Jul 13 : Hot Summer

Philly Music!

DRONEPUNK & SHOEGAZE

When I saw the weather report for this week and saw that we were going to have another week of another heat wave, that brought back to mind the title, "Hot Summer", by Philly band Jackie Paper. "Hot Summer" is one of my favorite titles of the band.

I had never heard the band's music until one night I saw them do a show when they were on the bill with another band I had gone to see. It was just a minute or two into their first song when I realized I was falling in love with their chord progressions.

Jackie Paper did a couple versions of this song, one in approx 2009 and another in approx 2013. This is the later one. The band did a number of instrumentals in their earlier years, and the 2009 version was part of that block. Veering off not too far from an instrumental itself this song is an excellent example of living up to the band's self-description as dronepunk, shoegaze, or psychpunk. True to shoegaze stylings, the vocals in the 2009 version were not out front but were a minor player. In the 2013 version the vocals seem to be pushed even farther into the background.

pic from Jackie Paper's Facebook page

That first night that I saw Jackie Paper was at the "Comly Haus Basement Sound Laboratory", which was a musicians and artists' commune in Northeast Philly. There was a full lineup of five acts. The residents moved stuff around to reconfigure a bedroom into a showroom on concert nights. I would go on to see Jackie Paper at a number of locations all over Philly including their own diy house venue, "Hong Kong Garden".

Here's some dronepunk for a hot day.

jackie paper · 02 Hot Summer

Jackie Paper as we knew it has disappeared and is re-inventing itself as a new outfit "Dead Heir", but, in the meantime, here is a click to Jackie Paper's Soundcloud page where you can find an eclectic sampling of work they did over the years. ::: Jackie Paper on Soundcloud (CLICK HERE).

LOOKING FOR MUSICIANS! ... Joshua Dowell, mastermind of Jackie Paper, says on Dead Heir's page that he's looking for musicians to join him in this new venture. Here is the click to Dead Heir looking for musicians (CLICK HERE).

pic from Jackie Paper's Facebook page