Stew in the gutturally pensive state of So Totally’s “Zoetrope.” With its soft-spoken yet confrontational vocals, the song seems to shift tones as distorted guitar and percussion push to the front, barreling through. The fledgling trio will be at Kung Fu Necktie on Thursday, March 10, alongside Aphra, Brandon Can’t Dance, and Soft Fangs.
Philadelphia
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New Fantastic Imagination Album Available for Streaming & Purchase
The Fantastic Imagination has released a new collection of songs, Margaret is a Witch, which is available for purchase on cassette and digital formats. The album unifies an experimental prog/psych vibe without straying too far out there. This release sparks the imagination, while allowing one to pleasantly suspend in its magical atmosphere.
Philadelphia
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New Track: “Manfish” – OhBree
On March 11, the troupe of OhBree will release its new EP Feed Me Poison. The album’s first single, “Manfish,” embodies the group’s zany, humor-laden style. It’s a twisted brand of art-pop/rock that captures a youthful and at times, cartoonish joy that will make you crack a smile and add it into your rotation. OhBree will also be playing an EP release show on the evening of the the record’s arrival at Lavender Town as part of the Bernie Sanders benefit Berning Man, which also includes Birthday Ponies, Dead, Fidel SUN, Howlish, and Mumblr. (Photo by Emily Dubin)
Philadelphia
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Gondola 7″ Release Show at Ortlieb’s March 2
Gondola welcomes the arrival of its new 7” Nightmare via Valley King Records tonight at Ortlieb’s. The trio shifts one’s perspective with its “you never know what lies beyond your field of vision" dilemma. Your head is led through the cavernous labyrinth by the twisted spell of a sorcerer’s vocals, heart-thumping backend, which unhesitatingly marches forward, and the sizzling, tumultuous guitar sparking the fire. The possessing, magma-oozing psych-rock of Igneous Eyes and the grim sludgy stomp of The Company Corvette, who have a new EP Never Enough scheduled for release on April 20, round out a lineup that’s ready to shake the foundation of the NoLibs watering hole. Ortlieb’s, 847 N. Third St., 8pm, $10, 21+ – Michael Colavita
Philadelphia
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New Music Video: “Armor” – Banned Books
Art-pop/rock trio Banned Books proves that its art has no bounds in the band’s new music video for the track "Armor." We were trying to figure out if it’d be better to post this before or after lunch. What do you think? Enjoy the cow-tastic footage directed, edited and costumed by Hanna Hamilton – bravo!
Banned Books – "Armor" (official music video) from Hanna Hamilton
Philadelphia
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New Mary Lattimore LP Available for Streaming
Below is a new solo album from experimental harpist Mary Lattimore entitled At the Dam. Named after the essay written by Joan Didion about the Hoover Dam, Lattimore wrote the compositions after a road trip across the U.S. with a friend and her 47-string Lyon & Healy harp, which was funded by the fellowship that she had been awarded by the Pew Center. The tranquil five-song LP is set to come out this Friday, March 4 via Ghostly International, and you can help her celebrate its arrival the following evening at PhilaMOCA, alongside pals Spacin’ and Bachelorette, the synthpop project from New Zealander Annabel Alpers.
Philadelphia
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New When Ships Collide EP Available for Streaming & Download
The trio of When Ships Collide has released a new EP, efficiently titled WSC II. With a show this Saturday at Tralfamadore that also includes Sharkmuffin, The Famines, Secret Nudist Friends, and Post War Dream, the band finds a middle ground of unleashing emotive angst and infectious melodies – a lurking growling ache. It’s raw and refined in the same moment. Their take on Grizzly Bear’s “Two Weeks” is familiar but certainly grittier than where the artsy Brooklyn outfit likes to take it.
