Who?: Smith Westerns w/ the Enchantments
Where?: The Olde Club @ Swarthmore College in Swarthmore, PA
When?: April 2nd, 2010

Hello, hello. Sorry for the gap between this and my last post. Between the holiday weekend and working I haven’t been able to make this post until right now. So last weekend, a friend and I decided to make the trip out to Swarthmore College in Swarthmore, PA to check out the Smith Westerns. We showed up very early, met some cool people, and then to kill some time we walked around the enormous campus before it was time for the show to start. While walking around we ran into singer/guitarist Andrew Ashbrook from the opening band The Enchantments, who was riding around on a Razor Scooter he found somewhere on campus. We found out a little information on the band after running into Andrew. He revealed to us that it was only their 3rd show as the Enchantments, and that they came from Brooklyn, NY on a cheaper-than-dirt Megabus to play the show that night, amongst other things. Pretty cool. So up first were The Enchantments: Continue reading “Smith Westerns w/ the Enchantments Live in Swarthmore, PA (4/2/10)” →

Who?: Japandroids w/ Love Is All and The G
Where?: The Barbary, Philadelphia, PA
When?: March 30th, 2010

Hello my friends! How is everybody doing today? Did anybody else get woken this morning by the relentless sound of a jackhammer? No? Lucky you! Too bad the jackhammers weren’t an April Fool’s joke or anything, because they really did wake me up, and they really did keep me from going back to sleep! (Speaking of April Fools jokes, did anybody check out Google today?) Now that was how my morning started, but hopefully yours can be a bit different. I’ll try and help make your morning different by showing you these videos from the Barbary on Tuesday night, featuring Philadelphia’s own post-punkers The G, Love Is All, who came all the way from Gothenburg, Sweden to play for us, and then the main event, Japandroids Continue reading “Japandroids w/ Love Is All, The G Live in Philadelphia (3/30/10)” →

Who?: The Strange Boys, TJ Kong & the Atomic Bomb, the Spooks, Moon Women
Where?: Danger Danger Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
When?: March 26th, 2010

Last night West Philadelphia was quite the place to be. The Danger Danger Gallery on Baltimore Ave. hosted four very talented bands last night, most of them being local bands from in (or around) Philadelphia. First up was the Moon Women, who unfortunately suffered some very disastrous technical difficulties during their set. The lead singer/guitarist’s amp broke (?) about 3 songs into their set, which was definitely a bummer, because everyone there and myself seemed to be enjoying the performance. While he attempted to fix the problem, the rest of the band continued to play until they figured out that he wouldn’t be fixing the problem anytime soon. So they played one last song without a second guitar, but he still did his part and sung the song. Next up was the Spooks who play an infectious blend of garage rock mixed with some punk elements. After listening to their song “Sea Monster” on Myspace, I don’t think it would hurt to say these guys may even be part surf rock. The Spooks plowed through their set, barely leaving any time to breathe in-between songs, but they certainly got the crowd moving and ready to go for the next act – The Strange Boys.

I’m pretty sure the Strange Boys were the only band last night who weren’t from Philadelphia. Unlike the rest, the Strange Boys came all the way from Austin, Texas to show us what they’re made of, and they didn’t waste any time. I have the entire set they played on video, but lead singer and guitarist Ryan Sambol kindly requested after the show that I do not put the videos out on the internet. I was a little bit surprised that they wouldn’t want this stuff out their, but you gotta show respect. The entire video is just over a half hour long, and they cram a ton of songs into that tiny little time slot. They covered each of their albums equally, playing all the hits from “And Girls Club”, such as “Woe is You and Me”, “Should Have Shot Paul”, “This Girl Taught Me a Dance”, “Poem Party”, and “Who Needs Who More”. As for the later album, they played tracks like “Night Might”, “Be Brave” and “A Walk on the Bleach” amongst many others. Just talking about what songs they played doesn’t really do the show any justice, these videos offer so much more insight. Lead singer Ryan Sambol, when not singing, is barely ever standing still. Much of the time he’s seen shredding away on his guitar without another care in the world. There are parts in the video where he’s already playing the next song while the other band members are still tuning their instruments. Patience man! The second track “A Walk on the Bleach” from their latest album “Be Brave” was played towards the end of their set, starting off slow and easy before they speed things up. Before the song ends, guitarist Greg Enlow wows the crowd with an immensely flawless guitar solo, and they immediately begin playing the next song “This Girl Taught Me a Dance”. I hope that one day I can share these videos with you, that way you can witness the raw, live action that is the Strange Boys for yourself.

