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Wednesday, January 31, 2018
Panorama 1719_hdr_pregamma_1_mantiuk_contrast_mapping_0.1_… | Flickr
Panorama 1719_hdr_pregamma_1_mantiuk_contrast_mapping_0.1_… | Flickr
Tuesday, January 30, 2018
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - Tickets - Union Transfer - Philadelphia, PA, January 30, 2018 | Ticketfly
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club / Night Beats at Union Transfer
UT Newsletter: http://ticketf.ly/1RqX4bJ
Event Feed: http://on.fb.me/1Xjri0BBlack Rebel Motorcycle Club (Official Page)
For 15 years, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club has carried the torch for true rock and roll. The latest edition of the firebrand rock troupe, sees them at their most dynamic. Their sixth studio album, “Specter at the Feast,” ventures into diverse sonic territory, delivering their most ambitious offering yet. It’s an album of impossible dichotomies; opposing sounds amalgamate into a seamless, entirely coherent package, that rumbles with driving rhythms, and soars with skyward-arcing guitar howls. Robert Been delivers growling bass grooves on “Hate the Taste,” and Peter Hayes’ guitar wails on what may be their most hard-rocking song, “Rival.” Counterbalancing these frenetic outbursts are moments of star-gazing ambient textures, like the crystalline harmonics introducing the slinking album opener, “Fire Walker,” and the organ drones of “Returning.” There are moments of down-home blues paired alongside flailing punk bombasticism; gnarled dark rock shores upon uplifting, and optimistic anthems. Taking cues from all points of the band’s many years on the road, this record is the band’s most well-realized album to date. “We thought about making it a double album,” Been says of the many songs that were written for the record.
To write the album, the Los Angeles band traveled north to the sleepy Northern California town of Santa Cruz, where they holed up in an old Post Office-turned-recording studio. It was here, just a few blocks from where Been grew up, that they began to write.
“Peter would spend all day and night in that studio,” Been recalls, “[Drummer] Leah [Shapiro] and I would go and check on him every few days, and he’d show us these incredible textures and guitar lines that he built.”
“I’ve never seen the sunrise so many times,” Hayes laughs, “I’d work all night on these songs, trying to get them right.”
Prior to heading north to Santa Cruz, Dave Grohl invited them to his Studio 606, home to the storied Neve 8028 console soundboard from the legendary Sound City — the subject of his recent documentary — and on which Nirvana created “Nevermind” and BMRC recorded their debut album in 2001. “It was a nice sense return,” Been says, “to come back to the place where it all began for us.”
For two years, the band worked on creating the album, a process that they all agree, was one of the most difficult of their career. Like the Macbeth quote that became the album’s title, there was a painful shadow that had been cast upon the band.
During the band’s 2010 tour, Robert’s father Michael Been — known for fronting 1980’s alt-rock group, The Call — died while backstage. He was BRMC’s sound engineer, and as Hayes says, “he was like another member of the band.” They finished the tour but afterward, the trauma began to set in.
“Music began as the best way to escape what was out there, all the shit in the world that feels false, everything you want to say against it,” Been says, “but when a loss like this is so close to music, it turns everything upside down. Music becomes the one place where you can’t escape. It’s like waking up in a completely different world. How do I get my bearings in this world?”
Slowly, the band began to rebuild. They fought grief and the pain of Michael’s death by confronting it directly, with no fear.
“The only thing that felt good was just getting together, plugging in, and turning up loud as shit,” Been says. “It was kind of this therapeutic process, playing really loud, and just feeling this energy; letting that be a release. It really helped us pull out of that darkest place that we were in.”
As their momentum regained, their synergy reconnected them to one another. Then one session began the process that unlocked their creative energy again. “I began playing this drumbeat that I had been working on,” Shapiro says, “the guys started playing, and suddenly we realized that we were playing the Call’s ‘Let the Day Begin.’”
