HOT: Philly Film And Music Festival 9/23 to 9/27/10
The Philadelphia Film and Music Festival livens up the city this coming weekend. For those of you not familiar with it I’ll let the press release do the talking:
THE PHILADELPHIA FILM AND MUSIC FESTIVAL or “PHILLY F/M” for short) is a four-day festival taking place at over 30 music and film venues, with free outdoor stages, day parties and a record fair. Philly F/M will take place on Thursday, Sept 23 – Sunday, Sept 26th, 2010 and will feature a wide variety of regional, national and international musicians and films. The festival strives to be an annual event that effectively merges independent film and music in new and exciting ways. Instead of segregating them to different venues, the festival will combine the aural and the visual in dynamic settings to engage and foster new audiences for both mediums. Philly F/M will combine screenings with live performances, present a live, improvised film scoring series, screen music shorts and documentaries, curate a local music video expo to tie in the city’s rich musical landscape and screen outdoor films in unique settings. Philly F/M is headquartered at 2424 Studios (2424 E. York Street) in Philadelphia’s Fishtown neighborhood. In addition to serving as the Philly F/M headquarters, the “Skybox” will host a record fair and exhibitor area during the festival. This two-day (Saturday/Sunday) event is free and features record vendors and a variety of exhibitors showcasing their music and film related products.
To help you weed through the music choices for the next few days, I’ve scoured through the extensive schedule and made a list of some of the must see bands. Hope to see you around at a few of the shows, I’ll be out and about to as many as I can.
The full schedule and detailed info on all of the bands,films and venues is on the Philly F/M website here.
Tickets are available here.
Thursday 9/23
A Sunny Day in Glasgow 11pm-11:30pm @ Johnny Brenda’s
Agent Moosehead 7pm-10pm @ World Cafe Live (Downstairs) Live scoring of: The Attack of the Giant Leeches
Da Rezarekt 11:50pm-12:20am @ The Fire
F.O.D. 11pm-11:45pm @ The Media Bureau – classic 80’s hardcore punk rockers are still at it.
Hair Rocket 8pm-8:45pm @ Kung Fu Necktie
Honeychurch 9pm-9:45pm @ Johnny Brenda’s
Misstallica 10:30pm-11:45pm @ The Trocadero
North Lawrence Midnight Singers 10:30pm-11:15pm @ Tritone
Friday 9/24
Adam and Dave’s Bloodline 9:30pm-10pm @ North Star
Black Landlord 9:30pm-10:15pm @ World Cafe Live (Downstairs)
Bloodfeathers 10:30pm-11:15pm @ Johnny Brenda’s
Busses 7pm-7:45pm @ Silk City
Cheers Elephant 11:30pm-12:10am @ The Fire
Creeping Weeds 9:30pm-10:15pm @ Johnny Brenda’s – My personal #1 pick of the weekend is this show, which also has Bloodfeathers and Field Music on the bill.
Faux Slang 12am-12:45am @ Media Bureau
Field Music 11:30pm-12:15pm @ Johnny Brenda’s
Frog Holler 10:30pm-11:15pm @ North Star
Gildon Works 8pm-8:45pm @ Silk City
The Dead Milkmen 10:30pm-11:30pm @ World Cafe Live (Downstairs)
Saturday 9/25
Adam and Dave’s Bloodline 12:30am-1:15am @ The Blockley
Audible 12pm-12:45 @ Crane Arts Outdoor Stage
Baby Flamehead 11:30pm-12am @ Tritone
Bloodfeathers 3pm-3:45pm @ Crane Arts Outdoor Stage
Busses 11:30pm-12:15am @ The Blockley
Cheers Elephant 6pm-7pm @ Girard Ave Outdoor Stage
Kitten Disaster 1pm-1:45pm @ Lehigh Ave Outdoor Stage
Like a Fox 1pm-1:45pm @ Crane Arts Outdoor Stage
Like a Fox 9:30pm-10:15pm @ Johnny Brenda’s
McRad 12:20am-1:20am @ Media Bureau
Nancy Micciulla 11am – 11:45am @ Manayunk Outdoor Stage
Roomtone 4pm-4:45pm @ Girard Ave Outdoor Stage
The New Motels 10:30pm-11:15pm @ The Blockley
The Sky Drops 1pm-1:45pm @ Girard Ave Outdoor Stage
The Swimmers 4pm-4:45pm @ Crane Arts Outdoor Stage
The Swimmers 10:30pm-11:15pm @ Johnny Brenda’s
Sunday 9/26
Baby Flamehead 4pm-4:45pm @ Crane Arts Outdoor Stage
Golden Bloom 7:30pm-8pm @ World Cafe Live (Upstairs)
Grant Hart 11:15pm-12am @ World Cafe Live (Upstairs)
Hezekiah Jones 5pm-5:45pm @ Crane Arts Outdoor Stage
Kenn Kweder 12pm-12:45pm @ Lehigh Ave Outdoor Stage
Pearl and The Beard 9pm-9:30pm @ World Cafe Live (Upstairs)
Tonight In Philadlephia ! Great Music,Great Cause, And it’s All Ages & FREE!!!