The Strange Boys on Myspace
BUY “Be Brave” directly from Rough Trade.
The Strange Boys – And Girl Club previously posted on the Styrofoam Drone
The Spooks on Myspace
TJ Kong & the Atomic Bomb on Myspace

Who?: Washed Out w/ Small Black, and Pictureplane
Where?: The Barbary, Philadelphia, PA
When?: March 9th, 2010

Last night started off with a bang. The first of the three acts to perform was Pictureplane, and he just set his equipment up right in the middle of the Barbary’s floor. Pictureplane is just a one man band led by a young man named Travis Egedy from Denver, Colorado. Over the summer of 2009 he received a fairly decent review of his latest album “Dark Rift” from Pitchfork. His heavy electronic music was perfect to start off the night, as it got people dancing and moving and ready for the following two acts; Small Black and Washed Out. These three acts touring together is almost too perfect – all of their music somehow compliments each others, most likely because it’s all electronic based stuff. After Pictureplane, Small Black took the stage, and they were ready and performing quite fast. Apparently there was a private party that night at the Barbary, so all the band’s kind of had to rush.

Small Black – You could tell these guys were beyond ready to play. This was their second song of night, but I unfortunately don’t know the name of it. If anyone out there can help out with that, please do! But these guys put on a hell of a live show. Before attending last night I had only heard of Small Black, but now I can say I know what they’re all about.

Small Black – Lady in the Wires – These guys were far from shy.  They’re not all tense up on stage, they’re energetic and constantly moving. Just check out the bass player, he’s all over the place. This is the last song from their most recent EP.

Washed Out – This was about a song or two into his set. Right when Ernest got on stage, he said he was going to be by himself for a few songs, and then he would call Small Black to come back up on stage and do some songs with him. I don’t know the name of the song, but I guess that doesn’t really matter. I know this isn’t on “Life of Leisure”, and I don’t think it’s on the “High Times” cassette either, so I’m not too sure where it comes from. If anybody knows, please speak up!

Washed Out – New Theory – So after the first song that Small Black joined Washed Out with, they paused for a quick second while Ernest asked the crowd if they were ready to hear anything from “Life of Leisure”. As you can expect, pretty much everybody in the Barbary shouted yes. This was the second song Small Black did with Washed Out.

Washed Out – Hold Out – As promised, this was another track from “Life of Leisure”. Ernest mentioned in between songs that it was starting to get hot up on stage. Probably because people didn’t really start to dance hardcore until they heard some songs that they knew.

Washed Out – You’ll See It – The gorgeous last track from the “Life of Leisure” EP was the second to last song for the night. The bass playing is what catches my ear first in this song. I can’t speak for everybody at the show, but I think it’s a safe bet that everybody would say Washed Out was 100x more entertaining after Small Black joined him on stage. Either way though, they’re still all having a blast up on stage.

Washed Out – Feel It All Around – This was the last song of the night, and who didn’t see it coming? This song is practically the reason they’re all on tour right now. It’s even better with a live band too. Washed Out introduces himself and Small Black once again, thanks the crowd for coming out, and they let “Feel It All Around” ride out for a little extra time before calling it quits.

Nothing really spectacular happened after the show. My friends and I just kind of stood around for a few extra seconds before walking outside to go home. All in all it was a great night. I hadn’t been to a show like that in awhile, so I was glad I attended. The next show on the agenda would be Foreign Born in Philadelphia, so please stay tuned for that! Thanks for reading as always! See ya!

