Jul 17 : "Friday Night In Philadelphia"

Philly Music!

I think it was about the same time that I was going out to live shows for the first time (2005-2006) that Philly band "Peppers Ghost" was winding down. I did get to see them once in 2007 which I think was one of their last shows before they went on a "hiatus". It was at M Room.

One of their standards was "Friday Night in Philadelphia" which was the final song on their 2005 album "Shake the Hand That Shook the World". BTW on that big album, they were "Peppers Ghost", but on their next album a year later ("The VET EP"), they were "Pepper's Ghost". Websites didn't seem to combine the two, so you'd have to look up both separately.

They did go on a hiatus and came back for a reunion show at Grape Room in 2011. Here is a video of the band playing "Friday Night In Philadelphia" at that event. Unfortunately the video starts up without the first verse.

Fast forward to 2015, and Robbie Bennett, an alumnus of Peppers Ghost, came out with a solo version of the song, this time a video in the song's entirety. Without the full band and party vibe of the shows, darker aspects of the lyrics come through.

I normally write about current music, but this week was a short diversion into Philly's past. :)

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

Jul 01 : "Filing Cabinet" - 185668232 (East Williamsburg)

News
185668232 Releases New Video

BACK TO WORK

As we ease out of covid-19 restrictions and head back to work, it might be helpful to have a refresher in office life and routines. Here, Brooklyn noise artist 185668232 steps up to the plate in his new video, "Filing Cabinet". He starts off with the simple sound of a file drawer being closed, then gradually takes that sound, plays with it, and builds it into a rhythm base, and then through the rest of the piece, gradually brings in instrumentals.

He comments: 185668232 live stream samples and mangles the sounds of a filing cabinet, into a post-apocalyptic office dance beat!

For full effect play this for the full hour even if you have it going in the background.

To visit 185668232 on line, here is the click ::: 185668232 web page (CLICK HERE).

Jun 24 : "To Say Goodbye" - The Break Lights (Parsippany)

News
The Break Lights Releases New Video

UNANSWERED QUESTIONS

We may never know whose fault it was. Who or what was the cause of this relationship breaking up? The main character in the song does look back and sees some things he might have done wrong and also now (belatedly?) realizes the gravity of the situation, maybe with some regrets. He sees that this was his "one true love". And the relationship must have been intense, because his one true love "kept me from the knife". Yikes! What's going on there! Now looking at the present and looking forward, he sees that he's by himself and facing life alone.

The song is "To Say Goodbye" and it is a new video that was released a few weeks ago by Parsippany band The Break Lights. In the video it looks like a duo with keys and guitar/vocals/harmonica, and maybe percussion in some form of absentia haha. :) However, I did see The Break Lights perform live once as a full band. And that was at an outdoor concert in one of the "Meet Me In Morristown" summer (Thursday) events back in 2018.

"To Say Goodbye" was the band's submission to NPR's Tiny Desk Concert 2020 :::

The Break Lights sing about human relationships from different angles. To hear more, visit The Break Lights on line. Here is the link to their Facebook page ::: The Break Lights on Facebook (CLICK HERE).

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p.s. Personally not ready to go to either yet, but, as we sometime will be exiting Covid-19 restrictions, I'm wondering, as a "live-music junkie", which will come back first: indoor shows or outdoor events like Meet Me In Morristown?

May 29 : "Velvet" - Darling Din (Brooklyn)

News
Darling Din Releases New Video

TEXTURE TO THE EXTREME

A couple years ago I saw Brooklyn band "Darling Din" do a show at Pianos. The band has recently come out with an interesting video, "Velvet", that seems to encapsulate their style and then ramps it up on steroids!

What originally caught my attention when I was sampling online music of different bands and deciding where to go that night was some of Darling Din's chord progressions as well as their nuanced texturing. I liked the fluctuations in the tempo, volume, and the strong use of drums as punctuations to the words in Lisa Jaeggi's vocals. ... ... The current piece, "Velvet" takes their styling concepts to an extreme by showing variations that produce almost two genres in the one song. Listen as we start off a little soft and muted, and then the music suddenly explodes forward with a rock beat at around 1.40.

In looking a little deeper into the varied stylings, we find somewhat of an explanation on the band's web page. They define the name of their new album "Batty Fang" as being,

And I think this damage in the above definition is what they've done to concepts of traditional song structures. Watch this "capricious screed in punk's wool" as the band calls it. This was the band's submission in NPR's 2020 Tiny Desk Contest. :::

To hear more, this is the link to Darling Din's Bandcamp page ::: Darling Din on Bandcamp (CLICK HERE).