Sibling-led Chicago band Wild Belle played a well-recieved set upstairs at non-comm, mixing electronic rhythms and synthesizer-crafted vibes with live instrumentation. Engaging frontwoman Natalie Bergman commanded the crowd, dancing with them to a selection of songs from the band’s 2013 debut Isles. Check out the setlist below and listen to the band’s set in its entirety here (via the WXPN media player). Continue reading
Wild Belle
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WXPN to broadcast and webcast Non-COMMvention performances featuring Tom Jones, Tom Tom Club, Foxygen, Kurt Vile, Wild Belle, Laura Mvula and more
This Wednesday, May 15 through Friday night May 17, the 13th annual Non-COMM industry and music conference is being hosted at WXPN. Many of the bands performing over the three days will be broadcast and webcast on XPN. Below is the schedule (subject to change).
Wednesday, May 15
7 – 7:25 p.m. Gabriel Kelley
7:30 – 8:10 p.m. Steve Martin & Edie Brickell (video webcast)
8:10 – 8:35 p.m. John Murry
8:40 – 9:20 p.m. Tom Tom Club (video webcast)
9:25 – 9:55 p.m. Kurt Vile
10:00 – 10 :45 p.m. Phoenix (Phoenix will NOT be broadcasted live)
10:50 – 11:20 p.m. Sallie Ford & the Sound OutsideThursday, May 16
12:00 p.m. – A Special Mississippi Blues Project Free At Noon 12 featuring
the Homemade Jamz Blues Band and Super Chikan and The Fighting Cocks (video webcast)7 – 7:20 p.m. Mount Moriah
7:25 – 7:55 p.m. Mavis Staples (video webcast)
8 – 8:20 p.m. Wild Belle
8:25 – 9:05 p.m. Tom Jones (video webcast)
9:10 – 9:40 p.m. The Last Bison
9:45 – 10:15 p.m. José James
10:20 – 10:55 p.m. David Wax Museum
11 – 11:45 p.m. Robert Randolph
11:50 -12:20 a.m. FoxygenFriday, May 17
12 – 1:00 p.m. Free At Noon Concert: The Fabulous Thunderbirds and Bobby Long7 – 7:25 p.m. Wild Feathers
7:30 -8 p.m. Laura Mvula
8:05 – 8:35 p.m. The Lone Bellow
8:40 – 9:10 p.m. Free Energy
9:15 – 9:45 p.m. Kopecky Family Band
9:50 – 10:30 p.m. The Olms featuring Pete Yorn
10:35 – 11:05 p.m. Marie Miller
11:10 – 12:00 a.m. The Relatives
Wild Belle take control of your YouTube set (and happy record release day to them!)
Photo by Jennifer Tzar
Wild Belle’s delicious debut album, Isles, is out today. It’s one of our favorite albums of the year so far. The band heads down to Austin, Texas this week for a handful of shows SXSW before heading to Germany, France, Ireland and the UK before returning to the States.
We asked Natalie and Elliot Bergman of Wild Belle to put together a Spotify playlist that you can listen to here with songs by the Tom Tom Club, Kindness and several world music stunners from Janka Nabay, Tom Ze, and The Mgbaba Queens.
Not all of the music that Wild Belle suggested could be found on Spotify so we searched Youtube for the remaining music, which we share with you today. One of the songs is by Elliot’s “other band,” – afrobeat/jazz/funk inspired NOMO. Watch the videos and stream Isles below. Continue reading
Listen to Wild Belle’s curated Spotify playlist with music from Tom Tom Club, The Congos, Kindness and more
Photo by Jennifer Tzar
Wild Belle’s debut album Isles is out Tuesday, March 12th. Buy the album here.
The Week So Far: 12 must-read stories on The Key (incl. Wild Belle, Petula Clark and Neighborhood Choir)
Eels | Photo by Michael Bucher
Check out photos and videos of Eels‘ knock-out appearance at World Cafe Live [link]
Local acoustic musician Kyle Swartzwelder recorded a stirring session for Folkadelphia [link]
Download “Joy To You Baby” from Josh Ritter‘s new LP The Beast in its Tracks, which is also XPN’s Featured Album of the Week [link]
XPN’s Gotta Hear Song of Week welcomes the return of Petula Clark with “Cut Copy Me” off of her new album Lost in You [link]
The Lawsuits recorded a rocking, eclectic Key Studio Session this week [link]
Guest VJ Nikki Volpicelli shares Philadelphia Area Music Showcase‘s line-up of local acts for this month’s Tuesday Tune-Out series at PhilaMOCA [link]
Neighboorhood Choir‘s Bennett Daniels talks roadtrips, recording and roughing it in an interview with Brian Wilensky [link]
The Key premiered Wild Belle‘s instantly captivating and mystical debut album Isles [link]
Peter Murphy will perform the music of Bauhaus at The Trocadero on May 9th [link]
Watch a video of Norwegian Arms performing “Wolf Like a Stray Dog” at Brighton Sound Studios; they play an all-ages show at PhilaMOCA tomorrow [link]
Preeminent Philly soul group The Delfonics are put in the spotlight once again with Adrien Younge Presents The Delfonics; stream the new collaborative album via NPR [link]
Steve Earle and the Dukes announce a May 3rd show at Phoenixville’s Colonial Theatre [link]
Watch “Keep You” by Wild Belle, from our streaming album premiere of the band’s debut, Isles
Photo by Caleb Condit
Album premiere: Listen to the debut album by Wild Belle, Isles
Photo by Jennifer Tzar
Isles is brimming with warm, mystical grooves and dreamy dance songs laced in pop tradition. Natalie and Elliot perform many of the instruments themselves including a wide range of keyboards including piano, Hammond, Fender Rhodes, Memory Moog, Minimoog and Casio. Elliot plays saxophone and percussion including congas and kalimba. Natalie’s lead vocals are beguiling and sensual, and the songs are complemented with bass, guitar and drums, handled by Erik Hall, who plays with Elliot in the jazz/funk/afrobeat influenced Chicago band Nomo.
Songs like “Keep You,” “Twisted,” and “It’s Too Late,” are catchy and irresistibly playful and on “June,” Wild Belle grab a page out of the playbook of the early rock steady sounds of Jamaica with refreshing results. In fact, Isles feels like a deep dive in to the classic Trojan Records catalog with great respect for the past while crafting something thoroughly modern sounding. For Wild Belle, the groove is definitely in the heart.
Isles is out Tuesday, March 12th. Buy the album here.