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Music
A couple weeks ago, I watched directorial duo The Harrys shoot a video for Kurt Vile's "Never Run Away." I wrote about it for today's paper. Below are my (amateur) shots from the shoot.
First off I've got to say that the cheapest beer at Johnny Brenda's is a three dollar Kenzinger which I'm going to have to imagine is not nearly cheap enough for L.A. skate punk shredders FIDLAR (ICYMI - fuck it, dog - life's a risk).They opened with a sick set complete with stage diving cameos from Wavves' Nathan Williams and a Descendents cover.
Though the mood of Wavves' latest Afraid of Heights is considerably less beachy than say, King of the Beach, their set was all about good times and summertime vibes in a hot and sweaty Johnny Brenda's. Oh and that Sonic Youth 100% was kind of the best thing ever.
I need an ab-soul cleanse after the Made In America smarm. So, here, check out the 2013 Ladyfest Philly lineup. It's June 7-9. Go here for more info, including the workshop lineup.
- 3Jane
- Amanda X
- Attia Taylor
- Aye Nako
- Batty
- Big Mouth
- Black Wine
- Blizzard Babies
- US Girls
- Ghost Ship (Rosali Middleman and Mary Lattimore)
- +HIRS+
- In School
- Kate Ferencz
- Mindtroll
- Parasol
- Peeple Watchin’
- Potty Mouth
- Priests
- Screaming Females
- Shady Hawkins
- Trophy Wife
- Void Vision
- Whore Paint
The lineup for 2013 Made In America (brought to you by Budweiser, because fuck Yuengling) is being announced (via Spotify, because fuck artists). Oh geez this is annoying. They're announcing them one by one.
EDIT: Okay, the highlights: Nine Inch Nails, Solange, Beyoncé, Emeli Sandé, Kendrick Lamar, Wiz Khalifa, Deadmau5, Public Enemy, Queens of the Stone Age.
Here's the full lineup:
- Nine Inch Nails
- Solange
- Gaslight Anthem
- Emeli Sandé
- Schoolboy Q
- Jesse Rose
- Kendrick Lamar
- Fitz and The Tantrums
- Wolfgang Gartner
- AlunaGeorge
- Haim
- Wiz Khalifa
- Nero
- Ab-Soul
- Feed Me / Crystal Fighters
- GTA
- Jay Rock
- 3LAU
- Imagine Dragons
- Calvin Harris
- A$ap Rocky
- Miguel
- Redlight
- Rudimental
- Phoenix
- Porter Robinson
- 2 Chainz
- Macklemore
- Robert DeLong
- TJR
- Public Enemy
- Queens of the Stone Age
- Deadmau5
- Beyoncé
Here's the latest video by loud and grungey Philly band A Crucifying Feeling. They sound a little Nevermind-ish on this one. They've got a goofy Dave Grohl-esque streak in the video. I'm digging it. Play it loud.
These huge arts festivals can be overwhelming — how to figure out what's worth seeing? CP's sending someone to nearly every event PIFA's putting on over the next month to help you decide, so check back with Critical Mass all month long for comprehensive, ongoing reviews.
(Full disclosure: CP arts editor Emily Guendelsberger is a member of Mendelssohn Club and sang in this concert; the writer of this review was not aware of this.)
SHOW: The Fall of the Berlin Wall: Beethoven’s 9th Symphony
GENRE: Music
GROUP: The Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia / Mendelssohn Club
ATTENDED: Sun., April 7, 2:30 p.m., Verizon Hall, Kimmel Center
BRIEF SELF-DESCRIPTION: Journey to a historic moment in time with a program that commemorates the demolition of the Berlin Wall in 1989, leading to Germany’s reunification.
WE THINK: “Strange bedfellows” is how conductor Ignat Solzhenitsyn described his pairing of Scorpions’1991 hit “Wind of Change” with Beethoven’s 9th Symphony. As symbolic and beloved as the song is, it’s a kitschy rock ballad, and orchestrating it along with tenor Adam Frandsen performing vocals and two projection screens displaying the Berlin photography of James Abbott only emphasized how overwrought the anthem is.
