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

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

Shawn Fogel
Pico Vs Island Trees
Hymns

A few photos from last night's Bag Of Songs Night at The M Room with Hymns, Pico Vs Island Trees and Shawn Fogel.
Shawn Fogel kicked the evening off with a solo set alternating on electric and acoustic guitar and comprised of songs from his latest EP,One Day In The Desert as well as a bunch of excellent new songs and a few choice covers including Matthew Sweet's Holy War and the obscure John Strohm/Velo Deluxe gem Angel. Pico Vs Island Trees were up next, lead singer Bryan Carter reminding somewhat of a young David Johannsen with the stage presence to go along with it. They delivered a rocking high energy set, personal highlights for me were their new single Open Doors and a blistering version of McCartney's Jet joined by Jason of Hymns on backing vocals and tambourine. Hymns were up next and continued the McCartney theme by opening their set with a killer version of Band On The Run. Big, big thanks to all of the bands for a fantastic night of music all around.

If you missed it, Hymns will be back in Philly on June 2Oth with The Annuals at The Mill Creek Tavern. Pico Vs Island Trees will be delivering the goods next to their hometown crowd at Nashville's Mercy Lounge on June 7th. Shawn Fogel plays next with his full band May 28 at Piano’s in New York City.

Be sure to check out Jessica's excellent review of Shawn Fogel's set over at pop wreck(oning)

Hymns [WEBSITE] [ MYSPACE]
Pico Vs Island Trees [MYSPACE]
Shawn Fogel [WEBSITE] [MYSPACE]

Some photos from last night's show at Johnny Brenda's In Philadelphia. Opening the night was Philly's own Aderbat whose lead singer and bass player could pass for a young Bob Dylan and Kris Kristofferson respectively. It was my first time seeing them and they played an excellent set of music with a sound that falls somewhere between My Morning Jacket and Wilco. Great stuff, definitely add them to your list of must see Philly Bands. Up next was Brooklyn's Via Audio, who played a high energy set of dance music with a distinctly eighties new wave overtone that the crowd couldn't get enough of. Expect them to rise hot on the heels of fellow Brooklynites MGMT and Yeasayer real soon. Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin closed the evening with their brand jangly guitar pop. After a rousing finale of their song Oceanographer, the boys came back out for an encore joined by the members of Via Audio for a "we didn't practice this but we're going to try it anyway" version of Nirvana's Heart Shaped Box which, despite a few ramshackle moments, really rocked. See the lyric cliff notes they had on stage along with a scan of the setlist below. A great night of music all around.
Aderbat
Via Audio
Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin