I took a lot of photos and pretty much they all tirned out like crap but here's few anyway from last night's joyous reunion show with Philadelphia's The Friggs at the Tritone on South Street. Part girl group, part sixties style garage rockers, they had the packed house dancing from the word go like they'd never been gone.

The Friggs - Shake
Buy Today Is Tomorrow's Yesterday

A moment of tribute today for legendary Philadelphia musician Robert Hazard who died unexpectedly August 5, 2008 at age 59 after surgery for pancreatic cancer at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. While Robert is probably best known for his song Girls Just Wanna Have Fun covered by Cyndi Lauper and more recently by Miley Cyrus, early songs like Escalator Of Life and Change Reaction established him as one of Philadelphia's finest. A great loss indeed.

Robert Hazard - Troubador
Buy Troubador

My apologies to Lillie Ruth Bussey for missing her set as I arrived at Johnny Brenda's this past Thursday Night for Aderbat's Cd Release party just as Bitter Bitter Weeks was taking the stage. They opened with one of my personal favorites of theirs, Lo-Res and the night was off to excellent start. Bitter Bitter Weeks jangly shimmering guitar pop sounded excellent despite the fact that Brian McTear was having some trouble with his voice going out early into their set. Next up was an hotly anticipated set by East Hundred, the crowd in the room seemed to double as they prepared to play. Fronted by the charismatic and charming Beryl Guceri their audience seems to be growing everytime I see them. They have a keyboard driven sound with an early eighties feel that would not sound out of place alongside bands like Echo and The Bunnymen or Siouxsie And The Banshees. Aderbat was up next, kicking off their set with We Belong To The Sea, the title track from their brilliant new album. Aderbat's music is a finely woven tapestry of melody and soft dynamics that draws you in deep and keeps you there. Frontman Matt Taylor has a look similar to a young Bob Dylan and voice I can best describe as somewhere between Jeff Buckley and Nick Drake. Imagine all that together and you'll have an idea of what they kind of sound like. An excellent night of music all around.

Bitter Bitter Weeks

East Hundred
Aderbat

Some photos from the early afternoon portion of this weekend's WXPN XPoNential Music festival at Wiggins Park on The Camden NJ waterfront. Cheers Elephant kicked the day off on the Marina stage in fine style with an outstanding set, followed by new wavey sounds of Zolof The Rock And Roll Destroyer and then the rhythmic indie rock of Delaware's Spinto Band on the main stage.


Cheers Elephant

Some photos from this past Sunday's Bag Of Songs night at the M Room in Philadelphia. Fantastic sets from RunRunner, Secret Life Of Sofia, New Motels and Adam & Dave's Bloodline for an enthusiastic and appreciative Sunday night crowd. If you missed this you missed a hell of a good time. Big, big, thanks to all of the bands, the M Room, and everyone who came out on a Sunday for making it a hugely successful and fun night.
RunRunner
Secret Life Of Sofia
New Motels
Adam & Dave's Bloodline

Some photos from Sunday, June 22, Day 3 of Philadelphia's Popped! Festival at World Cafe Live. The home team made up the bulk of the lineup today with some of Philly's best bands playing. I arrived in plenty of time time to grab a Grimbergen Dubbel Abbey Ale from the bar and stake out a prime spot to catch Cheers Elephant kick off the days proceedings with a dazzling set in the upstairs bar, showing why they are one of Philly's hottest bands right now. Spent some time chatting with Jessica from Popwreck(oning) in between sets. Next up were The Vandelles, a band I had not only not seen before, but had never heard of. Well, I won't be forgetting them anytime soon because their reverb laden psychedelic laced sound was amazing, with a sound falling somehwere between Jesus And Mary Chain and The Black Angels. They also delivered the "girls can rock too" moment of the festival in the powerhouse rhythm section of Suzanne Pagliorola and Lisha Nadkarni on drums and bass respectively. Then it was downstairs for Gildon Works who delivered one of the best sets of the weekend, their shoegazey psychedelic blend was absolutely massive sounding. Then it was back upstairs for one of my favorite Philly bands The Swimmers, who despite having to use a fill in bass player for the afternoon, sounded as fantastic as always. At this point the downstairs stage took a weird turn toward the performance art side with one man avant garde poet guitarist PWRFL Power up next. Three songs and it was back upstairs for me where I spent some time hanging out with Carly and Royce from Girl About Town for a bit while Takka Takka prepared to play. Caught most of Takka Takka's interesting set before heading back downstairs to see the much buzzed about Tickley Feather. More avant garde performance art tinged music that continued the theme started earlier. Although much more great music still remained, it was at this point I had to jump ship and make my way across town to the M room for my Bag Of Songs night, more on that coming soon...
Cheers Elephant The Vandelles Gildon Works The Swimmers PWRFL Power Takka Takka Tickley Feather The Downstairs Stage

Backtracking a bit today to catch up on a few photos from the beginning of my 20 bands in 3 days musical weekend that started off Friday night at The Millcreek Tavern in West Philadelphia. The Annuals, Hymns and Philly's own East Hundred all played outstanding sets on a steamy first official night of summer.

