Bonde Do Role
Remember that crazy/insane night at "Sal's"! Bonde Do Role are back with two new female singers. Bonde Do Role were discovered in Brazil and were the first signing to Diplo's Mad Decent label. An art-school take on baile funk, pairing the biggest, silliest samples ever with comically dirty shout-rapped Portuguese lyrics. Now signed and released an LP on Domino Records. This is going to be a super fun dance party with some special guest DJs as well!

The Death Set
Australia to Baltimore transplants The Death Set are a faster, poppier, punker and more straight forward Devo for 21st attention spans. Their debut Ep to is the giddiest wall bouncing sugar over dose that’s come my way in some time going down like a mix of three balloons full of nitrous and three more o’ helium. Sticky speedy spazzy songs defined by tuneful high-pitched screaming distorted guitars and casios blasting over rigid mechanical beats. It’ll make you jump up and down and pound your head against the wall

Rad Racket
The five guys in West Philly's Red Rocket clearly do whatever they want, whether that means playing inexplicable music, booking shows at their residential venue Danger! Danger!, or putting out CDs on their nonprofit Starpower City label. Red Rocket mixes dreamy hardcore with hippie jazz. It's hard to imagine their sound if you've never heard them and hard to follow even if you have, but it's not hard to listen to. Don't worry if you're not feeling them at any given moment - they'll move on soon enough. It gets spooky, surfy, spacey and screamy. Steer clear if you're not ready for a wild ride.

Gang
GANG is Amanda Damron and Jaclyn McGraw, with The Big Kids (Nicole McGraw and Tim Sonnefeld). Amanda and Jaclyn provide the vocals, while the big kids administer the beats. Blending rock and roll, hip-hop, club, dance, punk, and intergalactic madness straight from Pluto in such a way that you might say to yourself "Hey! I think this is my new favorite band!". South Philly Yo!

At Johnny Brendas
1201 N Frankford Ave (Frankford and Girard Aves)
Philadelphia, PA
$10 / 21+
Purchase Advance Tickets For This Show (click the tickets) :
Tickets Also On Sale w/ No Surcharge At The Relapse Retail Store (608 South 4th St)
Or Call 1-866-468-7619 (toll free)

Yo! Majesty
The most defiant, fun-loving and fresh sound of the year, these beautiful ladies from Tampa, Florida are going to bust up your head and get your ass jumpin’. MC's Shunda and Jwl are more in your face than any one on the planet right now. They've coined a female equivalent of macho that is far removed from the hypersexualized come 'n' get it attitude. new LP out this spring on Domino Records.

Does It Offend You, Yeah!
From the UK. Following the success of their remixes for the likes of Bloc Party and Muse, the band are now honing their own distinctive brand of dark, pulsating electro and have signed to Almost Godl Recordings (home of Peter, Bjorn and John). Often compared to dance-oriented acts like Daft Punk, Justice and Digitalism. However, NME has also compared them to bands like Muse and !!! due to their heavier, more 'live' sound. The group are known for their raucous live shows, which often end in stage diving and broken instruments

Bennie E.
Female queer philly mc w/ dj bunnystyles

At Johnny Brendas
1201 N Frankford Ave (Frankford and Girard Aves)
Philadelphia, PA
$10 / 21+
Purchase Advance Tickets For This Show (click the tickets) :
Tickets Also On Sale w/ No Surcharge At The Relapse Retail Store (608 South 4th St)
Or Call 1-866-468-7619 (toll free)

The Sword
Not to be confused with the sludgier Sword from Virginia or the '80s Sword from Canada, or indie rockers The Swords Project or Idyll Swords or any of the umpteen other bands metal and otherwise called Sword or something like Sword... THIS Sword hails from Austin TX, and is mightily hyped as the next big thing in the indie/metal crossover world. Their pounding, uber-heavy, swords (duh) and sorcery stoner metal reminds us a bit of Zebulon Pike, and A LOT of High On Fire (and also, thus, Sleep). Those aforementioned vocals especially. Their lyrics and graphic imagery are all seemingly inspired by Norse mythology and the music, rather than being a black metal blur, is suitably heroic as well -- charging, triumphant, and almost wearying in its relentless bombast. We imagine many fans of The Fucking Champs and Mastodon and some of the other bands mentioned above will indeed like this.

Torche
These guys killed it last time through with Jesu. Seriously one of the top 10 sets of 2007 for sure. Led by singer/songwriter Steve Brooks (ex-FLOOR), the band delivers some massively heavy and insanely catchy heavy metal action, pushed with gloriously sung and harmonized vocal arrangements and monolithic riffs. Includes members of Floor, Cavity, and Tyranny of Shaw. Robotic Empire

Stinking Lizaveta
An instrumental trio of godly Les Paul guitar, hard-hitting mathrock drums, and virtuoso upright electric bass. It's not exactly metal, it's not jazz, but it's heavy and tight and blows away most other rock outfits on the planet, live especially. Imagine Black Flag/Gone mixed with King Crimson, or AC/DC playing Mahavishnu instrumentals, or The Champs falling in love with each other, moving to the country, and practicing yoga. Those are woefully inadequate comparisons, of course, but that's cause this band is its own incredible thing. A Fuckin' huge propane tank of basic guitar/bass/drum trio, that cooking, exploding left and right. But then let's not forget the moments of delicate, Eastern-tinged post-rock bliss as well. Joe Lally (Fugazi) released this on his label Tolotta, best known as the home of stoner rock heroes Spirit Caravan. If you never heard of them, check the sound clips below

At The First Unitarian Church
2125 Chestnut Street (22nd and Chestnut Sts)
Philadelphia, PA
$12 / All Ages
Purchase Advance Tickets For This Show Right Now (click the tickets) :
Tickets Also On Sale w/ No Surcharge At The Relapse Retail Store (608 South 4th St)
Or Call 1-866-468-7619 (toll free)

Los Campesinos
From the UK. You probably have already have decided how you feel about Los Campesinos based on the polarising effect the band's early singles have had: to many, this lot are a band who out-twee Belle & Sebastian, while to others they're the natural successors to Pavement as poster kids for wisecracking lo-fi songwriting. In fact the comparisons to other indier-than-thou bands needn't stop there: there's something of the Sufjan Stevens in the group's less punky moments and quipping boy-girl lyrical exchanges like these propped up the short-lived The Royal We, although seldom with such relentless squeaky vim and vigour. The song titles alone radiate a certain clever-clever cheekiness, never more so than on 'Knee Deep At ATP', casting off lines about affections lost to rival lovers like "I could see from the quality of his K Records t-shirt, and you holding his hand". Just one example yanked from an entire album's worth of knowing hipster in-referencing. It's hard not to love this stuff a little bit. Arts & Crafts.

An American Chinese
Dueling lady and sir vocals thats lots of fun. Oddly melodic, challenging, and downright quirky. Philadelphia

At Johnny Brendas
1201 N Frankford Ave (Frankford and Girard Aves)
Philadelphia, PA
$10 / 21+
Purchase Advance Tickets For This Show (click the tickets) :
Tickets Also On Sale w/ No Surcharge At The Relapse Retail Store (608 South 4th St)
Or Call 1-866-468-7619 (toll free)

Stefan Nemeth (from Radian)
You may already find yourself familiar with Stefan Nemeth from his work as part of Radian and as the co-founder of Mosz Records. Nemeth has been at work on a number of film-related projects since the turn of the century, but only recently came to the conclusion that the soundtracks he'd composed (usually for experimental video work or shorts programmed for film festivals) were worthy of attention in their own right. After a period of editing and development, Nemeth has at last discharged this material as an album unto itself, mapping out a diverse sonic terrain populated by acoustic & programmed instruments as well as a host of recorded and manipulated sound matter. It all sets off from a comparatively organic starting point, from the percussion, electric guitar and field recordings of 'Via L4-Norte', which remains tonally very abstract, but ultimately more of-this-world than the foggy rumbles that kick off 'Field', or the motorised, electronic shards that propel 'Transitions'. Better still are the cold, piano treatments of 'Soprus' and the effervescent, sustaining vistas of 'Ortem Ende'. Stefan will be playing live with Radian drummer Martin Brandlmayr (yess!). Thrill Jockey
Sound Clips :
1) Transitions (new!) | 2) Ortem Ende | 3) Lukkaankangas

At The First Unitarian Church's Chapel
Small Intimate Seated Space That Only Holds 50 People !
2125 Chestnut Street (22nd and Chestnut Sts)
Philadelphia, PA
$10 / All Ages
Purchase Advance Tickets For This Show (click the tickets) :
Tickets Also On Sale w/ No Surcharge At The Relapse Retail Store (608 South 4th St)
Or Call 1-866-468-7619 (toll free)

A Silver Mt Zion
The trio of GODSPEED YOU BLACK EMPEROR's Efrim, Theirry and Sophie have joined forces with a string section (featuring members of black ox orkestar, esmerine, re: etc). Melding sound-loops with dense layers of cello & violin, blending and differentiating over a backdrop of ragged repeating guitar and sociopolitical lyrics. All flawlessly arranged. new LP out on Constellation Records. Second American tour ever. Montreal

Vic Chestnutt
Vic Chesnutt is an artist who is just hugely influential - and there are no shortage of artists ready to reference him as a favourite - Madonna, REM and The Smashing Pumpkins all jumped out of their respective holes to show their support for the singer songwriter when a tribute album was curated not so long ago. A few folk with more underground credentials who have been playing his albums to death, though, are the people at Montreal's Constellation imprint. Chesnutt was apparently on hand when the Constellation label was conceived back in 1997 and you get the feeling releasing his latest work has truly been a labour of love. The opportunity came about when filmmaker Jem Cohen (a good friend of both Chesnutt and the Constellation crew) suggested that Chesnutt record his next album at the Hotel2Tango studio in Montreal, the studio that Constellation run. Eventually the date was set and with Cohen on production duties and half the Constellation label playing as Chesnutt's backing band (with members of Silver Mount Zion and Guy Picciotto from Fugazi taking up the helm) recordings were made and everyone who heard them was left deeply impressed. Constellation of course immediately offered to put the record out, and that's exactly what we have here. Huge Recommendation.

