July 14-20, 2005

hearhere

Hell Is a Place

KeN's first CD debuts Saturday. Look for the box set in 2075.

by Patrick Rapa

The Sinners Are Much More Fun
Until now the entire discography of Philly rock veterans KeN read as follows: one (1) 7-inch. From 1997.

"Superstition," says bassist Marina D'Angelo. She and lead guitarist Lauren Hamilton are the only original members still playing in the 10-year-old KeN. The band — which once opened for Velocity Girl and played Ladyfest Philly — actually did record a full-length in 1998 and an EP in '99, but neither saw the light of day. Somebody always quit before the CD would come out. A replacement would have to be found. The band felt cursed. "It became scary to record," says D'Angelo.

That's part of what makes their belated debut, the heavy, pretty Parade of Sinners, feel like a miracle. The tracks were laid down two years ago and the lineup (four jills and a jack, including Kristin Thomson of Tsunami on rhythm guitar) has held up. And it was worth the wait. Driving, pounding rock songs like "Angry Old Ladies" and "James Bond Brown" are fierce and catchy. This town hasn't seen such a smart take on pissed-off pop-punk since Swisher was rocking Upstairs at Nick's.

This calls for a celebration, and one that tempts fate at that. Which brings us to the Parade of Sinners CD release party wherein the KeN kids put on matching costumes (as is their wont) and do the night up with a "fun fallen religion" theme, says D'Angelo with a smirk. "We have antics planned."

KeN plays Sat., July 16, 9 p.m., $8, with The Hungry Samoans and Bad Ronald, The Khyber, 56 S. Second St., 215-238-5888, ilikeken.com.

Dot Dot Dot Matrix
The three folkies in Ellipsis (Matt Murphy from Upper Darby, Joel Price from Wisconsin and Vale Jokisch from El Salvador) have been living and sometimes working together since graduating from Swarthmore four years ago. And yet they still say they're getting along well enough to make sweet music in each other's company. "Which is great news for us, but bad news for the Behind the Music special we'll film someday," jokes the rich-voiced frontwoman Jokisch. "Can't say we'll have any major infighting, drug addictions or emotional meltdowns to include there."

All that proximity and symbiosis has paid off on the band's debut CD, Take What You Will. (Well, it's sort of their debut; they choose to forget more primitive endeavors and so shall we.) Strummy guitars with Latin accents blend and bend with a plucky mandolin and a swooning violin. It's the perfect platform for Jokisch's stormy vocals and socially conscious lyrics.

"Getting to make music with your two best friends is really about as good as it gets," says Jokisch. Good for you, Swattys, but we'll write about you more when you start snorting Splenda and crashing each other's cars.

Ellipsis plays Thu., July 14, 8:30 p.m., $10, with Andrew Gregory, Tin Angel, 20 S. Second St., 215-928-0770, www.omissionmusic.com.

Take Me Out
Reworking the horn parts of Stevie Wonder's "I Wish" as a three-part harmony for drunken pub crawlers is fun and all, but radio-ready acoustic rockers Redhead Betty Takeout always suspected they weren't just a cover band. So they started working on originals and, using the six-degrees-of-separation model, tried to see how many bigtime music people they could track down for kernels of wisdom. They met a lot of local heroes — and the music director for a late-night TV show — but the Bettys are most psyched about hooking up with Grammy-winning producer Mike Post. (He composed the theme songs for NewsRadio, Quantum Leap and just about every show with a cop ever.)

"We basically asked if we could pick his brain," explains singer Neil McGettigan. "We weren't trying to sell ourselves or our music. We just wanted to learn. You'd be surprised how accessible successful people can be when you seek an education from them. He met with us for hours. We still go back and review our notes from that discussion — it was fantastic." All this networking has given the band an edge, says McGettigan. "We've knocked years off of our learning curve."

The band plans to fly out to Burbank in November to record with Post. If you want say you knew Redhead Betty Takeout back in the day, check out Solace Sessions, their groovy new EP.

Redhead Betty Takeout plays Sat., July 16, 8 p.m., $5, World Café Live, 3025 Walnut St., 215-222-1400, www.redheadbettytakeout.com.