TAKE ME TO THE TRANS SPA where I can get my nails done with my mom, without toxic chemicals let me change in the locker room soak in the jacuzzi tub cool down in the pool with a strawberry daiquiri let me sweat in the sauna & in the back room where glory holes are […]
Tag: Philadelphia
Posted inMusic
Thirty years ago, a Black queer zine captured the scene that birthed house
Robert Ford and Trent Adkins shaped the bold, subversive, gossipy, funny, deeply engaged voice of Thing, which was felled by the AIDS pandemic in 1993.
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Philadelphia duo Writhing Squares achieve maximum aggravation on their third album
Many rock ’n’ roll duos deal with economy of one sort or another. In the case of Philadelphia group Writhing Squares, it’s not a matter of compensating for thin arrangements: woodwind player Kevin Nickles and electric bassist and rhythm programmer Daniel Provenzano both sing and play synthesizers as well, and they can make so much […]
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R&B wizard Pink Sweat$ will take over the galaxy with his Pink Planet
There isn’t much to the story behind David Bowden’s stage name, Pink Sweat$. As the Philadelphia singer-songwriter told DJ Booth in 2018, it was inspired by a passing comment at the studio where he was recording. “I would wear these pink sweatpants every single day,” he said. “This dude, he didn’t know my name, and […]
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Tierra Whack embodies Philly’s transformative party energy
Philadelphia has been in the news a lot lately, and some of the reasons are way better than Four Seasons Total Landscaping.
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Shamir returns to the spotlight with nostalgic, 90s-influenced alternative pop
Shamir spent the first months of quarantine directing the video for “On My Own,” the first single from their new self-titled album, entirely within their Philadelphia home. Using wardrobe and hairstyle changes, the mononymous singer and multi-instrumentalist depicts themselves in various personas: a childlike figure surrounded by stuffed animals, a confident rocker swinging her hips […]
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Bill Nace uses his guitar to make unguitarlike sounds on Both
Until COVID-19 laid waste to his and everyone else’s touring schedule, Bill Nace was looking forward to a splendid spring. Not only would the Philadelphia-based guitarist have opened in Chicago for the Gunn-Truscinski Duo and Mdou Moctar; he’d also have joined Gunn, Truscinski, and Kim Gordon (his bandmate in Body/Head) at a couple festivals in […]
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Philadelphia indie rocker (Sandy) Alex G closes a prolific decade with the stunning House of Sugar
Philadelphia indie-rock alchemist Alexander Giannascoli understands better than most musicians who’ve emerged in the past decade how to convey the slipperiness and complexity of emotion in song. The 27-year-old kicked off his career in the early 2010s with a streak of albums he self-released or put out through small cassette labels, and they all wound […]
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On the new Who Sent You? Irreversible Entanglements are more political and potent than ever
Irreversible Entanglements will leave you shaken. The group make tight, synergistic free jazz anchored by the dynamic spoken-word declarations of poet Moor Mother, aka Camae Ayewa. Their music sometimes sounds chaotic and freewheeling, but it ensnares listeners with arrangements carefully considered to help deliver fiery political messages. The five-piece ensemble—the lineup also includes saxophonist Keir […]
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Philadelphia alt-country band Friendship feel right at home on Chicago indie-pop label Orindal
Nearly a decade ago, Chicago singer-songwriter Owen Ashworth launched Orindal Records, partly as an outlet for the intimate, cozy indie-pop recordings he makes under the name Advance Base. He’s since transformed the label into a hub for musicians who take a similarly measured, contemplative approach, even when they’re exploring entirely different genres. Orindal’s latest Hideout […]
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Philadelphia emo outfit Caracara deserve an audience as expansive as their epic songs
If you’re an indie-rock fan with a taste for emo, then the words “Philadelphia band produced by Will Yip” should get your attention. Philly has become a bastion for indie and underground rock this decade thanks to the likes of Yip, a prolific engineer whose studio guidance has helped many of this generation’s best posthardcore […]
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Quirk-pop sextet Man Man return to form on new singles
Since they got their start in Philadelphia’s underground scene in the early 2000s, Los Angeles-based band Man Man have been an undeniably unique voice in off-the-wall rock ’n’ roll. Led by singer, songwriter, and pianist Ryan Kattner (aka Honus Honus), known for his idiosyncratic sing-scream vocal style, Man Man spent their first decade morphing from […]
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Latham Zearfoss of Chances Dances on a Solange album for the ages
Current musical obsessions of Chances Dances cofounder Latham Zearfoss, artist and educator Jen Delos Reyes, and Reader music listings coordinator Salem Collo-Julin
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Gone too soon: five films by directors who died young
These final films by five directors who died too young give a taste of what was left unrealized.
Posted inBlogs
Showdown between Rauner and Democrats over school funding heats up, and other Chicago news
Also, ICE chief singles out Chicago, NYC, SF and Philadelphia as the ‘worst’ sanctuary cities.