Philadelphia
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New Music Video: “Geranimo” – Aphra
The new music video for “Geranimo” by Aphra, a.k.a. Rebecca Way (formerly of Tutlie), initiates with the twinkle of a music box – a luminous visual. Throughout the production, Way and three friends capture an earnest expression of emotion through the beauty of modern dance. The spectrum of light and color shifts, revealing the simplicity and isolation that black & white imagery exposes in contrast to the blank slate/new day at the video’s start. As we await Aphra’s debut EP Sadness Is a Gesture (coming this spring), she’s slated to perform next in Philly on Thursday, March 10 at Kung Fu Necktie with So Totally, Soft Fangs, and Brandon Can’t Dance. (Photo by Megan Matuzak)
Geranimo from Aphra is Aphra
Philadelphia
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The Deli Philly’s March Record of the Month: Ritualize – Lushlife + CSLSX
Lushlife and CSLSX crafted their collaborative LP, Ritualize (Western Vinyl), over a 3-year span. The record offers a fresh perspective with each additional spin, as subtle nuances shift to the forefront.
Album opener, “Total Mutual Understanding,” gradually builds with a cinematic zoom as keys, bass and percussion interact to assert a relaxed, focused course for Raj Haldar to wax poetic. Making way to the airy opening of “The Waking World,” you are smacked with sonic waves from Swedish shoegazers I Break Horses, before crashing with intensity as Lushlife sketches the imagery of Mark David Chapman’s assassination of John Lennon outside the Dakota Hotel, which was inspired by Catcher In The Rye protagonist Holden Caulfield. Touching on a landmark moment, the song hits on a personal note of sorrow.
“Hong Kong (Lady of Love)” pounds the pavement with its slinky 80’s synth pulses, as Ariel Pink’s chorus and a velvety sax temper the determined tunnel-vision delivery, before the murderous electro-funk/soul of “Incantation” takes over. It – someday – will be known as the deep cut that gets all the limbs moving. The amplifying uncertainty of the beat in “Body Double” eventually establishes itself, as an alluring falsetto teases amidst a futuristic Blade Runner-type urgency. Haldar contemplates the reality-shaking nature of a near-death experience… “back to the soil, back to the flower beds… God and the dice tumbles.”
An epic sonic quilt is stitched in “Toynbee Suite,” which was originally recorded for a Shaking Through episode. Enlisting local compatriots RJD2, Yikes The Zero, and Nightlands, the absorbing echo of synth steers into the elegance of strings, and then strolls Philly’s streets. Yikes The Zero takes the mic during the second movement, setting a sprinting pace, which continues as the baton is handed back to Lush. It’s an exhibition of expertly textured production that spreads over expansive territory. The breezy beat of “Strawberry Mansion” takes no time to set the tone – “All I need is Henny, dimes, and bottle blondes – fine the bottom-line.” Trading bars with Philly stalwart Freeway, who brings his customary grimy, steamrolling attack, this hometown homage is honed to take no prisoners.
“This Ecstatic Cult” is a testament to craft, with its slick, cold-as-ice, blue-flamed rhymes. “The fast-talking, city-slicking, hit your betty with looks/I’m better with books and steady rocking elephant hoofs/Rolling uptown the sound, kid, irrelevant hooks.” Aided by Killer Mike, who reinforces the scenario with his own fire, the track cuts with precision – calm, controlled yet ferocious.
Ritualize closes with its title track, bathed in an absorbing, soulful, R&B beat that fits like a secondary skin. The album is an intricate collection of recordings – one that meshes a plethora of sonic surfaces, connecting them in a seamless manner. – Michael Colavita
Philadelphia
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Krust Toons: “Big Shoe Announcement” by Teddy Hazard
Krust Toons: "Big Shoe Announcement" by Teddy 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.
Philadelphia
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New QQQ EP Available for Streaming & Purchase
QQQ‘s latest release, Welcome Home, is a percussive-laden, space-age, psytrance journey, drenched in synth that’ll involuntarily get the blood flowing and subsequently the body moving. Surrounding you with hyperactive beats, the EP shifts into an alternate gear that’s murky yet accessible. You can catch QQQ at Johnny Brenda’s on Sunday, March 6 with Blanck Mass and Valley Exit.
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New Track: “Haunt You” – The Ghost In You
The Ghost In You, a.k.a. Billy Polard, has a new track that is aptly titled "Haunt You." The song aches with heartbreak as Polard’s mellifluous voice bears a concerning narrative. The emotive single is off his upcoming third album Heaven Help Us.