Illustration by Johnnie Cluney for Daytrotter
Free Energy recently stopped by Daytrotter to record a session. The band played “Hey Tonight,” “Girls Want To Rock,” “Electric Fever,” and “Hold You Close.” Listen to the session here.
Photo by Abi Reimold | JumpPhilly.com
Acting as if he was playing for a small crowd (instead of the few hundred squeezed in the room), Kinsella asked if we wanted to “talk about anything” as he slugged a Kenzinger. After some murmurs from the crowd, he segued into “Oh, Evelyn…” from 2011′s Ghost Town and then “She’s a Thief” from 2004′s I Do Perceive, which complemented each other beautifully. The two songs highlighted some of the best work from his early and present career.
“Bad News” was dedicated to a member of the audience, Cody, whom Kinsella acknowledged for being genuine. “Thanks man,” Cody shouted afterwards. “That made me cry!” A song later, Kinsella’s guitar string broke and he offered to end the show early, or fix it. The church pumped intermission music while Kinsella tended to the string. Finishing up with a new track entitled “I Got High,” and then “Good Friends, Bad Habits,” Kinsella wished his audience well as they funneled out of the basement and into the night. See the setlist from the show after the jump. Continue reading
Paint it Black means business, always. Their songs are quick, aggressive, and thought-provoking, with little fat. Take the new track their label, No Idea Records, premiered today – “Greetings, Fellow Insomniac” rages about conscious desensitization: “We don’t wanna feel pain / that’s what the medicine’s for.” Heavy stuff, and its good to see these heroes of the hardcore punk scene in Philadelphia back in action. The band releases its new 7″ EP Invisible on March 31st – the day of their record release show, which just got a nice feature writeup in the Philadelphia Weekly. Get tickets and information about the show at the R5 Productions website, and listen to “Greetings, Fellow Insomniacs” below.
Yesterday, the highly regarded Philadelphia/Scranton based emo band Tigers Jaw announced that they would be calling it quits. The announcement was posted on the band’s tumblr page by Brianna Collins, who plays keyboards. Reasons as far as why the band is breaking up is pretty obscure, simply saying, “After our show in Scranton two weeks ago, Adam, Pat, and Dennis let Ben and I know that for personal reasons they are unable to do Tigers Jaw anymore”. It goes on to say that the band members’ declaration they did not desire to continue being the band was a relative shock, but they are all on good terms. Continue reading
Mike Polizze cut his teeth on stage with his local guitar assault act Birds of Maya before Purling Hiss came to fruition. But Polizze’s bandmates are also active outside of their collective power trio, some very recently, others not as much.
Kiel Everett, the bassist of Purling Hiss is also the guitarist, main song-writer and singer of local roots rockers Tin Horses. Their first release, 2011’s well-received American Radiance was full down-trodden reflections of days past but not missed. Everett and and the rest of Tin Horses, whose lineup has changed a little over the last several months, released A Life of Trouble at the beginning of this album to his approval.
“A Life of Trouble actually feels like a band’s album,” Everett says. Continue reading
Philly noise / experimental trio Many Arms played a set at New York City’s The Stone a few weeks ago, conveniently recording their mind-boggling excursions into free-form jazz for further exploration. This is convenient because Many Arms’ recordings warrant and require multiple experiences; as Beats Per Minute points out, the structures, themes and essence of the trio’s music don’t lend themselves to instantaneous attachment.
But it’s worth the effort. When guitarist Nick Millevoi goes at it solo, as he will next Thursday at The Khyber, his twelve string guitar pieces land in a place equally as foreign but perhaps a bit more accessible with ebbs and flows into chaotic feedback and restrained melodies. More information for the 21+ show with Spelling Bee, Heavy Medical and Drums Like Machine Guns can be found here. Below, stream Many Arms’ “Surface of Last Scattering” and watch a video of Nick Millevoi performing at the First Unitarian Church from 2011.
XPN favorites Dawes commanded a packed crowd at today’s Free at Noon concert. Dawes will release their latest album Stories Don’t End on April 9th, and you can catch them as they open for Bob Dylan this May or on their headlining tour starting May 25th. Check out a recap in the photo gallery above, see the setlist below and listen to Dawes’ set in its entirety here (via the WXPN media player). Continue reading
