A couple weeks ago I got to play the KNO Clothing One Year Anniversary Party and fashion show down in Rittenhouse Square, which was awesome. After a week off for Thanksgiving, DJ LOS and I are going extra hard for Thirsty Thursdays. New fliers are in production and we also have our Saturday monthly this weekend. Hit me up if you need some tunage for any holiday shindigs, etc., because slots are filling up quick.
I finally managed to make it to Union Transfer this weekend. I've been on the mailing list for R5 Productions' new venue since well before it opened, but I've been so busy I haven't had an opportunity to catch any of the great shows they've been putting on there. I am so glad I finally did! The space is gorgeous in every detail, from stained glass windows to the sleek industrial grates serving as railings between balconies, bars, and the main floor. I look forward to many more nights spent in a club so simultaneously intimate and spacious.
The show I made it out for was excellent as well. Mountain Dew's Green Label Sound curated what was essentially a tour to bring the NYC underground dance scene to the rest of the country, and did an excellent job of it. I primarily went to see Eli Escobar spin before and between sets, and he did not disappoint. Dance and disco, flawlessly mixed with CDJs, no laptop, provided the perfect warmup for each and every artist, keeping the crowd moving. Midnight Magic was first to perform, and frontwoman Tiffany Roth took it upon herself to pack the dancefloor, instructing the crowd to stop staring and start dancing at every opportunity afforded by interludes in which her powerful vocals and enthusiastic dancing took a backseat to the excellent horn section.
Held together by a common bassist and keyboardist, Midnight Magic and Jessica 6 are both partially made up of members of Hercules & Love Affair, in the latter case fronted by transwoman H&LA vocalist Nomi Ruiz. Musically, the vibes began to skew darker and more sexual when they took the stage, with dirtier, more electro-oriented leads and no horn section. After a significantly longer set from Eli Escobar, Holy Ghost! finally took the stage. As the pop project from the members of defunct DFA hip-hop project Automato, Holy Ghost! has been putting out phenomenal remixes for artists like MGMT, Phoenix, and LCD Soundsystem, as well as excellent original dance tunes. Their live show was more fully fleshed out than the others, complete with an enormous lighting console and analog synth equipment presiding over the center of the stage. By this point, the crowd was euphoric and the dance party was in full swing, having mostly emptied the back bar area onto the floor with the underage kids. I went home satisfied, having danced my Friday night away to excellent music in a beautiful new venue.
Speak! finally let his album loose to wreak mayhem on these internets, and I for one am excited to have the majority of the tracks that impressed me at It's the Common Ground collected in one place for free download. The release party, with Odd Future associate Vince Staples and Inland Empire stalwarts Cashius Green and Pheo, is sure to be a rager. If you're in LA Friday, hit up the Gravel Pit for a good time. Whether you can or you can't, though, download the album [here].
For one reason or another (willful disbelief perhaps), I failed to post about Mike Skinner's retirement of the moniker The Streets, UK grime's iconic pop crossover. Skinner's humorous and insightful ramblings over skittering garage beats have been a part of my life for years. I first heard The Streets when I was on one of those all-inclusive high school European tours watching MTV Europe somewhere in Spain. The above video for "When You Wasn't Famous" was on the TV, and my mind was blown. All that to say Skinner recently dropped a mix for FACT, which includes some great house music, Streets edits, and one track from his new project The D.O.T. If you haven't experienced The Streets before, consider this your point of entry. [FACT mix here]
There are two ways to arrange straightforward pop songs and maintain underground credibility. The first could most easily be called the Nirvana method: submerge the vocals in the mix and crank up the distortion to make it all sound more alienated. The second is to use extreme dynamics and shifting beat patterns to make a sort of audio collage that sounds unlike a traditional verse-chorus structure even if there is one. Judging by artists I've reviewed (Brand New, mewithoutYou, Colour Revolt, etc.) it should be clear that I prefer the latter. Last night I journeyed to Cedar Street Studios in Port Richmond to see Wildebeast open for Last Full Measure at Cedar Street's second Saturday monthly. I ended up leaving before the headliners due to public transportation schedules, but was impressed by both Wildebeast and Turning Violet Violet as purveyors of subverted pop music primarily differentiated by the gender of their frontperson and the variety of pop on which their compositions are based.
South Jersey's Wildebeast works with an arena rock palette both lyrically and in the basic guitar/bass/drums/keys setup, an impression emphasized by frontman Sam Morales' sardonic take on rock star swagger. The firm planting of his tongue in cheek, occasional digressions into epic post-rock breakdowns, and bassist Adam Catell's arrival straight from work at Philly Pretzel Factory complete with uniform ensured a safe distance from the odd sincerity/commercialism dynamic of the arena and the near-flawless sound quality provided by performing in a professional recording studio kept Nirvana away. This show has me hoping Wildebeast has a longer and more extensively recorded run than sideman Chris Small's previous work in Troubador.
Turning Violet Violet stays far away from the arena, working with the varied instrumentation of chamber pop and mixing it up with dance grooves rather than post-rock theatrics. A healthy dose of clarinet and violin can help any local band stand out from the rest, and the technicians at Cedar Street allowed both to shine. This studio has put some serious effort into developing the local music scene, and hopefully I'll be back there again soon, probably to see Lost in Company since they were stuck working doors and merch on this one.
OnCue and CJ Luzi again visualized by Adam Ross over at Visual High Life. Maybe in a couple months we'll see this one on MTVU too. In the meantime, Can't Wait drops in 10 days.
Tomorrow Jared and I start the monthly throwdown at Liberty Bar that I'm currently calling The Shindig. We'll be playing ridiculous party jams and helping people enjoy $3 Miller Lites, Yuenglings, and kamikaze shots, all for no cover as usual. The Fox and the Hound are back!
Eventually we will be getting DJ LOS involved. He started splitting Thirsty Thursdays with me last night, and hopefully we can build that weekly to even greater levels.
Tonight I'm playing solo for the African Student Union's Karibu Afterparty at SouthSide Cafe at Messiah. For those of you who have missed me in central PA, here's your chance to hear what I think are the most danceable sounds of the African diaspora.
Make sure to follow Flying Circus Entertainment on Facebook for more info about upcoming shindiggery in various locations!