Hey folks, want to catch some excellent music tonight, here’s where you need to be :
Absoulute Zeros, Andrew Lipke, Creeping Weeds, + Special Guests
The Rotunda at UPenn
4014 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA
Sunday, November 23rd at 7 PM.
FREE and All Ages !
It’s a Mad Dragon Records showcase as well as a Toys for Tots fund drive event sponsored by Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity, so be sure to turn your good time into someone elses as well by bringing a toy to drop off.
BOS Presents : NY vs PHL at The M Room With Cheers Elephant,Butane Variations,Creeping Weeds, and I Am The Heat
Forget about the Phillies and The Mets, all the Philly vs New York action you need will be at The M Room in Philadelphia this coming Sunday, September 28th. Come on out and cap off the first official weekend of fall with a grand slam of amazing music featuring New York’s I Am The Heat, Philadelphia’s Creeping Weeds, New York’s Butane Variations and wrapping the night up with Philly’s Cheers Elephant.[PHOTO BY Tina Lovely]
I Am The Heat are the fire that burns in the place where fuzz guitar fueled sixties garage rock meets frenetic modern indie rock. Their just released The Future Doesn’t Need Us EP is five smoking songs that live up to their name.
I Am The Heat – What Would Lou Reed Do
Buy The Future Doesn’t Need Us
[WEBSITE] [MYSPACE]Hot off a summer east coast/midwest tour with Seattlites BOAT, Creeping Weeds bring their amazing swirling indie-psychedelic sound to the stage. Their latest CD ,We Are All Part of A Dream You’re Having was among the Bag Of Songs Top 25 for 2007. Currently in the midst of recording their follow-up record, recent shows have showcased some new songs that are even better yet.
Creeping Weeds – Eternity Is Along Time
Buy We Are All Part of A Dream You’re Having
Creeping Weeds – I’m A Donkey For Your Love (BOAT cover)
I think this quote from their myspace page sums up Butane Variations perfectly : “Butane Variations are 4 people from New York, New York. They play garage-punk-country that may weave avant-intricate compositions with hooky pop tunes. Sometimes the beat sounds like a tennis match and sometimes the songs wear argyle socks. There’s 4 people in the band so they can all fit in the same car.” Great stuff, and hey, they’ve been on Daytrotter, way coolness.
Butane Variations – Airforce One
Buy Butane Variations
Butane Variations – Jackie (Live on Daytrotter)
Closing out the night will Cheers Elephant who have gone from a month long residency at The Khyber back in January to playing high profile summer shows like Philly’s Popped! Festival and XPoNential Music Festival. They blend influences like The Kinks, Beatles and sixties psychedelia into a thoroughly modern sound and back it all up with a super high energy live show. I’ve seen them about seven or eight times now over the past year and they just keep getting better and better each time. A must see.
Cheers Elephant – Here We Are
Buy Here We Are
Cheers Elephant – Cocaine
Buy Here We Are
[MYSPACE]
LIVE : Creeping Weeds,BOAT,Drink Up Buttercup, Greyhounds 08.15.08 @ Johnny Brendas
Some pictures from last Friday night’s amazing show at Johnny Brenda’s in Philadelphia. Greyhounds kicked off the night in true rock and roll style opening their set with a snippet of Bruce Springsteen’s Darkness On The Edge of Town which they seamlessy segued into their first song of the night. Drink Up Buttercup were up next, delivering a set of the psychedelic tinged rock circus that has been garnering them numerous accolades as of late. They ended their set by doing their last two songs in the audience with everyone clapping, stomping and singing along. Seattle’s BOAT follwed, their sound is somewhat like a power pop version of Pavement. They had a fun time bantering with the crowd and even brought one heckler/audience member down from the balcony to play tambourine on a song with them. Creeping Weeds closed the night with a stellar set of old and new songs and even worked in their cover of BOAT‘s I’m A Donkey For Your Love which BOAT did not play earlier. Do not miss the BOAT/Creeping Weeds tour if it heads your way this week.
