Dirty Beaches, Live @ FUC

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Alex Zhang Hungtai, Canadian Bands, concert video, Dirty Beaches, Dirty Beaches Band, first unitarian church, fuc, live music, live philly concerts, R5 Productions

Dirty Beaches is Alex Zhang Hungtai and Alex is Dirty Beaches.  The boutique label holy-grail maker engineers tracks of dirty croon-filled depths.  His stage presence has an amalgam of personifications peering through it; although, their intention is rightfully mysterious. We saw glimpses of Chuck Berry and Elvis through the dimly lit stage and sludgy tracks.  Based out of Canada, Dirty Beaches comes through Philadelphia several times a year and we are damn lucky for it.

A Dirty Beaches show touches on auditory sensibilities difficult to define but easy to appreciate.  Blazing new trails in sonic bliss, the band graced the FUC stage on May 3rd, 2012 and delivered a reverent performance  to his musical influences and the lucky crowd.  Grinding through numerous tracks and ferociously brandishing his guitar Alex, with his Dirty Beaches bandmate, provided us with yet another exhibit behind the crime of missing his live performance.  You can beat the case by catching his July 23rd performance at Johnny Brenda’s after his Spanish tour.  In the meantime, we have some dark and dirty videos:

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Niki & The Dove, Live @ Voyeur

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concert video, live music, live philly concerts, making time, Niki & The Dove, Niki and the Dove, Niki and The Dve band, Spotify link, Stockholm, Sub-Pop, Swedish Band, voyeur nightclub concert, voyeur philly

Niki & The Dove delivered a magical light-filled performance at the making time event @ Voyeur nightclub on March 9th.  Originating in Stockholm, Sweden, the Sub-Pop signed duo of Malin Dahlström and Gustaf Karlöf have been around in their current configuration since 2010.

+ Niki & The Dove on Spotify +

Niki & The Dove deliver Pop music outside the realm of traditional over-production and corporate tweaking.  It is a pure and raw electronic pop sound that is on the precipice of even greater US popularity.   You can cop their new album out May 14th.

Check out a few of our vids from Niki & The Dove’s performance below.  They played about 5 songs and we got video of two of them:

Bear In Heaven, Live @ Voyeur

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Bear In Heaven, Bear In Heaven band, brooklyn, concert video, Dead Oceans records, Home Tapes, live music, live philly concerts, making time, making time philadelphia, Spotify link, voyeur nightclub concert, voyeur philly

Philly is lucky this year.  It gets to see Bear In Heaven at least twice in 2012.  We have been looking forward to seeing them since we heard You Do You two and a half years ago.  The Brooklyn based band formed by Jon Philpot plays an experimental, psych-synth, indie rock medley and is damn hypnotic.  Bear In Heaven was playing this Philly show at Voyeur on March 9th prior to their SXSW jaunt and they made it count.  Tracks were delivered with the same sound as captured on wax and the show was wildly engaging with Jon coming into the audience and dancing while also playing multiple instruments and singing.  Joe Stickney, and Adam Wills laid down guitar and drums seamlessly and the entire set piece was brilliant.

++ Spotify Playlist ++

With their most recent album, Bear Rest Forth Mouth, getting some best new music honors from Pitchfork we know the critics realize the power in Bear In Heaven’s music too.  On the back of this release will come I Love You It’s Cool, their fourth release since 2003.  We look forward to this and Bear In Heaven’s May 2nd performance at FUC in Philly.  Cop your tix here.  We did (plus Blouse off Captured Tracks is opening and they are simply fantastic).  Check the Bear In Heaven vids:

Charli XCX, Live @ Voyeur

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bands to watch, Charli XCX, Charli XCX first US performance, Charli XCX live, concert video, live music, live philly concerts, London, making time, making time philadelphia, voyeur nightclub concert, voyeur philly

UK-based bombshell Charli XCX made her first US appearance at Voyeur for Making Time in Philly on March 9th truly an amazing event.  Delivering an energetic performance capable of exciting a stadium crowd on the Voyeur main stage, Charli killed it.  Everything positive you’ve heard about the rising star is true and we were there to witness in amazement.