Washed Out on Myspace
Life of Leisure EP – BUY!
Small Black on Myspace
Small Black EP – BUY!
Pictureplane on Myspace
Pictureplane’s Dark Rift – BUY!

Who?: Titus Andronicus
Where?: Vintage Vinyl Records, Fords, NJ
When?: March 8th, 2010

This past Saturday night, Titus Andronicus played their first show in New York, New York for their cleverly titled “Monitour” that’s taking them all across the country. Before setting out for the rest of the tour, they played one more date in their home state of New Jersey last night. It was in a huge record store called Vintage Vinyl. The store had a gigantic selection of records, specializing in hardcore, punk and metal, and they even had a stage set up in the back of the store for the band to play on. Cool. To get into the show the record store required you to buy the new Titus Andronicus album “The Monitor”, which my friends and I gladly purchased in order to attend. The show promptly started at 8pm, and by the time it started, it also seemed like it was over that fast. They played about 40 minutes worth of material for us, and luckily for you all, I have all 40 minutes of it. Or however long it is.

A More Perfect Union – First track off the new album. First song of the night. Makes sense right? Notice how he says “So long Jersey” in the beginning. They’re not going to be back until late April, so they better make it a good last night!

Richard II – Followed up with the fourth track from the album. This song is definitely displaying hatred towards someone…or something. I’m not entirely sure, but with lyrics like “And at the end of the day/ to whatever extent that you hate yourself/ it isn’t enough”, something is definitely not right.

Four Score and Seven – This was the first song of the night that used the electric violin, and this is also the single from the new album, so we were kind of guaranteed to hear this song if you’re asking me. About 2 minutes in Amy nails her violin part before the big break down. It’s always going to be us against them in this song.

No Future Part Three: Escape from No Future – The continuation of the “No Future” songs from their first record “The Airing of Grievances”. Somebody is definitely bound to always be a loser, no matter how hard they try. We were wondering after the show if there would ever part a No Future Part Four? I guess maybe we’ll find that out someday in the future…if there is one. Oh snap!

Titus Andronicus – This song totally caught me off guard last night. I didn’t think we were going to hear anything from the first album. Patrick made a joke before starting the song that the record store we were in probably didn’t even have a copy of the first album. It’s entertaining to watch Patrick sing in this one. Your life is over!

The Battle of Hampton Roads – Yes, they played the song from their new album that is fourteen minutes long. I had to split the video up into two parts. By the time they started this song the tape in my camcorder only had about fourteen minutes remaining to record, so I delayed my recording for a minute in the beginning of the song. Sorry about that. It turns out that this wasn’t their last song either.

John Brown’s Body & Titus Andronicus Forever…and Ever! – They started playing this one immediately after “The Battle of Hampton Roads”, so I was waiting for my tape to end on me at anyyy second. They went from the American folk song “John Brown’s Body” into the theme from the Monitor, “Titus Andronicus Forever”. The end of this video was also the end of my tape, and what perfect timing it was.

After their set the band hung around for a bit to sign everyone’s new copy of “the Monitor”. Kind of funny that they’re going to write all over their brand new masterpiece that they worked so hard on for so long, but it was fun and everyone got to talk to the band for a minute. Good times. I hope the rest of their tour goes as well as last night went, because they have plenty of dates ahead of them.

Before leaving town my crew and I decided we were hungry, and we had noticed our travels had brought us past the famously hyped “White Castle” that everybody knows of because of this movie. I must say, I was not impressed. In fact, I’m pretty sure I’ll never go to a White Castle again. If you’ve never been to a White Castle and you’re interested in trying it, I hate to burst your bubble, but it’s just awful. I repeat, it’s just awful. Thanks, and check back again tomorrow.

