MC5 founder Wayne Kramer is celebrating the 50th anniversary of Kick Out the Jams, and is currently on tour for this momentous occasion, backed by Brendan Canty (Fugazi), Kim Thayil (Soundgarden), Billy Gould (Faith No More), and Marcus Durant (Zen Guerrilla). Next Saturday, September 15, they’ll be making a stop in Philly at our beloved Union Transfer, where Kramer and the gang will also be sharing the stage with fellow Motor City garage rockers The Detroit Cobras and local punk duo Pinkwash. To enter for a chance to win a pair of tix, just send an email to thedelimagazinephiladelphia@gmail.com with the subject line "MC50". Please also include your cell number in the body of the message (in case of an emergency). Good luck!

Monday Night Raw, the debut EP from Long Hots, organically brews a basement boogie. Infused with a healthy dose fuzz, the songs rhythmically thump and expand, providing a refreshing, reassuring, garage-rock vibe that is both familiar and ferocious. On Friday, September 14, the all-female power trio will be concluding a run of southern tour dates with a performance at Philadelphia Record Exchange, supported by The Writhing Squares. So make sure to grab a sixer & welcome them home!

Indie-pop darling Katie Bennett keeps fans spellbound with Free Cake For Every Creature‘s newest LP The Bluest Star. Just as its namesake would suggest, Bennett’s follow-up to 2016’s Talking Quietly of Anything with You is evocative, luminous, and unshakably searing.

With the lo-fi warmth of "Riding into the Sunset in a Busted Car," her fourth LP’s opening track is a raw confession about being young and the desire to belong. Amplified by urgent chords and earnest vocals, The Bluest Star unfolds with a rare fearlessness, making each lyric feel like a testimony to the ups and downs of self-discovery and growing up. Lines like "not everyone’s got a sleeve where they can wear their heart" and "use your pen to find the pieces in the dark" make "Riding into the Sunset in a Busted Car" more of a map than a story, giving listeners a refreshingly frank perspective on how to emotionally cope with the uncertainty of being alive.

The steady swell and backbeat of "Around You" feels like a melodic successor to the frank poetics of Rilo Kiley’s "Science vs. Romance" and the gritty sincerity of Colleen Green’s earliest cuts. A testament to friendship and adolescent adventures, the album’s second offering is nostalgic in a rare and fervent way. Whether the relationship that inspired this song was platonic or romantic, its formative impact on Bennett is obvious from beginning to end. Deeply personal yet universal, “Around You” is an evocative homage to intimacy and the transformative journey of coming of age, while "Whole World Girl" is a self-reflective love song that focuses more on the aftermath of romance rather than its beginning, a narrative choice that makes an already evocative narrative even more arresting. Similarly, "Took a Walk" is a bare-bones yet atmospheric ballad about the past and self-definition, in the wake of a splintered relationship. Here, her lyricism is pragmatic, heart-wrenching, and undeniably relatable.

From its inception, "Sideline Skyline" is unrushed and deliberate, which forces Bennett’s audience to listen closer, to savor each second. When she professes, "I’m nobody’s mother & I don’t have to hold it all together," the track becomes an anthem of defiance and autonomy. "Sunday Afternoon" is succinct yet moving due to Bennett’s apt use of subtle repetition and instrumentation, and "In Your Car" unfolds in a similar fashion, and steadily blooms into a brief yet cinematic song. Equally vivid, the recording is a ready-made favorite for fans of Cat Power circa Moon Pix or Julien Baker’s Sprained Ankle. “In Your Car” is an immersive testament to how even the most ordinary moments can shape a person.

"Tom or Mike or Pat or" and "Hometown Hero" both feel like pages torn from the diary of a teenage realist, while “Christina’s World” and “Goodbye, Unsilently” are tranquil folk melodies in their own rite. Each note amplifies each lyric, making both tracks equally gripping meditations on self-worth and identity – two themes that permeate throughout the album’s end.

Much like its beginning, the record’s conclusion feels deeply personal and honest, which makes the raspy snare of “Be Home Soon” and the stripped-down melody of “Night Music” memorable, even after the album is over. Arresting at every second, The Bluest Star is a brave and impassioned portrait of desire and the power of vulnerability. – Dianca London

Krust Toons: "No, Really" by Tedd Hazard – please feel free to drop him a line at teddandthehazards@gmail.com if you dig or have any funny ideas. You can also check out more of his illustrations and animation shorts HERE.