The unintentional homage to The Call turned into their own high-powered take on the song they performed with Michael around the world. The energy was explosive and real; it became the first song they recorded at Grohl’s studio, as a tribute to Michael’s place in the band. For Robert, of course, the meaning transcended music. “This song was one of my earliest memories of my father’s music,” he says.
Grief transformed to joy. On this album, where they dug deeper than ever before, mining these difficult emotional landscapes, the result is intense, but rapturous. From personal and intimate hymns like the “Sometimes the Light” to the buzz-saw guitars of “Teenage Disease,” Been says “it was these two extremes that we were drifting back and forth between, you feel both when you are going through what we went trough.”
Above all, “Specter at the Feast” is honest; it tells the story of a journey to Hell and back, revealing that in darkness, there can be light. Wounds will eventually heal, and maybe, music can save your life. As they sing on ‘Returning,’ “I will follow you till we all return, till we know our souls’ survived.”
Night Beats
Night Beats play pure psychedelic R&B music that spikes the punch and drowns your third eye in sonic waves of colour. Theirs is a bastard blues, contorted and distorted into new shapes for 21st century wastoids — once tasted never forgotten. This is music to melt your sorry little minds.
Make no mistake: their new album Who Sold My Generation sounds like it has been created against a backdrop of burning Stars and Stripes flags and with the whiff of napalm hanging in the air — an alternative universe where ‘Helter Skelter’ is the national anthem and Charlie Manson is still on the loose. Acid-test heaviness is Night Beats’ currency, but this is no out-right nostalgia trip either. Instead of Nixon and Vietnam, Night Beats have their own epoch of God and guns and bombs and drones to rail against…or flee from. Besides, bad vibrations, blues jams and id-shattering explorations are timeless pursuits – why shouldn’t today’s young generation be allowed to take a ride down the slippery spiral that sits within the centre of each of us?
On their third album – and first for Heavenly Recordings — Night Beats perhaps most recall their Texan forefathers and psyche-rock originators 13th Floor Elevators at their ‘69 peak, just before The Man busted young Roky Erickson and dragged him to the psyche ward for barbaric doses of shock treatment. These boys represent the best of the Lone Star State’s flipside – that vast dusty hinterland of the soul where it’s easy to drift off the map and reinvent yourself as part of the long lineage of creative cowboys who prefer psychotropics to rodeo riding, guitars rather than firearms.
“Old cowboy culture is alive and well in Texas,” says frontman Danny Lee Blackwell. “I grew up with Texan mythology all around us, so as a band its instilled in our blood. My Dad didn’t wrangle steers but he did pick cotton when he was young. But then cities like Austin and Dallas, where we spent most of our time growing up, have a real sense of musical history that runs deep, so we feed off legacy that too.”
From the Elevators and The Red Krayola on to pre-ZZ Top band The Moving Sidewalks, Butthole Surfers and The Black Angels – whose record label Reverb Appreciation Society have released Night Beats — and a clutch of other early cult bands besides (Bubble Puppy, Shiva’s Headband and the Golden Dawn, anyone?), Texas has always been a prime breeding ground for such outlaw music. “The Elevators were one of the reasons I decided to become a singer and form the group,” says Blackwell. “I loved their attempt to play R ‘n’ B music, but from a distinctly Texan approach. I’d say they have profoundly influenced the group, but it’s now our job to take it to another level in a new age.”
It took a cross-country relocation to instigate their formation. Night Beats were born when frontman Danny Lee Blackwell upped stick from Dallas to Seattle, Washington and was soon joined by childhood friend James Traeger. “James got me a copy of Ginsberg’s Howl when I was around 15 and it changed everything,” remembers Blackwell of his old friend. “We grew up together and once he moved up to Seattle we did everything together there too. I wanted to try out a different place, a new city, where no one knew my music and there wasn’t anything remotely similar going on. Coming from Dallas, Austin seemed like the obvious choice but I needed something more. Seattle was at one time the home to people we love like Ray Charles, Jimi Hendrix and Quincy Jones so I didn’t feel too disconnected.”
