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.
October 15–22, 1998
six pick
Lilys/Guv'ner
Keeping up with Lilys can be like tracking the weather. The band changes its style, not to mention its entire lineup, about every two years. Their last album,
Better Can't Make Your Life Better, recalled the tart '60s pop of the Kinks, a distinct departure from their previous indie rock influences. Lead Lily Kurt Heasley took a few moments to give us an update on the phone from his Hartford, CT, home. In between explaining the Assassins Code and his love for pre-12-tone-scale music, he imparted that Lilys just wrapped up recording and are preparing to master a new album,
The 3-Way (Sire), to be released in late February. The five-piece band, he explained, has remained pretty much in tact, with only two changes this time around. The new stuff, according to Kurt, will be "a lot more related to all the records than just
Better Can't Make Your Life Better." We can hardly wait. Opening up is New York indie trio Guv'ner (pictured). Their latest,
Spectral Worship (Merge), is a charming swirl of their cheeky, off-key melodicisms and experimental tweeks and wonks. Even bassist Pumpkin Wentzel's conceptually ill-conceived cover of John Lennon's "Jealous Guy" works with a little chutzpah.
- Brian Howard
Tue., Oct. 20, with Asteroid #4, Upstairs at Nick's, 16 S. Second St., 928-0665.
