NON-COMM Day 1: Afghan Whigs, The Districts, The Hold Steady, etc.
Please note: This article is published as an archive copy from Philadelphia City Paper. My City Paper is not affiliated with Philadelphia City Paper. Philadelphia City Paper was an alternative weekly newspaper in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The last edition was published on October 8, 2015.
The rest of the evening is best summarized by body parts.
The 14th annual NON-COMM (the non-commercial radio conference, hosted by WXPN) at World Café Live got underway in the live music forum at 7 on Wednesday. It’s all about the musical sketches, with bands playing from 25 to 40 minutes. All eight bands on display deserved their place in the spotlight, but for the sake of comparison and sanity, I present my three favorites and some extra knick knacks:
1. The Districts Jumpeth onto the bandwagon I have after this crackling affair of youth and guitar. Gravity was elusive as the band was bouncing about, their folk rock exiting the stratosphere. Brightness abounds in their future. For a touch of darkness we go to…
2. The Afghan Whigs Greg Dulli and his band of gentlemen unleashed a noir-ish parade of guttural beats. Their newest work, Do To the Beast, and its lead single of Western rattlesnake vibes, “Algiers,” fit in quite well with ’90s staples like “Fountain and Fairfax.” Their masculinity contrasted with…
3. No Sinner On a night heavy on the Y chromosome, the final act brought out the lone lady — and, boy, could she rock. Colleen Rennison was a heady mix of Joplin and Winehouse in a setting of late-’60s rock. Her vocal might and theatrics were an entertaining end to night one.
The rest of the evening is best summarized by body parts. There was the radiant stripped-down version of Elbow, the guitar-sized hands of the brilliantly bluesy Matt Andersen, the arms, waving and flailing about, of The Hold Steady’s Craig Finn and the night’s most surprising cover: Asgeir’s take on Nirvana’s “Heart Shaped Box.”
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