At The First Unitarian Church
2125 Chestnut Street (22nd and Chestnut Sts)
Philadelphia, PA
$12 / All Ages
Purchase Advance Tickets For This Show Right Now (click the tickets) :
Tickets Also On Sale w/ No Surcharge At The Relapse Retail Store (608 South 4th St)
Or Call 1-866-468-7619 (toll free)

Black Moth Super Rainbow
Armed with an arsenal of vintage keyboards (monosynths, polysynths, mellotrons, Fender Rhodeses and more), Black Moth crafts mind-blowing, interstellar psychedelic pop. Think Air, but peppier, Bright Black Morning Light but freakier. Bruce Haack-y vocoded vocals to the breezy ten-speed rollerskate synthesizer'd funkiness. Imagine if Black Dice or the Flaming Lips took a swing at electro and new wave, and your brain might go into a delirious tizzy with the delightful chew of Dandelion Gum. We really like their new album of crazy, neon-colored synth&vocoder nonsense (it sounds like what we always hoped all those Paper Rad-era Load bands would sound like instead of just obnoxious)

Subtle
Yet another gnarled tendril of the ever expanding Anticon tree of life breaks up through the hip hop soil reaching for the sun! This time on the always impressive Lex label. The Anticon connection here, at least the most noticable one is the presence of Dose One and his immediately recognizable high pitched stream of consciousness flow. Sonically, Athey loop organic instrumentals, simple, skittering, funky drum programming, sweetly melancholic melodies and of course Dose One. The main difference is that Subtle is a full on band, with a seriously varied instrumentation: electric and acoustic cello, electric and acoustic bass, woodwinds, synthesizers, drums, guitar, keyboards, melodica and sampler that offers up a way more expanded, and much fuller sound. It's like they sat themselves right down in the vacant seats between TV On The Radio, Gnarls Barkley, Peeping Tom, heck, maybe even Black Eyed Peas and Outkast too! And they've done so with a rather comfortable ease. For Hero For Fool is a quirkful, good time blender magic of hip hop, pop, funk, soul and film score music.

Ghastly City Sleep
The new band from ex-members of City of Caterpillar. But dont expect the screamy punk type stuff. Their debut EP - "Ice Creaks" feature serene compositions that cycles through waves of synth, drum loops and airy vocals until finally it all explodes into a Kayo Dot sized and assisted climax. Robotic Empire

At Johnny Brendas
1201 N Frankford Ave (Frankford and Girard Aves)
Philadelphia, PA
$10 / 21+
Purchase Advance Tickets For This Show (click the tickets) :
Tickets Also On Sale w/ No Surcharge At The Relapse Retail Store (608 South 4th St)
Or Call 1-866-468-7619 (toll free)

Islands
Montreal's The Unicorns return from the dead as Islands, a little sadder, and perhaps a little wiser. Their sound is more grown up and less lo-fi than the quirky rambunctious pop of The Unicorns, but just as eccentric and humorous. More obsessed now with rebirth than death, the songs are longer, tighter and complex, full of hooks, melodies, and weird and innocent charm. From Montreal. Anti Records !
Sound Clips :
2) The Arm (new!) | 4) Creeper (new!)

Street Carnage
A stand up comedy ttroupe from manhattan. live performance at the church !

The Magic
Weirdo campy lo-fi 70s era rock from Toronto. Islands Tourmates.

At The First Unitarian Church
2125 Chestnut Street (22nd and Chestnut Sts)
Philadelphia, PA
$12 / All Ages
Purchase Advance Tickets For This Show Right Now (click the tickets) :
Tickets Also On Sale w/ No Surcharge At The Relapse Retail Store (608 South 4th St)
Or Call 1-866-468-7619 (toll free)

Disfear
YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS! Best band ever ! 2004 Pointless Fest headliners. Swedish crust,rock,metal and hardcore/punk with members from At The Gates, Entombed, No Security, Skitsystem and more. New LP out on Relapse Records.
Sound Clips :
1) Powerload | 2) Get It Off (new!) | 3) Misanthropic Generation | 4) The Cage (new!)

Kylesa
Ex-members of DAMAD. Head-crushing metallic, punk, crust and rock mayhem. Prosthetic/Prank Records.

Thrones
Now, you know that the double necked guitar/bass wielding Joe Preston -- for he is Thrones and Thrones is he -- has quite the heaviness pedigree. He's played in the unholy heavy trinity of Earth, the Melvins, and SUNNO))), and he's currently the bassist for stoner metal lords High On Fire. Thus, from his one-man-band project Thrones you'd expect nothing less than H-E-A-V-Y, and you'd be right. But it's more than merely heavy. Thrones ain't just rubbery, head-caving bass, lotsa feedback nastiness, machine beats, and throat-rasped vox. Thrones is also really, really weird. As you'd expect from Joe, who used to be in the Melvins after all. There's certainly plenty of Melvins style fuckery going on here!

Straight Jacket Nation
Features members of Pisschrist, but this is more straight forward american 80's style HC.

Trap Them
A tornado of D-beat hooks, frantic bursts of speed and earth shaking dirges. Erasing the line between metal and punk with every unpredictable twist and turn it takes. Deathwish

At The Milcreek Tavern
4200 Chester Ave (42nd & Chester Ave)
Philadelphia, PA
$10 / 21+
Purchase Advance Tickets For This Show (click the tickets) :
Tickets Also On Sale w/ No Surcharge At The Relapse Retail Store (608 South 4th St)
Or Call 1-866-468-7619 (toll free)

Between The Buried & Me
Between The Buried And Me are back to eschew any ideas of conventional thought and push themselves into never before seen artistic directions. Fans of intelligent, heavy music aren’t prepared for the musical ambush coming their way; Alaska is a magnum opus showcasing the band’s hypnotic and elaborate guitar work, relentless rhythmic underlining, thought-provoking lyrics, and creative ingenuity. Between The Buried And Me have upped the ante for all hardcore/metal releases to come. Damn, they’ve done it again. Victory Records

Two More TBA

At The First Unitarian Church
2125 Chestnut Street (22nd and Chestnut Sts)
Philadelphia, PA
$12 / All Ages
Purchase Advance Tickets For This Show Right Now (click the tickets) :
Tickets Also On Sale w/ No Surcharge At The Relapse Retail Store (608 South 4th St)
Or Call 1-866-468-7619 (toll free)

Efterklang
This is one of those bands that we have been listening to for years and years and we are VERY excited to finally bring them to Philadelphia! You need to check this band out 10 members from Denmark that play a perfect hybrid of electronics, classical and pop music. Efterklang's sounds like the loveliness of a choir and orchestra being carried to your ears on the wings of an autumn breeze. Light, airy, and shimmeringly blissful. It's the sound of a glorious dream that gradually builds and darkens to heart-swelling proportions. Although this Danish band has two dreamy main vocalists Linda Drejer Bonde and Thomas Sjoberg, it is the giant choruses where they shine brightest. The unpredictable proggy rhythmic interplay between the brass, strings and vocals is captivating, quite possibly drawing inspiration from the likes of Yes and King Crimson. Parades' sweepingly regal grandeur spurs cinematic imaginings of gowned maidens rushing down castle staircases and armored knights charging into battle. Really beautiful. From Denmark. Leaf Records.
Sound Clips :
1) Swarming | 2) Bright | 3) Monopolist | 4) Frida Found A Friend | 5) Kloy Gyn

Slaraffenland
A quintet from Denmark! An implausibly detailed tapestry of all manner of modern psychedlia and forward-thinking compositions.So many great songwriting ideas crammed into their songs that it's fairly impossible to know how to go about describing them. Rest assured though, this is an album of boundless invention, with a pop-fuelled resourcefulness akin to Animal Collective at their most focussed, with hints of post-rock (well, they are Scandinavian), free jazz and Tim Hecker-style washed-out electronic drizzle. There's a great deal for a prospective listener to contend with and the sheer rate of change at certain points is quite intimidating, but repeated listens will reap ample rewards. A real keeper this one.

