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
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+
Gloorp
Gloorp Gloorp (onomatopoeia); a new project focused on rhythm. In its latest iteration, Gloorp appears as a 3-piece live act including Philadelphia’s Matt Lavine on live animations & visuals. https://gloorp.bandcamp.com/album/gloorp-2 Goyle Philadelphia based producer, dj, and lover of all expressions of life. https://goyle123456.bandcamp.com/album/station memristr Memristr is a new electronic project from Philly. Fusing hardware techno with a unique blend of pulsating rhythms and intricate soundscapes, their music invites audiences on a journey through the depths of electronic experimentation. https://soundcloud.com/user31070377All events at Dolphin Tavern are 21+
Jonathan Toubin’s NY Night Train Soul Clap & Dance Off Party!
JONATHAN TOUBIN’S NY NIGHT TRAIN SOUL CLAP & DANCE OFF PARTY W/ SPECIAL GUEST JUDGE EDDIE B. GIEDA III AND PERFORMANCE BY THE OUT-SECTTurning up hundreds of times on five continents since 2007, New York Night Train’s SOUL CLAP AND DANCE-OFF is 21st Century’s most popular soul party and 45 party – playing to more people in more places than any other. The concept is simple – all night dancing to the exciting and exquisite 1960s soul vinyl of world famous 45rpm rock and soul DJ Jonathan Toubin and, in the middle, a short dance contest determined by a community panel of judges.THE OUT-SECThttps://theoutsect.bandcamp.com The members of The Out-Sect all met while living in a Philadelphia junkyard. On weekends, they would gather to drink beers inside a broken down 1982 GMC Caballero with a copy of Back From The Grave stuck in the car’s cassette player. Instantly being drawn to the trashy sounds of those pimple-faced mid-60s punks, they figured they could write a song half as good as any of them. And that’s just what they did! Using instruments they, quite literally, found in the trash, the band has managed to write a handful of deranged “songs” that will leave you asking yourself “What is that smell?” and “Dear god, can they just stop playing!?”ALL EVENTS AT THE DOLPHIN TAVERN ARE 21+, NO EXCEPTIONS
Pierre Kwenders
PIERRE KWENDERSSinging and rapping in Lingala, French, English, Tshiluba, and Kikongo, Pierre Kwenders similarly weaves his stories across the boundaries of language and geography. José Louis and the Paradox of Love is a culmination of personal growth and the musical dexterity he has honed over the years, converging his strong songwriting capabilities with the bravado he possesses as a DJ. The album, which was awarded the prestigious Polaris Music Prize, explores an ongoing search to grasp the universal complexities of romance, sometimes through the lens of Kwenders’ own intimate experiences.ALL SHOWS AT DOLPHIN TAVERN ARE 21+, NO EXCEPTIONS.
Oceanator
OCEANATOR There’s a line on Oceanator’s debut full-length when Elise Okusami belts, “I think I think too much.” It’s a plainspoken yet resounding thesis for an album called Things I Never Said, which sees the NYC multi-instrumentalist hyperbolically equating early adulthood malaise with apocalyptic destruction. The type of anxieties that form when thoughts bottle up and stress gets the best of you. Throughout the record, allusions to intrusive thoughts and depression-induced stasis are weaved in between references to falling skies, rolling fires, and the possibility of the world literally falling apart. “If the sun never came up tomorrow / do you think we would even notice?” Okusami asks in “I Would Find You,” a moody ode to staying out late and sleeping until the afternoon. Or as Okusami puts it, “keeping to the shadows.” However, while her emotional and physical solitude makes for a resilient foe, Things I Never Said is ultimately a record about finding comfort in the face of destruction. Whether it be through appreciating the little things, like “hot tea on a cold fall day / and dressing up for Halloween,” or forming a bond with someone you can mutually confide in about mental afflictions (“I told you I could never be enough / you took me by the hand / and told me you understand”). Complementary to the extraordinarily direct subject matter, the songs themselves are punchy, sticky, and immediately engrossing pieces of heavy grunge-pop. The album opens with pounding power-chords that Okusami tastefully palm-mutes in order to accentuate the hook, and then lets rip by the song’s gratifying climax, adding a simple yet hooky lead riff for extra emphasis. Although she recruited a couple friends/members of the Oceanator touring band to play many of the bass and drum parts, Okusami is the sole songwriter/arranger of her music, and the instrumentation feels intimately connected with her lyrics.QUEEN OF JEANS Hiding in Place, the new EP from Philadelphia’s Queen of Jeans, opens with the springy pluck of a single note on electric guitar, like a ping from a satellite waiting for a response in a long, quiet expanse. Then, Miri Devora’s voice atop guitar and drums: “Hiding in place, conjure your face/Don’t wanna lose my mind.” This is the title track’s invitation to a four-song study of loneliness, alienation, and the unraveling that comes with those states, but it’s also bookended with moments of levity: joy and romance burst through on second track “Why Hide,” a response of sorts to the title track’s cloistered anxiety. Devora wrote the songs at the start of the pandemic in March 2020 when she had just been laid off from her job of almost 10 years. Her partner, guitarist Mattie Glass, worked 11 hour shifts at a grocery store, so Devora was alone in their apartment for months on end. When they were written, these weren’t intended to be pandemic-specific. PAPER BEE’Born initially of the not-too-far north, the West Philly iteration of Paper Bee (ft members of [bands]) extends a dynamic flow of warm vocal harmonies pattering nostalgia and myriad aches to insistent crashes of locomotive distortion. Rock music maybe for fans of Springsteen.’ ALL SHOWS AT DOLPHIN TAVERN ARE 21+