Titus Andronicus on Myspace
BUY THE MONITOR! DO IT!!! I recommend the beautiful, gatefold, double LP.
An awesome Titus Andronicus Fan Site

Who?: Man Man w/ Javelin and the Skin Cells
Where?: The Trocadero
When?: March 5th, 2010

Hey! So last night I had nothing better to do, so I decided to head on over to the Trocadero to check out Man Man and Javelin. As I’m standing in line to get into the show, the bouncers that are patting everybody down announce that the show has sold out! Oh no!!! I hadn’t bought a ticket for this show in advance either. Instead of just leaving right away, I stuck around near the front door for a few minutes, and as I’m standing there, this guy approaches me. He asked me if I needed a ticket to get into the show. I obviously responded “Yes”, and he handed over a ticket. For free. He just saw this random kid standing by the front door minding own business (me), and he just handed over this extra ticket. I was ecstatic – I probably thanked him 5 times in the thirty seconds we had been talking. So I get back in line, but unfortunately for me the bouncers make me leave behind my camcorder, but I still got to take in my digital camera. With that being said, the videos and photos aren’t up to par with other stuff I’ve posted up here – like the Surfer Blood show or the Fucked Up show.

By the time I had gotten into the show, I had already missed the first band, the Skin Cells. I was okay with that, because that meant the real reason I came to the show – Javelin – was about to perform next. The two cousins from Providence, Rhode Island took the stage and set up their equipment, which didn’t take long considering they only have to set up for two performers. When they got on stage they still had to do their sound check, which was kind of funny considering that is something they should have already done before starting, but oh well. They pulled down a giant curtain behind them which featured one long video on loop, which was full of pictures, colors, words, people playing tennis, and bikers riding on the roofs of houses, amongst many other things. Interesting.

Vibrationz – This track is how I originally stumbled upon Javelin. It’s a dance-y, jumpy, feel-good track that Pitchfork claims is “perfect for summer”. Javelin cousin Thomas van Buskirk can be heard in the video singing “this is a high school dance” while the other cousin George Langford can more or less be seen jamming away on his electronic drum pad. I think before the song actually started Thomas was saying how good of a track it would be to play at a 4th grade dance. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t agree.

Soda Popinski – Another fun Javelin track, this song features a loop that has to be from an old Nintendo or Sega game. Soda Popinski is the name of one of the boxers from the game Punch Out!! on NES, so my guess is that this loop comes from somewhere in this game, but I could easily be wrong. My personal favorite version of this track can be heard off of Javelins first record from Thrill Jockey. You can listen to it right on that page! Yeah but this video isn’t quite perfect. Like I mentioned above, I was forced to use my digital camera for the night. The camcorder would have done a much better job recording, but I figured I would upload it anyway.

So by the time Javelin was finished and packing up their stuff to make way for Man Man, the batteries in my digital camera decided to die. Yet another reason I wish I could have been using my camcorder, but oh well. You can’t win them all. Man Man was cool. It was intriguing to watch a band perform this weird, “circus-esque” style of music. I moved to the back when they came on, but I didn’t stick around for long after that. I was pretty bummed that my batteries had died. I was even more bummed that I wasn’t using my camcorder. Before leaving for good (you know, no re-entry), I went to Javelins merch table for a minute. In talking to Thomas, I mentioned that I had bought their most recent record “2” online from Thrill Jockey, and he hooked me up with a free 7″ by The Very Best. It features a track titled “Julia” on the A-side, and the same track on the B-side, only this time it’s remixed Javelin style. Looking forward to listening to this one. Thanks for reading, and check back soon!

Javelin on Myspace
Javelins latest release “No Más” – BUY!
Man Man on Myspace
The Skin Cells on Myspace
A few more pictures from the show here – SuperGlued

Who?: Surfer Blood
Where?: Main Street Music, Philadelphia, PA
When?: March 1st, 2010

As many people from the Philadelphia area may know, the recently popular band Surfer Blood was set to play a show at the Barbary last night. Awesome. The bad news is that the show sold out, so not everyone who wanted to could attend. The good news is that before their show at the Barbary, Surfer Blood stopped in a record store in West Philly called Main Street Music to play some music and show us what they’re all about. Good thing too, because I’m sure many people wanted to see this band, but they couldn’t because the show sold out. I was lucky enough to make it to the in-store with Surfer Blood, and I have the entire set for you guys here on video.