East Hundred
Hymns
The Annuals
The Annuals
The Stage Setup

Some photos from Day 2 of the Philly Popped! Festival for you. The Ting Ting's kicked off the Saturday portion with a high energy set that had the crowd who had arrived early for one of the day's most anticpated acts, up and dancing from the first note. One of the best sets of the day left no doubt they won't be an opening act much longer. Up next was Philly hometown favorites Hoots and Hellmouth whose countrified stomping hoedown also went over extremely well with the largely indie rock crowd. Mr. Lif despite having some doubts about his place on the bill "I wasn't sure if you all wanted to hear this rap shit" expertly turned the crowd into a chanting, arm waving, house party. Next on was Dan Deacon, who set up right in the midst of everyone instead of on the stage and in an amazing display of audience participation that I can best describe as a mix of Romper Room and and all night rave party, despite having to cut his set a bit short to make up time, worked the place into a totally insane, dancing, crowd surfing frenzy. As the crowd seemed to suddenly double at this point in the day, Gogol Bordello went on. Sounding like what I would imagine The Pogues would be if they chose to play gypsy music instead of Irish music. It was at this point the blazing sun had taken it's toll and we made the tough call to opt out on the rest of the day, which had Crytsal Castles, Mates Of State and Vampire Weekend yet to come. Thanks to Flickr users ellectricity & adjust the aperture their photos. Be sure to check in with my friends at Girl About Town and Pop(wreckoning) for their coverage of the day as well.The Ting Tings Kick it off

Mr Lif Has A House Party
Dan Deacon Works The Crowd
Crowd Surfing
Golgol Bordello

This Sunday, June 22, M Room in Philadelphia is where you'll want to be when Bag Of Songs Presents three of Philly's finest: Adam & Dave's Bloodline,New Motels and RunRunner along with Brooklyn's Secret Life Of Sofia. This should be one amazing night of music that you don't want to miss.

To commemorate this special event I have copies of the limited edition signed and numbered silk screened posters(shown above) designed by artist Jason Kochis, FREE, for first 25 people to arrive. Check out more of Jason's awesome poster and design work at his website (www.jasonkochis.com) He's created posters for Superdrag, Nada Surf, The Donnas and more.


RunRunner - One Trick Pony
Buy RunRunner

Secret Life Of Sofia - Outside
Buy Seven Summits

New Motels - Drama Of The Hollywood Scene
Buy Domestic Life

Adam & Dave's Bloodline - Missing Person
Get New Age Boredom EP

Adam & Dave's Bloodline, New Motels, Secret Life Of Sofia, RunRunner
Sunday June 22nd
8PM
The M Room
15 W Girard Avenue, Philadelphia PA

Celebrating the 500th post today at Bag Of Songs with 50 of the many reasons why the Philadelphia music scene is so amazing right now. Why, on any given night you can head out to places like Johnny Brenda's, The M Room, The Khyber, The North Star Bar, Tritone, World Cafe Live, The Fire, Mill Creek Tavern and more to see great live music. Almost all of the bands on this list I've personally seen play over the last year or so. If you're in a Philly area band, make sure I know who you are and when you're playing and feel free to send me your music. A BIG thank you to all of the bands here, and all of the bands to come in the next 500 posts. Rock on. See you at a show soon.