A Seated Show Taking Place In The Sanctuary Of
The First Unitarian Church
Check Out Pictures HERE and HERE
2125 Chestnut Street (22nd and Chestnut Sts)
Philadelphia, PA
$12 / All Ages
Purchase Advance Tickets For This Show Right Now (click the tickets) :
Tickets Also On Sale w/ No Surcharge At The Relapse Retail Store (608 South 4th St)
Or Call 1-866-468-7619 (toll free)

Kemialliset Ystävät
Hallelujah! Droning, buzzing, flickering folk-psych from Finland. The mysterious Kemialliset Ystavat collective (after a few years we know who's in the band now Broken Face 'zine artist/contributor Jan Anderzen, Fonal label head Sami Sanpakkila (Es, Kiila), and a host of other Finns) play a damaged four-track style of folk ala NYC's Tower Recordings, filtered through the forest ambience of improv-psych outfit Thuja migh. They inhabit that territory previously explored by the likes of Amon Duul, Ghost, Kalacakra, Toho Sara, Parson Sound, International Harvester, Amps For Christ, Six Organs Of Admittance, Algarnas Tradgard, etc. If any of these names bring a warm sensation to your frontal lobes, then you're likely already a Kemialliset fan even if you haven't yet heard 'em. Each song is a psychedelic miniature constructed of drifting, chanting vocals, gentle melodies, and primitive rhythms, contrasting distorted electric guitar wash with pretty, chiming percussion, strings and woodwinds. Freaky and far-out yet mostly mellow and warm and cosy. Fucking lovely. Ah, Finland.
Sound Clips :
1) Himmel Kutsuu Mina | 2) Kokki, Leipuri, Kylvettäjäjataikuri | 3) Gelsomiinan Naama

Anahita (New Fursaxa / Espers Project)
Fursaxa (Tara Burke) : vocals, casio, accordion, percussion with Esper's member Helena Espvall: vocals, cello, guitar. Much of the stoned madrigal/Marble Index feel of classic Fursaxa is retained but the overall atmosphere is more that of a classic 'lost' downer/psych duo, with picked electric guitar that's somewhere between MV and Sandy Bull, warped vocal/drone fantasias, backwards smears and a classic Manson Family-style dark, dark atmosphere. Highly recommended!

Skaters
All you folks who have been in a Sunroof! / Avarus / Kemialliset Ystevat / Jewelled Antler tizzy lately and can't get enough free-noise-drone-folk-psych weirdness, would do well to check out the Skaters, a lesser know outfit from right here in SF. These cats kick up a serious skree, huge swirling clouds of overblow guitars, washes of crumbly distortion, chaotic drumming (or primitive drum machine programming maybe), all over a bed of caveman percussion and plink plonk ambience. Closest comparison might be Avarus with Keiji Haino on supersonic black hole lead guitar. Or a Dead C / Sunroof! jam session gone mental.

ANS (Meara from Feathers + Brooke from Espers/Valerie Project)
Meara O'Reilly plays the Duotine, a gamelan-like instrument made out of kitchen silver and horsehair mounted on a resonant, lightly amplified frame, composed of discarded optics equipment. Brooke Sietinsons: improvised magic-lantern-style projections

At Johnny Brendas
1201 N Frankford Ave (Frankford and Girard Aves)
Philadelphia, PA
$10 / 21+
Purchase Advance Tickets For This Show (click the tickets) :
Tickets Also On Sale w/ No Surcharge At The Relapse Retail Store (608 South 4th St)
Or Call 1-866-468-7619 (toll free)

Eyedea & Abilities
Before Eyedea & Abilities were an MC/DJ pair, they were Mike Averill and Gregory "Max" Keltgen, two friends from Minneapolis. In 1997, however, while still in high school, the duo began competing in the battle circuit, gaining recognition from high-profile wins at 1999's Scribble Jam and the 2000 HBO-televised Blaze-Battle World Championships, among others. Despite rumors of possible deals with Puff Daddy or Eminem, Eyedea & Abilities chose to sign with fellow Minnesotans Rhymesayers, and released their debut album, First Born, in 2001. Combines the two give you the very best of two opposite ends of Hip Hop's musical spectrum. On one end you have the MC/Lyricist, Eyedea, who has proven himself time and time again, not only as an extraordinary song writer, but also as a master at battling and freestyling. On the other end you have Abilities, the DJ/Producer, whose talent from the battle, to the mixtape, to production has resonated on the underground for quite some time now. When you put these two extremes together, you get the new, innovative and exciting dynamic we like to call E&A. New album out on Rhymesayers.

Educated Consumers
Educated Consumers are composed of SeezMics, a socio-political battle emcee who made noise in D.C.’s underground and freestyle circuit, and producer t.E.C.K. who draws heavily on a style very dedicated to 90’s boom-bap. SeezMics has a voice that is golden and works perfectly on every beat, with a cadence similar to Brother Ali and Sage Francis, while the beats constantly have me hooked as the combination of the two work on an almost flawless level. Until now I had never heard of these guys but am honestly impressed...from beginning to end this was a refreshing treat.

One More TBA

At The Barbary
951 Frankford Ave (At Frankford and Columbus Blvd)
Philadelphia, PA
$10 / All Ages
Purchase Advance Tickets For This Show Right Now (click the tickets) :
Tickets Also On Sale w/ No Surcharge At The Relapse Retail Store (608 South 4th St)
Or Call 1-866-468-7619 (toll free)

Joe Lally (of Fugazi)
Joe Lally has played bass in Fugazi since their inception in 1987. In 2003 the members of Fugazi decided to take an indefinite hiatus from recording and performing. Since that time Joe has continued to write and perform solo material, accompanied by various musicians and friends. Joe's latest album, "Nothing Is Underrated" was recorded in the summer of 2007, also at Dischord House and at Inner Ear Studio, and also with Ian MacKaye and Don Zientara. The album was mixed by Ian and Guy Picciotto and features contributions from a number of artists including Eddie Janny (Rites of Spring), Ian MacKaye (Fugazi), Devin Ocampo (Faraquet/Medications) and Guy Picciotto (Fugazi). Joe has been touring almost non-stop (Europe, USA, Brazil, Japan) since 2006, accompanied by members of Capillary Action, Zu, Melvins, DCIC, Antelope and others. New LP out on Dichord!

Glorytellers (Featuring Geoff Farina of Karate)
Glorytellers are a duo of guitarist/singer/songwriter Geoff Farina (Karate/Secret Stars), drummer Gavin McGarthy (Karate) and guitarist Josh Larue (Him). With the help of drummer Luther Gray III and engineer Andy Hong, Glorytellers make unique sounds influenced by everything from the primal blues of Robert Pete Williams and Geeshie Wiley to the avant-psych of the Raincoats and Spacemen 3.

One More TBA

At The Barbary
951 Frankford Ave (At Frankford and Columbus Blvd)
Philadelphia, PA
$10 / All Ages
Purchase Advance Tickets For This Show Right Now (click the tickets) :
Tickets Also On Sale w/ No Surcharge At The Relapse Retail Store (608 South 4th St)
Or Call 1-866-468-7619 (toll free)

Dark Meat
Holy 17 crazy members! A lot of those ragtag, loose-knit bands from Athens, Georgia get slapped with the "collective" label, but dang it if Dark Meat-- the 17-piece bluesy psych orchestra with the sorta rude song titles-- don't deserve it more than most - they live together, eat together and makes music together, the true meaning of collective! They sound like the Stooges meets Crazy Horse meets Albert Ayler -- double drums, shredding guitars, jazz bursts, gospel vocals and marching band horns! Super fun live and they travel in a weird converted 35 foot green bus. Yesssssssss! Vince Records.
Sound Clips :
1) Freedom Ritual | 2) Angel of meth |

Quiet Hooves (playing the early Space 1026 show)
Weirdo crazy person country music from Athens. Pals with the Dark Meat collective.