Floating Vibes – Surfer Blood appropriately started the set with the opening track from their latest effort “Astro Coast”. They apologize for being extremely late at the beginning. The set that was slated to start at 5pm didn’t get started until around 7pm or so. Being late certainly didn’t alter their music though, just check that video!

Take It Easy – They followed up with the groovy island jam “Take It Easy”, the third track from their album “Astro Coast”. Right around the three minute mark of the song, both guitarists John Paul Pitts and Tom Fekete take a quick glance at each other with a grin on their faces, almost like they’re thinking “Let’s do it”, before ending the track with some heavy, face peeling guitar work. Fantastic. Three floors of party! No…four floors!

Fast Jabroni – Faster and fun song with an energetic breakdown that leads them into their final song for the night. A fan from the crowd claims that he knows a “short cut” to their show at the Barbary. John Paul Pitts face lights up with excitement for a split second before the fan says “You have to give us a ride though.” Awwww.

Swim – More or less expected last song of the night, “Swim”. It’s dual guitar attack for the chorus and the tropical, jangly guitar and cowbell jam in the middle make it undeniably catchy, not to mention that short, hard and heavy transition that leads them back to the closing verse of the song. They finish up, thank the crowd, pack up their things, and then head on over to the Barbary to play a much sold out show. Thank you Surfer Blood!

And thank you reader! Check out some other shows coming up here on the Styrofoam Drone, and as always, be sure to check back for more on the reg. That’s right. Join our group over on Last.fm too, it’s getting a bit lonely in there. We need some discussion!!!

Surfer Blood on Myspace
Surfer Blood’s Astro Coast – BUY!!! on CD/LP/Digital

So it’s been over a week since my house has had internet OR cable, and it’s been exactly one week since I made my last post. I really don’t have much to say about that other than I hate Comcast. But hey, why live in the past? They did their job (I think), and everything is back to the way it should be, at least for now.

Who?: Fucked Up with Kurt Vile
Where?: The Barbary, Philadelphia, PA
When?: February 17th, 2010

While all of this was going on, I decided to go check out a show on Wednesday night (2/17) at a special place called The Barbary. The bill read “Fucked Up with Kurt Vile & the Violators”, so I didn’t really have a choice on this one. Unfortunately, instead of Kurt Vile playing with his “Violators” as the bill had promised, he was instead just playing a solo set, which is still fantastic news. I had never previously seen Kurt Vile perform live, so I was undoubtedly excited for this one. I even got the chance to talk to Kurt for a second after his set was finished. When I asked him how playing in his hometown of Philadelphia compares to playing in other cities, he promptly answered that he usually plays the best when performing in Philly. I think he’s right, and here are some videos to support that statement.

Best Love – At about 2 minutes in the vocals cut out in the song and Kurt stopped playing, only to resume seconds later. I especially love the last minute of this video.

Dead Alive – Performing the 2nd track off of “Childish Prodigy”, this may be the most entertaining in terms of his guitar playing. I definitely can’t do that.

Overnite Religion – Extended version of the fan favorite “Overnite Religion”, he plays it for over 7 minutes.

Space Forklift – In between this final song and the previous one, Kurt mentioned he didn’t know what he wanted to play to finish. I saw an opportunity to hear any Kurt Vile song, so I quickly shouted “Space Forklift!” to which he responded “…Maybe.”, then he played it. Smiles all around!

David Comes to Life – “The statement here is I think I am disguising the fact that I’m fat by wearing my shirt”. Hilarious. Normally this song only lasts about 2 minutes. For the live version that is not the case, they play for a full 7 minutes this time.

Bodies cover & Police – Fucked Up close their set with a Sex Pistols cover of the song “Bodies” and then play their original track “Police” before calling it a night. And what a night it was.

Thanks for viewing, and now that we have internet in our lovely home once again, be sure to expect some more posts coming your way. Farewell!

Kurt Vile on Myspace
Fucked Up on Myspace
More on the show here