The A-Sides - Cinematic [Silver Storms]
[WEBSITE] [MYSPACE]
Action Set - Silver Lining [Longer Days]
[WEBSITE] [MYSPACE]
Adam & Dave's Bloodline - Corner Sloop [Adam & Dave's Bloodline]
[WEBSITE] [MYSPACE]
Aderbat - Talk About Her [Man Overboard EP]
[WEBSITE] [MYSPACE]
An American Chinese - Blaine Wiggins Failed Magician [Panic Pilgrim]
[WEBSITE] [MYSPACE]
Ar Duvall - Sugar Plan [Roughs]
[WEBSITE] [MYSPACE]
The Beloved Infidels - Trompe L'Oeil Girl [Demo]
[WEBSITE] [MYSPACE]
Beretta76 - Black Beauty [Black Beauty]
[WEBSITE] [MYSPACE]
Birdie Busch - Go Go Gadget Heart [Penny Arcade]
[WEBSITE] [MYSPACE]
Bitter Bitter Weeks - Lo-res [Peace Is Burning Like A River]
[WEBSITE] [MYSPACE]
The Brakes - Into the Ground [Tale of Two Cities]
[WEBSITE] [MYSPACE]
Canadian Invasion - My Swashbuckling Days are Over [Three Cheers For The Invisible Hand]
[WEBSITE] [MYSPACE]
The Capitol Years - It's Not Okay [Dance Away The Terror]
[WEBSITE] [MYSPACE]
Cheers Elephant - Here We Are [Here We Are]
[WEBSITE] [MYSPACE]
The Chimeras - Good Friday [Party Of God]
[WEBSITE] [MYSPACE]
The Cobbs - Say You Never Knew Me [The Cobbs Sing the Deathcapades]
[WEBSITE] [MYSPACE]
Creeping Weeds - Eternity Is A Long Time [We Are All Part Of A Dream You Are Having]
[WEBSITE] [MYSPACE]
Dark Horse and the Carousels - Hard To Die [Meet Dark Horse and the Carousels]
[WEBSITE] [MYSPACE]
DeJesus - Bliss [From The Subconscious]
[WEBSITE] [MYSPACE]
Dr. Dog - Worst Trip [We All Belong]
[WEBSITE] [MYSPACE]
Drink Up Buttercup - Young Ladies [Demo]
[WEBSITE] [MYSPACE]
The Frantic (now Moscow Girls) - Something New [A Story Of Betrayal And Lust]
[WEBSITE] [MYSPACE]
Gildon Works - Artful Rifle [Gildon Works EP]
[WEBSITE] [MYSPACE]
Grammar Debate - I Stab Myself To Sleep [Cheetah Vs. Helicopter]
[WEBSITE] [MYSPACE]
Hezekiah Jones - Nothing's Bound [Hezekiah Says You're A-OK]
[WEBSITE] [MYSPACE]
Illinois - Alone Again [What The Hell Do I Know?]
[WEBSITE] [MYSPACE]
Illuminea - Homewrecker [Out Of Our Mouths]
[WEBSITE] [MYSPACE]
It's A King Thing - My Minivan Just Died [It's A King Thing LP]
[WEBSITE] [MYSPACE]
Jotto - Backyard Circus [Jotto]
[WEBSITE] [MYSPACE]
Jukebox The Ghost - Victoria [Let Live And Let Ghosts]
[WEBSITE] [MYSPACE]
Man Man - Doo Right [Rabbit Habits]
[WEBSITE] [MYSPACE]
New Motels - Modern Thinker [Domestic Life]
[WEBSITE] [MYSPACE]
Nicole Reynolds - We Could Be Dancing [This Arduous Alchemy]
[WEBSITE] [MYSPACE]
The Novenas - Search Engine [The Novenas]
[WEBSITE] [MYSPACE]
Pawnshop Roses - Goodbye Sara K [Demo]
[WEBSITE] [MYSPACE]
The Peace Creeps - Girl In A White T-Shirt [Autumn Of Love]
[WEBSITE] [MYSPACE]
Photon Band - Words (get in the way) [Get Down Here In The Stratosphere EP]
[WEBSITE] [MYSPACE]
Ports of Call - Washout [Like Thieves...]
[WEBSITE] [MYSPACE]
Public Record - Comfortability [Public Record]
[WEBSITE] [MYSPACE]
Rarebirds - Caffeine Heartbeat [Burial At Sea]
[WEBSITE] [MYSPACE]
The Roots - I Will Not Apologize [Rising Down]
[WEBSITE] [MYSPACE]
RunRunner - That's What You Get [RunRunner]
[WEBSITE] [MYSPACE]
Scary Monster - Julianne Francis [Makeout Party At Werewolf Club]
[WEBSITE] [MYSPACE]
The Shots - Do Me Wrong [Demo]
[WEBSITE] [MYSPACE]
Slo-Mo - Aramingo Take Out [Smokey Mountain]
[WEBSITE] [MYSPACE]
The Sparklers - Mercy, Mercy, California [Demo]
[WEBSITE] [MYSPACE]
Surefire Broadcast - When I Need Someone [SFBC Single]
[WEBSITE] [MYSPACE]
The Swimmers - It's Time They Knew [Fighting Trees]
[WEBSITE] [MYSPACE]
Thinking Machines - Return To The Red Sun [A Complete Record Of Urban Archaeology]
[WEBSITE] [MYSPACE]
The Tights - You Shook Me [Carried Away]
[WEBSITE] [MYSPACE]

It may be 98 degrees outside in Philly today but it'll be cool tonight at The M Room. Three great bands, check it out.
It'll be too hot to sleep anyway so why not go out and have a good time.

