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Archive: November, 2012
Philadelphia (sometimes potrayed by Glasgow) is ground zero for a total zom dot com situation. Looks pretty great. And sounds like Inception.
But here's a little something on them anyway.
Influential as the Beatles obviously are, it’s truly rare to encounter a record that actually, legitimately sounds like them. Strictly speaking, Lonerism (Modular), the fantastically swirly second full-length by Perth, Australia’s Tame Impala, doesn’t either — they’d never issue an LP so relatively monolithic in sonic texture and coloration (that’s no knock; by any other measure it’s practically kaleidoscopic) — but it’s a remarkable facsimile of what might’ve emerged had the Fabs stuck it out through ’74 or so, dropped deep into a Floyd-ian trip, returned to their formative Germany to dig the nascent Krautrock/Kosmiche groove, retained Lennon on all lead vocals (Kevin Parker’s laconic, often-Leslie’d voice is a dead ringer) without sacrificing McCartney’s preternatural melodicism (in the bassline and everywhere else), and taught Ringo some killer slow-motion psych-funk fills.
Thu., Nov. 8, 8:30 p.m., $16-$18, Union Transfer, 1026 Spring Garden St., 215-232-2100, utphilly.com.
Let’s start with two worthy charities, shall we? Everyone should be flooding into Atlantic City to keep that town afloat fiscally. All the casinos and hotels, quite frankly. Revel, the new kid on the block, is pushing that agenda with its nightclub, Revel’s HQ, donating all ticket and door sales from this weekend’s entertainment to Hurricane Sandy relief in AC. Check out, Bambin AN21 and Afrojack, the toast of Jay-Z and Grandmaster Nutter’s Made in America fest this summer. Then there’s 102.9 MGK’s 11th annual John DeBella Turkey Drop with its partner City Team Philadelphia. On Nov. 20 starting at 6 a.m. DeBella and his mustache will broadcast live and accept monetary and turkey donations at Love Park on 16th & JFK Blvd. They’re looking to top last year’s goal of 10,000 turkeys that will go out to less fortunate families, individuals and shelters in the area. Do that.
It’s nice that Penn grad John Legend still ID’s Philly as his home. He’s doing this show, My City, My Music on Fuse TV (see Comcast Xfinity On Demand) where he’ll speak with Jose Garces at Distrito and White Dog Cafe manager Michael Hodges, both near the campus he loved.
The Tiberino family will not be denied. While muralist Raphael Tiberino goes small starting Nov. 9 (at Locust Moon Books at 34 S. 40th) and shows off paintings, prints and dread-and-sex filled sketches that you catch him doing while bartending at the Troc, his whole clan (dad Joe, sister Ellen) pull out the stops for a big-screen showing of their most recent film, The Mural which, unless my scene hit the cutting room floor, I’m in. Nov. 15. Trocadero. Yes yes, y’all.
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The 15th annual FirstGlance Film Festival comprises a host of independent shorts, docs and features, many of which are based in Philly. Bill Haley’s Steve Phoenix: The Untold Story is one of the full-length flicks. It follows a down-on-his-luck reporter searching for his big break in Fishtown. But the festival’s primary focus is on shorts. Destined, by Michael Giletto and Andrew Laquintano, deals with evil spirits, morals and a jealous husband, while Lee Porter’s comedic web series My Ruined Life is a humorous look at the woes of everyday life. For reviews of these films and a host of other Philly-connected offerings, check this week's movies section.
Nov. 9-11, all films screen at the Franklin Institute, 222 N. 20th St., $8-$12 per screening or $75 for an all-access pass. For more information, go to firstglancefilms.com.
Engaged in the sort of naggingly diffuse thinking-feller’s future-bass we’re accustomed to from his Planet Mu peers Machinedrum and Kuedo, Brighton beatsmith Alan Myson prolongs the label’s love affair with the buzzed-up beat-rates and jittery micro-loops of Chicago footwork. His third full-length as Ital Tek, Nebula Dance, is almost aptly named. Almost, because while Myson certainly knows from nebulous, swaddling these tracks in lush yet mildly ominous grayscale soft-synths, his dedication to dance in its less abstract, more terrestrial form — the lowly business of working actual feet — seems slightly more contingent. When he does deign to let it bump, with flecks of electro filtered through the ragga end of jungle and/or hints of Ninja Tune-style turntablism, it becomes a dance of both cerebral and corporeal dimensions.
