November 20th, 2009

Amanda Blank Vs. The Critics

It’s fair to say that Philly rapstress Amanda Blank’s recent debut LP, I Love You, has gotten mixed reviews: Billboard called it “guiltless fun” and England’s Guardian wrote “she hits the pop G-spot with her savvy hooks and superlative rhyming,” while Pitchfork skewered it with a 2.0 score, calling it “largely forgettable” and adding “I don’t see how you’re not better off listening to Lady Gaga, who at least offers pretty good hooks.” But Amanda doesn’t give a shit what the critics think, or so she insists in an interview with straight.com:

“People can be vicious,” she says from a tour stop in San Francisco. “When they love you, they fucking love you, but when they hate you, they’d set you on fire if they could. You would think that some of these critics owned music; they own everything about it, but they don’t make any of their own. At the end of the day, I’m more concerned about teenage girls. Those are the people whose opinions matter to me.”

November 20th, 2009

Thanksgiving Fest At Danger Danger Tomorrow

Thanksgiving’s still a week away, but the fine folks at Danger Danger Gallery are throwing a “Thanksgiving Feast Fest” tomorrow night beginning at 7 p.m. sharp and featuring a cornucopia of acts both local and from up and down the Eastern seaboard, including:

* Satanized — “a chaotic noise rock band from Philadelphia, PA consisting of guitar, bass, drums, turntable and vocals. Scathing treble frequencies and heavy rhythms, alternately slicing and pummeling the listener, are made all the more freakish sounding by occasional moments of high musical complexity occurring amidst the assault. ‘A schizophrenic wasp trapped in a hot bottle.’”

* Nervous Sex — “Improvised pieces that combine samples, screamed vocals/shouting and feature little to no musical structure. Guttoral mayhem featuring a trio of Philly’s notable noisesters.”

* Microwaves — “Take the Locust and slow them down to the speed of the Melvins, add a little Butthole Surfers madness, Alice Donut insecurity and even a dash of Devo and the Cardiacs and you have Microwaves. Quirky, odd, bizarre and altogether wrong in all the right doses, Microwaves bring monged-out carnival insanity right to your stereo and you will thank them with all your deranged heart and diseased brain.”

* Kevin Hufnagel — “Kevin Hufnagel (Dysrhythmia, Byla) recently, collaborated with vocalists such as Jarboe (Swans), Costanza Francavilla (Tricky), and joined reactivated, avant death metal masters Gorguts. This, his solo incarnation, attempts to unify eclectic and exploratory uses of the acoustic guitar into a cohesive and gripping whole. Layer upon layer of rhythmically propulsive sound through the use of “prepared guitar” [the act of altering the instruments timbre by placing various objects on or between the strings].Other pieces are more haunting solo guitar works at their most naked and stark. Bridging the gap are atmospheric interludes that make use of various Echoplex looping techniques and electronic processing of acoustic guitar to an almost choral effect.”

November 20th, 2009

Good Cause Alert: DJ Too Tuff Benefit

Don’t forget, this is going down Saturday night at Tacony Billiards:

As we told you last month, Philly legend DJ Too Tuff — currently incarcerated on aggravated assault charges — is battling thyroid cancer. You can help defray some of his medical expenses by dropping by tomorrow night and simultaneously enjoying some good tunes and good times.

November 20th, 2009

Hall And Oates To Appear On The Cleveland Show This Sunday

…at 8:30. You could sit through what’s turned out to be a resounding dud of a show, or just watch the clip, as Cleveland would say, “right hurr.”

November 20th, 2009

This Weekend In Shows

Tonight:

The Watson Twins
7pm, $16-$18. Troc.
Once flanking Jenny Lewis on her solo debut, the ever-fetching Watson Twins proved their knack for coy pop and breezy soul on 2006’s Southern Manners and last year’s Fire Songs. Signing to Vanguard should give a sense of their old-soul sound, and Chandra and Leigh will return in early February with Talking To You, Talking To Me, their third album since leaving Lewis’ wing. Really, it’s probably just a matter of time before they re-team with Lewis and a few other friends in a female version of Monsters of Folk. Then the two supergroups can tour together and clamber on stage as one big family-band-style revue. (Doug Wallen)

Hamiet Bluiett & Kahil El’Zabar
8pm, $12. Philadelphia Art Alliance.
When he gets going, baritone saxophonist Hamiet Bluiett could probably take down a house with his gutsy, barrel-chested sound. A cofounder of the World Saxophone Quartet and the St. Louis-based Black Artists Group, he’s played a major role in avant-garde jazz from the ’60s on, working with everyone from Mingus to Marvin Gaye and exploring African-American music in all its connectedness. Percussionist Kahil El’Zabar, a bit younger, chaired the influential Chicago-based Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians in the early ’70s. He continues to front the Ritual Trio, Ethnic Heritage Ensemble and Infinity Orchestra, and it’s his very adaptability that should make this duo parley with Bluiett come alive. (David R. Adler)

Also, Ani DiFranco headlines Electric Factory [8:30pm/$34]; Hoots & Hellmouth drop by Johnny Brenda’s along with the Great Unknown [9pm/$15]; and Cave In, Narrows, and Trap Them team up for a show at First Unitarian Church [7:30pm/$12].

