GIFT & Hooveriii
GIFT Surprise—psychedelic Brooklyn, NY quintet GIFT unwrap what Rolling Stone calls “a portal to another dimension” on their debut album, Momentary Presence, out October 14, 2022. On GIFT’S kaleidoscopic debut, bandleader TJ Freda & co. uncap the lens to project their vibrant spectrum of psych, krautrock, dream pop, post-punk, noise rock and electronica upon the vacant surfaces of the mind—inviting listeners to, in the words of countercultural guru Ram Dass, “be here now.” “[It’s about] being with yourself, not by yourself,” says Freda. “You are never alone. You are always with yourself.” Momentary Presence exists, and that’s enough. There is no beginning and no end. From the percolating, in medias res intro of album opener “When You Feel It Come Around” through the swirling, gliding and expansive conclusion of “Here And Now (Time Floats By),” GIFT retains the element of cosmic surprise. Treat yourself to Momentary Presence at finer record stores and streaming apps on October 14, 2022—only on Dedstrange.HooveriiiLos Angeles psych-rock Hooveriii (pronounced “Hoover Three”) shares first take of the album by way of A Round Of Applause’s opening track, “See.” The band’s Bert Hoover notes, ” “See’ is about trying not to take life for granted. Some things are easier said than done. It’s our first song to feature Anna Wallace singing along with us and it came together rather seamlessly. It was a pretty bare bones jangle jam until the band filled it with ear candy.”Though created in large part by founder Bert Hoover, Hooveriii has grown to include Gabe Flores (lead guitar and vocals), Kaz Mirblouk (bass and synths), James Novick (synths), and Owen Barrett (drums).Hooveriii derived the album title from the late-80’s Roky Erickson song “Click Your Finger Applauding the Play.” “That’s too much of a mouthful,” Hoover qualified. “My title, A Round of Applause, just came one day, and we were like, ‘Yo, that sound like a Gentle Giant record.’ “ALL SHOWS AT DOLPHIN TAVERN ARE 21+, NO EXCEPTIONS.
Bass Drum of Death
BASS DRUM OF DEATH The point of an odyssey is to return home changed—still the same person, but deepened somehow, wiser and better, wearing your traveling scars proudly. Bass Drum of Death’s new album Say I Won’t is the end result of a journey that took singer and bandleader John Barrett from a small town in Mississippi and sent him across the world and back home again. The music still rips, with blown-out guitars and drums that sound like bombs going off, and the melodies are catchier than ever, hollered in Barrett’s trademark yelp. But the music hits differently now, more at peace with itself, propelled by a new swagger. Say I Won’t is the record of a veteran band finding its stride and leaning into it, stripping back the excess and finding the raw core of their sound. Say I Won’t, the band’s fifth record, comes at a time of massive change for Barrett, having relocated from New York to his hometown of Oxford, Mississippi during the pandemic. The record is also a homecoming of a different sort, with the band rejoining the ranks of Fat Possum, also in Oxford, the label that released their first record GB City in 2011. “Moving back to Oxford was a much-needed reset,” says Barrett. “When I started, I just wanted to play in a punk band and drink beers and travel around. I didn’t really think much past that. And I got really burned out. When I moved back home, I started writing songs again, just for fun. I realized I wanted this record to have more of a hometown feel. The switch back to Fat Possum was easy. It’s much better working with people I know and love and love everything they do.”DEAD TOOTH After an early stint drumming and singing in Haybaby (Tiny Engines), Zach James began writing and self-producing folk records in his bedroom, donning the name The Silver Spaceman. The project evolved into a post-punk band featuring Andrew Bailey (DIIV) on lead guitar. It snarled and simmered around darker texåtures, miles away from its early folk routes. James looked to his darkened smile and rechristened the project Dead Tooth. They gained momentum opening for bands like Hand Habbits, The Space Lady and Current Joys. After recording their second EP entitled Pig Pile, the pandemic disembodied the band as it did so many others. Sad, yet ambitious to keep the momentum going and release the EP, James rebuilt the project from the ground up. He added an EWI/Sax player and relinquished his own live guitar duties for a frontman stage persona. The new crew was quickly picked up by Rough Trade Publishing and Trash Casual Records. Shortly after, they went on to win OWL Winter Madness (a 16 band, 5 week long “battle of the bands” at Brooklyn’s legendary rooftop venue Our Wicked Lady). They then found themselves playing SPIN Magazine’s SXSW showcase alongside The Lemonheads, Bass Drum of Death and Pom Pom Squad. SPIN wrote of SXSW, “If there was someone who really broke out…it was Brooklyn’s Dead Tooth.” The band also became a large point of focus at Savannah Stopover where the local paper printed 33 photos of the festival, 18 of which were Dead Tooth. ALL SHOWS AT CONCOURSE LIVE ARE 21+, NO EXCEPTIONS
