More Philly artists who kicked ass in 2014
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.
So many glorious, thumping, double-caf statements of modern frustration on this one
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Cayetana
I saw Cayetana play one of their first shows in mid-2012. It was in some art gallery and while they weren’t great — nobody is, right out of the gate — Augusta Koch, Kelly Olsen and Allegra Anka already possessed the thick-as-thieves chemistry that defines their debut album, Nervous Like Me (Tiny Engines). The two years’ worth of growth feels utterly palpable on this record, and that synergy among three best friends takes form in a tight set of lo-fi, punkish power-pop.
—Marc Snitzer
Brielle
Young local artists are putting a new spin on the downbeat, ethereal R&B that’s been leading the genre these past few years, and Brielle’s easily the cream of the crop. The 24-year-old singer/flautist/producer’s long-delayed debut EP, The Rough Break-Up, weaves revealing odes to despondency and love into a lush tapestry of beats and synths with far greater technical sophistication than many artists with bigger names. Get on board now.
—Sameer Rao
Aaron Freeman
After getting his feet wet with a klatch of Rod McKuen songs, the former “Gene Ween” released his first true solo album, FREEMAN (Partisan), which discusses his hard-won sobriety in a voice that’s tremulous but focused. Combine that with quirkily arranged melodies steeped in blues, pop and lovely psychedelia, and it sounds like everything we’ve always loved about this guy.
—A.D. Amorosi
The Roots
The fragile “concept” on … and then you shoot your cousin (Def Jam) is a despair so profound it verges on religious agony. ?uestlove and Kamal Gray set the scene: dark, rain falling, dread not in the air but transubstantiated with it. Black Thought and a host of MCs and singers play the furtive cast emerging from the shadows to lament their lacks: of time, money, choice, hope. “The Dark (Trinity)” and “The Unraveling” somehow tap into the hypnotizing rhythm of a year when all the old wounds became new again.
—Dotun Akintoye
John Flynn
Philly folk institution John Flynn delights by staying true to form on the self-released Poor Man’s Diamonds. He’s a romantic with a sense of social justice (“[When] our lesser angels say to cut and run/ We just got to do like Woody done”) and equally strong sense of humor (“Don’t put it up on eBay like a case of caviar/ If no one wants to play it, bury me with my guitar”). All that adds up to a strong sense of self: “I’m too young to quit/ And I’m too old to change … I am what I am/ Ain’t never gonna be anything but.”
—Mary Armstrong
Little Big League
Michelle Zauner outdoes herself every time she drops a record. On Tropical Jinx (Run for Cover), she and the LBL all-stars are always shifting gears, from jangly balladry to sing-along indie pop to heavy and righteous rock bravado. This was one of the most anticipated records of the year and they delivered in style.
—Patrick Rapa
Restorations
LP3 (SideOneDummy) feels like a psych experiment: What happens when we drag our guarded, internalized anxiety and paranoia kicking and screaming onto an arena-sized stage? In a flurry of multi-tracked guitars and heavy organ purrs, bolstered by an enormously realized sense of purpose, Restorations turns neuroses into empowering, Americana-infused codas that deserve to be shouted, fists clenched, from some blazing mountain peak. Even on “The Future,” the closest thing to a love song here, the sandpaper-throated Jon Loudon is still nervous — “I sit inside/ And freak out about money and time” — but sounds cool as hell.
—Marc Snitzer
Split/Red
Guitarist Stephen Buono usually goes the improvisational jazzhead route but Split/Red’s debut, Serious Heft (New Atlantis), is all noisy, visceral instrumentals and earth-bound, working-class screeds. Imagine SST-style hardcore wonkiness (a la The Minutemen) with shards of blues and funk.
—A.D. Amorosi
Pattern Is Movement
If Pattern Is Movement (Hometapes) had come out in 2011, it would’ve been among the biggest albums of the year. That’s not to say that the Philly duo’s self-titled is anywhere close to dated — on the contrary, it’s the most progressive and devoted manifestation of R&B-meets-indie-rock fusion we’ve seen yet. Carried through with exceptional musicianship, PIM’s trademark quirkiness and angularity get sanded off into gorgeous heart-on-sleeve beauty on standouts like “Suckling” and “Wonderful.” It would’ve made everyone forget Dirty Projectors three years ago, but now, it’s just maybe the most underrated album of 2014.
—Sameer Rao
Halfro
So The Roots released an album this year and came home for maybe one show to support it. But this is Philly, and live-band hip-hop lives on in an exciting young quartet called Halfro. Their debut album Squalor (self-released) delivers airtight tunes with atmospheric keys, acrobatic basslines, crisp snare-drum pops and battle-grounded rhymes — including name-defining guest spots from collaborators The Bul Bey and Verbatum Jones on standout track “Change of Tide” — that justify this group’s growing rep as an always-on-point live act.
—Sameer Rao
A Fistful of Sugar
This bustling nest of singers and song-writers never met a tradition it didn’t get along with. They throw party on Perspicacity, inviting Hungarian, Balkan and Irish sounds and forcing them to mingle with early jazz and honky-tonk.
—Mary Armstrong
Bleeding Rainbow
Released back in February, Interrupt (Kanine) is one of those perfect-on-its-own-terms indie rock records, a brilliant set of songs that accomplish all of Bleeding Rainbow’s aesthetic goals: be tight, be loud, be pretty and vent like a volcano all night long. “Cut Up,” “Time & Place,” “Start Again,” “Images” — so many glorious, thumping, double-caf statements of modern frustration on this one.
—Patrick Rapa
