New Music, Emerging from your Local Scene
Dream Pop duo Zigtebra released a new single and video called “Canyon” this week. This is the first single from their forthcoming EP which is due out this Fall.
Zigtebra is the work of Emily Rose and Joe Zeph, and this single follows-up their 2018 debut LP, Major Crush.
If you are looking to efficiently max out your support of local music this weekend, then you definitely want to hit the 3rd annual Good How Are You Fest. Brought to us by Good How Are You Records and Paper Scissors Media, the two-day event will be kicking things off this afternoon at its de facto homebase, South Philly’s Tralfamadore, where Philly acts such as Gender Work and Yeenar will be getting folks warmed up for the stacked Day 2 festivities. On Saturday at Pleasure Mountain Ballroom, you might notice some familiar names on the billing from this corner of The Deli. There will be past Record of the Month recipients Curtis Cooper, Secret Nudist Friends, and Blushed, alongside former Featured Artist(s) Poll nominees and winners Kelsey Cork & The Swigs, Puppy Angst, and Busy Bee Project, so it should be easy to see why we think this is the place where you need to be this weekend. Because you surely deserve a bit of pleasure in your life! – H.M. Kauffman
More places where you can support local music this weekend…
Pleasure Mountain Ballroom (Please contact one of the acts or venue for more info.) SAT Good How Are You Fest: Curtis Cooper, Trash Boy, Secret Nudist Friends, Blushed, Kelsey Cork & The Swigs, Puppy Angst, Busy Bee Project, Too DoGs
Tralfamadore (Please contact one of the acts or venue for more info.) FRI Good How Are You Fest: Gender Work, Elaine Rasnake, Overwinter, yeenar, Broke Body, BB GUNS, Elissa Janelle Velveteen, Rebecca Zimmerman
Johnny Brenda’s (1201 N. Frankford Ave.) FRI Oldermost, SAT Don McCloskey
Boot & Saddle (1131 S. Broad St.) SAT Cypher Clique
Kung Fu Necktie (1250 N. Front St.) FRI Nematode/DJ Deejay, SAT Something Like a Monument
The Fillmore Philadelphia (1100 Canal St.) SUN Naeem
World Café Live (3025 Walnut St.) FRI (Upstairs) Alex Shaw, SUN (Upstairs) Grace Vonderkuhn/(Downstairs) Ruder Than You, Catbite
The Fire (412 W. Girard Ave.) FRI Youthfool, SAT Black Cat Habitat, Sharon Lia Band, Steady State, 100 Men On Mars, SUN Twice Brothers, Rowhome
MilkBoy Philly (1100 Chestnut St.) FRI Creem Circus, SAT Dave Patten, Psychic Agency, Aaron Parnell Brown
Ortlieb’s Lounge (847 N. 3rd St.) FRI Line Leader, The Bigness, Rare Spirits, SAT I Think Like Midnight/MCA Day: Stop Not Playin
The Barbary (951 Frankford Ave.) FRI Felipe Pupo, Shane Reimer, Family Friend, Egocentric Plastic Men, Vassal, SAT Kissing The Klepto, Twin Beds, Bored As Hell
Bourbon & Branch (705 N. 2nd St.) FRI Johanna Baumann, SAT Delmont (EP Release), Stealing From Thieves, Goodthief
Silk City (435 Spring Garden St.) SUN Omni MC, Teef and E1 Beats present: Da Vida, Kahlil Ali
Fergie’s (1214 Sansom St.) SAT Paul Green Punk Rock Brunch, SUN Rusty Cadillac
Voltage Lounge (421 N. 7th St.) FRI All That 90s Party
Frankie Bradley’s (1320 Chancellor St.) FRI Cabaret Sauvignon/DJ Chris Urban, SAT Philadelphia Burlesque Academy Student Showcase/Ed Christof, SUN Honeygasm
Century (1350 S. 29th St.) FRI E.D.S., The Stutter, SAT Ritual Earth, Space Caravan, Bear/moth
The Grape Room (105 Grape St.) FRI Presidential Top Knot, Knightlife, The Missing Frets, The Jumping Juvies, SAT SomaRai, Slophouse, Dead in Dog Years, Little War
Ardmore Music Hall (23 E. Lancaster Ave.) SUN Under The Oak
Everybody Hits (529 W. Girard Ave.) FRI Caracara (EP Release Show), Cave People (Solo)
The Pharmacy (1300 S. 18th St.) SAT Bree and the Reeds, Sophie Coran/Humilitarian
Warehouse on Watts (923 N. Watts St.) FRI Astro 8000, 1-800 Happy Hour, DJ Kenny Dollaz
The Music Ward (Please contact one of the acts or venue for more info.) FRI Gnarbot, Medusa’s Disco, Miss Cantaloupe
Cousin Danny’s (Please contact one of the acts or venue for more info.) FRI Downtrodder (Last Show), Demodex
Truck (Please contact one of the acts or venue for more info.) SAT Tombo Crush
Free Candy (Please contact one of the acts or venue for more infor.) FRI Slenko & McKeys, Kyle Press, Guitars and Drums
The Phantom Broadcast released their latest album, Antiquities, Volume 1, last week. This is more of a collective of musicians than a band with a sound the truly defies classification. There are elements of Rock, Metal, Jazz, and classical music as the group creates beauty , harmony, and melody out of what feels like could fall into chaos at any moment.
