Speedy Ortiz
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.
[Jan. 4] Speedy Ortiz' Sadie Dupuis wranglers her wry poet's diction and girly-tough, conversational coo around whip-smart, self-skewering lyrics.
Emma Rothenberg-Ware
The dream of the alternative slacker ’90s is alive and smirking in Western Mass. That’s where Speedy Ortiz’ Sadie Dupuis (I’m hoping that rhymes) wrangles her wry poet’s diction and girly-tough, conversational coo — the kind that can’t help but recall Liz Phair, Tracy Bonham, and/or Mary Timony — around whip-smart, self-skewering lyrics (“My mouth is a factory/ for every toxic part of speech I spew”). Meanwhile, her bandmates carve out scraggly, sinewy art-pop shapes redolent of Sebadoh, Built to Spill, Bettie Serveert and Sleater-Kinney. But while Major Arcana — and the forthcoming righteous re-up Real Hair EP (Carpark) — are undeniably fun excuses for hip nostalgists of a certain age to drop knowing college-rock name-checks, they’re also a huge amount of fun, packed with enough personality, caustically hilarious verse and grungy-melodic hooks to preempt any potential accusations of stock retro posturing as just so whatever, dude.
Sat., Jan. 4, 8 p.m., $5-$7, with Bleeding Rainbow, Grass is Green and Hermit Thrushes, Golden Tea House.
