It’s reassuring to know that a band like Bardo Pond, a beautiful Philly success story who formed way back around ’91, is still going strong. If their latest self-titled release is any different than the way things sounded back in the day, it’s only that they sound more muscular and refined. Not dreamy enough to be shoegaze and slightly too lazy for grunge, their guitars revel in a kind of supreme stoner-rock overdrive. Some may try and relate their music to trippy experiences (not that I can blame them), but it’s hard to determine how much of their sound is drug-induced and how much of it is just the results of searching high and low for a particularly gnarly fuzz-tone. They’ll be complimented well by New Zealand’s blissed-out Surf City and Toronto crooners Snowblink. Danger Danger Gallery, 5013 Baltimore Ave., 8pm,$5 – $10 donation, All Ages (Photo by Dan Cohoon) – Joe Poteracki
Diplo tweeted a link yesterday for where you can find your first look of the characters for his new Major Lazer cartoon show coming to Adult Swim on the Cartoon Network. They were created by Ferry Gouw who also did the cover art for the Major Lazer album. You can see your “one-armed Jamaican ex-commando and nightclub owner who battles the forces of darkness while making reggae-tinged booty-shaking jams” above, and you can also view some of the other characters HERE. Enjoy! – The Deli Staff
Toy Soldiers are back with a new EP Get Through the Time and the band’s lineup is a little more scaled down, but it all seems part of their plan to get back to their roots. Life is hectic sometimes when you are in a band while still in college, and it doesn’t get any easier once you have graduated and are faced with more obstacles from the “real world”. Well, for Ron Gallo and crew, it seems that the answer is to just keep on playing to “get through the time”. We had a chance to find out a little more about life for Toy Soldiers after leaving the ivory towers of higher education and the release of their latest effort Get Through the Time, which the band will be celebrating tonight at Johnny Brenda’s and making available tomorrow digitally. Check out what they had to say HERE!
Just wanted to give you a heads up that the Night Train DJs are back at it again this evening at The Barbary! It will be the first time Ian St. Laurent and Dennis Wolf.Fang have performed together since Night Train ended. It will also be the first Philly performance of Raw Urgency (Ex-Spooks). As we had reported earlier, The Spooks broke up during their recent tour to SXSW. Well, three of the four members decided to stick together, write new songs, and finish the tour all the way back from Austin so here’s your chance to hear what they’ve been up to lately. Buddies Far-Out Fangtooth will also be spinning this evening as Undercover Zero, and there will be beer reps around giving out free beers. So get your air guitar tuned up! – The Deli Staff
Whether it’s been for Summer Solstice, Fall Equinox, or during Best Fest (which we are very sad to hear will not be happening this year), Clark Park has managed to host some interesting music events over the years. And since they have all managed to celebrate the diversity of music by featuring rock, jazz, folk, metal, and then some on the same lineup, they have all been festival that walked to the beat of their own drum. The same thing has to hold true when you host a benefit for the sake of said music festivals, and that’s exactly what Cloud Entertainment has in store when they host one at Millcreek Tavern tonight. Indie pop darlings Arrah and the Ferns will be playing one of their first local shows since coming back from tour with The Armchairs. And psychedelic rock quintet The Tressels will be keeping the crowd in good spirits with songs from their latest album Bourbon Legend. Meanwhile thrash metal band Samsara will unleash a little destruction, and Psychic Teens will bring the noise. Millcreek Tavern, 4200 Chestnut St., 9pm, $6, 21+ – Bill McThrill
New Philly starry-eyed pop group Roman à clef are performing an opening set at Johnny Brenda’s tonight. The band, featuring Ryan Neymeyer and Anne Fredrickson of A Sunny Day In Glasgow, bring along wispy indie sensibilities from their other group to make moody, hazy twee music. They only currently have one demo posted (which you can check out below), but “The Prisoner” shows promise for this fledgling offspring and hopefully this show opening for Cloud Nothings is a sign of more to come. Hope to see you there! Johnny Brenda’s, 1201 N. Frankford Ave., 9pm, $10, 21+ – Adam G.
The keyboard experiment that is The Synth Sircus will be finding out if they can make the folks dance (or at least nod their head in approval) in the second floor South Street bar Lickety Split. Originally started by Agent Moosehead’s John Briley and Andy “of the Future” Schwartz as a call for other keyboardists and musicians to join them on stage and jam, the project has taken on a life of its own with rotating members from the local music community, and they even have been laying down some mind-fucking dance tracks of down-tempo futuristic soundscapes. Joining them on the bill will be Synth Sircus contributor and dark, sludgy garage rock songstress Avataria. The show is free so you’ll have more cash for social lubrication. Lickety Split, 401 South St., 8pm, Free, 21+ – Alexis V.