King Pari
Spike Hellis
DJ BABY BERLIN & OVER POP PRESENTS: 21+ SPIKE HELLIS (LOS ANGELES) VOID VISION (PHILADELPHIA)THE IRE (PHILADELPHIA) DJ BABY BERLIN (PHILADELPHIA) SPIKE HELLIS: Los Angeles based electronic duo Spike Hellis comprises of Cortland Gibson and Lainey, who got their start on Halloween of 2019. They self-released their first full-length, self-titled album in April 2022, under their imprint Over-Pop. The album chaotically shifts pace back and forth; the songs running into one another with no time in-between. The record opens with “Control (Rage)”, a layered, firm-handshake body-music track designed to hijack the amygdala. The kick drum resembles the steady flash of a panic button. You press it, but nothing happens—no relief. The irregular placement of snare matches Chang’s cries of dysregulation, spiraling red-eyed after having lost command asking, “Will I regain control?” While presented as a song of despair, optimism and determination shine through in the final line as the question is taken back and turned into a statement, “Watch me regain control”. This is a theme that permeates throughout the album: Taking challenging times of despair and coming through the other end with hope and optimism. Spike Hellis (S/T) was made with the intention to feel jolting. Techno-tinged “Flight” is an SH-101 track wherein lyrical instructions for escaping a dream are chanted over the iconic rubber band sound, with the claps paying homage to Charlie’s “Spacer Woman”. “Slices” is the funky first single which leads into its supplementary counterpart, “Stitches”. Footsteps grow louder until it opens into a dark waltz. Samples of William S. Burroughs cackling ring out over Emulator arpeggios until we arrive at “Teardrops (Kisses)”. While it is perhaps the most light-hearted track on the album sonically, themes of social punishment and isolation push through the surface to reveal conflict at its core. Chang and Gibson trade off cries of shame and humiliation while distorted synths, swirling in polyrhythms, close out Side A.Since finishing the album, Spike Hellis has hit the road hard with zero hesitation—completing two full US tours and a handful of smaller runs within the span of one year. Blasting their bleak outlook and spreading their gospel of disenchantment and sarcasm, Spike Hellis announces their arrival. VOID VISION: Void Vision is the electronic solo project of Philadelphia-based musician, Shari Vari, formed around 2009 when the minimal synth and coldwave genres were undergoing a revival and rebirth thanks to labels such as Wierd Records (home to acts such as Xeno & Oaklander, Led Er Est, Martial Canterel, Automelodi, etc.) and Veronica Vasicka’s Minimal Wave, among others. Void Vision’s cold, analog tracks are dominated by Vari’s haunting, powerful voice. But unlike many others associated with the genre, the songs are quite dynamic in range and structure, referencing a cross-section of the last 30 years of electronic music, while retaining a strong sense of personality and soul that speaks for itself. DJ BABY BERLIN: Philly/NYC DJ/Booker/Streamer who is the purveyor of all things alternative and is known for her monthly dark 80s Dance Party A BLACK CELEBRATION. She will kick off the show with a set and is the host of this show.https://www.facebook.com/DjBabyBerlin
An Evening with Friends of Jerry: Your Neighborhood Grateful Dead Cover Band
FRIENDS OF JERRYFriends of Jerry is a Grateful Dead cover band based out of Philadelphia with a repertoire spanning the Dead’s entire career. With youthful energy and ecstatic ferocity, FOJ approaches the classic Dead songbook with reverence and focus, while channeling the materialthrough a lens saturated by shoegaze, punk, and modern psychedelia. Eschewing many of the tired tropes of the Dead tribute world, FOJbrings the electric vigor of the primal early Dead to their full catalog.ALL SHOWS AT CONCOURSE LIVE ARE 21+, NO EXCEPTIONS
Maxwell Stern with Andrew Bryant (of Water Liars)