The two existed initially as a guitar and drums duo, named in honour of Sam Cooke’s 1963 album Night Beat, before fellow Jakob Bowden Dallas resident joined on bass after a stint in Austin. Filtering a collective love of pioneering artists as disparate as Buddy Holly, Fela Kuti, Etta James, James Brown and Leonard Cohen, Night Beats dropped a clutch of singles, split-singles, cassette release and two albums – their self-titled debut in 2011 followed by Sonic Bloom in 2013 – as well as featuring on all manner of compilation albums that document the cutting edge of the head-bending, modern counter-cultural US underground.
Night Beats hit the road too, touring extensively with Roky Erickson, The Zombies, The Jesus and Mary Chain, The Strange Boys, Black Lips, The Growlers and The Black Angels in North America, Europe, Israel, South Africa and Australia.
Recorded on old two-inch tape in Echo Park, Los Angeles at the home of producer Nic Jodoin and featuring co-production and guess bass playing from Robert Levon Been of Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, new album Who Sold My Generation goes beyond merely being a retreading of well-worn garage / R&B path. Instead it offers a contemporary take on the psychedelic experience, a heady set of hoodoo voodoo songs. Mordant and corrosive opener ‘Celebration #1’ sets the tone with its wailing guitar jams and Messiah-like monologue, while ‘No Cops’ makes like the imaginary soundtrack to an orgiastic party somewhere in the LA hills as the summer of love gave way to an era of greed and paranoia. ‘Sunday Mourning’ is the sound of blood dripping on the twitching remains of a generation’s super ego and with a rockabilly strut, ‘Egypt Berry’ chases the White Rabbit down into a cosmic underworld while shaking its burning tail feathers
With new Who Sold My Generation, Night Beats have not only painted it black, they’ve torched the fucker and driven it off the cliff, crashing and burning into the arid canyon below.
In its afterglow only the lone howl of a solitary coyote remains.
Ben Myers. October 2015.
VENUE INFORMATION:
Union Transfer
1026 Spring Garden St.
Philadelphia, PA, 19123
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - Tickets - Union Transfer - Philadelphia, PA, January 30, 2018 | Ticketfly
Monday, January 29, 2018
Saturday, January 27, 2018
Friday, January 26, 2018
Panorama 2330_blended_fused_pregamma_1_mantiuk06_contrast_… | Flickr
Panorama 2330_blended_fused_pregamma_1_mantiuk06_contrast_… | Flickr
Thursday, January 25, 2018
Panorama 1951_blended_fused small | 12th and Vine Streets Ph… | Flickr
Panorama 1951_blended_fused small | 12th and Vine Streets Ph… | Flickr
Eraserhood Weekend!!
Tennis at Union Transfer – Philadelphia 1/25
Tennis at Union Transfer UT Newsletter: http://ticketf.ly/1RqX4bJ Event Feed: http://on.fb.me/1Xjri0B Tennis Music Tennis continue their extensive North American tour in celebration of their fourth full-length album, Yours Conditionally. After a cross country tour in the Spring/Summer supporting artists including Spoon, The Shins and Father John Misty the band is primed to head out on a Fall Headline tour crisscrossing the United States; their largest to date. Yours Conditionally—out now on Mutually Detrimental via Thirty Tigers and available at all record…
Destroyer at Underground Arts
Destroyer at Underground Arts Friday, January 26th, 2017 21+ | Doors: 8PM | Show: 9PM Tickets: http://bit.ly/Destroyer_Tickets ∫∫∫∫ Destroyer ∫∫∫∫
Social Saturday’s: Boozy Cheesecakes
Our Social Saturday’s return with Cheesecake and Craft Cocktails! We will offer a selection of both sweet and savory cheesecakes infused with different liquors and hand crafted cocktails. This event is pay as you go.
