Portland

Havania Whaal Tour Fundraiser with Mascaras 4.12.14

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So what is a Havania Whaal? Havania Wall? Whale? Wail?

Drummer Noelle Magia says she and her band/housemates Kelly A.D. and Paul Billy were just having fun. "Just words we made up" she says, "we like seeing how people say it/spell it. " Whatever it is, their EP Chateau de Chienne is a full bodied vintage of  brood-gaze. There is a touch of pop, a little spice, and a nice long finish in lo-fi. Some tracks such as "Foine"indulge in sing-song "get your motor running" anthems, but mostly the band is moving in a heavier direction. "Real Surreal", "Moths", and "Codeine Dreams" are examples; building on heavy bass and dead-pan choruses with a swirl of feedback threatening in the background, then lashing into alternating rhythms and bang-out basement rock. 
 
Havania Whaal plays Habesha April 12th to raise funds for their East coast tour which starts later this month at NYC’s The Cake Shop. Also on the bill Saturday at Habesha are Máscaras, Love And Caring, and Muzzy. Go fill your ears with guitar fuzz and give them some money. – Brandy Crowe

NYC

PremRock celebrates release party for album ‘A Clean, Well-Lighted Place,’ at Spike Hill, tonight (04.11)

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PremRock, formerly Premonition, has been through the gamut from nyc stages to showcases worldwide. His new album, ‘A Clean, Well-Lighted Place,’ speaks to the places he’s been and the procession of friendly couches and hotel rooms he’s graced on the way. The beats bang with ferocious fervor echoing the MCs indelible tenacity. PremRock is a talented storyteller and he needs a clean, well-lighted place to spin his yarns. He moves easily from a back and forth exposition about a troubled youth in “Criminal Childish” to a philosophical introspection on the price of one’s dreams in “Juliet has Survived.” Rife with thoughtful jewels and trunk-knocking rhythms, this ‘Place’ is a welcome addition to Prem’s already impressive catalog. He celebrates the release tonight at Spike Hill in Williamsburg at 8pm.

NYC

Album review: My Brothers & Sisters – Violet Music: Volume I

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My Brothers & Sisters is the brainchild and passion project of Jamie Searle. Since deciding to leave his former band—It’s Over—to increase his knowledge of music, Jamie has been studying and working to compose, perform, and record Violet Music: Volume I.

 
My Brother & Sisters is a large band reminiscent of the soul revues of the 1960s. Weighing in at a staggering 15 members, the band presses right into the listener with a force embodying Phil Spector’s wall of sound. Violet Music: Vol I lifts off with “Fall Winter Spring & Summer.” Insistent horns and punching guitar pull the listener in immediately. Try not to move. I dare you. Pay no mind to the lyrics seriously challenging you to follow your passion; you will dance whether you mean to or not.
 
From the frenetic pace of the opening track, the sparer “If Once”opens with just Searle’s voice. Soon the band joins in and fills out the song that focuses on a person’s search to balance priorities in life. “How to Move, What to Wear” departs from the established mood, floating in sultry and straightforward. It has a very Sade “By Your Side” vibe.
 
Keening strings welcome persistent percussion as Searle’s voice takes on an almost Jack White sensibility in “In My Sights.” “I’ll Be Leaving with You,” with its delicate string arrangement, beckons you to listen as Searle’s voice—subdued and intimate—like he’s singing to you alone in a crowded room trying to convince you to take him home. The smooth edges of “You Should Have Known” slide in and out of focus. Searle offers a cautionary tale poured in the calmest of voices served up with an I-told-you-so chaser. “Pillow Bella” has a Bollywood feel with the harmonies and pulsating rhythm of a Technicolor dance number. “The Devil & I” is that track you want to play when you get in the car after a long day—complex and mellow. I can see you now, windows down, singing along, “try to relax.”
 
My Brothers & Sisters sends us on our way with “In You I Find.”Sparing, compared to the rest of the album, this track seems lonely, like it is sitting on a fire escape in the rain, a love song fighting with the notion of all that has happened to the lovers before. This is a get-up-and-move record. Whether it is a slow dance or something to shake to depends onto which track you drop the needle.

My Brothers & Sisters are releasing Violet Music: Volume I tomorrow night, April 12, at The Mission Theatre. The show is all ages and features DJ Joc Max. Doors open at 7:30 p.m. Facebook event page. Also, 10% of the proceeds from Violet Music will be graciously donated to Midwest Music Foundation.
 