After that opener, Solzhenitsyn (whose father is indeed that Solzhenitsyn, author of The Gulag Archipelago and One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, who was mistreated, imprisoned and eventually deported by the Soviet Union for his human-rights activism) spoke at length about his own memories of the fall of the eastern bloc. Then the concert truly began.
First was Smirnov’s ominous Epitaph for the Victims of Communism, which trickled away on plucked strings so subtly one hardly even knew it has just passed — a penetrating evocation of how thousands of people passed into silence, unacknowledged.
Finally, the 9th — and for all of us philistines whose collective memory had reduced it to nothing but the famous choral fourth movement, the first two movements came on like a force of nature, each shift in tempo and variation in theme containing a thrilling suddenness. And to hear hints of the famous “Ode to Joy” theme in the second movement was to be surprised by it all over again.
Still, the fourth movement was ecstatic, with the choir on their feet and bobbing, the four soloists soaring, the orchestra obviously animated in their playing and Solzhenitsyn with a forward lean in his body, hands conjuring both choir and orchestra. The last note had hardly sounded before the audience was on its feet in sonorous applause, where it stayed for several minutes.
PREVIOUSLY IN PIFA: A… postmodern flamenco gynecologist? It’s cool, it made sense at the time.
View gallery
These huge arts festivals can be overwhelming — how to figure out what's worth seeing? CP's sending someone to nearly every event PIFA's putting on over the next month to help you decide, so check back with Critical Mass all month long for comprehensive, ongoing reviews.
SHOW: Britten: A Boy Was Born
GENRE: Music
GROUP: The Choir of King’s College, Cambridge
ATTENDED: Sat., April 6, 7 p.m., Kimmel Center
BRIEF SELF-DESCRIPTION: Benjamin Britten was undoubtedly one of the greatest composers of the twentieth century, with a diverse catalogue of works still garnering international recognition. … On November 22, 1913, the Feast of St. Cecilia, a boy was born whose music we continue to celebrate in the centenary year of his birth.
WE THINK: The Choir of King’s College overcame any potential expectations of churchiness from a choral program of mostly sacred music with clear voices and a resonant organ. The range of voices expressed a range of human struggles, faults and joys through the spiritual experience. Higher voices encouraged optimism, as lower voices warned of doom. The intricate network of sounds from the choir caused the organ solo on “Prelude and Fugue on a Theme of Vittoria” to sound stark and plain.
The choir dispelled any idea of sweet, watery hymns met for pleasant and thoughtless listening. Even when singing the most life-affirming and love-focused lyrics, the deeper range of choristers had an authoritative and unnerving low spectrum that could make even the most confident atheist ponder the concept of an immortal soul. “Rejoice in the Lamb” in particular showcased the articulate force of the lower vocal ranges. Together with the organ, the choir created an unnerving but engaging sound.
—Elizabeth Gunto
These huge arts festivals can be overwhelming — how to figure out what's worth seeing? CP's sending someone to nearly every event PIFA's putting on over the next month to help you decide, so check back with Critical Mass all month long for comprehensive, ongoing reviews.
SHOW: The Arc of Curiosity
GENRE: Music
GROUP: Network for New Music
ATTENDED: 8 p.m. April 5, Rose Recital Hall
BRIEF SELF-DESCRIPTION: Follow that path of the arc of a composer’s curiosity, and discover the many ways that electronic sound can join traditional instruments to become part of our own musical landscape.
WE THINK: The full event description brings up ENIAC (the first all-purpose computer) and how combining electronic music with traditional instruments can lead to a "third space" that extends the human imagination, so you might expect electronics to have a central role in the music. However, with these works technology mostly plays second fiddle to standard chamber music instruments. The combined sounds are of studious process-oriented design, more intellectual than emotional; the exception being James Primosh's Chamber Concerto, which features expressive clarinet solos and hints of jazz swing music.
And what of the "third space" to extend our imagination? Well, that's in the ear of the beholder. I noticed lots of folks listening with their eyes closed to more clearly focus on the sonics: A sign of minds letting the music take you away to private places, though I found these works to be too punctilious to be so moved myself.
PREVIOUSLY IN PIFA: Lady history in books.
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