane. In songs like “Unannounced”, singer Drew Grow shout-sings with Win Butler-like vibrato while in “Wicked Crush”, the vocals seep and seethe paired with sinister (yet still catchy) instrumentals. In “Abandon”, Grow wails, “Our desperation isn’t beautiful, but here it is, so let’s say it is.” An apt summary for Modern Kin’s frenzied rock that hits like welcomed pummels to the eardrums. – Ted Jamison

Chicago

Rebecca Rego & The Trainmen

Posted on:

Rebecca Rego is back and fronting a band called The Trainmen. Rebecca is an incredible singer/songwriter and we last saw her with her band simply called Rego. The new album, Tolono, will be released on Feb. 11th and two of the tracks can be streamed below.

You can catch Rebecca Rego & The Trainmen at The Hideout on Feb. 27th with Miles Nielsen & The Rusted Hearts.

NYC

OMG! Brooklyn’s “The O” releases new video, “OMG”

Posted on:

Is it art pop or artful synth pop? Is it the soundtrack to a Korean noir thriller? Is it what heroine sounds like? Does The Weekend know he might have competition both in the video field as well as the aural? Brooklyn’s “The O,” comprised of virtuoso drummer Avishai Rosen and vocalist/producer Omer Schonberger, embrace their weird in a way that makes you feel better about exploring yours. In their new video for “OMG,” the beat drops at 2:48 causing the vibe to deepen and clenche it’s haunting teeth. As you explore the gnaw, it entrances you like shoes clunking around in a drier and in the end your bruises look like flowers and smell like fabric softener. – Broke MC

Philadelphia

Locals Only Keeping Philly Weird at The Boot & Saddle Jan. 24

Posted on:
Helping to keep Philly weird is the strangely awesome collection of local acts performing at The Boot & Saddle tonight. First up is the talented songstress Megan Biscieglia, who enchants listeners under the moniker Bad Braids. She’ll be presenting her brand of psychedelic folk, which edges on the vocal-centric madrigal. Following is the danciest acts of the evening, which is kind of odd for me to say, Laser Background. The band took a bit of a holiday break towards the end of last year to help recharge as they work on a more focused sound for their upcoming album. Alliterative sleepwalkers, Son Step, fall in line as direct support for the genre-bending noisemakers, Banned Books, who will be closing out the evening. These two musical mad scientists mix crunchy distortion with unexpected, instrumental spazz-outs to produce something bizarre, yet wonderfully inviting. Get yourself ready, South Philly! The Boot & Saddle, 1131 S. Broad St., 9pm, $10, 21+ – Maggie Grabmeier
 
Philadelphia

DRGN King & SHMNS Helping to Blow Off Some Steam at Flux Jan. 24

Posted on:

It’s been a whole year since DRGN King released their debut LP Paragraph Nights (Bar/None) and toured the country a couple times over. After such a breakout year in 2013, the band is ready to start off 2014 with bang tonight at Drexel University’s music and art space Flux. DRGN King will most likely be previewing some new jams that they’ve been putting the finishing touches on for their upcoming album. They will also be joined by SHMNS, who had a good 2013 as well traveling around the U.S. in support of their EP Somewhere Between Hear and There. Well, school is back in session so expect to see students blowing off some steam this evening. Flux, 30 S. 33rd St., 8pm, $5, All Ages – Bill McThrill