Psychedelic dark-wavers Music for Headphones recently released their latest effort Life.in.Mono, which you can check out and purchase here. But if you are like us and enjoy visuals with your music (and other things), then you can watch as well as listen to the entire album here. Below is a sample of the tripped-out things that you might find with Life.in.Mono. The track is titled "Drive Motorik". – The Deli Staff
“I’m gonna grab me a clown, put its head into the ground, cause it’s habit.” That’s awesome! I hate clowns. What are you hiding behind all that make-up? Well, that is a line from “Kamikaze Blues” (which you can check out a video consisting of live footage and slideshow pics below) by Vilebred, who will be taking the North Star stage this evening and anchoring tonight’s lineup. Led by Sam Vile (yes, Kurt Vile’s younger brother – sorry Sam, that’s going follow you for a while – my friend), the band formed in 2006. However, Vile and bandmates Will Donahue (backing vocals, drums), Paul Donahue (bass) and Jared Pennington (lead guitar) have been creating music for over a decade now ever since they first met in church at a very young age. Vilebred released their debut album Kamikaze Blues on West Chester’s Kind of Columbian Records last year, which also featured backing vocals from the Sisters3. Having been influenced by “demented older siblings”, you can tell Sam’s songwriting flows in the same vein, but generational gaps also help separate the brothers’ musical tastes. So blank out everything that I just said, and simply take a listen for yourself. North Star Bar, 2639 Poplar St., 9pm, 21+ – H.M. Kauffman
“Wishing Well” opens Philly four-piece Creepoid’s latest release Horse Heaven (Ian Records) with foreboding drums and shimmering shakes, creating a threshold of lush orchestration that befittingly frames Sean Miller at the vocal forefront. “Wishing Well” extends audibly as emotively open towards its listener, casting it as a tempered primer to the mood of the album’s progress. Tape music turned nearly folk, Creepoid has evolved from intentionally fuzzed out anthems to empathetic tracks that expand on the band’s strengths while unveiling new instances of melodic genius and concise craft. “Dream Out” begins soft and enchanting, doubling in sound near the two-minute mark with duet worthy repeats of “but I do” compliments of Anna and Pat Troxell. Coupled with psyched out power chords that rip through your soul and Pete Joe Urban’s soaring guitar riffs and strategic reverb, “Dream Out” serves as a lyrical landscape to which Creepoid’s lines are as intelligible as their instrumentation. Like a more brooding Beach House (pre-Teen Dream). The opening tracks of Horse Heaven possess a haunting charm rooted in the band’s ability to nurture their sound as a collective past the predictable. This act of nurturing paints “Staircase” transcendent, its acoustic chords and washed out backup vocals in synergy with quasi-surf rock riffs electrified. Compiling a handful of sub-genre specifications, “Staircase” intermingles an arch of indie tropes, rendering the track much like decoupage, a creation neatly composed of various influences and parts, emerging as something new. In “Emily”, you find two part harmonies and crisp tambourine accents flowing in with an endearing calmness embedding the track’s lyrical structure within the fabric of its instrumental depth subconsciously conjuring up longings for those childhood summer vacation days at the shore. “Hollow Doubt” is where you find former hardcore kids really start to reveal their misspent youth to the listener. Sound recordings and familiar bluesy guitar licks are paired with snaps that escalate into full throttle grunge through the duration of “Grave Blanket” allowing Creepoid to bare some teeth. “Spirit Birds” opens with what sounds like wind and distant riffs that bend, recede then surge forth alongside dissonant clangs of cymbal and quasi-staccato like beats. With a similar melancholy found in the songs of Lehigh Valley experimentalists Soars, Horse Heaven’s latter tracks harbor a mysterious depth that permeates from each outro to intro, placing the album’s title track as bridging the time lapse of “Find You Out” and “Enabler” through melody. Bringing to mind wintery landscapes and a vibe of springtime dusks, Creepoid’s Horse Heaven is definitely an enjoyable eternity if you can see how the fallen angels might be right. You can purchase and download the LP here or grab the vinyl via Ian Records. – Dianca Potts
Yes, it’s that time of year again. If you take a look over to your right, you’ll find a nice list of nominees for The Deli’s Best of Philly Emerging Artist Poll. We’d like to thank this year’s jury (list below) for participating and sharing their thoughts with us about some of their favorite emerging artists of 2010. We obviously wouldn’t have been able to put this list together without them, and we are honored to get to share it with you. Please take the time to check out the list of nominees that is comprised of the jurors’ picks as well as the qualifiers from our Open and Sonicbids Submissions. We hope that you discover something to your liking and remember to cast your vote for your favorite before midnight Monday, January 31! Enjoy! – The Deli Staff
Lehigh Valley’s Soars will be hammering out their washed out doom-and-gloom-gaze tonight at Kung Fu Necktie. The band’s self-titled debut last year on La Société Expéditionnaire was a Deli favorite. You can check out our review of the album here as well as our Where Is My Mind? with then four-piece Soars. Since we last saw them, they’ve picked-up Doug Durrenberger on electronics. You can check out a recent track titled “Every Little One” below which is also available to be downloaded for free. Soars will be opening up for another one of Kanine Records’ latest buzz bands, San Francisco’s Young Prisms. Hopefully the drunk dude that got tossed out for heckling them from the balcony at Johnny Brenda’s last time won’t stumble in by accident again at KFN with his date. Welcome back to Philly lady and gents! Kung Fu Necktie, 1250 N. Front St., 8pm, $10, 21+ (Photo by Calli Higgins) – H.M. Kauffman
Thurston Moore is releasing a new solo record titled 12 String Meditations for Jack Rose via Vin Du Select Qualitite Records. “Solo, untreated, 12-string compositions in tribute to one of the greats. An album of instrumentals in requiem.” The album is an instrumental tribute to local fallen guitar hero Jack Rose. 12 String Meditations for Jack Rose is the fifth volume in the Vin Du Select Qualitite series, a collection of limited-edition vinyl-only acoustic guitar albums. It will be available for order next month here. – The Deli Staff
Swing on over to Kung Fu Necktie tonight for a FREE show featuring Spacin’, the solo project from Birds of Maya’s Jason Killinger. I’m really digging his sample recordings so far which you can download for free here. Tracks like “Ego-Go” (below) invokes a smooth 70’s party rock feel that will get heads bobbing and bodies shaking and “While You Come Around” is a tasty morsel of catchy lo-fi indie pop with a nice laid-back vibe of indifference. Spacin’ will also be joined by the experimental tinklings of Eliott Klein while DJs Shinjo & Blame the Kid spin sounds from “faraway lands” throughout the evening at The Nite Market. Kung Fu Necktie, 1250 N. Front St., 9pm, Free, 21+ – Alexis V.
