Philadelphia

The National Rifle CD Release Party at KFN Aug. 28

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The National Rifle have always been one for breaking big in a DIY Fashion. Some of their biggest shows have been within the confines of loft parties, billiard halls, and venues like Danger Danger Gallery. But their music and artistic style has always been delivered in ways that go beyond the typical DIY aesthetic, and there newest album Vanity Press does so in ways that their ambitious albums of the past haven’t. “Jazz History of the World” hammers out pounding drums, impressive piano work, and sounds like Morrissey with more of a punk rock edge. Meanwhile “She’s a Waste” has the ska influence of The Clash dished out on amped up synthesizers. An album this enjoyable deserves a memorable celebration, and that’s exactly what the band plans to do at Kung Fu Necktie tonight before they set out on a huge September tour. Thanks to Makeshift Media everyone in attendance will also have a shot at beings a part of The National Rifle’s next music video. If that’s not reason enough to attend, then the Goodnight Lights will give you more with their hook laden catchy indie anthems that have become even more ambitious since their last album Electric Spark was released. Also on tap to play is The New Connection who will be bringing their melodic craftsmanship. Kung Fu Necktie, 1250 N. Front St., 7:30pm, $10, 21+ – Bill McThrill
 
Philadelphia

Big Art Show at Pterodactyl Aug. 28

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First and foremost the Big Art Show is a celebration of original works of art. It gives you the chance to view unique pieces and screen prints from local artists, and even purchase some items. But as an added attraction, it manages to host some pretty exciting concerts, and since partnering up with Pterodactyl, they have been able to put together some pretty sweet lineups. The Great Vibration will be bringing their mad soulful crooning skills and piano laden pop rock sensibilities to the show, while pop folk newcomers Flat Mary Road will be entertaining the crowd with songs like “Saving the Stray Bird”. The melodic sibling songbirds of Philly, Sisters 3, will be playing the pretty indie folk from their album Star Spangled. Maybe they can collaborate with the brothers Murphy of Penrose, who will be rockin’ the crowd with their classic rock guitar hooks and drum beats. And finally exciting band on the rise, CowPals, will be previewing songs from their upcoming full length. So get ready for the “Hot as Hell Party”! Pterodactyl, 3237 Amber St., FL 5N, 8pm, $5, 21+ – Bill McThrill
 
Philadelphia

Weekend Warrior, August 27 – 29

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The weather is going to be fanfuckintastic this weekend (finally)! And as we come towards the end of summer, I’m sure a lot of people are heading out of town for your last chance to hit the beach. Good! Because while you’re heading back in traffic from the Jersey Shore on Sunday after your weekend of watching “The Situation” and “Snookie” wannabes fighting and doing body shot off of each other, we’ll be eating and drinking as much as humanly possible at the Black Landlord 2nd Annual BBQ while watching Maxx and the crew battle it out with the Philly Roller Girls in volleyball as well as listening to kick ass acts like our hosts, Bardo Pond, Gildon Works, Ben Dickey and Drew Mills of Blood Feathers, BC Camplight, Naked Hearts and many more. Hehe…we wonder if Black Landlord will have their suits on for the game. If you’ve ever been to one of their live performance, then you know Maxx isn’t afraid to go skins, but obviously, we’d prefer the honors going to the Philly Roller Girls. We went to the inaugural event last year and thought that it was pretty damn awesome, and this year actually looks even better so we already have our wet naps ready for some juicy ribs. It’s also for a good cause (The SalvationArmy Foster Care Program) so if you’re not at the Festival Pier for MMJ, then we better see you drunk, full and getting’ down at the Uke Club! Uke Club, 847 N. Franklin St., 12pm, $25, All Ages
 
If you have to go indoors, here are some places to chill…
 
Johnny Brenda’s (1201 N. Frankford Ave.) FRI Arc in Round and Busses, SAT The Dude Hates Cancer Benefit Afterparty w/ Swift Technique, Oso, The Spinning Leaves, SUN The Mural & The Mint
 
Kung Fu Necktie (1250 N. Front St.) FRI Live Not On Evil, SAT The National Rifle Album Release w/ The New Connection and Goodnight Lights
 
North Star Bar (2639 Poplar St.) FRI Common Enemy, SAT The Groovement, Flux Capacitor, High Kick
 
The Fire (412 W. Girard Ave.) FRI Spirit and Dust
 
M Room (15 W. Girard Ave.) FRI Goodnight Lights
 
Tritone (1508 South St.) FRI Organ Blues, SAT Pet Primitive and Kitten Disaster
 
Danger Danger Gallery (5013 Baltimore Ave.) FRI Pissed Jeans and Hot Guts
 
Tin Angel (20 S. 2nd St.) SAT Gillian Grassie
 
Highwire Gallery (2040 Frankford Ave.) SAT Birds of Maya
 
Pterodactyl (3237 Amber St.) SAT Big Art Show w/ Grandchildren, Oh! Pears, Cheers Elephant
 
Greenline Café (4239 Locust St.) SAT Variety Show featuring Oh! Pears
 
World Café Live (3025 Walnut St.) SUN Animus
 
The Blockley Pourhouse (3801 Chestnut St.) FRI Philadelphia Slick
 
Fergie’s (1214 Sansom St.) FRI New Pony
 
Pubb Webb (1527 Cecil B. Moore) FRI The Lawsuits
 
Liacouras Center (1776 N. Broad St.) SAT Swift Technique
 
Philadelphia

Attia Taylor Releases Sophomore Album for Free Download!