SOLD OUT! Snail Mail / Lomelda / Long Beard at PhilaMOCA
*SOLD OUT* Snail Mail Snail Mail is the Baltimore based indie rock solo project of 17 year old, Lindsey Jordan. She released a six song EP titled, “Habit,” on DC punks Priests’ Sister Polygon Records in July of 2016. The record features a full band with Shawn Durham on drums and Ryan Vieira on bass. In their “Best New Track” review for the EPs opening track “Thinning”, Pitchfork describes Jordan as possessing a voice that “sounds like it’s coming from…
Keys N Krates CURA Tour (Live) at District N9NE
Keys N Krates pres. the CURA Tour w/ Guests Falcons, JUBILEE Saturday January 27th at District N9NE Spotify pre-sale Mon Nov 27 & Tues Nov 28 General on-sale Weds Nov 29 pres. by Disco Donnie Presents x sounds good here Representing Toronto with the best… yes the very best… Keys N Krates have transcended genre while remaining respectfully centered in the bass world. Their music is for the clubs and beyond. Powerful, emotive, epic and baaaangin’ – KNK bring their…
Bring Your Own Vinyl
Bring Your Own Vinyl on Sunday nights and we’ll give you 20% off your tab just for hanging out and sharing your favorite tunes with us!
Eraserhood Weekend!!
Wednesday, January 24, 2018
Panorama 2171_blended_fused_pregamma_1_mantiuk06_contrast_… | Flickr
Panorama 2171_blended_fused_pregamma_1_mantiuk06_contrast_… | Flickr
Tuesday, January 23, 2018
Panorama 2069_hdr_pregamma_1_mantiuk06_contrast_mapping_0.… | Flickr
Panorama 2069_hdr_pregamma_1_mantiuk06_contrast_mapping_0.… | Flickr
Monday, January 22, 2018
Panorama 2334_blended_fused_pregamma_1_mantiuk06_contrast_… | Flickr
Panorama 2334_blended_fused_pregamma_1_mantiuk06_contrast_… | Flickr
Sunday, January 21, 2018
Panorama 1730_hdr_pregamma_1_mantiuk_contrast_mapping_0.1_… | Flickr
Panorama 1730_hdr_pregamma_1_mantiuk_contrast_mapping_0.1_… | Flickr
Saturday, January 20, 2018
Panorama 2054_blended_fused_pregamma_1_fattal_alpha_1_beta… | Flickr
Panorama 2054_blended_fused_pregamma_1_fattal_alpha_1_beta… | Flickr
Friday, January 19, 2018
Panorama 1850_blended_fused small | 607 North 13th Street Ph… | Flickr
Panorama 1850_blended_fused small | 607 North 13th Street Ph… | Flickr
Eraserhood Weekend!
Nate Staniforth: Real Magic Tour returns to PhilaMOCA!
The amazing, world-renowned magician Nate Staniforth returns to PhilaMOCA! A young man with such amazing talents that an audience member called him “The Devil” and stormed out of the room! Doors 7:30, Show 8:00, $15 advance, $18 day-of Nate Staniforth – Magician, writer, traveler, and host of the Discovery Channel’s international hit TV series Breaking Magic. “Just caught a Nate Staniforth show,” one reporter tweeted after opening night, “and now I have no idea what to believe about anything ever…
Vicious *FREE SHOW* ft. Megalodon at District N9NE
Unlocked Presents Vicious *FREE SHOW* ft. Megalodon Friday, January 19th 2018 Must RSVP at http://www.ViciousPHL.com and scan in before 11pm in order to gain FREE entry! LIMITED FREE SPOTS AVAILABLE!
Comedy Open Mic Night
Come one, come all to our second Comedy Open Mic night! No cover, no entry fee, just a bunch of geeks and freaks getting their laughs on with dark, inappropriate but appropriate humor. We kick off at 9 and go until about midnight. $5 citywides and $4 Kenzingers all night.
Bring Your Own Vinyl
Bring Your Own Vinyl on Sunday nights and we’ll give you 20% off your tab just for hanging out and sharing your favorite tunes with us!