TONIGHT, Wed., Nov. 7, 11 p.m., $8, Popular Science with Grimace Federation and Sonkin, Kung Fu Necktie, 1250 N. Front St., 215-291-4919, kungfunecktie.com.
ICECUBE: Dancing around the Bride: Cage, Cunningham, Johns, Rauschenberg and Duchamp’s VIP OPENING
Marcel Duchamp is one of the most crucial artists of the 20th Century, a spiritual godfather to the Dadaist movement and the Pop Art revolution, an avidly silly man, and an adviser to some of the most important museums, curators and collectors in America before his passing in 1968. That this avant-gardener’s most notorious works reside in a wing of the Philadelphia Museum of Art — now dedicated to the heroic Anne d’Harnoncourt our museum’s late great director until 2008 — has forever made this city magnetic north for any experimental artist worth his salt. Pre-Pop painters Jasper Johns and Robert Rauschenberg visited Philly’s Art Museum often throughout the ’50s, intersected with composer John Cage and choreographer Merce Cunningham and together formed a perfect union of where the American avant-garde would go. Starting last week and running through January 2013, the exhibition “Dancing around the Bride: Cage, Cunningham, Johns, Rauschenberg and Duchamp” celebrates that union.
Death Cab for Cutie frontman Ben Gibbard has been called a lot of things, but “prolific” typically isn’t one of them, despite a healthy track record of side projects during the band’s 15-year career. As it turns out, Gibbs has long been sitting on a formidable stockpile of tunes that just didn’t fit with Death Cab or anywhere else. He’s finally gathered a dozen of them on Former Lives (Barsuk), his first proper solo album. Roots-rock rave-ups, wistful baroque pop and tropicalia-tinged campfire ballads all have a home here, tied together by Gibbard’s sweet, earnest voice. And while heartbreak seems to be the prevailing concern, don’t go thinking the album’s necessarily a rejoinder to his recent divorce from Zooey Deschanel — romantic woe’s always been the primary color on Gibbard’s songwriting palette. Proof comes this evening, when he draws from his entire songbook — solo, Death Cab, Postal Service and otherwise — during a solo acoustic performance.
TONIGHT, Wed., Nov. 7, 8 p.m., $25-$35, with Advance Base, Keswick Theatre, 291 N. Keswick Ave., Glenside, 215-572-7650, keswicktheatre.com.
The art in the Fleisher Art Memorial’s fifth biennial fundraising exhibition feels like it was sent by a pen pal you haven’t met yet. “Dear Fleisher, 4 x 6 Inches of Art” will showcase work by hundreds of regional artists in an array of mediums, but all pieces will be kept within the dimensions of a postcard. All pieces in the show are priced at an affordable $50 and sold on a first-come-first-served basis. The pieces have been donated by a committee of artists including Diane Burko, Giovanni Casadei, Paul Dusold and Michelle Ortiz, but here’s the catch — each piece will be signed on the back, keeping the artist anonymous until after the sale and the spotlight on the power of the art itself.
Sun., Nov. 4, 1 p.m, $5, Fleisher Art Memorial, 719 Catharine St., 215-922-3456, fleisher.org.
Halloween might be over, but no need to pack up your LED Tron costume just yet. Providing techno-geeks with one last chance to outshine one another before it’s last year’s news, The Hacktory is hosting the first annual Ghost in the Machine Halloween Party. Staffed largely by volunteers, the organization regularly hosts classes in categories from the more serious, like soldering, circuitry and Arduino, to the more silly, like DIY LED clothing and Nerf-gun modifications — so expect to see costumes that do way more blinking, glowing or shooting than usual. Riot grrrl DJs Avalon Clare, Squid Manus, and DJ Nu Ghost will keep the dance floor moving amongst lasers and interactive light shows, and those brave enough to enter the costume contest get a free drink ticket.
Sat., Nov. 3, 9 p.m., $10-15, Ukie Club, 847 N. Franklin St., thehacktory.org.
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