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Attia Taylor releases her sophomore effort Short Stories & Small Glories today. You can download the seven-song album for FREE here. The local lo-fi experimental pop princess is the first breakout from the supportive Girls Rock Philly program. (Well, the first that The Deli has been digging on, but we look forward to hearing more from future graduates of GRP.) You can also download Taylor’s debut album Dear Universe for FREE here. Enjoy! – The Deli Staff

Did I Look Like Myself? by Attia Taylor

Philadelphia

Album Review: Busses – Busses

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The self-titled debut from Philly trio Busses succeeds by wandering through various realms of rock. This Fishtown group, consisting of guitarist/vocalist Dave Brett, drummer Nick Apice and multi-instrumentalist Jason Bachman, creates a sound much larger than the pieces themselves. Besides enlisting the help of a few horn blowing friends, these guys have compiled an expansive seven track album that is built on walls of sound that are constantly broken down by calming or haunting interludes. 
 
The album may not be the flashiest or most refined, but the loose, crescendo instrumental break of opener “Foundation Myth” highlights the bands wavering yet focused style. The song recalls Built To Spill not only in the vocals but the comfortable relationship between band members musically. The dynamics of the album shift quickly to a more subdued sound that hints at crescendo without fully delivering until the unhinged back portion of the song that leads to the psychedelic “House On Fire” in which Brett displays his impressive faux-classic wail. “Safe Vacation Destination” continues in the same vein with an eerie Bollywood vocal meditation before it evolves into a blissed out jam with strong Mars Volta vibes coming through. From there, the album settles down becoming more conventionally song driven while still exploring various sounds and musical interplay. The slow reggae style guitar line of “Gaurded and Safe” is a surprising and welcome change of pace. Finally, the Sea and Cake-esque “Time/Place” saunters on a staccato guitar line before blitzing out in the last minute. The band never settles into one sound which requires the listener to stay on their toes, which can be at times annoying and other times rewarding. This time it is the latter. The album climbs and dives sonically and manages to create a compact and dense piece of work.
 
Busses will be opening tonight for producer extraordinaire Jeff Zeigler’s Arc in Round at JB’s. Zeigler also engineered and mixed Busses’ debut self-titled album.
 
– Adam G.
 
Philadelphia

Get Sweaty w/Pissed Jeans and Hot Guts at DDG Aug. 27

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With its splotchy, smoke-stained walls, eccentric fixtures, and air choked with stale beer and rutted noise, it seems only right that Philly’s crude hardcore kings, Pissed Jeans, and deathrock purveyors Hot Guts would play West Philly’s maverick house venue, Danger Danger Gallery, together tonight. Add in Seattle’s garage punk vicars Unnatural Helpers, and it’s like three fiercely hectic and ear assaulting peas crammed into a very sweaty and drunken pod. Danger Danger Gallery, 5013 Baltimore Ave., 9pm, $5 – $10 donation, All Ages – Annamarya Scaccia
 
Philadelphia

Wind Down the Summer w/Spirit and Dust at The Fire Aug. 27

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As the summer draws to a close, the sensitive loners among us might need a night of contemplation, a time to reflect on what the future holds. Although I am partially joking with that statement, it’s made all the more relevant by the observation that Kristen Sylvester is a woman with a seemingly world-weary past, but at just twenty years old, she clearly has one hell of a future too. Therein lies the appeal of her folk outfit Spirit and Dust. Listening to the brooding lyrics of "The Center" and then the more upbeat quality of "Rambler" gives you the sense of someone who’s already jumped a hard hurdle and is on the cusp of something even greater. The Fire, 412 W. Girard Ave., 9pm, $7, 21+ – Joe Poteracki
Philadelphia

Where Is My Mind?: Terrible Things’ Fred Mascherino

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To Fred Mascherino, Coatesville is more than just his hometown – it’s still his home, even though he’s lived in West Chester for the past two years. So when the depressed steel mill town was ravaged by a rash of fires from 2008 to 2009, the ex-Taking Back Sunday guitarist, and mastermind behind the new rock powerhouse, Terrible Things, couldn’t help but be distraught, frustrated, outraged and moved to put his feelings into words. What came out of that is Terrible Things’ self-titled debut (releasing on August 31 via Universal Motown) – a commanding, emotionally gripping concept album that explores themes of isolation, trepidation, heartbreak and aggravation. For the record, Mascherino and co. (which includes Coheed and Cambria’s Josh Eppard and Hot Rod Circuit’s Andy Jackson) will play two CD release parties – one tomorrow Friday, August 27, at First Unitarian Church and the other, Wednesday, September 1, at The Note with an in-store performance at FYE in Broad Street earlier in the day. They’ll also be heading out on a two-month stateside tour with Mae starting October 1. We had a chance to chat with the Terrible Things frontman about the fires, getting politically involved and his favorite fake meat in a deli. You can read the interview here! (Photo by Ryan Russell)