Eraserhood Weekend!
Thursday, January 18, 2018
Panorama 2349_blended_fused_pregamma_1_fattal_alpha_1_beta… | Flickr
Panorama 2349_blended_fused_pregamma_1_fattal_alpha_1_beta… | Flickr
Wednesday, January 17, 2018
Panorama 1680_hdr_pregamma_1_mantiuk_contrast_mapping_0.1_… | Flickr
Panorama 1680_hdr_pregamma_1_mantiuk_contrast_mapping_0.1_… | Flickr
An Evening with the Naked Sun and Friends
Wednesday, January 17 at 7 PM – 10 PM
The Naked Sun is gearing up for the release of their debut LP, War with Shadows, which will be out on January 26th, 2018.
Source: An Evening with the Naked Sun and Friends
An Evening with the Naked Sun and Friends
Tuesday, January 16, 2018
Asian Arts Initiative February First Friday Programming
Those Who Talk Back – Opening Reception
Those Who Talk Back Opening Reception First Friday February 2, 6 – 8 p.m. Exhibition runs February 2 – April 6, 2018 Join us as we celebrate the opening of our newest exhibition! Aram Han Sifuentes’ Those Who Talk Back invites all to enter her interactive library, which houses the Protest Banner Lending Library, and U.S. Citizenship Test Samplers. In these works, fabric protest banners and samplers become a stand in for citizens, non-citizens, immigrants, the disenfranchised, and for those…
When the Chant Comes Book Tour
When the Chant Comes Book Tour First Friday, February 2, 7 p.m.* Poet, performer, and educator Kay Ulanday Barrett has been bringing his unique poetry to audiences for over a decade, unpicking vital political questions around race, disability and gender, and chronicling the everydayness of life in the U.S. Empire with acute perceptiveness and vitality. Polemical, tragic, funny and tender by turns, these poems show a master craftsman at the top of his game. The evening will feature a reading…
Asian Arts Initiative February First Friday Programming
Panorama 2175_fused_pregamma_1_fattal_alpha_1_beta_0.9_sat… | Flickr
Panorama 2175_fused_pregamma_1_fattal_alpha_1_beta_0.9_sat… | Flickr
Fried Chicken & Cider Tuesdays
TUE Jan 16 5:00 PM – 12:00 AM
Join us on Tuesday nights for our Celiac-Friendly fried chicken night with amazing ciders to pair. Half bird $16/Whole $30.
Source: Fried Chicken & Cider Tuesdays
Fried Chicken & Cider Tuesdays
Monday, January 15, 2018
As Inquirer Building Awaits Police HQ, A Peek Inside | Hidden City Philadelphia
Photographer Chandra Lampreich takes a look inside the empty halls of the
Read All About It: As Inquirer Building Awaits Police HQ, A Peek Inside | Hidden City Philadelphia
As Inquirer Building Awaits Police HQ, A Peek Inside | Hidden City Philadelphia
Panorama 1714_hdr_pregamma_1_mantiuk_contrast_mapping_0.1_… | Flickr
Panorama 1714_hdr_pregamma_1_mantiuk_contrast_mapping_0.1_… | Flickr
Sunday, January 14, 2018
Panorama 1740_hdr_pregamma_1_mantiuk_contrast_mapping_0.1_… | Flickr
Panorama 1740_hdr_pregamma_1_mantiuk_contrast_mapping_0.1_… | Flickr
Saturday, January 13, 2018
Friday, January 12, 2018
Panorama 2279_blended_fused_pregamma_1_fattal_alpha_1_beta… | Flickr
Panorama 2279_blended_fused_pregamma_1_fattal_alpha_1_beta… | Flickr
Thursday, January 11, 2018
Panorama 2187_blended_fused_pregamma_1_mantiuk06_contrast_… | Flickr
Panorama 2187_blended_fused_pregamma_1_mantiuk06_contrast_… | Flickr
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