Ruby The Hatchet

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May 2, 2013 | 10:00 AM | By

Download The Key Studio Sessions Vol. 7 (feat. Waxahatchee, Pissed Jeans, Ruby the Hatchet + more)

kss vol 7

The latest edition of our Key Studio Sessions compilations is out today – now streamable and downloadable from Soundcloud!  Check out this year’s in-studio appearances with The Key Studio Sessions Vol. 7, including the down-tempo folk stylings of Waxahatchee, the thrashing punk of Pissed Jeans and the all-out rock jams of Ruby the Hatchet.  Thanks to production assistants Fred Knittel, Madeleine Lesperance, and Dan Malloy as well as photographers Rachel Del Sordo and Kate McCann, and videographers The Angry Mountain, HotBox Studios and Out of Town Films for sharing their work.

FILED UNDER: Artists, Downloads, Recordings, Anjuli Josephine, Cayetana, Everyone Everywhere, Free Range Folk, Glocca Morra, Gretchen Lohse, Juston Stens and the Get Real Gang, Modern Inventors, Pissed Jeans, Ruby The Hatchet, Ryan Tennis, Slingshot Dakota, St. James & the Apostles, The Key Studio Sessions Vol. 7, The Lawsuits, The Naked Sun, The Stray Birds, waxahatchee
April 20, 2013 | 11:00 AM | By

The Week’s Best MP3 Downloads, incl. Oldermost, Ruby the Hatchet, The Lawsuits

oldermost

In advance of their upcoming debut full-length, local five-piece Oldermost dropped a download of two free tracks earlier this week. “Close to the Fire” and “Once I Left” display two distinct moods of the band, recalling dreamy Americana favorites My Morning Jacket and Lord Huron. Stream the songs below and download them on Oldermost’s Bandcamp here.

New Paradise Laboratories have announced that they will put their production of 27 back on the stage this spring.  The play takes a surreal and improvised look at music’s “27 Club” with portrayals of Amy Winehouse, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison and Kurt Cobain.  Narrator / musical accompanist Alec MacLaughlin stopped in the WXPN studios for an interview and improvisation session during the play’s run last fall – download his appearance below.

Tuesday’s My Morning Download featured Philly’s The Lawsuits and their new single “Onion.”  The track, and the album it will appear on, was recorded by Bill Moriarty.  With the release of Cool Cool Cool happening this summer, the band has some free time on their hands, which they will fill with a few shows next month – catch The Lawsuits at Johnny Brenda’s on May 3rd, at The Fire on May 5th and at Hard Rock Cafe on May 10th.  Tickets and information for all shows can be found here.  Download “Onion” here and check out the Key Studio Session version below.

Ruby the Hatchet stopped by to record this week’s Key Studio Session, reprising two songs from their wild Ouroboros album that was released last fall and previewing a new one, “Paralyzed,” which you can stream and download below.  The Angry Mountain was also on hand to capture the local band’s performance of “Paralyzed” on film.  Ruby the Hatchet will be at Kung Fu Necktie on April 25th – tickets and information can be found here.  Check out the full session here.

Ruby The Hatchet “Paralyzed” from The Angry Mountain on Vimeo.

Local art rock outfit The Chairman Dances shared their new two song Michael and the Prophetess EP this week.  The free download is “a song cycle steeped in biblical language and set in a fictionalized 1950s era Brooklyn” and follows the band’s longer form concept efforts A Promise and Long Lost / A History of Iniquity.  The Chairman Dances will perform at Kung Fu Necktie on June 14th; tickets and information can be found here.

FILED UNDER: Artists, Downloads, Recordings, Alec MacLaughlin, New Paradise Laboratories, Oldermost, Ruby The Hatchet, The Chairman Dances, The Lawsuits
April 17, 2013 | 10:32 AM | By

The Key Studio Sessions: Ruby the Hatchet

RHTI first heard Philly by-way-of-Jersey heavy psychedelic four-piece Ruby The Hatchet back in September while I was holed up in my house, watching the winds of Hurricane Sandy (er, excuse me, Post-Tropical Cyclone Sandy) spew sheets of rain on my porch and blow large branches down my block.

The music fit the scene outside – an intense torrent of hammering drums and swirling guitar riffs, with Jillian Taylor’s powerful vocal booming above the fray. It’s not music that celebrates aggression or destruction – just like a storm doesn’t necessarily have anything against you personally when it causes your basement to flood or makes trees fall on your roof – but it more provides a reflection of natural forces at work in an occasionally difficult world. But these are artists that can see the positive side too; the album I had cranked that September night, Ouroboros, takes its title from the mythological dragon eating its own tail, which metaphorically speaks to life moving in cycles. And for its part, Ruby the Hatchet donated proceeds from the record to Hurricane Sandy relief.