Greyhounds
Drink Up Buttercup
BOAT
Creeping Weeds
HOT: Creeping Weeds & BOAT Summer Tour Kicks Off This Friday In Philly
East and West meet starting this weekend when one of our Philly favorites Creeping Weeds head out on a short summer tour with Seattle-ites BOAT. Don’t miss the big kick off at Johnny Brenda’s this Friday August 15th along with two more of Philly’s finest, the super hot right now, Drink Up Buttercup, who are about to head off for a few dates themselves with Bishop Allen and Greyhounds. It’ll be a party for sure.
Creeping Weeds / Boat Tour Dates
FRI 8.15.08 Philadelphia, PA, Johnny Brenda’s
SAT 8.16.08 Honey Brook, PA The Crackhouse
SUN 8.17.08 New York, NY Cake Shop
MON 8.18.08 Somerville, MA PA’s Lounge
TUE 8.19.08 New London, CT The Oasis
WED 8.20.08 Brooklyn, NY Union Hall
THU 8.21.08 Blacksburg, VA The Lantern
FRI 8.22.08 Pittsburgh, PA Brillobox
SAT 8.23.08 Chicago, IL Schubas
Creeping Weeds – Derelict
Buy We Are All Part Of A Dream You’re Having
BOAT – Illustrate The History / When I Grow Up
Buy Let’s Drag Our Feet !
Drink Up Buttercup – Seasickness Pills
More on Myspace
Greyhounds – No Slogans in ’76
More on Myspace
The Top 25 Albums Of 2007 – 1 to 10 And A Giveaway !
Okay here it is the grand finale, my top ten of the year. The albums I listened to and enjoyed most this year. There was so much great music this year that a short list of twenty five doesn’t nearly it do it all justice. There’s obviously way more omitted than included.
And, as I promised I have giveaways. A copy of The Swimmers – Fighting Trees that most of you will need to wait until it’s March release to get your hands on, but I have it for you now, and a copy of The Broken West‘s I Can’t Go On, I’ll Go On autographed by the whole band(Thanks Ross!)
Once again I’ll make it easy to win just leave a comment or send me an email to
bagofsongs@gmail.com with “Top 25 Contest” in the subject line.
You don’t have to, but feel free to get creative in the comments – your top albums, what I missed, etc. If you leave a comment make sure you leave an email or some way to get in touch if you win. I’ll pick 2 winners at random on New Year’s Day from all the entries. Good Luck !
1:The Swimmers – Fighting Trees
Back in January of this year when I received a rather unassuming email from Steve Yutzy-Burkey, not so unlike a lot of other emails I receive everyday from bands, letting me know they had shows upcoming and that their new album Fighting Trees was
streaming from their website if I wanted to give it a listen. What I found at the end of the link was a record I would unabashedly call one of the first truly important releases of 2007. Now nearly a year later, I’ve seen the band live more than a dozen times and there is no single album I listened to or enjoyed more this year. It’s the perfect balance of catchy hooks,vocal harmonies and intelligent lyrics that I just can’t seem to get enough of. The record saw a limited Philadelphia area CD release this fall on Mad Dragon Records, who signed the band and will officially release their record to the rest of the world in March 2008. Watch out for it.
MP3: The Swimmers – Pocketful Of Gold
[MYSPACE] [WEBSITE]
2:The Broken West – I Can’t Go On I’ll Go On
Guitar driven, smart, power pop. Reference points of Big Star,The Beatles,Cheap Trick and more come to mind but the sound ends up undeniably all The Broken West. A dozen songs here and each one could be a single in it’s own right, no filler here just great music.
MP3: The Broken West – Down In The Valley
Buy I Can’t Go On I’ll Go On
3:Julie Doiron – Woke Myself Up
The best overlooked album of the year. Emotional, ragged and real with a sound that falls somewhere between fellow Canadians Neil Young and Joni Mitchell. Forget Feist you need this.
MP3: Julie Doiron – I Woke Myself Up
Buy Woke Myself Up
4:The Clientele – God Save The Clientele
Alasdair Maclean describes the band’s sound on this record: “The band are setting free their inner Monkees; a lovely blend of Big Star twisted power-pop and country achin’, with flashes of the Beatles at their most joyful and upbeat.” He’s dead on, it’s a perfect Sunday morning record, filled with smooth sixties overtones but never sounding retro or dated.
MP3: The Clientele – Here Comes The Phantom
Buy God Save The Clientele
5:Blitzen Trapper – Wild Mountain Nation
What Wilco could sound like if they didn’t sand all the edges off. The perfect mix of alt country and indie rock, they delivered one of the best live shows I saw all year.