MAXWELL STERNHailing from the post-industrial shores of Cleveland, OH and now located in Philadelphia, PA, Maxwell Stern has been crafting his own version of reflective, punk-tinged pop-folk since the early 2000s. He has released a slew of LPs and 7″s with various bands (Signals Midwest, Meridian, Timeshares, Orbits), and has played shows pretty much everywhere including an abandoned restaurant in Wyoming, a mall in China, several squats in Germany and a pretty nice bookstore in Australia. He released his debut solo LP “Impossible Sum” in September 2020 on Los Angeles indie-punk stalwart label Lauren Records, featuring contributions from vocalist Laura Stevenson, steel guitarist Mike “Slo-Mo” Brenner (Wild Pink, Magnolia Electric Co.) and drummer Adam Beck (Sincere Engineer, Into It. Over It). He is definitely not the person writing this.ANDREW BRYANTAndrew Bryant is a singer-songwriter and producer from Oxford, Mississippi. He makes his own records and plays drums and other things in Water Liars. Andrew started playing music as a teenager in the early 90’s in an evangelical church in the rural south. After high school, he became involved in the Memphis DIY scene, relocating his music from the church to the small stages of art spaces and music venues. He began making his own albums in his home in the early 2000’s and toured constantly. In 2012 he teamed up with Justin Peter Kinkel-Schuster to form the band Water Liars. They made 4 albums together and played thousands of shows before giving it up. Andrew now lives in Oxford, Mississippi with his wife Sarah-SoonLing and his three children, making as much music as he can in his home studio.RED BIRDShttps://redbirds.bandcamp.com/ Red Birds deliver an honest and heartfelt take on indie folk music. Through their songwriting they explore the balance of work, family, creativity, and mortality while trying to have fun and stay comfy. ALL SHOWS AT THE DOLPHIN ARE 21+, NO EXCEPTIONS
LOVE CLUB with Alex Delany & Constantine Giavos
LOVE CLUB WITH ALEX DELANY AND CONSTANTINE GIAVOS LOVE CLUB, a party birthed on the Bowery in New York comes to Philadelphia! A non-stop dance spectacle of past and future, Alex Delany & Constantine Giavos spin disco and beyond, conjuring up those ‘4 in the morning’ moments of party euphoria with floor-frying forgotten gems, rock n’ roll swank and exclusive edits. Love Club is a kaleidoscopic blend of heavy grooves from the vast reaches- an expanse of synthed out disco psychedelia to the downtown funk of Larry Levan’s Paradise Garage. Primed and ready to send you off-world to a strange yet familiar place of feel good, immersive dance music. ALL DJ EVENTS AT THE DOLPHIN TAVERN ARE 21+, NO EXCEPTIONS.
Cult Objects
CULT OBJECTSCult Objects are a Philadelphia post-punk trio with equal love for cacophony and melody. Featuring Larissa Sapko on bass, Charlotte Anne Dole on drums, and Lauren Leilani Iona on guitar and vocals, their debut record Secrets of Pain-Free Living is all thrashing guitars and relentless drums, screaming lyrics that are simultaneously vicious and vulnerable.LARLENEPhilly bff trio LARLENE. Like all the pandemic babies, they’re just built different. Larlene curates a dream pop stoner metal float tank for your heart. They hit with a post-punk, fuzz rock wall of sound with cutting harmonies and clearly hurt feelings. Host to big dumb multitudes of influence and heart, Larlene will take you from nasty garage jams to ethereal heartbreak in a wink.PLASTIC IVYhttps://plasticivy.bandcamp.com/ALL SHOWS AT DOLPHIN TAVERN ARE 21+, NO EXCEPTIONS
Canceled -Flock Econo
Flock Econo – “Flock Econo emerges from an alternate timeline scored by Musica Popular Brasileira and ‘80s sophisti-pop. Sprung from his hermetically sealed chamber, a fool croons over bubbling syncopation and harmonies which meander, serpentine, before finding their way home.” – matt loretti https://flockecono.bandcamp.com/album/bluebells Laurel’s Features – “she was my girlfriend first!” – ruby joy Bird Dog & Pond Mime Troupe: “what we do: mime. what we are: mimes” – the mimes ALL EVENTS AT DOLPHIN TAVERN ARE 21+
Cult Objects
CULT OBJECTSCult Objects are a Philadelphia post-punk trio with equal love for cacophony and melody. Featuring Larissa Sapko on bass, Charlotte Anne Dole on drums, and Lauren Leilani Iona on guitar and vocals, their debut record Secrets of Pain-Free Living is all thrashing guitars and relentless drums, screaming lyrics that are simultaneously vicious and vulnerable.TVOOpening DJ set by Daniel CoxALL SHOWS AT DOLPHIN TAVERN ARE 21+