Philadelphia

The Attic Youth Center Benefit w/Dangerous Ponies at WCL Aug. 26

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Cheerful troubadours Dangerous Ponies craft carefree anthems that scream “fun!” Known for outrageous outfits and catchy hooks, their debut EP Dr. Ponie, Medicine Ponie is an audible pick-me-up. Sincere and sanguine vocals are paired with earnest riffs, resulting in the short but sweet “We” and shining swirl of “Honey Trap”. Near sing-a-longs with buzzing guitar and synth, songs like “Honey Trap” start small then bloom. Harmonized woah-oh-ohs open the realistically romantic “When You’re in Town”, charming listeners with hopeful outcomes and posy vibes. Their forthcoming full-length is currently scheduled for release in October so this will probably be the last time Dangerous Ponies will be performing in town until then. They’ll be downstairs tonight at World Café Live for a cause in support of QueerChannel Philly’s Celebration of the Diversity of LGBT Art, Culture and Expression benefit for the Attic Youth Center, our city’s only independent LGBTQ youth center to date. If you don’t mind paying for another admission or just cheaply chillin’ by the bathrooms upstairs, Toy Soldiers will also be in the house for an Origivation showcase. World Café Live (Downstairs), 3025 Walnut St., 6pm, $18, All Ages (Photo by Sarah Green) – Dianca Potts
 
Philadelphia

Freight Trains, Hobo Wine and Marah at JB’s Aug. 26

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Listening to Marah with your eyes closed may induce a specific daydream: riding a freight train through the Rockies, hobo wine in one hand, banjo in the other, your buddies next to you singing songs from long ago; enjoying the free spirited living of vagabond life while slowly rockin’ on the tracks to California, where you’ll fail to reach the limits of your youth. Part jangly rockabilly, part 90’s alt, Marah’s tunes are one hundred percent road songs – caught somewhere between Wilco and your grandfather’s farm hymns, a few cups of Joes in. In “Angels on a Passing Train”, lead singer Dave Bielanko explains the need for all the travel and adventure: “We’re just tryin’ to sail to heaven on an old shipwreck.” Johnny Brenda’s, 1201 N. Frankford Ave., 9pm, $10, 21+ (Photo by Hannah Torresson) – Katie Bennett
 
Philadelphia

Concerts in the Park Series w/DUB at Rittenhouse Square Park Aug. 25

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Philly Weekly has been throwing concerts in Rittenhouse for 20 years now, and though the strength of the lineups have waxed and waned over the years, they have consistently provided a nice, free evening out in a place that is a lot more fun when the ratio of homeless people to not is a bit higher. Last week the folks at PW were met with some unfriendly weather that forced the loudest band in NYC, A Place to Bury Strangers, to postpone their show with Philly’s own The Homophones. Well, this week the weather looks better, though not great, but the bill is pretty stacked with A Place to Bury Strangers joining Government Cheaze and Drink Up Buttercup. The latter has just gotten off tour with Maps and Atlases and will bring their theatric, vintage pop orchestrations to the masses on a short jaunt with Jukebox the Ghost in the fall. Their sounds may be very different, but I have a feeling that A Place to Bury Strangers will be very well received by the audience though possibly the then deaf-old-rich folks, who may or may not make it through the opening acts, might not be ready. Hopefully we’ll have some decent weather tonight. Fingers crossed. Concerts in the Park Series, Rittenhouse Square Park, 7pm, FREE, All Ages (Photo by Angel Ceballos) – Adam G.
 
Philadelphia

FREE DOWNLOAD: “Best of Luck, Never Change” (Part 1) – Science Fiction Fantasy

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The sound is revelatory and calming in a pre-disaster kind of way. It functions on grades of delicate and cavernous vocals and 60’s era folk guitar patterns. This is not meant to box the sound within these references though; they are merely the cornerstones for the ever-evolving, ambitious debut EP Best of Luck, Never Change by Kerry Gilbert’s Science Fiction Fantasy. The sound at times recalls the haunting pop of Grizzly Bear while the sonic pulsing that emerges seems to pay homage (very skillfully) to ambient composer Steven Reich. I have the first part of the gapless three part lone title track “Best of Luck, Never Change” available for FREE download below. It is an emotional traveler that effortlessly flows from melancholy to dreamy contentment both lyrically and musically. The intricate cascading vocals and detailed arrangements along with the thoroughly enjoyable glitch-outs show Science Fiction Fantasy to be a musical chameleon that can flawlessly imitate and thoughtfully create. This is a very promising piece that I am sure will only be expanded upon on his debut EP currently scheduled for release in September. DOWNLOAD “Best of Luck, Never Change” (Part 1) (just click on the arrow pointing down below on the right). – Adam G.