The Po Po (playing the Johnny Brendas show)
Post-hip-hop/punk band from Philly who recently opened up for Nine Inch Nails on one of their European tour. So fucking lo-fi it’s barely even there in your speakers, and when it is it’s the sort of noise that you’re wary of playing in front of family and friends. Hip-hop-goes-pop alt-bangers rocked-up by the most gnarly of punks this side of the filthiest gutter in the known world. It stinks, but in a kinda nice way - like breathing in your own farts, it’s a strangely perfect private-time pursuit.
One More TBA

First Show !
At Space 1026
1026 Arch Street (10th and Arch Sts)
Philadelphia, PA
$7 / All Ages
Purchase Advance Tickets For The All Ages Show (click the tickets) :
Tickets Also On Sale w/ No Surcharge At The Relapse Retail Store (608 South 4th St)
Or Call 1-866-468-7619 (toll free)

Second Show !
At Johnny Brendas
1201 N Frankford Ave (Frankford and Girard Aves)
Philadelphia, PA
$10 / 21+
Purchase Advance Tickets For The 21+ Show (click the tickets) :
Tickets Also On Sale w/ No Surcharge At The Relapse Retail Store (608 South 4th St)
Or Call 1-866-468-7619 (toll free)

Clinic
Driving, hectic drums, sinister vocals, Moogs, and either clarinet or melodica weave a sonic landscape of dance-y smartness, or smarty dance-ness. Obviously heavily influenced by old dub, Television, The Fall, Gang of Four, and some sweet, sweet Brit pop. But Clinic manages to take all of those influences and make something totally new and exciting. The singer sounds a lot like Thom Yorke of Radiohead, and there's a lot of the Beta Band too, in the diversity of influences yet firm grounding in indie rock. Add a solid rhythm, write some kick ass songs, and you've got Clinic. Domino Records.
Sound Clips :
1) Memories | 2) Return of Evil Bill | 3) Harmony | 4) Winged Wheel (new!) | 5) Walking With Thee

BBQ (aka Mark Sultan)
Mark Sultan, better known as BBQ of one-man band and King Khan & BBQ Show fame, has been pounding out his own stew of R&B, rockabilly, garage, doo wop, psychedelia, punk and whatnot since he was a mere child fronting Montreal's Spaceshits. Releasing a slew of albums and touring relentlessly, Sultan has established quite a reputation as a songsmith and vocalist of the highest caliber.You can't stop playing this one because it's so perfect for every occasion. Mopping the floor, taking a shit, drinking a beer, staring at the walls, BARBECUING. This is perfect music for all of that.

At Johnny Brendas
1201 N Frankford Ave (Frankford and Girard Aves)
Philadelphia, PA
$13 / 21+
Purchase Advance Tickets For This Show (click the tickets) :
Tickets Also On Sale w/ No Surcharge At The Relapse Retail Store (608 South 4th St)
Or Call 1-866-468-7619 (toll free)

Styrofoam
Now playing with a full live band! In the last few years, Belgium's electronic wiz kiz, Styrofoam has been showing his gentle hand as both a writer, producer and voice. Not only for him, but many electronic acts whose electronic beats meet indie traditions in a new way, with a frequency that just hasn't been present before. On his last album he sung on half of the the songs himself - but the realisation of the recordings took many different routes and guests such as : Markus Acher (Lali Puna/The Notwist) Lali Puna singer Valerie Trebeljahr, Anticon artist Alias and Ben Gibbard of The Postal Service/Death Cab For Cutie. The loveliness of the interplay between the guitars and the crunchy, fractured electronic accompaniments, the layering of his fragile voice all making for a touching and deeply engaging evolution of sound. New LP out soon on Netwerk Records.

Broken Spindles
The solo project from The Faint's bassist Joel Peterson, and on many of his tracks, B.S. does indeed closely resemble those Nebraskan new wavers (but minus the vocals). Overall though, it's a much more diverse affair: ultra thumpin' rump-shakage, prettily chiming glassy bell / harpsichord-y tones, glitchy digital abrasions, and thick blurts of analog synths. Band lineage aside, this is an adeptly executed collection of cool tracks which veers closely to industrial dance at times, and at others becomes quite moodily atmospheric. Saddle Creek.

Two DJs TBA

At The Barbary
951 Frankford Ave (At Frankford and Columbus Blvd)
Philadelphia, PA
$6 / 21+
Purchase Advance Tickets For This Show Right Now (click the tickets) :
Tickets Also On Sale w/ No Surcharge At The Relapse Retail Store (608 South 4th St)
Or Call 1-866-468-7619 (toll free)

Lightspeed Champion
Former Test Icicles member's new side project (live it's a full band). Intelligent, sensitive, heartfelt lyrics and finely crafted tunes! Though Lightspeed Champion is primarily the work of one Londoner named Dev Hynes and this album was released by Domino Records, he is joined by many luminaries from the Saddle Creek label because his album was recorded in Omaha, Nebraska. Lending a welcome hand are Mike Mogis, Nate Walcott, Emmy The Great and members of The Faint, Cursive, and Tilly And The Wall. ThThis here's some really good indie pop, thats super big over the in the UK and about to blow up over here now. Domino Records.
Sound Clips :
1) Midnight Surprise | 2) Galaxy of The Lost | 3) Dry Lips

Adam Green
Singer/songwriter Adam Green is most known for his stint with the Moldy Peaches, but in the new millennium he also did the solo thing. His music is a sophisticated indie-folk mix, showcasing an appealing peculiarity similar to the likes of Leonard Cohen. In September 2002, Green marked his solo debut with the release of Garfield, followed by the next year's Friends of Mine, which contained the single "Jessica," about Jessica Simpson. In 2005 and 2006, Green released a pair of dynamic albums, Gemstones and Jacket Full of Danger, respectively. The following year, the singer found himself with a bit more mainstream attention thanks to his duet with fellow-Moldy Peach Kimya Dawson, "Anyone Else But You," featured on the hit film Juno, and ithis year he has just released his fifth solo full-length, Sixes & Sevens, on Rough Trade Records.

Flowers Forever
Featuring members of Tilly & The Wall! "Flowers Forever is a project that surfaced a few months back in a string of strange events that occurre in my life. It is an outlet of performance, music, painting, video and spirituality. It's about self expression and freeing yourself from the start/stop, beginning/end, a/b, orning/night of everything. It's about trying to comprehend the idea of just being, always have been and always will be. Team Love Records.

At The First Unitarian Church
2125 Chestnut Street (22nd and Chestnut Sts)
Philadelphia, PA
$12 / All Ages
Purchase Advance Tickets For This Show Right Now (click the tickets) :
Tickets Also On Sale w/ No Surcharge At The Relapse Retail Store (608 South 4th St)
Or Call 1-866-468-7619 (toll free)

Blacklisted
Whether it's with their infectious mosh parts, hardcore urgency, or uniquely powerful lyrics, the true grit of BLACKLISTED will move you unlike any other present day hardcore band. BLACKLISTED pick up the torch that contemporary legends AMERICAN NIGHTMARE once proudly carried. Merging violence, honesty, and emotional outpouring into one untamable and inspiring hardcore machine. Celebrating the triumph, underdog determination, and real struggle that is undeniably Philadelphia by definition. Deathwish Records.
Sound Clips :
1) I Am Weighing me Down (new!) | 2) Stations (new!) | 3) Long Way Home

Ceremony
Born from the ashes of several prominent northern California hardcore bands, CEREMONY is built on the notion of giving you a story and a song in the most basic raw form, but at the same time doing it in a way that's unique to only them. While taking their inspiration from bands like NEGATIVE APPROACH, SHARK ATTACK, and PANIC, it's the lyrics that make CEREMONY what they are; a needle in the haystack. Vocalist Ross Farrar spits every word; every phrase is thrown like an unsuspecting punch at your face. Words that are written in the blackest of holes, in the darkest of jail cells. Ruinedis the beginning. It's a declaration of war. A war against fake people, fake music, fake looks, fake personalities. There are no glossy photos, no perfect hair, no trendy slogans.This is hardcore in the truest sense.
Sound Clips :
1) Ghosts | 2) Asleep | 3) This Is My War

Life Long Tragedy
With a live energy and drive that is second to none, Life Long Tragedy are one of the best California hardcore bands out there today. Their approach is musically melodic and brutal, fusing the heart of their influences (Unbroken, Modern Life Is War) and the rage of contemporary hardcore (Terror, Integrity) - all of it uniquely driven by their own passionate lyrical writings. Deathwish Records.

Sabertooth Zombie
Punk/Hardcore from the North Bay/California. Twelve Gauge Records.

At The First Unitarian Church
2125 Chestnut Street (22nd and Chestnut Sts)
Philadelphia, PA
$12 / All Ages
Purchase Advance Tickets For This Show Right Now (click the tickets) :
Tickets Also On Sale w/ No Surcharge At The Relapse Retail Store (608 South 4th St)
Or Call 1-866-468-7619 (toll free)

Dysrhythmia
Soft-loud dynamic math rock/metal that percolates through wound-up metallic frenzies and moody stretches of heavy-duty ambience both. Pretty amazing. Imagine a mix of Isis and Crom-tech, or Don Cab playing Mogwai.Lots of super complex playing and weird jazzy-ish bits. Philly. Relapse Records.
Sound Clips :
1) Appeared First | 2) Sleep Decayer

Normal Love
Stoking the community since '06, NORMAL LOVE is a Philadelphia based quintet comprised of amplified violin, two electric guitars, electric bass, and drum set. Their music generally has a loud and brutal aesthetic with compositional influences ranging from african minimalism to serialism to death metal, but rarely within the same piece.

