Philadelphia

Closing Art Reception for Animal Show at Pterodactyl April 24

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When art and music come together it’s a wonderful thing, and that’s one of the elements that makes Pterodactyl so magical. Their mission has been to revive the enjoyment and practice of creating art for personal fulfillment, to create exhibitions and experiences that resonate with diverse audiences, and to bring people together through the arts. Since they opened in 2009, they have passed with flying colors. During each art opening and closing, they invite local musicians to play and make it a memorable occasion. And to close out their latest zoological gala, “Animal Show”, they have put together quite the menagerie of bands.
 
Ever since they released Dr. Ponie, Medicine Ponie on Punk Rock Pay Roll, Philly’s premiere queer and allied band Dangerous Ponies have been tantalizing audiences with their joyous sing-alongs and raucous dance parties. But they’re not the only band who is ready to pony up at the gallery tonight, because when Emily J.K. and the Brothers Ellis start revving into their pumped up dance party anthems, Pony Pants is sure to be a name that you’ll remember. When Algernon Cadwallader aren’t telling stories of fire ants, vampire bats, and other musings about life as a band on their blog; they’re tearing into their brash blend of artistic indie punk on Be Happy Records and a stage near you. Last but certainly not least is Conversation with Enemies, whose hauntingly catchy powerpop melodies get buried somewhere deep in your subconscious. Pterodactyl Artspace, 3237 Amber St., 8pm, Donations, All Ages (Photo by Molly Landergan) – Bill McThrill
 

 

Philadelphia

Shadfest After-Party at JB’s (and of course, The Ox) April 24

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If you’re still craving live music after seeing Birdie Busch, Buried Beds, Strapping Fieldhands and Blood Feathers deliver impressive performances at Shadfest today, then chances are you’re joining us at our Best of Philly Showcase at The Ox tonight. But YRock and WXPN also have a nice lineup for the official Shadfest After-party at Johnny Brenda’s. Every time MAxx (formerly of the Goats and Incognegro), and the rest of his talented collective take the stage it leads to one enigmatic performance full of ass-shaking audience members. The diverse mix of Philly all-stars have been going on for 4 years strong, and Addicted to Distraction was an impressive release last year so seeing them play tonight is sure to be a real treat, especially since it’s tentatively the only show that they have scheduled until June. They’ll be joined by Kilroy & The Bronze, another act who also had a dynamic release last year with their album Hessian Love Songs, out now on earSnake. Shawn Kilroy has seen a lot of eclectic roles as a filmmaker, multi-instrumentalist, producer, and singer. And with this hot and steamy project, he manages to turn the clock back to the new wave fueled 80’s. Johnny Brenda’s, 1201 N. Frankford Ave., 9pm, $10, 21+ – Bill McThrill

 

Philadelphia

Weekend Warrior, April 23 – 25

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So we can’t believe our Best of Philly Showcase is finally happening tomorrow night at The Ox with Reading Rainbow, Grandchildren and Levee Drivers! It’s been a crazy two weeks finding a new venue and getting everything ready. We are most appreciative of all the help that we’ve received from the local music community to make this happen. It just reinforces to us how fuckin’ cool the people are who work behind the scenes to bring us such amazing shows! Now, it’s time to partay! Hopefully the rain will hold off during the day because we plan to chill out at the 2nd Annual Fishtown Shadfest (what an awful name, but check out the schedule below). Penn Treaty Park is a great place to hang out and see a show. We’d love to do a showcase there (but we secretly hate setting up outdoor events). Then, it’s off to The Ox or what we like to personally call “Thunderdome” (where there are no rules – just kidding, kind of – well, except to respect that it’s a home too). Looks like it’s going to be a long Saturday/Sunday day/night/morning like last weekend! The Ox, (2nd and Oxford St.), 9pm, $5, All Ages, BYOB 21+ (Photo by Aaron Debruin)

 
Other things to do this weekend, but you know that you really want to join us at The Ox…
 
Fishtown Shadfest (Penn Treaty Park – Delaware Ave.)
Lara and Joe Show:  11:30 – 12:15pm
Birdie Busch:  12:45 – 1:30pm
Buried Beds:  2:00 – 2:45pm
Strapping Field Hands:  3:15 – 4:00pm
Blood Feathers : 4:30 – 5:30pm
 
Johnny Brenda’s (1201 N. Frankford Ave.) SAT Black Landlord, SUN Prowler
 
Kung Fu Necktie (1250 N. Front St.) FRI The Sound of the Kaleidoscope and The Midnight Sounds
 