We have them in studio this week playing two amped up songs from Ouroboros – “Wicked Ones” and “The Lean” – as well as a brand new number, “Paralyzed,” a rager with a raucous Dead Weather / Motorhead drive to it. Check out the music below, and see a video of the band playing “Paralyzed” in our studio shot by Jeremy Quattlebaum and Sean Bolton of The Angry Mountain. As the band prepares its followup LP, you can catch them in concert next Thursday, April 25th at Kung Fu Necktie opening for the like-minded LA troupe The Warlocks. Tickets and information on the show can be found at the venue’s website.

Ruby The Hatchet “Paralyzed” from The Angry Mountain on Vimeo.

FILED UNDER: Artists, Concert Previews, Downloads, Events, Recordings, Kung Fu Necktie, Ruby The Hatchet, The Key Studio Sessions
February 13, 2013 | 8:34 AM | By

Tonight’s Concert Picks: Psychic Ills at Johnny Brenda’s, Bilal at World Cafe Live, XPN Welcomes Northern Liberties Music Fest with Ruby the Hatchet and more to The Fire

New York experimental rock band Psychic Ills headline Johnny Brenda’s tonight.  The psychedelic-infused outfit recalls the distorted and distressed, laidback sound of early Kurt Vile with lo-fi vocals and hypnotic arrangements that seem on the verge of exploding.  Psychic Ills will be releasing One Track Mind on February 19th via Sacred Bones Records, following up 2011′s Hazed Dream.  Tickets and information for tonight’s 21+ show with Nothing and Mike Bruno & The Black Magic Family Band can be found here.  Stream “Might Take A While” from the upcoming record below.

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FILED UNDER: Artists, Concert Previews, Events, Scene, Bilal, Black Stars, Brick + Mortar, City Rain, Hezekiah, Johnny Brenda's, Johnny Popcorn, Mike Bruno & The Black Magic Family Band, Northern Liberties Winter Music Festival, Nothing, Psychic Ills, Revolution I Love You, Ruby The Hatchet, Swear And Shake, The Fire, World Cafe Live
January 5, 2013 | 1:02 PM | By

Tonight’s Concert Picks: Sun Airway at Johnny Brenda’s, Ruby the Hatchet with Attic Dancers at MilkBoy, Brethren at The Grape Room

Photo by Shawn Brackbill | ShawnBrackbill.com

Glittery pop outfit Sun Airway play Johnny Brenda’s tonight with Historics and Cruiser.  On last year’s expansive sophomore release Soft Fall, Sun Airway washed their synths and vocals in the waters of some faraway cascade and dried them in the echo-y halls of a sky-high cathedral, creating an all-together other-worldly aura around the project.  Tickets and information for the 21+ show can be found here.  Below, watch the video for “Close” and dig deeper into Soft Fall with The Key’s Unlocked series here.

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FILED UNDER: Artists, Concert Previews, Events, Scene, Attic Dancers, Cruiser, Historics, Johnny Brenda's, Milkboy Philly, Ruby The Hatchet, Sun Airway
December 17, 2012 | 11:29 AM | By

The Key’s Year-End Mania: John Vettese’s top five Philly music discoveries of 2012

With just two weeks remaining in 2012, it’s come time to look back at the year that’s just passed us by, look ahead at the year just ahead of us, and generally reflect on stuff that got us excited – in music, and in general.

But if you’re like me, you find best-of lists a little boring. I mean, they’re kind of a necessary evil, in terms of the cultural community putting the past 12 months into context. That said, after the fifty-billionth iteration they can almost become a chore to read and to put together. So for The Key’s year-in-review, we asked our trusted sources – our writers and photographers, XPN’s on-air staff, fellow bloggers in the Philly scene and even a few musicians – to send us their Top Five Whatevers. Could be the traditional music route – albums, songs, concerts of the year – or it could be only loosely connected.

We’ll be sharing these recaps every day through to the end of the year. Today, I’ll get things started with my top five Philly music discoveries of 2012. Coming across an exciting emerging musician I’ve never heard before is easily a highlight of my job, and there was no shortage of that this year. (See the incomplete honorable mention section.) With this list, though, I tried to focus on the less-discussed acts, the ones you won’t find on a show every weekend. Some artists hit the ground running this year, and that’s great – these artists are ones that are worth your time to seek out. Continue reading →

FILED UNDER: Artists, ASAAD, Citizen Xavier, Daniela Romeo, Family Vacation, Keepers, Radiator Hosptial, Ruby The Hatchet, The Downtown Club, The Sun Flights, Year-End Mania 2012
December 7, 2012 | 2:30 PM | By

Ruby the Hatchet at Kung Fu Necktie Saturday, December 8th

This Saturday, December 8th, the upstairs of Kung Fu Necktie will host the Philly alt-thrash four-piece Ruby The Hatchet; also on the bill is Baltimore’s Bad LIquor Pond, Wreaths from Asbury Park and Triglactagon from Rochester, New York. This psychedelic cesspool of fuzz and rockstar grooves starts at 8 p.m. and the event information can be found here. Below, watch a spooky video for Ruby the Hatchet’s “Black Tongue.”

FILED UNDER: Concert Previews, Events, Bad Liquor Pond, Kung Fu Necktie, Ruby The Hatchet, Triglactagon, Wreaths