Creating an experimental dark pop blend with a dancey beat, we found falling for her and sound facile in practice.  Charli’s on-stage presence is engaging and capacious. She and band will continue to grow in popularity there is no doubt.  We feel extremely fortunate to have had Charli XCX come to Philly first and are sure everybody in attendance felt the same.

Not content to move solely about the stage, Charli came off the elevated platform and into the audience with passionately delivered verses stirring the crowd into a frenzy.  She moved about with purpose donning a spiked bracelet,  black mid-drift and black pants singing each lyric authentically into the mic.  Running through a number of tracks, Charli delivered the show everyone wanted to hear and man was it brilliant.  They say a picture is worth a thousand words but the videos below are worth a million.  Check them out:

The Sea Around Us, Live @ Johnny Brenda’s

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bands to watch, concert video, johnny brendas, live music, live philly concerts, Local Philly Band, Strawberry Mansion, The Sea Around Us, The Sea Around Us band

No better metaphor exists for the band than that of it’s own name.  The Sea Around Us attempts and succeeds in breeding a rare musical flavor, tucked in between genres; and yet concurrently defining.  Rallying from home, the Philly-based 4-piece of Seth Auster-Rosen, Brendan Evans, Sean Gallagher, Ricardo Lagomasino are no shoegazers.  Drawing on diverse influences, The Sea Around Us is a Strawberry Mansion effort that, like it’s area, deserves to do big things.

On January 5th, 2012 at JB’s in Philly, The Sea Around Us headlined the show in strong fashion.  A fun show and one that you should really just go to.  Seriously.  Check out the guitar work.  Sick stuff.  Vocals are unique and powerful.  Drummer’s crescendos are dramatic and exciting.  Bass line supports it all.  Go see em.  We will start on the video series below with the set-opener:

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Son Step, Live @ Johnny Brenda’s

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concert video, johnny brendas, live music, live philly concerts, Local Philly Band, Son Step, Son Step band

Playing Johnny Brenda’s on January 5th 2012 was a magically eclectic sounding Son Step from our own Philly.  Infusing elements of funk, garage, folk, soul and more, Son Step played an inspiring set.  The four piece is comprised of jon coyle on vocals, little drums, electrics, pat lamborn on vocals, guitar, chris coyle on bass and matt scarano on big drums.  Check out their bandcamp and website for some of their recorded work.

Like nuclear evolution Son Step’s sound morphed on stage moving the listener in and out of chord and tempo changes and delivering an awesome experimental type sound. We enjoyed many things about the Son Step set; but perhaps most was the originality of their compositions.  Check them out when you have a chance and take a peek at our video from the evening below:

Buffalo Stance, Live @ Kung Fu Necktie

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bands to watch, Buffalo Stance, Buffalo Stance band, concert video, indie music, kung fu necktie, live music, live philly concerts, Local Philly Band

Buffalo Stance is another one of Philadelphia’s hidden (or perhaps not to hidden to you) gems of a band.  Comprised of Jamey Robinson, Russell Higbee, Matt Gibson, and Evan Smoker, Buffalo Stance play  (in their own words) a funkdanceathonextreme brand of auditory treasure.  Not to surprising given that Jamey and Matt are in Man Man.  Their music is so textured it’s tantamount to wallpapering tile and painting over that – not it a literal way though.  In practice their set is beautiful and entertaining and altogether mesmerizing,  From funk to psych to electronic to poetic prose to jazz and back again the sound switches in an array of music unlike any other.

Buffalo Stance: 12.23.11 KFN Gig Poster

We thoroughly enjoyed Buffalo Stance   Their show at PhilaMOCA on January 8th is a must attend.  Here are two videos we shot at their December 23rd show at KFN in Philly:

Grimace Federation, Live @ Kung Fu Necktie

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bands to watch, concert video, electronic music, Grimace Federation, Grimace Federation band, indie music, kung fu necktie, live music, live philly concerts, Local Philly Band

Grimace Federation magically combines live drums, computer samples and loops with live electric guitar and bass to compose a sound that will melt your face.  Jim, Wes, Chris, and Xack have a sound that is part jazz, part funk, part electronic, part rock and all parts awesome.  On November 21nd these Phillyites played a moving show for the KFN crowd with other-worldly sound emitting from the dark stage perforated with various light display.