Fight Amp
Fight Amp's (formerly know as Fight Amputation) MySpace description is dead-on: "Grunge / Punk / Metal." This New Jersey band harkens back to a time when these genres were bedmates. Before recording Bleach, Nirvana listened to Celtic Frost incessantly. This was before Butch Vig polished off their edges, before Marc Jacobs had a "grunge" collection. In the late-1980s/early-90s, Amphetamine Reptile belched forth West Coast grit (the Melvins, Steel Pole Bath Tub), East Coast noise (Helmet, Unsane), and Midwest dirt (the Cows, Hammerhead); Touch and Go-- pre-indie rock days-- likewise issued filth and difficulty via Big Black, Butthole Surfers, and the Jesus Lizard. Though sonically disparate, these bands shared a contemptuous disregard for rock's playbook. new LP on Translation Loss Records.
Sound Clips :
1) Late Bloomer | 2) Dumb Luck

Cleric
Cleric has a unique sound that fuses a multitude of personal influences into Cleric’s spiraling musical brutality has been compared to that of Mr. Bungle, The Dillinger Escape Plan, Meshuggah, and many more, while still exhibiting something entirely unique born of the bands symbiotic composition style. Philadelphia

At Johnny Brendas
1201 N Frankford Ave (Frankford and Girard Aves)
Philadelphia, PA
$8 / 21+
Purchase Advance Tickets For This Show (click the tickets) :
Tickets Also On Sale w/ No Surcharge At The Relapse Retail Store (608 South 4th St)
Or Call 1-866-468-7619 (toll free)

The Field (full live band)
Now playing with a live band from Sweden! The most acclaimed record of 2007 (check metacritic.com). Kompakt electronic artist Axel Willner's wistful, melancholic, and yes, sublime debut generates a blissful, dreamy, almost trance-like minimalism. Combining elements of the best ambient records of the past decade or so (Aphex Twin's Selected Ambient Works, Gas' Pop, Stars of the Lid's The Tired Sounds) with the emotive nostalgia and accessibility of Fennesz's Endless Summer and Boards of Canada, From Here We Go Sublime may wind up 2007's most luxuriant record. First Philadelphia appearance ever. Kompakt Records.

DJ's TBA

At The Barbary
951 Frankford Ave (At Frankford and Columbus Blvd)
Philadelphia, PA
$10 / 21+
Purchase Advance Tickets For This Show Right Now (click the tickets) :
Tickets Also On Sale w/ No Surcharge At The Relapse Retail Store (608 South 4th St)
Or Call 1-866-468-7619 (toll free)

Rilo Kiley
The last few years Rilo has gotten so much better - exuding such charm and confidence as they execute punchy pop numbers and swoonworthy ballads (complete with grand string arrangements) with equal ease and polish. So much less cute than past releases, and remarkably more like '70s female singers such as... please don't take this the wrong way!... Crystal Gayle or Linda Ronstadt. Really, pretty darn great!
Sound Clips :
1) Appeared First | 2) Sleep Decayer

Thao Nguyen
Soulful alt-country blues and indie-folk. The songs are elevated by her skillfully picked guitar, as well as energetic arrangements that employ melodicas, low brass, and a Wurlitzer electric piano. New LP out on Kill Rock Stars
Sound Clips :
1) We Go | 2) Big Kid Table

Benji Hughes
Benji looks ike a roadie for Lynyrd Skynyrd and makes music that is a cross between early Beck and Harry Nilsson, with maybe just a hint of Ween. He’s a poet. Not a fancy one - a human, funny one!

At The Electric Factory
7th & Willow (On 7th Street Between Callowhill and Spring Garden)
Philadelphia, PA
$25 / All Ages / 21+ To Drink
Purchase Advance Tickets For This Show (click the tickets) :
Tickets Also On Sale At All Ticket Master Locations
Or Call (215) 923-4021

M-83
We hosted these guys first show ever in America and we are thrilled to have them back! Now with a new album on Mute Records. Hailing from France - We've been listening to them nonstop or the past few years. Imagine the post rave swirl of the Orb, mix in the muted warmth of Boards Of Canada, the lalala Neu-worship of Stereolab, the catchy new wave of New Order, then wrap the whole thing in a thick shimmery distorted haze a la My Bloody Valentine and you'll be close. Now imagine that concoction as the soundtrack to the love scene in some super bizarre Anime. You know, the part where the girl is going into space because she can't live on earth because her tentacles keep killing cute little pandas, and her boyfriend is a giant panda, but they love each other so much her tears turn into jewels that the pandas can eat to make them invincible. It's that heartbreakingly good. This will totally hit the spot for electro geeks, shoegazers, pop kids, and everyone in between. An absolute masterpiece.
Sound Clips :
1) Graveyard Girl (new!) | 2) Teen angst | 3) Dark MOves Of Love (new!) | 4) Dont Save Us From The Flames

A Sunny Day In Glasgow
More divine modern shoegaze, we just can't get enough. Fergit Belle And Sebastian. Camera Obscura, who's that? There's a new yummy band in town who're giving those bands a run for the money and adding a healthy dose of shoegaze-y shimmer -- umm, but the town they're in is not actually Glasgow. Nope, these kids are a trio from Philadelphia, but Ben Daniels and his twin sisters Robin and Lauren sound remarkably authentically wooly tartan'd. From now on when you think of Scotland, you just might find yourself thinking of A Sunny Day In Glasgow. Scribble Mural Comic Journal is a swirlin' shoegazin' blissed out treat all awash with fuzzy guitars and dreamgirl vocals in the lovely tradition of Sarah and Slumberland Records. With heaping helpings of gauzy Cocteau Twins swirl and abstract deconstructed My Bloody Valentine buzz. Press 'play', curl up in a windowseat, and enjoy!

A Seated Show Taking Place In The Sanctuary Of
The First Unitarian Church
Check Out Pictures HERE and HERE
2125 Chestnut Street (22nd and Chestnut Sts)
Philadelphia, PA
$12 / All Ages
Purchase Advance Tickets For This Show Right Now (click the tickets) :
Tickets Also On Sale w/ No Surcharge At The Relapse Retail Store (608 South 4th St)
Or Call 1-866-468-7619 (toll free)

Young Love
The dance-rock outfit Young Love are headed by Dan Keyes, who served as frontman for the post-grunge band Recover from 2001 to 2004. After releasing three albums with that Austin-based band, Keyes relocated from Texas to New York City in search of a change of pace. Within the span of a year, he had amassed a number of slick, stylish songs that had more in common with Bloc Party and Action Action than the aggressive sounds of Recover

Inner Party System
More dancey rock stuff for the young kids who are starting discover there is more than just emo. From the Philadelphia Area. Island Records.

The Wonder Years
Pop Punk/Hardcore that scream of fun inside and out! For fans of Set Your Goals, New Found Glory, Motion City Soundtrack. Philly.

At The Barbary
951 Frankford Ave (At Frankford and Columbus Blvd)
Philadelphia, PA
$10 / All Ages
Purchase Advance Tickets For This Show Right Now (click the tickets) :
Tickets Also On Sale w/ No Surcharge At The Relapse Retail Store (608 South 4th St)
Or Call 1-866-468-7619 (toll free)

Love Is All
One of those "Best New Music" Pitchfork bands ! These guys actually deserve and deliver all the hype. Hailing from Sweden, Love Is All work cos they know their snags-- shitty equipment, love-lyrical cliché, inevitable Life Without Buildings, Orange Juice, and Yeah Yeah Yeahs comparisons-- but speed headlong into them regardless. As a result they turn lo-fi from a ho-hum excuse into an asset, making listeners respond not to an affected imperfection or lack of precision but to their passion.

Two More TBA

At The Barbary
951 Frankford Ave (At Frankford and Columbus Blvd)
Philadelphia, PA
$10 / All Ages
Purchase Advance Tickets For This Show Right Now (click the tickets) :
Tickets Also On Sale w/ No Surcharge At The Relapse Retail Store (608 South 4th St)
Or Call 1-866-468-7619 (toll free)

Tullycraft
Woah! Holy rare live show. Tullycraft was born out of the ashes of two Harriet Records cult bands: Crayon and Wimp Factor 14. Sean Tollefson, Jeff Fell (both of Crayon), and Gary Miklusek (Wimp Factor 14) hooked up in 1995. Soon after, they recorded a batch of songs with Pat Maley at YoYo Studios in Olympia, WA. Out of that first session came the debut single on Harriet Records and an instant indie pop classic - "Pop Songs Your New Boyfriend's too Stupid to Know About". In 1996 they released their full length debut "Old Traditions, New Standards" on Harriet Records. hey then cemented their cult status by endless touring all over the United States, playing everywhere from house shows to universities, nightclubs to supermarket grand openings. After a few singles and another album - Tullycraft toured the U.S. one and a half more times and then took an extended break from playing live and recording. The time that followed saw the band mostly on hiatus - only playing festivals, Popfests, and the occasional YoYo-a-GoGo. Gary Miklusek (a founding member) left the band in 1999. At this point Tullycraft's fate was up in the air. After a long hiatus (recording and playing live) - they released their fourth proper full length which surpassed all expectations.