Brooklyn/Philadelphia gypsy-rock collective Skeletonbreath has started 2011 off with a bang by touring the North and laying out the groundwork for their upcoming third album on Ernest Jenning Records. Lucky for us, they can’t stay away from Philly – after putting on a successful gig at Philamoca (formerly Mad Decent Mausoleum) last Sunday, Skeletonbreath is back in West Philly tonight to play drummer Tris Palazzolo’s home-away-from-home, Danger Danger Gallery. The trio is no stranger to the DDG stage as well as West Philly art rockers Da Comrade!, who will also be sharing the bill. Last year saw major changes for the collective: they bid farewell to compatriot and cellist Anne Ellis West, who’s on hiatus for school; guitarist Fletcher VanVliet started his folk side project On The Water that is quickly becoming a Deli favorite; and they teamed up with Simple Machine Recording’s Kyle Pulley (who’s worked with Post Post, Grandchildren, andAlgernon Cadwallader) for Da Comrade!’s debut full-length, Chariot. With the album getting closer and closer to release, you can expect sonic blasts of the new material from their set this evening. Danger Danger Gallery, 5013 Baltimore Ave., 8pm, $5 – $10 donation, All Ages (Da Comrade! Photo by Steph Ricci) – Bill McThrill
The super fuzzed out garage-goth noise-makers Far-Out Fangtooth are taking over the Ruby Lounge downstairs at Voyeur tonight for Making Time. Hearing their latest 7” out on Philly’s Ian Records, I was struck by how different of an experience it was from when I saw them at Best Fest last year. Maybe it was the fact that it was in dusty daylight, and their shadow lurking shoegaze is more conducive to underground dive bars/sex dungeons. Maybe it’s because their songs seemed more like extended jams rather than “traditional” songs (not necessarily a bad thing). It was probably because these guys weren’t there. Regardless, their current sound is dark and driving with elements of A Place To Bury Strangers or a more brooding version of label mates Party Photographers. Don’t let their all black everything persona fool you though, because this band is looking to party, so you better be ready. But you probably wouldn’t be at Making Time if you weren’t. La Femme’s French new wave surf pop is also absolutely enchanting so their will be plenty more to keep the party going throughout the evening, and Brooklyn’s Small Black (Jagjaguwar) will be helping to anchor the bill as well. Voyeur, 1221 St. James St., 9pm, $10, 21+ – Adam G.
High Two and Badmaster Records come together for one oddball show at Danger Danger Gallery tonight. In a quixotic sort of way, it makes perfect sense when bands like minimalist classical freestylists Normal Love and avant garde electronic noise master Mincemeat or Tenspeed come together to perform under one roof. Whether it’s with a string ensemble or multiple pedals, both experimental masterminds are extremely adept in stimulating the senses with a torrent of sounds that test what one can handle. Throw in New York’s White Suns (who recently brought Normal Love along to celebrate their recent record release) into the mix, and you’re especially in for a treat of peculiar sounds. Joining them tonight will also be tripped-out no wavers Bad News Bats, whose recent adventures have included West Philly’s In-Fest and seeing Tom Savini sword fight with children. Danger Danger Gallery, 5013 Baltimore Ave., 9pm, $5 – $10 donation, All Ages – Bill McThrill
Banned Books are relative newcomers on the scene, but once you’re given a taste of their sound, you’ll be wondering how you went that long without them. Tracks like “Mission Creep” and “Your Dress” make use of killer start-stop rhythms; snarling, angular guitar riffs; and glitchy synths, all intercut with delirious spasms of noise and static. They manage to be simultaneously brooding and infectious, among many other facets. For something a little on the dancier side, check out a song like “Anti-anthem”, with its cascading drums and confrontational lyrics. Also on the bill tonight are freak-folks Delicate Steve (featured in the latest Deli NYC print and available in pdf version here) and The Sparta Philharmonic. Kung Fu Necktie, 1250 North Front Street, 7:30pm, $8, 21+ – Joe Poteracki