North Star Bar (2639 Poplar St.) SAT Andrew Lipke
 
M Room (12 W. Girard Ave.) SAT Faith or Fear and Hessian
 
Tritone (1508 South St.) FRI Absinthe Drinkers, SUN Wallace Brothers Band
 
World Café Live (3025 Walnut St.) FRI Lili Anel

Danger Danger Gallery (5013 Baltimore Ave.) FRI Party Photographers and Brown Recluse SAT Best Fest Benefit

 
Millcreek Tavern (4200 Chester Ave.) FRI Clamfight and Wizard Eye
 
Greenline Café (4239 Locust St.) SAT Joshua Park
 
Tin Angel (20 S. 2nd St.) Ron Gallo (of Toy Soldiers)
 
Murph’s Bar (202 E. Girard Ave.) FRI The Great Vibration
 
Pterodactyl (3237 Amber St.) SAT Closing Art Reception w/ Conversation With Enemies, Dangerous Ponies, Pony Pants, Algernon Cadwallader
 

 

Philadelphia

Brown Recluse at Danger Danger Gallery April 23

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Brown Recluse serves up gorgeous, shimmering indie pop, equal parts jingle and jangle, the kind of sound that you haven’t really heard since the golden era of 90s twee, or perhaps the Elephant 6 collective at its height. The band is on Slumberland Records (the birthplace, essentially, of twee pop, and now home to acts like the Pains of Being Pure at Heat and Crystal Stilts), so it would seem that they’re right at home. If you want to put it as simply as possible, most of their songs could be described as delicate acoustic ditties wrapped in warm, atmospheric synth, but you only have to listen to the giddy trumpet solo of "Rainy Saturday" and then the electronic psych of "Meridian Sound (Part Three)" to be affirmed that these guys are anything but one trick ponies. Their music is much more welcoming than the creepy, venomous spider with whom they share a name. Danger Danger Gallery, 5013 Baltimore Ave., 9pm, $5 – $10 donation, All Ages – Joe Poteracki
 

 

Philadelphia

An American Chinese Worth the Journey to North Star Bar April 22

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Panic Pilgrim masterminds, a.k.a. An American Chinese, keep things fresh with peculiar pop and buzzing vocals. With an end in sight for the release of their long-awaited debut full length Utopian Tree in May (we’re still a little salty about their posting of a January release so let’s stay friends, OK :o), the beats and blips of “Chasing Rabbit” are enough to elicit toe-taps and the occasional handclap while hissing snare and vocals rise beneath feverish chords. An American Chinese is well versed in rockin’ out and keeping crowds screaming for more. Their tracks are infectiously dancey without sounding trite. With subtle hints of folk and punk, this local seven-piece deserve to be part of the next crop of locals to get snatched up by a quality indie label. Between the driving beat and megaphone vocals of “Indian Punk” and the melodic crash of “The Distaste of Dairy Frank,” they’re well worth the cover charge. Don’t be surprised when they show-up visiting bands Roman Candle and Roadside Graves! North Star Bar, 2639 Poplar St., 9pm, $10, 21+ myspace.com/anamericanchinese – Dianca Potts

 

Philadelphia

The Deli’s Featured Artist(s) of the Month: The Spooks

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The Spooks have been scaring up plenty of buzz from their rockin’ live performances. We asked them a few questions to give you a preview of what you might see tonight at Kung Fu Necktie when they share the stage with Matador’s Harlem and garage-y buddies Junkers. We’re guessing that it might be what their drummer had for dinner.
 
The Deli: Where did the name “The Spooks” come from?
The Spooks: Well, contrary to popular misconception it hasn’t got anything to do with secret agent slang or antiquated racial slurs. Think ghost.
TD: What are your biggest musical influences?
TS: Probably Daft Punk or Free Energy. You know, the retro stuff.
TD: What artists (local, national and/or international) are you currently listening to?
TS: Mostly those lo-fi beachy chillwave bands, especially the ones with aquatic names. That and the new MGMT and Vampire Weekend albums.
TD: What’s the first concert that you ever attended and first album that you ever bought?
TS: We’ve only known each other for a few years or whatever, but it turns out that we were all at the same concert when we were kids. Back in ’91, coincidence had us all at the Tom Petty show when he played Philly on his "Touring the Great Wide Open" tour.

As for albums, I’m sure we were all listening to something by The Offspring by the time we’d gotten our first hand jobs…which is unfortunate.

TD: What do you love about Philly?
TS: The El Bar.
TD: What do you hate about Philly?
TS: These kids that seem to think that each new pair of shoes they buy from Urban Outfitters is going to bring them one step closer to living in Brooklyn.
TD: What are your plans for 2010?
TS: We’ll be releasing our first LP, which we’re recording with Adam Granduciel from The War on Drugs. It’s coming out on Trig Club, a new label started by the bloggers behind Yvnyl and Frightened By Bees.

