Hi! Can't believe this is installment number four of Sound Advice already. Time flies!
Thanks so much for reading—it's seriously appreciated. If you are enjoying this, please share with a friend.
This week: You like guitars? Yeah, me too.
Plug in,
Maria T
Friday, October 18
At Foto Club
7:30 PM | $17.85 | All ages
Ekko Astral exploded into my consciousness as the opener for Ted Leo earlier this summer, a fitting complement on his tour celebrating the 20th anniversary of Shake the Sheets. This DC queer punk band matched the righteous anger of Sheets with tunes from their latest, the utterly fantastic pink balloons. Self-described as a "mascara moshpit," Ekko Astral build upon the well-established model of DC with humor and grooves and sass (much like their local peers Bad Moves). Think Bratmobile meets Q And Not U, if shorthand's your thing. You'll still want to end the Washington Monument, but do it while wearing your best, most sparkly cocktail attire.
Saturday, October 19
At the Dennis Flyer Theater (200 College Drive, Blackwood, NJ)
7:00 PM | $85.00 | All ages
As I was winnowing down my picks for this week's installment, I asked a friend for their opinion: "Richard Thompson and it’s not even close. [E]ven if the songs are kind of mid, the guitar playing will be godlike." Fair.
When he played the Scottish Rite Auditorium earlier this year, Richard Thompson was anything but mid. Not only did he have to compete with a high school junior prom in the other half of the venue—easily one of the oddest parking lot scenes I've ever encountered with greyhair folkies mingling with prom teens—his musicianship was peerless and came with equally great stage banter. This time around he's touring with a full band in support of his newest album, this year's Ship to Shore, and I expect it to be just as good.
BTW: This show was originally slated for the resurrected historic Landsdowne Theater, but it appears renovation is behind schedule, so this show was moved a few weeks ago to Camden Community College's Dennis Flyer Theater. If you had tickets for this or any other LT show, check to see if it's been moved.
Saturday, October 19
At Philly Style Pizza & Grill (2010 N. Broad Street)
7:00 PM | $14.28 | All ages
If you attended the Black Eyes reunion shows and longed to hear that sound again, Philly's own Cold Court is for you. Having opened up for the likes of Lifeguard and garnering attention from black midi, Cold Court are part of a small but faithful crop of younguns keeping the post-hardcore mathrock whateverthefuck flame alive. Go if only to see how they cram 7 people on a stage at a venue called Philly Style Pizza & Grill, which I am assuming is, uh, an actual pizzeria. There's only one way to find out. (If you go, please report back about the pizza. I'm serious.)
Sunday, October 20
At Milkboy
6:30 PM | $24.95 | 21+
It's an early evening Sunday show at *checks notes* Milkboy with Japanese psych-kosmische juggernauts *checks notes* Acid Mothers Temple. You will most definitely leave this show having a psychic screw or twelve knocked loose. Not a bad way to ward off the Sunday Scaries.
Monday, October 21
At Underground Arts
7:00 PM | $39.14 | 21+
Only a couple of days after Nels Cline's residency at Solar Myth and Richard Fucking Thompson are we greeted with another guitar talent, the great Marc Ribot, performing a live soundtrack to 1924 Soviet science fiction silent film—say that 5 times fast!—Aelita: Queen of Mars. Aelita is considered to be one of the earliest science fiction films and first examples of what we consider a "blockbuster," but you know what? I'll leave it up to the Film People to explain that stuff. Ribot recently played a reportedly "bananapants" set in Austin; chances are he'll be coming to the Eraserhood with the same energy.
It was a really hard week making some choices and I didn't want to leave these on the cutting room floor!!!
10/18: Gel, mspaint, Destiny Bond, The Mall @ FUC
10/18: Cartoon, Cell/Borg, Wasn't Wisn't @ Century Bar
10/19: Weirdo Fest @ Philadelphia Brewing Co (more or less)
10/19: Nathan Bowles Trio, J. R. Bohannon & Dave Shufford Duo, Systolic Murmurs @ Jerry's On Front
Sound Advice is a weekly newsletter highlighting upcoming concerts and music-related events in the greater Philadelphia area. Expect 1-5 shows of note, perhaps an occasional guest contributor or two, published on Thursdays.
Local concert listings can be found at the following websites because I am not a concert calendar:
Please support the artists who make this possible by buying their stuff and seeing their shows.
If you like this, tell a friend and/or buy me a slice of pizza.