The Lemon Twigs

Small Victories single

4AD

This delightfully authentically 70s prog/pop- sounding single, produced by Todd Rundgren, speaks for itself lyrically, as it’s about just that, the small victories of everyday life. It’ll be on their upcoming album Go To School, a concept album about a chimp named Shane, raised as a human boy, which is a very interesting concept. The album comes out August 24. The single is out now.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L6LodGUpmxY

Andrea Weiss

Rayland Baxter

World Café Live, July 14, 2018

Philadelphia, PA

He’s been around since 2012, but I’d never heard him until now, with the deeply quirky single "Casanova." College loan debt is likened to overbearing women who you’ve never met, yet who call you every day telling you to behave. For real. And that was enough to convince me to buy his new album, Wide Awake, and go see him live.

The album is great, a mix of folkish songs and adult rock. Some are political, like "Strange American Dream," about the US now, and "79 Shiny Revolvers, about gun control, but the relationship songs are sad in a "why did you go away" vein, and also a "don’t know where I stand" one. I like his gentle touch, and his guitar playing.

Live he shredded on guitar, was a lot rowdier than on the album, and the band kept things moving smoothly. When they took a break, the older, folk-like songs on solo acoustic guitar sounded right at home. I loved it.

When they played "Casanova" everyone sang, including his friends in the very good opening act, Okey Dokey, on the refrain, making an already strange song even quirkier.

https://www.facebook.com/RaylandBaxterMusic/

Andrea Weiss

Peace Train

World Café Live, July 13, 2018

Philadelphia, PA

This has nothing to do with Cat Stevens. This is an interracial, female duo from South Africa, Sharon Katz and Nonhlanhla Wanda. They make Afro-pop, but with an indie rock edge, somewhat dream pop with guitars instead of keyboards. Katz is an excellent guitar player, Wanda a great singer. They are official musical ambassadors, internationally acclaimed, and Grammy nominated, who burst onto the world stage with a 150-voice choir, a 10-piece band, and a tour with Ladysmith Black Mambazo in South Africa in 1993, right when apartheid was crumbling.

When I saw them live they were on the verge of going to the US/Mexico border to lead a march from the US side into Mexico, to meet up with a choir there to protest the forced separations. There is more here about it. http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/entertainment/music/sd-et-artscal-sharon-20180715-story.html

They turned the Café into party central. People got up and danced in the aisles, walked up to the front and danced, and these were retirees. But who cares about age with this much fun to be had? They played songs from their wonderful new album Side By Side, and their edge came from the fact that they were musical freedom fighters, helping to end apartheid at home, and in the US.

I loved every bit of it, even as I was exhausted by all the high energy by the end. This is a duo and band to delight in, to protest with, and not to miss if they come to your town.

https://www.facebook.com/SKPTrain/

Andrea Weiss

Jonatha

Jonatha Brooke

World Café Live, June 14, 2018

The Posies, who I saw the night before, and Brooke represent very different types of 90s music. She’s an overlooked singer/songwriter, and great. The Posies are a wonderful, overlooked power pop band, and while I’m not going to slam grunge or alternative rock, I will say that back then, and what I realize now more than ever, is there were many alternatives, not just a few. These days that is indeed the case with all types of indie music.

Brooke played acoustic guitar, mandolin, and electric piano, and Sean Driscoll played electric guitar. He made a lot of noise, good noise, a fitting counterpart to Brooke's quirky lyrics and playing that were by turns wry, sweet, and gently depressing. Her subtle, nuanced singing was sweet and gentle.

She touched on her catalog, from the early 90s when she was one half of the Story, with Jennifer Kimball, to her new album "Midnight. Hallelujah." All are excellent, and a joy to hear live. When I said hello to her after the show, she seemed nice.

If all of this makes you curious to hear a type of 90s alt that never got its due, start with her wonderful latest album and work backwards. You’ll be rewarded with underrated music.

Andrea Weiss

Posies

The Posies

E. Joseph and the Sparrows

Terra Lightfoot 

World Café Live, June 13, 2018

I never tire of WC Live. It's clean and comfortable, with good food and great music. Like tonight.

Terra Lightfoot is Canadian, on her first extended tour of the US. She plays feminist indie rock--noise rock, that is--and she's great.

E. Joseph and the Sparrows play more straightforward hardish indie rock. While I’d heard both them and Terra on Philly’s WXPN, I didn't know who those songs were by until this show.  I liked both bands a lot live and bought their albums.

The Posies' set leaned 80s and 90s, with a few songs from their post-Geffen period. I felt their set tonight was better than when I saw them back in January, but that may be because the club they played in then wasn’t so hot.

Their loud, hard, power pop with a hint of darkness is my kind of music right now. Jon Auer and Ken Stringfellow showed off their rock star moves, and their twin lead guitar playing was excellent. Funny onstage banter featured horror stories about their tour, including a less than perfect set the night before in Harrisburg, PA. 

I’ve been into them since the 80s, and I'm glad I finally got to see them in a good setting. 

If you want to see three bands who have something to say, and play, this is the tour to see. 

Andrea Weiss

Mid Year Top 5/8

Albums:

Neko - Hell-On/Caroline Rose - Loner (Best album I’ve heard so far/find of the year)

Hop Along - Bark Your Head Off, Dog (Philly Band)

Fancey - Country Fair

Soccer Mommy - Clean

Songs:

Neko - Bad Luck/Caroline Rose - Soul #5 (Personal favorites/best songs so far)

Childish Gambino - This Is America (Everyone should hear this)

Kississippi - Cut Your Teeth  (Philly Band)

Hurry - Waiting For You (Philly Band)

Hop Along - How Simple

Fancey - Carolina Caroline

Soccer Mommy - Your Dog

Andrea Weiss

Neko

Neko Case

Hell-On

Anti

Case’s first album in five years finds her in a haunted frame of mind; haunted about the past and about people that were in her life. The ballad “Sleep All Summer,” about lost lovers, appears here as a duet between Case and Eric Bachman, a cover of a song by Bachman's band, Crooked Fingers. It works very well as a duet.

"Gumball Blue,"co-written by Case and AC Newman, does sound New Pornographers-like, and wonderfully so, but also harks back to Carl’s days with Zumpano.

The single, “Bad Luck,” while she wrote it before her house burned down, does sound like it could’ve been about that. It also makes me want to dance (and I like any song that does), as well as think about the lyrics. It's the catchiest, most matter-of-fact pop song ever about bad luck.

The other duet is with Mark Lanagan, who is amazing on “Curse Of The I-5 Corridor.” With songs whose meanings are so buried, there’s a tendency to read more into them than might be there. I say the song might be autobiographic, since she did leave home as a teen, but maybe not the way the lyrics describe.

The music on this album, on several of the songs, is pop in the sense that the music is rich and full, melodic, but a lot gentler than on past albums. I like the way her music has evolved, and she’s singing better than ever.

While it’s impossible to hear every album released, I’ve heard enough to say that this is one of the better ones I’ve heard so far this year.

Andrea Weiss