Other than that, we’ll be on our second national tour. We’re headed down South and out to California in July, so that’ll be rad. The dates should be posted pretty soon.

TD: What was your most memorable live show?
TS: The memorable ones usually have something to do with Alex, our drummer.

We were playing a basement in Philly, when we started to notice the crowd looking uncomfortable. We looked back to Alex, and he was still playing (and even keeping rhythm), but his cheeks were full of vomit. He got to a bathroom in between songs, but it was pretty gnarly.

Then, there was this house show in Austin. We’d just finished our set, and everyone was cheering and sort of laughing, which we assumed was a show of appreciation. Then the smell hit us. Apparently, Alex had spewed everywhere during our last song. It was pretty great watching him carry his pukey snare through the crowd of gagging Austin
scenesters.

TD: What’s your favorite thing to get at the deli?
TS: Drunk.
 
 
(Photo by Tiffany Yoon)
 
– The Deli Staff
 

 

 

Philadelphia

Arc in Round and Oh! Pears at Danger Danger Gallery April 21

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You know that you’ll still be celebrating 420 through the weekend. Who are you kidding? Stop making excuses to puff down, but Arc in Round and Oh! Pears at Danger Danger Gallery tonight may be a good reason if you are looking for another excuse. Oh! Pears are headed by Cory Duncan, whom you may know as former Pattern Is Movement guitarist. His solo project has grown into a thirteen-piece orchestra with viola, violin, trumpet, drums, guitar, flute, vocals, clapping, and more, twisted and layered to create compositions that feel like they should be listened to alone in your bedroom in the middle of the night. They’ll be joined by Jeff Zeigler’s Arc in Round with a dream-pop core the likes of Sweden’s greatest, Club 8 and Sambassadeur. They bring you wind-blown vocals and songs reminiscent of watching a sunrise. At first, their musical vision seems dark and unclear, but steadily soft colors blend into the framework to create something new, beautiful and promising. Danger Danger Gallery, 5013 Baltimore Ave., 8pm, $5 – $10 donation, All Ages myspace.com/ohpearsmusic, myspace.com/arcinround (Photo by Miguel Angel) – Katie Bennett
 

 

Philadelphia

Smoke ‘em If Ya Got ‘em!

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OK, it’s 4/20, and there are plenty of college students getting blazed all day. While I think the whole 420 thing is pretty lame, I do love me some good herb. So here’s my (cough, cough) 4/20 rundown. NORML has been making friends with Philly’s music community lately, which makes sense because they probably know where the high-quality shit is at. They’ll be holding a fundraiser for their staffs’ trust funds (just kidding, you know that I’m down with the cause) tonight at The Blockley Pourhouse with jazzy, jammy Agent Mooshead and WXPN darlings The Hustle. If smokin’ Ls are more your scene, then 100.3 The Beat is sponsoring a sweet hip hop lineup at The Troc featuring Gillie da Kid and Freeway, who was recently featured on Pitchfork.tv (above). But if you happen to get kicked out of The Troc because they tend to be hard asses about puffin’, then you can finish your blunt on your way to Silk City for Beats and Watson (members of Philadelphia Slick). I’m interested in the Paki not Indie Sunny Ali & The Kid and The Chickens at KFN, but for some reason, I feel like more whiskey will be getting kicked back there. That’s cool. Mixing works for me. Cheers! – H.M. Kauffman

Philadelphia

The Quelle Source Headline at North Star Bar April 18

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Since The Quelle Source started recording in their home studio, it has given them an opportunity to experiment with their own sound. On their newest album Enjoy the Ridge, they incorporate rapid drum beats, loud electric guitars, and screeching vocals to create songs with as much adrenaline as a first kiss. However, The Quelle Source still maintain the same type of perceptive lyrics found on their debut self-titled EP with lead singer Kevin Ryan’s vocals sounding like the Decemberist’s Colin Meloy on four hours of sleep and a few adderall pills (which is meant as a compliment). Each song is essentially a tribute to what they learned at St. Joe’s University, and I don’t mean in the classroom. Theirs is a story of late-night parties, youth, sweat, sex, booze, freedom, and rock ‘n roll. What else should your college years be about? Well, maybe more drugs. North Star Bar, 2639 Poplar St., 9pm, $8, 21+ myspace.com/thequellesource – Katie Bennett

 

