SOME DREAMS ARE LIKE A FIRE
Philly Music!
We're getting involved with some complex relationships and maybe with one or two dicey characters along the way. Such is the setup in "Electric City", the most recent album by Philly garage band "Scantron". A few weeks ago I saw Scantron open up the night at Johnny Brenda's. I had seen them once before, several years ago. This time they were much more powerful, instrumentals way more complex.
The band has been in business for several years. While they've always been a "badass" garage rock band, the instrumentals back towards their beginning had more of the characteristics of other traditional rock and roll, with maybe a slightly more easy-going look at life as conveyed through both the lyrics and instrumental arrangements.
Fast forward to now, and the characters and relationships in the songs are becoming more complex, more complicated, less easy, as are the melodic lines in the instrumentals' support. In "Dreams" we want to see our love object cry, in "Tip Top Inn" we're ready to pull out our 45. Not to mention the guy we meet is ready to pull out his knife. This is a most foreboding rendition of the legend of Stagger Lee.
Overall I like the increasing complexity of the music's insttrumentals in the new work. More nuanced while ramping up the force and power, and even moreso with the live performance. (and I hope I never meet the guy with the knife in the song). :) But here is "Dreams", the lead song on Scantron's album "Electric City". Bad-ass no-holds-barred garage rock from South Philly. (p.s. ... Listen for an interesting but brief interlude on the keys at 1:25 on the clock).
Scantron doesn't have any other shows coming up soon, but here is the click to their Bandcamp page where you can hear a full range of their work: Scantron on Bandcamp. Pic at the top is from the band's page.
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