—Angela Lupton
 
Angela is Executive Director of Midwest Music Foundation.
 
 
 

 

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NYC

Album review: The Quivers – Hot Young Mess

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(Photo by Lindsy Dugan)
 
You have to admire a band that starts an album off with a song that most bands would end theirs with. A gospel-shoutin’ barn burner of a song called "Come Take My Hand" kicks off The Quivers’ second long-player. This is definitely a band that has confidence in their material. The obvious question after you hear this song is: “How can they top this?" Luckily for us all, they do.
 
The new release Hot Young Mess is a blast of early rock and roll that never lets up from the first track to the last. This band knows the fundamental rules of real rock and roll: hit ’em hard, make it fast, and move on to the next song. Nothing on this album is over 4 minutes long; most songs clock in between two and three minutes. If a rock and roll song takes more than three minutes, it’s overstayed its welcome. Other than a cover of "Little Red Book" with Love’s arrangement, all the songs on this record are composed by the band. 
Vocalist/bassist Terra Skaggs is a force of nature. Her voice is reminiscent of Lavern Baker’s as she romps through "Love Me Or Leave It," for instance, or she can rip it up like Little Richard on "(Come On) Let’s Maybe." You can tell by listening to this album that the band is road-tested and has hit its stride. The rhythm section of Skaggs on bass and Bernie Dugan on drums is locked in. Guitarist Abe Haddad has learned to play within the rhythm like all good rock and roll guitarists, and when it’s time for him to step out as on the title track, he shows he’s got chops to spare (note: Desmond Poirier has taken over on guitar since the album was recorded). To my ears, keyboardist Todd Grantham is the anchor of the band. Whether it’s a gospel organ sound on "Come Take My Hand," the wonderful cheesy Farfisa sound on "Guaranteed," or the rockin’ piano on "It Ain’t You, Hon" (on which he would make the ghost of the Big Bopper smile with his lead vocal), his keyboard work is the foundation of the band’s sound. 
 
This album is one of the best pure rock and roll albums to ever come out of KC. Hearing the intensity of this album, one can only imagine how much more intense they are live. You can find out this Saturday at the Brick when they debut this record in concert at their cd release party. Bring your saddle shoes and get ready to dance. That’s what real rock and roll does—it makes you move your feet and rocks your soul, and The Quivers deliver. 
 

 
Join The Quivers as they celebrate the release of Hot Young Mess at The Brick tomorrow, April 12, with special guests The Bad Ideas and Schwervon!. Facebook event page.
 
—Barry Lee

Barry is the host of KKFI 90.1 FM’s Signal To Noise, which broadcasts on Sundays from 8 to 10 p.m.

 

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Philadelphia

Weekend Warrior, April 11-13

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Tonight might be the biggest show in Modern Baseball’s short and exciting existence.  The band, which began as collaboration between insert names two young songwriters, has flourished, in just a couple years becoming one of the most talked about bands around.  The quartet recently released their second album You’re Gunna Miss It All, on Run For Cover Records.  The album firmly places itself in the present with references to Instagram and Iphones, but feels timeless in the way it captures the wandering, borderless years of twenty-somethings. The sound can be placed somewhere between the quirk-rock of They Might Be Giants, and the earnest folk-punk of The Front Bottoms, but the inability to firmly position them in a genre is a large part of their appeal. Their run of success landed them on a tour with The Wonder Years, who are rolling into a SOLD OUT Electric Factory.  They probably could have sold out two nights, so this place is sure to be packed to the brim. 

 
Check out what else is going on this weekend…
 
Johnny Brenda’s (1201 N. Frankford Ave.) FRI Bang, Serpent Throne, The Company Corvette,  SAT Bird Watcher, Vita and The Woolf
 
The Boot & Saddle(1131 S. Broad St.) FRI Work Drugs, Teen Men SAT Into It. Over It. (Acoustic)
 
Kung Fu Necktie (1250 N. Front St.) FRI Address, Podacter SAT Flightschool, The Yuzh; Space Drugs, Baker Man, Alarms & Controls SUN Roof Doctor, Outer Spaces, Olive Drab, Candice Martello
  
World Café Live (3025 Walnut St.) SAT Levee Drivers
  
MilkBoy Philly (1100 Chestnut St.) FR John Francis
 
Electric Factory (421 N. 7th St.) SAT The Wonder Years, Modern Baseball 
 
North Star Bar (2639 Poplar St.) FRI Future Rock, The Beating, The Manhattan Project SAT 8Static 3F
 