Saturday:

Grant-Lee Phillips
7:30pm, $22-$34. World Cafe Live.
Once the frontman of raucous ’90s roots-rock combo Grant Lee Buffalo, singer-guitarist Grant-Lee Phillips has quietly forged a solid and occasionally pretty thrilling solo career over the past decade in which he’s refined his love of Neil Young and classic country music into a more elegant and evocative folk-pop sound. Now in his mid-’40s and having recently become a father for the first time, Phillips has certainly mellowed, but fortunately he hasn’t gotten boring (like Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy, to whom Phillips is often compared). The strings-kissed ballads and brisker tunes on Phillips’ lush, upbeat new Little Moon range from tender (but not cloying) to urgent (but not desperate), and his smoky croon only gets better with age. (Michael Alan Goldberg)

DJ Too Tuff Benefit
10pm, $10. Tacony Billiards.
When word of incarcerated local gangsta rapper DJ Too Tuff’s battle with thyroid cancer hit the streets in September, the hip-hop community reached out to help. Beat Garden Entertainment’s Octavius “Big O” Mitchell hosts a benefit concert in his honor to help him with his rising legal and medical bills. Local acts show some love for Too Tuff and the Tuff Crew with performances from B. Kane, Clean Guns, L. Allen, Sick Six, Rockie Reyes, Triple Nickels, Poynt Blank and many more, as well as special appearances from H3O and Too Tuff’s childhood friend MC Mechanism. In the meantime, the troubled star is standing trial for aggravated assault charges. Hopefully, the judge will show some love too. (Sherri Hospedales)

November 19th, 2009

Free Show At The Rotunda Tomorrow Night

If you’re looking for something a bit different, rather eclectic, and — perhaps most importantly these days — free to do to kick off your weekend tomorrow night, Bowerbird is putting on a show at the Rotunda (4014 Walnut St.) featuring experimental, improvisational music from several local, national, and international musicians free of charge. Here’s the details:

The night will feature an international quartet of Margarida Garcia (born in Lisbon, now based in New York City, playing upright electric bass), Manuel Mota (from Lisbon, playing guitar), Barry Weisblat (from New York City, homemade electronic inventions), and Marcia Bassett (aka Zaimph, predominately using guitar and vocals); Andrew T. Royal, a solo violinist from Chicago; and a fantastic trio of Philadelphia-based musicans, Ian Fraser, Jesse Kudler, and Tim Albro (playing a combination of laptop, guitar, craked electronics, cheap consumer devices: a no-name table top electric guitar, hand-held cassette recorders, radios and transmitters). Also this evening, as a special farewell, the once-upon-a-time based in Philadelphia duo Hisswig, featuring double bassist Evan Lipson (now in Chattanooga) and microtonal violinist Katt Hernandez (heading to Boston), will say so long, see ya later to Philadelphia.

The fun starts at 8 p.m. Did we mention it’s free?!

November 19th, 2009

Jon Bon Jovi: He’s No Kris Allen

In a surprisingly interesting interview with Spinner posted today, Jon Bon Jovi laments the current state of the music business and radio, and has some interesting things to say about American Idol — including the fact that he would have never won the competition had it been around when he was first starting his career:

“You got a poor kid that wins ‘American Idol’ and then he’s expected to be on the same level or playing field as the Rolling Stones or U2 or Bon Jovi the next day. That’s not fair,” Bon Jovi says. “We were allowed to have the third album be the one that was the breakthrough record. I don’t know if a kid these days is ever gonna break 100 million in album sales. I don’t think that’s ever gonna happen again.”

So how does an artist make it today? Is it better to ride around in a van from town to town or do ‘Idol?’ “Well, both of them are good launch pads. Getting in the van, deciding who and what you are — there’s nothing wrong with that,” he says. But for those who win ‘Idol,’ it’s still ultimately about the music. “Of you’re brave enough to go on and win one of those ‘Idol’ contests, ultimately you better have the songs to back it up,” he says. “Chris Daughtry has delivered songs on two albums in a row. But I’m sure there are 10 Idols I can think of that didn’t do that or had a flash in the pan.”

Still, he has a lot of respect for those that go through the ‘Idol’ process. “It’s a very difficult spotlight to be in and a microscope to be under,” he says. “I couldn’t have survived it to be honest with you.”