Philadelphia

Weekend Warrior, April 16 – 18

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What’s our plan for this weekend? We’ll be starting the partying early Saturday at Beautiful World Syndicate to celebrate National Record Store Day by throwing down many beers and hot dogs/veggie dogs (well, maybe not veggies dogs) and rummaging through a shitload of vinyl while Kurt Vile, Creepoid (members of The G) and Rocktits DJs become the soundtrack to our afternoon. And as day turns to night, we’ll hopefully be able to straggle our inebriated asses to JB’s for fun-lovin’, psych rockers The Armchairs who will be opening the rescheduled album release party for Park the Van troubadour Pepi Ginsberg with D.C.’s Exit Clov led by talented cuties and twin sisters, Em and Suz Hsu. We’d also like to give you heads about The Deli’s Best of Philly Showcase w/Reading Rainbow, Grandchildren and Levee Drivers next Saturday which had to be moved from Pilam to The Ox. Yes, yes – shameless promotion, but how else would you know where the fun is at? Beautiful World Syndicate, 1619 E. Passyunk Ave., 12pm – 9pm, FREE, All Ages; Johnny Brenda’s 1201 N. Frankford Ave., 9pm, $10, 21+
 
Here are what’s the haps elsewhere…
 
Kung Fu Necktie (1250 N. Front St.) FRI The Great Vibration Album Release Party w/Mountjoy and Julia Ranier
 
North Star Bar (2639 Poplar St.) SAT Igor’s Egg, SUN The Quelle Source
 
The Fire (412 W. Girard Ave.) FRI (Early) Post Post, (Late) Dear Althea, SAT Delco Nightingale
 
M Room (12 W. Girard Ave.) SUN Lamgier and Mountjoy
 
The Khyber (56 S. 2nd St.) FRI Rosetta, SAT Successful Failures
 
Tritone (1508 South St.) FRI Humble Tripe, SAT Buddhafest 38 w/Pistolia
 
World Café Live (3025 Walnut St.) FRI Mutlu
 
Danger Danger Gallery (5013 Baltimore Ave.) SAT Hermit Thrushes and Nude Beach, SUN Controlled Storms
 
Tin Angel (20 S. 2nd St.) SAT Dave Quicks and Chris Kasper
 
The Trocadero (1003 Arch St.) SUN The Escape
 
Murph’s Bar (202 E. Girard Ave.) FRI Clean Equations, Dani Mari, Berry Jones
 
Mixx (1002 Arch St.) SAT Swift Technique
 
JR’s Bar (2327 S. Croskey St.) FRI The KMX Band and The Fetals
 
Ava House (myspace.com/avahouse215 or email Tony at deadindustrybooking@gmail.com) FRI Philadelphia Parking Authority
 
The Carriage House (myspace.com/onlyonecarriagehouse or email OnlyOneCarriageHouse@gmail.com) FRI The Great Vibration After-Party w/’tine – ‘tine and El Fuego

 

 

Philadelphia

Post Post Playin’ Early for the Kiddies at The Fire April 16

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Audacious pop from Bryn Mawr and Haverford, Post Post’s debut EP, Meta Meta, marked the start of something great. Fronted by Michelle Zauner, ex-Little Girl, Big Spoon, this Philly four-piece has a knack for crafting rhythms that soar and captivate. Relatively new and well on their way, Post Post’s members juggle the life of undergrad with part-time jobs and rocking out. Despite their more than full plates, their songs are far from shabby. Best described as “pop music with substance” by frontwoman Zauner, the band’s sound oscillates between chilled out indie pop with a side of blippy post-punk and a pinch of riot grrl. Adding fostered focus to a laid back sort of yearning, tracks like “Drafts”  showcase 20-something feelings with dignity and grace. Beneath the hums of synth and the sound surfy riffs, Post Post’s dancey chilled-out anthems are emotional déjà vu that easily warrant praise. Cerebral yet subtle pop mixed with pure fun, their sound is heartfelt and catchy as hell. The Fire, 412 Girard Ave., 6pm, $7, All Ages myspace.com/postpostmusic (Photo by Justin Roman) – Dianca Potts

 

Philadelphia

The Great Vibration Album Release Party at KFN April 16

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The South Philly boys of The Great Vibration might not make the Richter Scale go off the charts or create any pulse flinging beats with their songs. But Jumboman, Pablo, Big Spliff Dawg and Evernasty do deliver some vibrant and colorful rock anthems that are fueled by catchy guitar riffs and the occasional piano. Tonight they’ll be celebrating the release of their new album Purple Stuff at Kung Fu Necktie with the help of Mountjoy who will have you climbing your way towards twanged out rock ‘n roll that’s heavy on the percussions and guitar hooks. Meanwhile, songbird Julia Rainer will bring it home with her PJ Harvey like sound during songs like “Insomnia” and “Into the Night”. Their will also be an after-party at The Carriage House for all those who are just getting warmed-up when KFN’s 10pm band curfew hits. Kung Fu Necktie, 1250 N. Front St., 7pm, $8, 21+ myspace.com/thegreatvibration – Bill McThrill