Union Transfer (1026 Spring Garden St.) SAT Bardo Pond
 
Ortlieb’s Lounge (847 N. 3rd St.) FRI Tin Horses, Strawman, BE. Godfrey & Co SAT The Shackeltons, Hot Jam Factory, A Deer A Horse SUN Philly Cannons
 
Connie’s Ric Rac (1132 S. 9th St.) FRI Andrew Winter & The Reckless Dodgers, Big Stall, Pulling Punches SAT Barbaric, Wise Guys, Bunny, Savage Doom Whore, Spinechain, Come And Get It
 
Fergie’s (1214 Sansom St.) FRI Jen Hess & Hotch, Roi & The Secret Police SAT Dave Steel Blues Band SUN Rusty Cadillac
 
The Grape Room (105 Grape St.) FRI Local Smokes, Andrew Jude, Matt Gauss, Too Hot for Sleeves SAT Somewhere South, The Funky T, Chronic Wolf
 

Ardmore Music Hall (23 E Lancaster Ave.) SAT Johnny Showcase And The Mystic Ticket, Martha Graham Cracker
 

Great Indoors (Please contact one of the acts or venue for more info.) FRI The Ambulars, Jason Anderson, Thin Lips

 
The Pharmacy (Please contact one of the acts or venue for more info.) SAT Albis, The Fantastic Imagination, Overly Polite Tornadoes, Trifels, Tender Vision
Philadelphia

New Track: “I’m Already There” – Lux Perpetua

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Check out the first nimble track from Lux Perpetua’s upcoming album, Hehebehdehbehbehdeh, out May 29th on Color Theory Records. The man behind the band, Justin Wolfe, tracked all the instruments to make and intimate, introspective folk tune. For “I’m Already There”, he enlisted backing vocals from Amelia Meath.  Stream the track below.  
 

Philadelphia

Work Drugs Kick Off Tour at Boot and Saddle April 11

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Warm up your summer blood tonight at Boot and Saddle as Work Drugs kicks of their April tour. Drawing inspiration from boating, sexting, dancing, and yachting, Work Drugs was dreamed up by Thomas Crystal and Benjamin Louisiana while sailing the Baja of Mexico.  Since 2011, they have been churning out releases and toured nationally with Two Door Cinema Club and Maps & Atlases. Recently, Work Drugs released their newest single “Half Love,” off of their latest album Insurgents, which you can check out below. They’ll been joined by the visually infused synth pop of Teen Men. This Philly/Delaware collaboration of Spinto Band’s Nick Krill and Joe Hobson and visual artists Catharine Maloney and Albert Birney features video projections in their live set.  Check out Teen Men’s new video "The Sea, The Sea" directed by Silvio Bernardi. Boot and Saddle, 1131 S. Broad Street, 8pm, $10, 21+ – Jaime Pannone 
 

NYC

From The Deli NYC’s submissions: The Nepotist

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Who says you can’t find gritty rock soul in New York anymore? For The Nepotist, they’ve made our town home to the sound of Delta blues, tied with a bow to the down-home hard-hitting rock that The Black Keys are mixed up with, and screwed tight with a groove that could only come from a pair of musicians who have been working together for some time now. For these two brothers, the songs come naturally, with enough feel between them each to even do a pretty convincing cover of Bill Withers’ ‘Ain’t No Sunshine.’ Check out latest track and video ‘Firehouse’ below (it’s a Deli premiere!), and join them when they play Cameo Gallery on Thu, Apr 17th. – Mike Levine (@Goldnuggets)

This band submitted their music for coverage here.

L.A.

Mike Sempert plays Hotel Cafe on 4.16

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Mike Sempert is better known as the songwriter and frontman of Birds & Batteries, a Bay Area duo that fused slinky electro-pop with proggy, seventies soft rock. So it doesn’t come as much of a surprise that Serpent has scaled down the electronic contours of that project to follow a more natural sound. In the months leading to his move from the Bay Area to Los Angeles Sempert wrote the entirety of his debut full-length Mid Dream, an introspective reflection of that transitional period. It offers a faithful portrait of a hopeful transplant determined to make his move with the drifting, shimmering sounds of Americana at his side. Sempert will be playing a couple of shows in the West Coast, starting with an appearance at Hotel Cafe on April 16.