This is the work of Evan Opitz (Vocals, Electric Guitar, Fender Rhodes, Toy Piano, Synths), Dave Hollis (Vocals, Electric/Acoustic Guitars, Synths), Lucy Little (Vocals, Violin), Nick Soria (Bass, Vocals), and Colin Rambert (Drums/Percussion).
Often when an artist releases an EP, they’ll release a music video for a track around the time of release. But Erin Enderlin just released her three-track EP Chapter One: Tonight I Don’t Give A Damn, along with a video for each song on the record. It’s all part of a concept to release four EPs throughout the year, each one featuring songs built around the characters on Enderlin’s 2017 record Whiskeytown Crier. The new EP begins with "Broken" from Whiskeytown Crier, before moving on to tell more of its character’s story. In "Tonight I Don’t Give A Damn", Enderlin sings of the character’s ambivalence with romance, her descent into drunkenness, and her recounting of a one-night-stand with a random bar patron. Listen to the full EP to follow the character’s full story, and stay tuned for more EPs to come from Enderlin in 2019. Take a look at the video for "Tonight I Don’t Give A Damn" below. – Will Sisskind
Dark Electro-Pop duo Still + Storm released their latest EP, “The Dark”, last week via Mstatement. This is the work of Husband and Wife Rachel and Dave Raymond. Dave has been a mainstay in Chicago for years with bands like Given Names and Hidden Hospitals and runs the Mstatement label.
Photo by Chris Strong
The Dead Licks released a new single this week called “What Happened”. This is the first new music we’ve had from the Alt Rock Quartet since their early 2018 debut LP, Stay Away from the Aliens.
This is the first of two singles the band has planned for the first half of 2019 before they release their sophomore album.
You can catch The Dead Licks tonight, May 3rd, at Harte’s Saloon in Evergreen Park.
Twilight Time (Long Song Records), the new LP from Desertion Trio, is nothing to sleep on/or through. An unpredictable, musical adventure lies around every corner. Led by one of Philly’s finest guitarist Nick Millevoi, the band can hover in a hypnotic, transportive state and then quickly transforms into a revved up, jazz-surf amalgamation or a funky, groovin’ stomp. Morphing a multitude of genres, the group creates an elegant, ever-energetic collection of familiar tracks, etched with their unique signature.
Dehd has released a third single, “Happy Again”, from their forthcoming sophomore album, Water, which is due out on May 19th via Fire Talk.
Dehd is the work of Jason Balla (NE-HI and Earring), Emily Kempf (Vail and Lala Lala), and drummer Eric McGrady.
You can help Dehd celebrate the release of Water on May 10 at Empty Bottle with The Hecks and Mavis The Dog.
Sometimes you walk into an open mic or a small music venue in New York and hear something that makes you go, "Well, I’ve never heard that sound before." Gawain and the Green Knight fit that bill. Named after a late 14th-century chivalric romance story, the duo of Alexia Antoniou and Mike O’Malley craft literary folk songs which blend history, literature, and other intellectual pursuits with the usual songwriting themes of anxiety, self-doubt, and desire. Take the band’s song "King Louis", a track about fearing what your crush might say behind your back. However — as Antoniou shows in the just-released music video — the song is also about the titular infamous French ruler, who feared court gossip so much that he kept all of his nobles under his eye. Watch the music video for "King Louis" and see Antoniou decked out in full Louis XIV costume, tearing her wig off as the fear becomes too much to bear. – Will Sisskind
Twin Peaks released a re-recorded version of their single “Natural Villain” last week to coincide with the release of the collaborative Garage Lager with Goose Island. This version of the song features Ohmme on backing vocals and was recorded at Treehouse Records. All proceeds from the sale of the single are going to Chicago Abortion Fund.
Twin Peaks is currently on a Spring Tour with Post Animal and you can find all of their tour dates here.
And now, for something completely different. Lights of Marfa share the Nashville alt-rock scene with colleagues like The Ivins; their thunderous sound shakes stages around town. Recently, the band have pushed themselves to put out a new single each month; last month’s single, an original called "Live To Forget", had a ballad-like quality to it, and February’s "Run To You" was a straightforward rock cover of the Bryan Adams original. This month, Lights of Marfa have again chosen to go for a cover, this time giving their alt treatment to Billy Joel’s 1978 single "Big Shot". Joel’s version laid heavy on the rock elements, making it a timeless track that any modern rock band could tackle with ease. Lights of Marfa do it justice without stripping the original of its fire; take a listen for yourself down below. – Will Sisskind
Bruce Jazz trio Poplife released a new single last month called “Bad Attitude”. This is the funky yacht rock of Ben McFadden (Keys, Vocals, Guitar) (aka McFabulous) along with Foul Tip’s Adam Luksetich (Bass) and Ed Bornstein (Drums). For this single, their first in a year, the trio recruited the talented Vivian McConnell (aka V.V. Lightbody) on backing vocals.