Scary Monster
Philly indie pop featuring ex-Snow Faires members! New CD out soon!

One More TBA

At The Barbary
951 Frankford Ave (At Frankford and Columbus Blvd)
Philadelphia, PA
$10 / All Ages
Purchase Advance Tickets For This Show Right Now (click the tickets) :
Tickets Also On Sale w/ No Surcharge At The Relapse Retail Store (608 South 4th St)
Or Call 1-866-468-7619 (toll free)

Mark Kozelek (Of Red House Painters and Sun Kill Moon)
The singer/songwriter of Red House Painters and Sun Kill Moon play's a solo acoustic set in the sanctuary. The perfecting setting for this show! Mark is the nicest/coolest dude ever and tells lots of stories and shared lots of feeling sthroughout the night. Highly Recommended

Kath Bloom
Kath is a folk, country, and avant-garde legend. She has been making records since the late 70s. The daughter of world-renowned oboist Robert Bloom, Kath was born and raised in New Haven, Connecticut, where she trained as a cellist. However, Kath met avant-garde guitarist Loren Mazzacane Connors in 1976 and teamed up with him for a series of now highly sought-after recordings of traditional blues songs and Bloom's fragile, beautiful originals. Some records were released in editions of as few as fifty, most no more than 300 copies, until the duo released their swansong Moonlight in 1984. After a period of child-rearing, family life and daily financial struggle, Kath began to return to the studio in the 1990s. These new songs, recorded in friends' lounge rooms or cut-rate studios, reveal a mother-of-three songwriter as accomplished and affecting as any of her more acclaimed colleagues such as Lucinda Williams, Gillian Welch or Hazel Dickens.

A Seated Show Taking Place In The Sanctuary Of
The First Unitarian Church
Check Out Pictures HERE and HERE
2125 Chestnut Street (22nd and Chestnut Sts)
Philadelphia, PA
$14 / All Ages
Purchase Advance Tickets For This Show Right Now (click the tickets) :
Tickets Also On Sale w/ No Surcharge At The Relapse Retail Store (608 South 4th St)
Or Call 1-866-468-7619 (toll free)

Battles
Battles consists of Ian Williams (Don Caballero, Storm And Stress), Tyondai Braxton (son of jazz genius Anthony and solo artist in his own right), John Stanier (Helmet, Tomahawk) and Dave Konopka (Lynx). These gents have joined forces to tangle their guitar strings, various drum implements, and electronic gadgetry into a big knot that might seem loose but is probably really tight if you were to try and unravel it. And while their compositions might be 'difficult', listening to this is not. Battles sounds like a post rock band (a la Don Cab or Lynx) playing the music of Conlon Nancarrow on Raymond Scott's Manhattan Research equipment. Or Gershon Kingsley making math rock. Weird, complex, delightful. Warp Records.

One More TBA

At Johnny Brendas
1201 N Frankford Ave (Frankford and Girard Aves)
Philadelphia, PA
$14.50 / 21+
SOLD OUT - SOLD OUT - SOLD OUT
Sorry No More Tickets Left For Battles Show
.

Damon & Naomi
Intimate. Beautiful. Inspired. Damon & Naomi! Damon Krukowski and Naomi Yang's music career started with modest goals but grew to incorporate one of the most influential bands of the 80s (Galaxie 500), a string of duo albums on Sub Pop records thoughout the 90s, collaborations with some of the most adventurous rock musicians playing today (Ghost, Michio Kurihara, nmperign, Wayne Rogers), and most recently, the formation of their own record label (20/20/20) and subsequent release of their two latest Damon & Naomi albums, "The Earth Is Blue" and "Within These Walls".

Helena Espvall & Masaki Batoh
Helena Espvall of Espers playing with Masaki Batoh, the founding member of the Japanese psych band - Ghost. The collaboration is mostly Swedish folk songs, in sparse arrangements. They'll be releasing these songs via a full length album on Drag City shortly!

Fern Kinght
Philly based singer, songwriter, guitarist, cellist Margaret Wienk. Equal parts Pentangle, Incredible String Band, and of course some of her more modern sonic compatriots, Brightblack, Vetiver, Espers (Greg Weeks and Meg Baird both play on her new album Music For Witches and Alchemists) and the like, Fern Knight is most definitely modern folk, but at the same time sounds so classic, the songwriting, Wienk's voice, the arrangements, a perfect combination. But the band manage to take that classic sound and infuse it with some sweet sonic mystery, due in no small part to the unlikely instrumentation, the sweet moaning cellos, dreamy swaths of harp, alien melodies on the singing saw, the twang of the Jew's harp, the wheezing harmonium, but unlike most bands, those sounds don't define Fern Knight's sound, merely add to the texture and mood of the music, which even stripped to its bare basics would still sound as sweet. VHF Records.

At Johnny Brendas
1201 N Frankford Ave (Frankford and Girard Aves)
Philadelphia, PA
$10 / 21+
Purchase Advance Tickets For This Show (click the tickets) :
Tickets Also On Sale w/ No Surcharge At The Relapse Retail Store (608 South 4th St)
Or Call 1-866-468-7619 (toll free)

Frog Eyes
Multiple BEST NEW MUSIC artist on Pitchfork. Shuddering, intense, grit-and-glam cabaret from Victoria, BC. Trembling, combustible rock magic - complete with a hoary growl barking lyrical turns of phrase over heavy beats, skronk, and aching beauty. The band has been turning heads wherever they go, and can count Black Dice, the Animal Collective, Wolf Parade, Mountain Goats, Hot Hot Heat, Polyphonic Spree, and John Vanderslice among their legions of diehard fans. These guys have been an established force for a few years, gaining a wider audience with 2004's less magical The Folded Palm. Still, you get the feeling that for many, the Victoria, B.C. quartet remains no more than a name dropped by Wolf Parade when its members are asked to list their favorite contemporary musicians. As Daniel Johnston or the Vaselines know, a ringing endorsement from a younger, more popular artist can draw new listeners and we really really really think you should check them out. Absolutely Kosher.

Evangelicals
The Evangelicals are an overly caffeinated collision of melody, atonality, energy and dissonance, loaded with pop hooks and rock swagger. This wholly demented ensemble from Norman, OK dabbles in glam, slips in a little funk and soul, drinks the psychedelic Kool-Aid, blasts the synths, cranks up the guitars, and wraps it all up with a dose of pop smarts. For fans of Unicorns, Animal Collective, Brian Eno, Deerhoof, Xiu Xiu, Mercury Rev, and the like. Dead Oceans Records.

Chet
A four piece indie band from Victoria, Canada featuring Frog Eyes member Ryan Beattie. Lew LP coming out on Absolutely Kosher.

At Johnny Brendas
1201 N Frankford Ave (Frankford and Girard Aves)
Philadelphia, PA
$10 / 21+
Purchase Advance Tickets For This Show (click the tickets) :
Tickets Also On Sale w/ No Surcharge At The Relapse Retail Store (608 South 4th St)
Or Call 1-866-468-7619 (toll free)

Maria Taylor
From glistening piano pop to melancholy acoustic gems, Maria Taylor has come into her own as a solo artist. Having grown up in a house full of musicians, Maria Taylor first gave the masses a taste of her gorgeous, mellifluous voice in the band Azure Ray. In 2005, Maria branched out on her own with a critically-acclaimed album, entitled 11:11, which established her as a master story teller with a flare for perfect, harmony-soaked melodies. With her new album, Lynn Teeter Flower, she takes her songcraft one step further, mixing together soaring guitars, bubbly electronics, feathery farfisa organs and sugary layers of vocals into the sweetest confection of an album you’ll hear all year. Saddle Creek records

Johnathan Rice
He's just barely turned 24, but Jonathan Rice seems to have some stuff figured out for himself: major label deal, fancy friends, lauds from R.E.M., an IMDB page, a tour with Gibbard and Bazan, and a relationship with Jenny Lewis (by comparison, think we had just about figured out how to log on to Movable Type by that age). And it's a mix-and-match of all of the above for the video of Jonathan's roots-pop single "We're All Stuck In The Desert"; got your major label budget, ample use of acting chops, Rilo Kileyers Blake Sennett and of course Jenny Lewis (in the backing band, driving the runaway car) Faye Runaway (one of the "Moneymaker" porn stars), and Winona Ryder (as a skinny reporter). No fair!

