Dangerous Ponies | Photo by John Vettese
Dangerous Ponies | Photo by John Vettese
Dangerous Ponies | Photo by John Vettese
Dangerous Ponies | Photo by John Vettese
Dangerous Ponies | Photo by John Vettese
Norwegian Arms | Photo by John Vettese
Norwegian Arms | Photo by John Vettese
Norwegian Arms | Photo by John Vettese
Norwegian Arms | Photo by John Vettese
The Fleeting Ends | Photo by John Vettese
The Fleeting Ends | Photo by John Vettese
Blayer Pointdujour and The Rockers Galore | Photo by John Vettese
Blayer Pointdujour and The Rockers Galore | Photo by John Vettese
Blayer Pointdujour and The Rockers Galore | Photo by John Vettese
Take a short drive east of Austin’s bustling downtown and you’ll find Club 1808, a scruffy rock and roll venue and site of yesterday’s Philly-centric showcase thrown by MilkBoy and Bonfire Entertainment. The lineup was huge; we caught DRGN King, Dangerous Ponies, Norwegian Arms, The Fleeting Ends and Blayer Pointdujour and The Rockers Galore, but others who played included Katie Frank, Thee Idea Men, Kalob Griffin Band, Lushlife, Nothing and Lantern. Check out a photo recap in the gallery above.
Bleeding Rainbow at SXSW 2012 | Photo by John Vettese
The music portion of the Austin’s annual South by Southwest festival kicks off today, and many of our city’s finest up-and-coming bands have been spent the last week crammed in hatchbacks or vans with amps and instruments, making their trek to Texas. Several have, over the past couple years, recorded Key Sessions in our studio, and today we present you with a downloadable sampler of artists who are repping Philly in in Austin this week.
Beginning with a snappy performance of “Jackie” by Philly pop-rockers Cold Fronts, who won a JanSport competition to be a SXSW featured artist, all the way to the doom-y “Downward Years to Come” from Nothing, it showcases some of the rock (Cheers Elephant), hip-hop (Lushlife) and punk (Lantern) Philly bands on the various bills across Austin. Listen to the set below, download at Soundcloud. And check out some bonus video after the Jump – West Philly’s Waxahatchee performs a ton of shows this week, including an NPR Music showcase with Nick Cave tomorrow, while Bleeding Rainbow is making the rounds as well. See videos of the former playing “Dark Moon” in our studio and the latter tearing up “Get Lost” at Johnny Brenda’s.
When you call your song “Wild Night,” you’re setting expectations pretty high in terms of visuals, but our buddies in DRGN King rise to the occasion. In their new music video, premiered this afternoon at Paper Magazine, DK’s suit-clad frontman Dominic Angelella wanders through Christmas-light strewn South Philadelphia to arrive at a gathering that, to paraphrase the Paper Mag folks, blurs the lines between dinner party and science experiment. Suffice it to say the turkey is both worn and eaten, and there is some mysterious green liquid bubbling away in a few shots. But hey, YOLO and all that. Check out the video below
DRGN King | Photo by Rachel Del Sordo
DRGN King | Photo by Rachel Del Sordo
DRGN King | Photo by Rachel Del Sordo
DRGN King | Photo by Rachel Del Sordo
Dangerous Ponies | Photo by Rachel Del Sordo
Dangerous Ponies | Photo by Rachel Del Sordo
Dangerous Ponies | Photo by Rachel Del Sordo
Dangerous Ponies | Photo by Rachel Del Sordo
Dangerous Ponies | Photo by Rachel Del Sordo
Dangerous Ponies | Photo by Rachel Del Sordo
Dangerous Ponies | Photo by Rachel Del Sordo
Dangerous Ponies | Photo by Rachel Del Sordo
Idle Idols | Photo by Rachel Del Sordo
Idle Idols | Photo by Rachel Del Sordo
Idle Idols | Photo by Rachel Del Sordo
Waking Shapes | Photo by Rachel Del Sordo
Waking Shapes | Photo by Rachel Del Sordo
Waking Shapes | Photo by Rachel Del Sordo
It was a packed house at PhilaMOCA on Saturday for DRGN King‘s release party for Paragraph Nights, the long in-the-works debut LP from the Philly rock five-piece. Also on the show were the indiepop troupe Dangerous Ponies, who have an album of their own due out this year, garage-punk quartet Idle Idols and NYC’s Walking Shapes. Check out a recap of the concert in the gallery above.
Philly’s DRGN King are celebrating the release of Paragraph Nights tonight at PhilaMOCA. The full-length debut from the psychedelic power pop outfit was released through Bar / None Records on January 22nd and runs the gamut of infectiously good songwriting from the slick “Holy Ghost” to the party-ready “Wild Night.” More information for the all-ages show with Dangerous Ponies, Walking Shapes and Idle Idols can be found here. Stream Paragraph Nights here and watch DRGN King’s Dominic Angelella perform a solo, stripped-down version of “Holy Ghost” at Sofar Sounds from last weekend below.
Another reason you should follow SoFAR Philly on their Facebook page – you get to find out the latest on their monthly showcase of secret-lineup house shows. This past weekend was a great one: crowded in a cozy West Philadelphia living room, we got a solo set from Aaron Brown of Aaron and the Spell, an ensemble performance from The Gallerist and Dominic Angelella acting as a one-man DRGN King. Watch a video of Dom playing “the most stripped-down version of ‘Holy Ghost’ you will ever hear” below. (You can see me bobbing my head in the lower righthand corner for a second.) And don’t forget, DRGN King released the excellent Paragraph Nights LP last week; the band celebrates its release at PhilaMOCA on Feb. 2nd with Dangerous Ponies and more. Information on the show can be found here.
DRGN KNG Photo by Nicky Devine
You didn’t think we were going to let you get away without sending you into the weekend with some great new music, did you? Philly’s DRGN KING is releasing its full-lengh debut Paragraph Nights on Bar-None Records next week, and this afternoon we have a full album stream that you can listen to right up until the album becomes available on Tuesday. Work up a sweat to “Menswear.” Get spooky with “Barbarians.” Learn the words and sing along to the freaking joyous “Altamont Sunrise.” Just hit play below and you’re on your way.