MP3: Blitzen Trapper – Sci-Fi Kid
Buy Wild Mountain Nation
6:Josh Ritter – The Historical Conquests Of Josh Ritter
One of the best new songwriters of a generation, Josh amped it up a bit more than his earlier records for this one and created a new classic. And as good as this is, I somehow feel it’s still only hinting at the future greatness Josh has in him.
MP3: Josh Ritter – Right Moves
Buy The Historical Conquests Of Josh Ritter
7:Arcade Fire – Neon Bible
I’ll commit blogger heresy here and say other than a song or two,their debut Funeral did nothing for me. But with only one real clunker(Black Wave),this one is just shy of perfect. Anthmemic and engaging it grabs you right from the first listen. Openly embracing their Springsteen influences in their sound this time around didn’t hurt at all either.
MP3: Arcade Fire – Black Mirror
Buy Neon Bible
8:LCD Soundsystem – Sound Of Silver
James Murphy obviously honed his ear for what works during his time as a bouncer at Trenton’s alternative rock club City Gardens all through the mid to late eighties and delivered an album that put all that knowledge together for something relevant right now. Their live show is phenomenal, hearing All My Friends live was one of most transcendent concert moments I’ve ever experienced.
Listen To The Whole Album Here
Buy Sound Of Silver
9:Creeping Weeds – We Are All Part Of A Dream You’re Having
One of Philadelphia’s most original sounding bands this manages to run the gamut from desolate spacey piano, to jagged edgy guitar rockers and all points in between, and it all works. And having seen them live like 8 or 9 times this past year I can tell you they’re an awesome live band as well.
MP3: The Creeping Weeds – Eternity Is A Long Time
Buy We Are All Part Of A Dream You’re Having
10:Andrew Bird – Armchair Apocrypha
Twelve solid midtempo pop songs filled with hooks,violin, whistling and more, from th eopening notes of Fiery Crash it creates an alternate world and holds you there right through to the final notes of Yawny at the Apocalypse. One of the best sequenced albums of the year, each song perfectly setting up the next, just like a great mix tape.
MP3: Andrew Bird – Fiery Crash
Buy Armchair Apocrypha
Creeping Weeds On A BOAT
Big thanks to You Ain’t No Picasso for tipping me off to a hot new song by Bag Of Songs favorites Creeping Weeds. The band BOAT asked people to submit covers of their songs and have been posting them on their website all this past month.
Here’s Creeping Weeds excellent take on on (I’m A) Donkey for Your Love and in case you’re not familiar with it, BOAT‘s version as well. Rock on.
MP3: Creeping Weeds – (I’m A) Donkey for Your Love
MORE Creeping Weeds
MP3: BOAT – (I’m A) Donkey for Your Love
MORE BOAT
One Down, Many More To Go (No Radiohead Content)
Here’s a mixed dozen of the amazing independent artists that have been featured here over the past year.
Bag Of Songs Turns One
01: Chelsea Taube – Save My Soul From The Devil [MYSPACE]
02: The Swimmers – Pocket Full Of Gold [WEBSITE] [MYSPACE]
03: Creeping Weeds – Billy Pilgrim [WEBSITE] [MYSPACE]
04: The A – Sides – A Florida Grove [WEBSITE] [MYSPACE]
05: Elliot Jack – My Tongue In Vickie [WEBSITE] [MYSPACE]
06: Bless 1 – Starving Artist [MYSPACE]
07: Birds.Fled.From.Me – The Resisted [WEBSITE] [MYSPACE]
08: Morgan Ryan – Hallelu [MYSPACE]
09: Shrinking Islands – Swallowed In Grace [WEBSITE] [MYSPACE]
10: Desmond Reed – New [MYSPACE]
11: The Celebrities – East Coast Girls [WEBSITE] [MYSPACE]
12: Saturna – Pop Rocks [WEBSITE] [MYSPACE]
ZIP: Bag The Whole Dozen
LIVE: 08.03.07 Cartwright, Creeping Weeds, These United States, and Adam Arcuragi Band at Johnny Brenda’s
Some photos from Friday night’s incredibly good show at Johnny Brenda’s In Philadelphia with Cartwright, Creeping Weeds, These United States, and the Adam Arcuragi Band
LIVE: Friday July 13th With Creeping Weeds At The Khyber
Creeping Weeds kicked off their summer Tour De Horse with an excellent set last night at The Khyber in Philadelphia. Here’s some photos for you all. Pittsburgh is up next tonight, don’t miss them if they’re coming your way.
[WEBSITE] [MYSPACE]