The bands music is a fantastic listen and will move you heard live.  Aesop Rock has even taken to remixing it and rapping over the work.

We really wish these guys played more shows locally and look forward to seeing where they end up in 2012.  It is really good stuff and relating to it is effortless.  Their full 2010 release is available for purchase and preview on Bandcamp as is their 2008 release:

Some highlights from the evening were watching the math-rock like percussion, computer/guitar double duty and the switch off between, the layering of sounds to build both subtle and over-stated crescendos, and the flow between songs allowing for long, introspective groove lines.  Grimace Federation must have something special in the water they are drinking because this type of sound is few and far between.  Make sure you get out and support these guys when you have a chance and check out the two videos we caught from the evening (sorry for the quality: bad lights and infectious music made it hard to film)

Los Campesinos!, Live @ Union Transfer

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Cardiff, concert video, live music, live philly concerts, Los Campesinos!, Los Campesinos! band, R5 Productions, Union Transfer, Wichita Records

Los Campesinos! from Cardiff, UK rocked the Union Transfer in Philly on November 18th playing to a huge crowd of fans.  An exuberant live performance was displayed performing tracks new and old.  Consisting of Ellen Campesinos!, Gareth Campesinos!, Neil Campesinos!, Tom Campesinos!, Kim Campesinos!, Rob ‘Sparky Deathcap’ Campesinos!, and Jason Campesinos! on this night they also had a guest trumpeter.  Gareth talked to the crowd a fair amount making jokes about the mosh pit and how participants never get laid after the show and about their tour assistant whom he likened to a butler in the nicest verbiage possible.  Besides crowd talk, Gareth delivered the tracks with flair and gusto complementing the diverse sound (definitely not to be classified as twee) coming from the multitude of musicians that comprise the band.  The audience paid it forward singing and clapping along with songs and made a rudimentary go at crowd surfing.  If you like Los Campesinos!, this really was an excellent show.

Los Campesinos! Live @ UT

The band formed back in 2006 in Cardiff, Wales while at University.  Within a few months of forming, they were already touring as the opener for Broken Social Scene.  Since then, the band has released 3 LPs and 2 EPs.  While the word campesino in Spanish translates to “peasant” or “country person,” Los Campesinos! have certainly shed their peasant skin with hugely popular tracks featured in ads and other mass media.

We captured a lot of video from the night so as not to miss anything.  Inevitably, we did miss some but want to leave you with the 9 videos we took.  Enjoy:

POWER ANIMAL, Live @ Johnny Brenda’s

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concert video, electronic music, indie music, johnny brendas, live music, live philly concerts, Local Philly Band, POWER ANIMAL, POWER ANIMAL BAND, R5 Productions

Johnny Brenda’s played host to the Philadelphia collective POWER ANIMAL on November 15th.  Three members deep on this evening, POWER ANIMAL moved through multiple songs dripping in sample and drum machine goodness.  Known for using a plethora of different types on instrumentation, POWER ANIMAL attempts and succeeds at creating diverse sounds not akin to anything or anyone in particular.

For this set the band chose to go with electronic sounds to match the mood of the show in general.  To accomplish this, Keith manned the sample machine, drum machine, keys, xylophone, and vocals with Marie on toy piano and vocals and lastly a drummer (we feel terribly bad that we don’t know his name but would like to add it if you shoot us a message).

POWER ANIMAL is a fun band to listen to with a certain brand of magic behind their musical compositions.  We look forward to catching them again to see who will be on stage with them and what the instrumentation will consist of.  A local NE Philly gem, get out and catch them whenever possible.  Check out some video we captured from their Balam Acab opening set:

 

Check out more POWER ANIMAL over at LPC on YouTube!