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Folkadelphia Session: Hemming

Photo courtesy of Custard Records.
Photo courtesy of Custard Records

One of my favorite releases of the year comes from someone I know very well – don’t you just love that? The eponymous debut comes from Hemming, the moniker of Philly musician Candice Martello. Martello and I both attended college together (and, if we’re keeping score, so did James Clark Conner, our Folkadelphia partner and audio engineer). At the time, Martello started playing in a punk duo with Nick Fanelli called Omar (please give them a listen – they rule).

Anyway, life is crazy and random, especially if you’re viewing from the outside in. Martello and Fanelli ended up on the VH1 show Make or Break: The Linda Perry Project. Candice and her music rose to the top and helped secure her a deal with Perry’s record label, Custard Records. You can’t make this stuff up. Fast forward, Hemming has been playing shows left and right, going out on tour with Rachel Yamagata, recording an excellent Key Session, and now she’s currently out on tour with Chris Cornell – playing the Merriam Theater in Philly on 10/15 FYI. Continue reading →

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Tonight’s Concert Picks: Waxahatchee at First Unitarian Church, Pine Barons at Kung Fu Necktie, Candice Martello at The Fire and more

Photo by Emma Swann
Photo by Emma Swann

Waxahatchee (aka singer-songwriter Katie Crutchfield) will play at First Unitarian Church tonight. Crutchfield began the alt-folk project back in 2011 and has released two albums under the moniker (which was named after Alabama’s Waxahatchee Creek) with the most recent being 2013’s Cerulean Salt. Watch the video for the crunchy-but-catchy “Misery Over Dispute” below and get tickets here.

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Tonight’s Concert Picks: XPN Welcomes Thao & The Get Down Stay Down at Underground Arts, Candice Martello at the First Unitarian Church Side Chapel, Garbage at The Electric Factory

ThaoXPN welcomes Thao & The Get Down Stay Down to Underground Arts tonight.  Touring in support of their third full-length We the Common, the San Francisco group is a socially-aware folk band working under the guise of dance-happy indie pop concoctions.  Tickets and information for tonight’s 21+ show with Sallie Ford & The Sound Outside can be found here.  Below, watch Thao perform the title track to the new LP at a rally in support of the women inside Central California’s Women’s Facility and download the album cut.

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Meet Philly Folk Collective Roof Doctor (playing tonight at Church of the Advocate)

Photo by Abi Reimold | abireimold.wordpress.com/from-all-angles

Last December, Roof Doctor lead guitarist/vocalist Mark Harper looked to his friends’ bands for “the best musicians he knew,” and borrowed them record his own material. It was evident after only two practices with Alex Stackhouse (guitar), Chet Williams (bass), Sean Reilly (bass), and Kevin Paschall (drums) that the group possessed enough chemistry to identify as a band in its own right. Last week I sat down with Harper to discuss Roof Doctor’s path – from starting out at the notorious North Philadelphia Maggot House where Harper and guitarist Alex Stackhouse live, to the band’s current plans, and their recently crushed dreams of beefing with Conor Oberst.

TK: Have you been working on anything new since the release of your EP I Am Going To Die back in July?

MH: Yeah, yeah. I Am Going To Die was recorded from February to May in the basement of Maggot House, but we’ve been pretty busy playing and writing new stuff.

TK: Did starting the band inside Maggot House influence your style?

MH: Absolutely. I never listened to punk at all, I was totally new to the whole DIY thing. The people there had a big effect on me. I want to keep playing house shows—I’m not really big on playing a lot of bar gigs. When you play at house shows and colleges people are more enthusiastic.

TK: What’s your favorite show you’ve played?

MH: Oh, just last weekend we played a show at Rowan University. It was really crowded and super energetic. It was just cool because you could see all these kids from the suburbs who had never experienced shows like this, whereas in Philly kids are used to these kinds of shows and places.

TK: What do you love about smaller performances like that?

MH: When the energy of the band matches the energy of the room Continue reading →