January 20th, 2008Live Music
Northern Liberties Sat., Jan. 19, 8pm. $5. With Slumlord + Spades. Tritone, 1508 South St. 215.545.0475.
www.tritonebar.com
Northern Liberties are like a mini goth-punk cottage industry, spanning comps and
7-inches, live EPs and a DVD limited to 23 copies. Their third album Ghost Mind
Electricity is a thudding, low-end-heavy journey through sorcery, unborn
children, cremation and dead deer made all the more unsettling by the trio’s guitar-less
setup and drummer/singer Justin Duerr’s half-detached, half-crazed missives, akin to
those of Wilderness’ James Johnson. If there are metal tinges to “Silver Fire,”
“Changing” is quiet and even pretty. This may be their best showing yet, but the way to
experience Northern Liberties is live, where the crunching and munching of bone is right
in your face. (Doug Wallen)
Drink up Buttercup Tues., Jan. 22, 8pm. $8. With Cheers Elephant, Love Songs for Robots, Coltrane Motion
+ Sisters 3. Khyber, 56 S. Second St. 215.238.5888. www.thekhyber.com
Describe a band with the words “Beatles” and “pop” and people think they’ve got
nothing to worry about. A little music hall piano, a clever turn of phrase, a few
well-placed power chords, and there you have it: a pleasant but nonthreatening evening.
Well, Drink up Buttercup may belong to the Beatles pop family, but it’s made of more
aggressive stuff. Signature song “Mr. Pie Eyes” rides a primal punk-ish lurch, all four
band members slashing away at the same iron-giant-toppling riff. And when “Seasickness
Pills” comes up, singer James Harvey works maniacally, guitar rampaging, tambourine
banging and mike cowering before him. Visceral, exciting, theatrical, yes—but “Penny
Lane” it definitely isn’t. (Jennifer Kelly)
Israeli Jazz Fest Mon., Jan. 21, 7:30pm. $15. Through Jan. 24. World Cafe Live, 3025 Walnut St.
215.222.1400. www.worldcafelive.com
Is there “Israeli jazz”? The artists in this four-night showcase may bring the sound
of their native country into the mix, but they’re not neatly unified, nor in a bubble
apart from the innovative swirl of the current New York scene. Guitarist Roni Ben-Hur
has deep roots in the bebop tradition. Eli Degibri is a fierce saxophonist with major
sideman gigs (Herbie Hancock, Al Foster) and the fine recent CD Emotionally
Available to his credit. Alon Yavnai is the pianist of choice for Cuban
jazz master Paquito D’Rivera. Anat Cohen, who rocked Chris’ back in November with her
sensuous clarinet, will appear with her brother, trumpet phenom Avishai Cohen.
(David R. Adler)
An American Chinese Thurs., Jan. 17, 9pm. $8. With Aderbat, Bon Savant + Peasant. Johnny Brenda’s, 1201
Frankford Ave. 215.739.9684. www.johnnybrendas.com
Riding the wave of freak-folk and orchestral rock (think Devendra Banhart and Sufjan
Stevens) while paying homage to psychedelic outfits of eras past are Philadelphia’s own
An American Chinese. The seven-piece ensemble plays whimsical, wanderlust tunes with
witty lyrics, while avoiding the pretentiousness that makes such groups a bore live.
With their heavy use of percussive instruments, An American Chinese play well with
dynamics and layers—the contrasting male/female vocals are the highlight of most tunes
and add to their enigmatic sound. Fancy-pants adjectives aside, they still rock. Their
songs are quirky, catchy and memorable, and their stage presence is both engaging and
endearingly low-key. (Katherine Silkaitis)
Poi Dog Pondering Sun., Jan. 20, 7:30pm. $20. World Cafe Live, 3025 Walnut St. 215.222.1400.
www.worldcafelive.com
Chicago’s long-running, heavily populated folk-ethnic-jam collective has been pared to
an acoustic quintet for this tour, but since almost everyone in the band plays three or
four instruments, it’ll still likely be jubilantly, elaborately orchestrated. Poi Dog
founder Frank Orall crosses genres the way Mendel experimented with sweet peas, infusing
jazz, funk, world and rock music with a lighthearted, easygoing lilt. He’s enlisted
Susan Voelz (who’s also Alejandro Escovedo’s favorite fiddler), as well as longtime
collaborators David Max Crawford and Ted Cho for a handful of small band dates; a full
ensemble tour will follow in March. By that point there’ll be a new album—the first
studio recording in five years. (J.K.)
Misha Mengelberg Quartet Fri., Jan. 18, 8pm. $17.50-$25. International House, 3701 Chestnut St. 215.895.6546.
www.ihousephilly.org
The godfathers of Dutch progressive jazz, pianist Misha Mengelberg and drummer Han
Bennink came to Philly last March with their famed Instant Composers Pool Orchestra. Now
they return with a quartet for the second installment of the Ars Nova Workshop’s “Out
There” series. The group includes two Americans: trumpeter Dave Douglas, one of the most
feted and prolific artists of our day, and Brad Jones, the solid bassist, a veteran of
groups led by Douglas, Marc Ribot, Don Byron and many more. In 2001 this lineup gave us
Four in One, a subversively swinging date packed with tunes by
Mengelberg and Monk. Their reunions are rare, always worth catching. (D.R.A.)