One More TBA

At The Barbary
951 Frankford Ave (At Frankford and Columbus Blvd)
Philadelphia, PA
$10 / All Ages
Purchase Advance Tickets For This Show Right Now (click the tickets) :
Tickets Also On Sale w/ No Surcharge At The Relapse Retail Store (608 South 4th St)
Or Call 1-866-468-7619 (toll free)

See You Next Tuesday
Playing what Ray Zalinski would refer to as "Brutal grind for brutal dudes" See You Next Tuesday is made up of four unassuming guys from suburban Michigan. Modesty aside, aficionados of boredom will also note the band’s use of innovation and experimentation to expand the grind genre to the best of their abilities.

Elysia
Named for the final resting place of warriors in Roman Mythology, the Sacramento, CA based Elysia create epic battle hymns for the metal and hardcore set. Excessively brutal but socially conscious vocalist Zak Vargas espouses on society’s ills from a youthful viewpoint

Knights of The Abyss
Hailing from Glendale, Arizona, the metal powerhouse known as Knights of the Abyss forges an onslaught of heavy and intricate riffing while adding a sense of melody uncharacteristic of most bands today. Guitarist Cody Bechtel says, ‘we aim to make music that is fun and easy to listen to but that also has an intelligent sense of musicianship and melody.’ The band’s unique style of intense metal has taken them to the forefront of the community and placed them among many other great artists on the Ferret Music roster.

The Banner
From the state that brought you The Misfits, Thursday, My Chemical Romance and For the Love of comes one of New Jersey's newest and strongest outfits, The Banner, who have come to claim their place at the top of the heavy music mountain. Like a constantly evolving. mutating monster from the late night creature features, the Banner crushes stereotypes of what horror rock is and should be. The Banner's schizophrenic blend of hardcore, punk and black metal flavor blasted its way into the New Jersey hardcore scene in 2000, and have since rocketed their way to the top tier of northeastern hardcore bands. From gut wrenching, metal tinged ballads, to bone crushing, mosh-laden breakdowns, the band seamlessly blends their influences into a finely honed and unique sound. Ferret Records.

At The First Unitarian Church
2125 Chestnut Street (22nd and Chestnut Sts)
Philadelphia, PA
$12 / All Ages
Purchase Advance Tickets For This Show Right Now (click the tickets) :
Tickets Also On Sale w/ No Surcharge At The Relapse Retail Store (608 South 4th St)
Or Call 1-866-468-7619 (toll free)

Harvey Milk
Too weird to be metal. Too everything to be anything. A crushing pounding slow motion jam, with howled anguished vocals and thick walls of downtuned guitar, and some weird grinding background drone. So heavy and glacial it makes the Melvins sound like Blink 182. But they remained a mystery that flew under the radar. Henry Owing the owner and publisher of Chunklet was right there every step of the way, a one man Harvey Milk archivist and booster club. Thankfully for all of us us, and for the heavy music lovers of the world who have yet to discover the difficult joy of Harvey Milk, life is is about to get a whole lot sweeter. Their infamous LP "Courtesy And Good Will" is getting reissued again, on Relapse, any day now, there's a BRAND NEW Harvey Milk record due sometime in the next month or so, there are rumors of a deluxe reissue of the long out of print Harvey Milk debut, a serious holy grail, My Love Is Higher Than Your Assessment of What My Love Could Be, maybe with an extra disc, and then there's the brand new 3+ hr long Harvey Milk DVD. Four long years in the making, and it was worth every single second. Most of us who dig Harvey Milk, even those of us who might go so far as to say we are obsessed, never actually got to see the band play live.

Two More TBA

At Johnny Brendas
1201 N Frankford Ave (Frankford and Girard Aves)
Philadelphia, PA
$12 / 21+
Purchase Advance Tickets For This Show (click the tickets) :
Tickets Also On Sale w/ No Surcharge At The Relapse Retail Store (608 South 4th St)
Or Call 1-866-468-7619 (toll free)

Grails
Members of JACKIE-O MOTHERFUCKER, HOLY SONS, and MOSS ICON. Previously often compared to Godspeed You Black Emperor) with a flame of anxious tension, extreme dynamics, and an urgent tone their new material is an idiosyncratic mission statement (for future Grails recordings). Revealing their fondness for the groundfloor ‘60s and’ ‘70s experimental artists that saw music as a process of discovery as opposed to the preconceived, pre-parametered, commodified sport that underground music has become. A parallel is now forming between Grails and old-school experimental bands like Faust who, rejecting their past, started over from the beginning to build new languages in music. New LP on Neurot Recordings.

Nadja
Nadja creates music that has been described as drone, ambient-doom, and shoegazer-metal. The duo combines soundscapes, electronics, & atmospheric vocals with snail-crawl, epic riffs & dirge-like percussion, tempering the cacophany with a certain ethereal melodicism such that the listener is enveloped in a sublimating wall of amorphous sound.From Toronto. Alien 8 Recordings.

One More TBA

At Johnny Brendas
1201 N Frankford Ave (Frankford and Girard Aves)
Philadelphia, PA
$10 / 21+
Purchase Advance Tickets For This Show (click the tickets) :
Tickets Also On Sale w/ No Surcharge At The Relapse Retail Store (608 South 4th St)
Or Call 1-866-468-7619 (toll free)

Times New Viking
Best New Music! Blasts of murky scuzzy garage pop from our latest fave Siltbreeze/Matador combo. This 3 piece kicks up a serious racket, a sort of Guided By Voices via The Strapping Fieldhands stomp but with plenty of Dead C skree sprinkled on top. Boy / girl vocals, trashy distorted guitar, the whole sound a fuzzy lo-fi blur, but everything dominated by the ORGAN, big blown out buzzy blast of melody like some long lost Fuzztones organ riff played through a wall of Marshall stacks. So good. Matador Records.

Two More TBA

At Johnny Brendas
1201 N Frankford Ave (Frankford and Girard Aves)
Philadelphia, PA
$10 / 21+
Purchase Advance Tickets For This Show (click the tickets) :
Tickets Also On Sale w/ No Surcharge At The Relapse Retail Store (608 South 4th St)
Or Call 1-866-468-7619 (toll free)

Mission Of Burma
PERFORMING ONLY MATERIAL FROM THEIR ALBUMS : VS & SIGNAL, CALLS and MARCHES. For fans, there's always an elephant in the room whenever a band announces that they'll be running through one of their classic releases in its entirety: but what about my favorite? Post-punkers Mission of Burma hear ya. Not only will they perform the whole of their 1982 full-length debut Vs. but they'll also treat some folks to classic debut EP Signals, Calls, and Marches (which recieved the 2nd highest record review ever in Pitchfork history). It's all taking place, with a limited capacity event (we are sleling less tickets than usual) at the church. Get them now!

Simply stated, Mission Of Burma were, and remain, one of the most important American rock bands of the last 20 years. Seminal, cerebral post-punks Mission Of Burma have returned to the live domain, putting many newer bands to shame and sounding as fresh and dynamic as when they themselves were in their youth. M.O.B. have come tearing out of the gates, and it seems things are only getting better as the band plays continues out live. Heavy, churning and expressive, the guitars chop and sear, the bass rumbles and boils, the drums propel and punctuate with expert precision. Matador Records.

One More TBA

At The First Unitarian Church
2125 Chestnut Street (22nd and Chestnut Sts)
Philadelphia, PA
$18 / All Ages
Purchase Advance Tickets For This Show Now ! (click the tickets) :
Tickets Go On Sale w/ No Surcharge At The Relapse Retail Store (608 South 4th St)
Or Call 1-866-468-7619 (toll free)

King Khan & The Shrines
A twelve member/piece psychedelic soul from Germany who just signed to Vice Records. Featuring King Khan, the "Fifth Member of The Black Lips". A blast of garage soul inferno, equal parts Lenny Kaye-era Nuggets, James Brown soul revue and Sun Ra freak session. Sexual voodoo, secret societies and hallucinogenic transcendence all conspire over rampant garage-psych riffs and Muscle Shoals horns with the blue-eyed tear drops and desperate wail of King Khan testifying like a true motherfucker. Joining King Khan and the Shrines line-up includes 60 year old Chicagoan Ron Streeter (live-percussionist for Curtis Mayfield, Stevie Wonder, and many other Soul legends), and a horn section consisting of Simon Wojan (the mastermind behind Kranky Records recording artists Cloudland Canyon), Ben Ra (Germany's John Coltrane), and famous French rockabilly saxophonist Big Fred Rollercoaster. This show is going to be crazy !