The Bloodsugars,The Beloved Infidels, & Quintero
Sunday June 8th
8 PM @ The M Room
15 W Girard Ave Philadelphia PA
$8 21+

The Bloodsugars - Purpose Was Again [WEBSITE]
The Beloved Infidels - Trompe L'Oeil Girl [WEBSITE]
Quintero [WEBSITE]

Philadelphia has a long tradition of excellent bands that have combined top notch musicianship and songwriting into a jazz,folk, and blues inflected sound. Immensely popular in their hometown, bands like Townhall, Huffamoose, and The Low Road all flamed out too soon in their quest to bring this sound to the world at large. The Brakes are the next in line to attempt to break this sound out of the city and to a wider audience. Favorites on local radio station WXPN and with a strong fanbase, they may just be the ones poised to finally take it all the way. Barely into their early 20's with the oldest at just 23, The Brakes have already shared bills with the likes of The Hold Steady, Robert Randolph, Widespread Panic and Willie Nelson amongst others.

Recently signed to Hyena Records their new album Tale of Two Cities is being released this Tuesday, May 6th and is solid batch of songs steeped folk, blues, jazz and rock tradition. Recorded live during a month long Spring 2007 dual Philadelphia / New York City residency, hence the name, it showcases the band at their best.

The Brakes :
Zach Djanikian - Vocals, Bass, Acoustic Guitar, Tenor Saxophone
Matt Kass - Guitars, Bass
Derek Feinberg - Guitars, Bass, Vocals
Adam Flicker - Keyboards, Trumpet, Vocals
Josh Sack - Drums, Cymbals

Give a listen to the Randy Newman-esque album opener Into the Ground, pick up your copy this Tuesday and be sure to catch them as they zig zag the country on tour this spring.

MP3 : The Brakes - Into The Ground
Buy Tale Of Two Cities

Upcoming Tour Dates
May 7, 2008 / Sticky Fingers Chicken Shack / Little Rock, AR
May 9, 2008 / The Cavern / Dallas, TX
May 10, 2008 / Warehouse Live / Houston, TX
May 11, 2008 / Emo’s Alt. Lounge – Inside / Austin, TX
May 13, 2008 / Blueberry Hill / St. Louis, MO
May 14, 2008 / Birdy’s / Indianapolis, IN
May 15 / The Redstone Room / Davenport, IA
May 16, 2008 / The Rave / Milwaukee, WI
May 17, 2008 / Kinetic Playground / Chicago, IL
May 18 / The Eagle Theater / Pontiac, MI
May 20 / The Cambridge Room @ House of Blues / Cleveland, OH
May 21 / Club Cafe / Pittsburgh, PA
May 22 / Coffee East / Easton, MD
May 24 & 25 / Hard Rock Park / Myrtle Beach, MD
June 2 / Mercury Lounge / New York, NY
June 3 / Higher Ground / Burlington, VT
June 5 / The Stone Church / Newmarket, NH

[WEBSITE] [MYSPACE] [HYENA RECORDS]

Even if it was only A Place To Bury Strangers this show would be worth attending, they are one of the best live bands I've seen in a while. But it's them and LOTS, LOTS more. Rock On !

Annual PILAM Human Barbecue
April 5, 2008 Noon til ???
$12
PILAM
3914 Spruce Street
Philadelphia PA

While most of the music world was converging on Austin, Texas for the SXSW conference, Philadelphia was still asserting it's place as a music city to reckoned with last night at Johnny Brenda's. First up in a preview of next month's Bag Of Songs night April 20th at The M Room were the Thinking Machines with an amazing set of songs from their brand new cd, A Complete Record Of Urban Archaeology. A guitar oriented rhythmic sound sound I can best describe as sort of like Gang Of Four meets Fugazi. Next up was folk-edelic stylings of The Chimeras playing songs from their new disc, Party Of God, a loosely conceptual rumination on war and religion in the middle east. Baltimore's Squaaks were next, tearing through a tight set of their blend of high energy rock. Jotto closed the evening with a set of dancey music that fans of current buzz bands Yeasayer or MGMT would love.

MP3: Thinking Machines - Return To The Red Sun
Buy A Complete Record Of Urban Archaeology
MP3: The Chimeras - Good Friday
Buy Party Of God
MP3: Squaaks - Be Dry My Bleeding Heart
Buy Rock Control
MP3: Jotto - Backyard Circus
Buy Jotto EP


Thinking Machines
The Chimeras
Squaaks
Jotto