FREE MUSIC: everyone loves it. (Well, except the RIAA, but everyone hates them.) 100%-authorized, totally-legal, lawyer-approved MP3s of songs and live studio sessions. Plus: more streaming audio than you can shake a cease-and-desist letter at, as well as reviews of new local singles and albums (so you know what to download later).
Photo by Mathiew Zazzo
Lou Doillon “Devil or Angel” from Verve Music Group on Vimeo.
If you haven’t been listening to Milwaukee’s Field Report by now, here’s your chance to make it up with no hard feelings from me (but do it quick). There are only a handful of musicians and bands that I nebulously define as having “that Folkadelphia sound,” meaning that our radio show was created to support and share music exactly like this, like Field Report is making. These “Folkadelphia sounding” bands bridge the gaps not only between various folk music traditions, past and present, but also between other genres, technologies, and artistic disciplines. The end result is an inventive amalagamation of ideas that push at the boundaries of what we think of as being a songwriter and being a folk musician.
I first met Christopher Porterfield, Field Report’s singer and writer, about two years ago when his previous musical outfit, Conrad Plymouth, was visiting Philadelphia. Even in their stripped down band configuration and playing a different repertoire of songs, it was apparent that Porterfield was on a path to becoming a singular songwriter. In Field Report’s debut eponymous album, intricate and striking narratives, full of rich characterization, literary allusions, and philosophical musings are balanced by a fairly hook-laden approach to keep the listeners’ attention without getting too heavy-handed. Painted over with a nostalgic brush, Porterfield’s singing and the band’s music hit all of the right emotional points- seething loneliness, uncertain introspection, all which often builds to an impassioned head. Listening to the band, you get the sense that you’re living through Porterfield and his characters’ memories, faded at the edges by the passage of time, imbued with imagination’s coloring. Porterfield tells the stories as he remembers them, not how they really happened.
Since our session with Porterfield’s previous band, we have seen the advent of Field Report, the release of their debut record, and a handful of stops in the city for live shows (including last year’s XPoNential Music Festival). Here for our latest Folkadelphia Session, we welcomed Field Report, who were playing as a trio (with Ben Lester on steel guitar, Shane Leonard on drums, banjo, and vocals, and Porterfield) to the XPN Performance Studio before their concert on March 29th at the Tin Angel with Sara Watkins (who will be featured as our next week’s Folkadelphia Session). The session consists of two tracks from the band’s debut and two new tracks – a taste of what’s to come from them.
Photo by Abi Reimold
Recent Philly transplants Literature previewed four new tracks in this week’s Key Studio Session. With a sound made for indie dance club nights, Literature are a surf-y, high energy bunch of polished musicians with well-coiffed songs. Stream and download “Court Date” below and check out the full session here.
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Portland retro group Sallie Ford and the Sound Outside showed the Non-COMM crowd its rockability in a feisty set that closed out Wednesday night. The band is touring behind its latest LP Untamed Beast; check out the setlist below and listen to the performance in its entirety here (via the WXPN media player). Continue reading
Quirky upstate New York four-piece Foxygen got crazy in a late-night Non-COMM set yesterday that blended Doors-esque poppy psychedelia with punk-y dissonance. Check out the setlist below, and listen back to the set in its entirety here (via the WXPN media player). Continue reading
Slide guitar wizard and XPN favorite Robert Randolph got the downstairs crowd at World Cafe Live dancing in his Non-COMM set. Randolph’s latest project was producing The Slide Brothers, though he recently released a single called “Amped Up” that will be on his forthcoming LP Lickety Split, which comes out in July on Blue Note Records. Listen to Randolph’s set in its entirety here (via the WXPN media player).
Local thrash / metal band Surgeon has been readying its long-in-the-making new full-length Chemical Reign for the past couple years – since we had them in for a Key Studio Session, as a matter of fact – and the day has finally come. This weekend the band plays its album release show at Johnny Brenda’s, and you can get a taste of the shreddery in store with this video performance of “Greed” at Garage Mahal earlier this year, filmed by The Angry Mountain.
Surgeon “Greed” from The Angry Mountain on Vimeo.