Two More TBA

At Johnny Brendas
1201 N Frankford Ave (Frankford and Girard Aves)
Philadelphia, PA
$10 / 21+
Purchase Advance Tickets For This Show (click the tickets) :
Tickets Also On Sale w/ No Surcharge At The Relapse Retail Store (608 South 4th St)
Or Call 1-866-468-7619 (toll free)

Harry & The Potters
You’ve got to be kidding right? No, really. This shit can’t be real. Actually, it is. And you are going to love it, even if you haven’t the slightest idea what the hell Quidditch is. Onto the how and the why. Joe and Paul DeGeorge like to play dress up as Harry Potter. Every little detail too: the geek glasses, the v-neck sweaters, the private school ties. All of it. Except they aren’t playing children’s music per say. The Boston duo kicks it with drum samples, garage rock guitars and squirrelly synths, bringing a gritty edge to such Potter paeans as "Stick It to Dolores" and "The Foil (Malfoy)". At one Boston show played in a library of course, Joe introduced a song by asking kids and twenty-somethings alike if they "Know about the man?" "The man is someone who keeps you from rocking!" Indeed. Think of Weezer with a bookworm sensibility basically. Bring the kids or leave them at home. This is going to be one show to gawk at.

Math The Band
Sort of like atom and his package but 20-30 BPMs faster. Wild geeky dance party from Mass.

Uncle Monster Face
Presenting awesome-sock-puppet-quirk-rock for adults and children of adults and sea pets and so forth. There will in all likelihood be portents, signs, dancing, antiquities, and objects (some of which may be thrown about, eaten, or "humped.") . Save the children, eat your hand, build a heart container, and set out to sea - Uncle Monsterface is your new best friend on the liferaft of the future.

At The First Unitarian Church
2125 Chestnut Street (22nd and Chestnut Sts)
Philadelphia, PA
$10 advance / $12 day of show / All Ages
Purchase Advance Tickets For This Show Right Now (click the tickets) :
Tickets Also On Sale w/ No Surcharge At The Relapse Retail Store (608 South 4th St)
Or Call 1-866-468-7619 (toll free)

Smoking Popes
Reunion Tour ! Chicago's Smoking Popes infamous take on punk-pop, was centered around lead singer Josh Caterer, whose obsessions with big-band records and black-and-white movies on the American Movie Classics channel led him to develop a vocal style unique in punk -- the Popes sound like a familiar loud-guitar band fronted by a lounge singer, mixing up-tempo rock with laid-back vocals and lyrics with an old-time romantic feel. The rest of the band, formed in the Chicago area, consisted of Josh's brothers Matt and Eli, on bass and guitar, respectively, and drummer Mike Felumlee. While Caterer doesn't think of the band's music as punk, their supporters included Billy Joe from Green Day, Fall Out Boy and the members of Jawbreaker. " "After Naked Raygun, Chicago was the Smoking Popes" says Pete Wentz of Fall Out Boy. "They were Alkaline Trio before Alkaline Trio; they were Fall Out Boy before Fall Out Boy. This band is one of the reasons that Fall Out Boy even exists." There is no denying that the Smoking Popes, however unknowingly, created a wave of bands and fans in its wake, many of whom never saw the band play live. Now, that’s changing...

Two More TBA

At Johnny Brendas
1201 N Frankford Ave (Frankford and Girard Aves)
Philadelphia, PA
$10 / 21+
Purchase Advance Tickets For This Show (click the tickets) :
Tickets Also On Sale w/ No Surcharge At The Relapse Retail Store (608 South 4th St)
Or Call 1-866-468-7619 (toll free)

Fleet Foxes
Best New Music and probably our new favorite band of 2008! Largely influenced by vintage folk and rock LPs, but this pastoral psych-pop band does something special with these elements. Fusing classic rock, church music, old-timey folk, and epic, reverb-drenched harmonies, the group's brilliantly rustic songs never go quite where you expect them to, instead taking more scenic routes to arrive at perfect, natural conclusions. Like the Shins but 100X better! Sub Pop Records.

Two More TBA

At The First Unitarian Church
2125 Chestnut Street (22nd and Chestnut Sts)
Philadelphia, PA
$10 advance / $12 day of show / All Ages
Purchase Advance Tickets For This Show Right Now (click the tickets) :
Tickets Also On Sale w/ No Surcharge At The Relapse Retail Store (608 South 4th St)
Or Call 1-866-468-7619 (toll free)

Boris
Japanese power trio BORIS come back to Philadelphia ! Total fucking heavy rock obliteration. Get the shit kicked out of your jams with brutal leaden rumble, body-wrecking psych-punk, spine-breaking metal, and soaring psych, noise and power drone madness. Not to pigeonhole, but Japanese metal dudes aren't exactly known for their accessibility. So it's great to find sludge trio Boris finally shredding the stereotype: Their latest album, the massive rock juggernaut Pink, is not only the best album their decade-plus career has yet produced, but also the band's most melodic, conventionally structured, and aggressively addictive LP to date. A rock'n'roll record in the classic sense, Pink's corridors echo Sabbath and Melvins more than Opeth or Darkthrone, opening a gateway to heavier music for metalphobes, while providing an antidote to the more polite, popular strains of indie pop for those that might be seeking one. Ratcheting up the volume on terrain recently tiptoed by Queens of the Stone Age, Death from Above 1979, and Trail of Dead, Pink flirts with shoegaze and ambient, but always holds its pedals squarely to the metal, resulting in a 47-minute frenzy that welcomes 2006 with open arms, bludgeoning fists, and a call to arms against MOR complacency. THIS IS THE ABSOLUTE MUST SEE BAND OF THE SUMMER - LISTEN TO THESE SOUND CLIPS. PURE BRUTALITY.

Clouds
Ex-Cave In mastermind Adam McGrath and the rest of his proto-hipster metal band (featuring members of The Hope Conspiracy) offers mouth-foaming, methed-out swagger. Some back story : Cave In helped beget the terribly rote micro genre "metalcore." Don't blame them: Ahead of the curve and sniffing staleness long before it was stinking up Hot Topics and Ozzfest Second Stages, Cave In flipped the script, trying their hand at radio-reaching At the Drive-In–esque pop and something akin to arty stoner rock. Allegedly, McGrath was the key implementer of Cave In's stoner grooves, which perfectly explains why most of Cloud's songs could make any connoisseur of bong-rock put down their Kyuss and Alabama Thunderpussy CDs long enough to give a bona fide discerning listen. At their best Clouds kick up a controlled chaos of streamlined punky "party grunge"-- as they themselves call it-- best exemplified by the surprisingly titled "Party Grunge", where a rolling Cobain-pumpin' Bleach-era riff tumbles and shimmy-shakes via train-chuggin' hambone beats, not dissimilar from Hot Snakes. Hydrahead Records.
One More TBA

At The First Unitarian Church
2125 Chestnut Street (22nd and Chestnut Sts)
Philadelphia, PA
$13 / All Ages
Purchase Advance Tickets For This Show Right Now (click the tickets) :
Tickets Also On Sale w/ No Surcharge At The Relapse Retail Store (608 South 4th St)
Or Call 1-866-468-7619 (toll free)

No Age
Best New Music! Two young heavyweights from the LA Skate / Art / Punk underworld, No Age are comprised of Dean Spunt and Randy Randall, a super-talented noise pop two piece, who until 12th March this year had released no recorded output whatsoever. That changed when they decided to release five ltd. vinyl only releases on a variety of DIY indie labels across the globe on the same day (namely UTR, Deleted Art, Teardrops, Youth Attack, and Dean’s own PPM label), and their debut LP release, ‘Weirdo Rippers’ (on Fat cat), is a collection of recorded highlights taken from the aforementioned releases. Formed from the ashes of the fondly remembered Wives, No Age purvey a stripped, essential, life-affirming skewed take on pop delivered via a clearly defined punk rock aesthetic, taking in noise, energy and melody in equal measure. Sub Pop Records.

High Places
Best New Music! Two kids from Brooklyn bring us into their hypnotic tropical universe. A burst of starry pop psychedelia contrasting bass-heavy polyrhythms against glistening astral reverb and singer Mary Pearson's innocent vocals. High Places remind me of a lot of things I like already-- minimal, bleary indie pop like Beat Happening; subaqueous psychedelia from Ricardo Villalobos to Martin Denny exotica; girlish nursery-rhyme vocals; New York City; heavy syncopation; pentatonic scales; kissing-- it's that I usually only get to have them all together when I'm dreaming.

Abe Vigoda
Everyone in New York is walking around talking about how the world is ending because they had one 60 degree day in January, but the real harbinger of doom is the fact that it seems like some cool shit is coming out of L.A. I know! We were as freaked out as you. But look at bands like Abe Vigoda, a group of kids so ahead of you that they already figured out no-wave is boring and have moved on to tropical punk. Seriously.

At The First Unitarian Church
2125 Chestnut Street (22nd and Chestnut Sts)
Philadelphia, PA
$10 / All Ages
Purchase Advance Tickets For This Show Right Now (click the tickets) :
Tickets Also On Sale w/ No Surcharge At The Relapse Retail Store (608 South 4th St)
Or Call 1-866-468-7619 (toll free)