Diplo retweeted earlier details about the release of the FINAL tickets for the SOLD OUT Day Glow Philadelphia: Escape Reality Tour (“World’s Largest Paint Party”) that is happening at the Naval Yard on April 15. The release of the last 200 tickets will be at 4pm today. Damn that shit is expensive! But here’s your second chance to take a lot of psychedelics and smother yourself and others in day glow paint while wilding out uncontrollably to Diplo spinning. And you don’t even have to clean up afterwards. Well, maybe yourself, but not the place. You can purchase the final tickets HERE. Good luck! – The Deli Staff
The band Work Drugs is a good example of how powerful the internet can be. In less than a year or probably more like six months, the crew of Thomas Crystal and Benjamin Louisiana with seductive additional vocals from Joan Wellfleet have gone from tinkering around at home and recording tracks to kill time and their left over beer to heading out on their first tour with Two Door Cinema Club (which they will begin tonight at Varsity Theater in Minneapolis) and performing at their first festival with acts like The Raveonettes, Cursive, and Daniel Johnston (which is quite impressive, especially if you’ve ever tried to do booking for your own fledgling band). Well, we had a chance to find out a little more about the relatively new act from Work Drugs’ Thomas Crystal after their debut live performance this past Friday at Johnny Brenda’s for Yvynyl’s showcase with Summer Fiction, Snowmine, and Guitars. You can read about what went down HERE.
With an optimistic title, Wesley Eisold, a Philly native turned New Yorker, crafts synthy moodscapes with Cold Cave’s sophomore full-length release Cherish the Light Years. Satiating ravenous fans with Love Comes Close’s follow-up, today’s release via Matador opens optimistic with sputtering backbeats followed close by electrified chords and Eisold’s post-punk styled vocals. “The Great Pan is Dead” feels iconic, triumphant, and knowing, creating cohesion of deference between Eisold’s delivery and the opening track’s memorable emotional core. Within seconds of its start Cherish the Light Years grabs hold of its listener and keeps them close until its end. Such magnetism begins with “The Great Pan is Dead” and is intensified by the dancey thrill of “Pacing Around the Church”. Reminiscent of Bloc Party’s initial potential or New Wavers like Depeche Mode, Eisold’s deliberate lyricism harbors a relatable criticism on religious tradition, its flaws, shortcomings, and (at times) miss placed hopes. With the assurance that “it was easy when we were young and free,” Eisold offers a provocatively post-mod alternative: “the truth is no where near.” Existential and catchy, “Pacing Around the Church” is cerebral with hissing clicks and memorable hooks. Here, Cold Cave capitalizes on a depth prophesized by earlier tracks like “Love Comes Close” and the pulsating dread of “Youth and Lust”. An easily consumable anthem, “Confetti” opens with mesmerizing synth and drum machine beats that feel warm and tropical. Eisold’s diction rises lush and near seductive in an upbeat but brooding trance like tempo, bringing to mind a mellowed out mix of gender bender Boy George’s antics in the Culture Club’s “Miss Me Blind” mixed with the haunting swell of Soft Cell’s “Youth”. A nearly perfect track for summer, “Confetti”, with its “Blue Monday” fashioned breakdown and 80s friendly diligence is bound to become the successor to “Life Magazine” in popularity. “Underworld USA” is heated and gothy, opening with unrelenting beats, whispers, and lightly washed out riffs. Making the most of religious iconography, Eisold’s use of words like “missionary,” “confess,” and “blasphemous,” serve as thematic authenticity to a track dealing more with redemption through romance rather than redemption through Westernized forms of religious faith. Delectably dark wave, “Underworld USA” conjures the same evocative depth of Bauhaus’ performance of “Bela Lugosi’s Dead” in ‘83’s vamp thriller The Hunger. “Alchemy and You” shines with infectious riffs and swirling chords while “Burning Sage” sinks deep under the skin with percussive minimalism and morose diction. Falling somewhere between singles by New Order (“Elegia” and “Ceremony”) and the iconic gloom of Joy Division, Cold Cave’s Cherish the Light Years is a successful resurrection of dark wave at its best. – Dianca Potts
Illvibe Collective have a CD release party tonight at Silk City. The local five-man DJ and production team has been churning out dope material since 2000, and is comprised of Mr. Sonny James (a.k.a. Statik), Panek, Phillee Blunt, Lil Dave and Skipmode. Their latest effort All Together Now features contributions from some of Philly’s finest like Bahamadia, Reef The Lost Cauze, Rich Medina, Dave Ghetto, and many more. It’s Illvibe Collective’s debut production album, and there will be plenty of their collaborators performing this evening to help them celebrate. Below is footage of an interview with their muse and mentor Rich Medina where “he discusses his relationship with them and the significance of producers who get their start at DJs.” It was filmed and directed by Panek and edited by Mr. Sonny James for Illvibe Media. Silk City, 435 Spring Garden St., 9pm, $10 (includes a copy of the CD), 21+ – Alexis V.
Besides XPN’s "Free at Noon", it’s been a while since recent Billboard chart topper Amos Lee has had a hometown show. That’s why it’s no surprise that this evening’s performance at Merriam Theater with The Secret Sisters is SOLD OUT, and I heard that the tickets got pretty pricey depending on where you’re seated. Well, I look forward to seeing Amos, Mut, Freddy, Jaron, and the rest of the crew on stage rather than on my TV or computer screen which seems to be the only way that I can lately. They’ll also be representing Philly in Europe soon when they open up for more sold out shows with Adele. (BTW: If you are attending the show tonight (or not), please send Amos some good vibes because I heard that he might be feeling a bit under the weather. Hopefully a little rest in his own bed helped him out.) Merriam Theater, 250 S. Broad St., 8pm, SOLD OUT, All Ages – H.M. Kauffman
