If you’ve ever listened to the music of the Family Crest, the term “bar-band” is likely to be the last thing on your mind. Yet, that is where they found themselves positioned May 10, playing to a crowd of 80 or so in the back room of South Philly’s Boot & Saddle. It was the strange combination of venue and band that first interested me in attending this show.

Opening for the Family Crest was OhBree, a local band, which has been working on and off for years and will soon be releasing their third album, “Burn Bridges, Burn Pies.”

Taking a narrative based writing format, lead singer Andrew Scott jumped through tempo and structure changes as the rest of the seven-piece band bounces around stage like Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem. Scott’s cartoonish vocals added to the circus-esque feel of the show, which made for a pleasantly surprising if unbridled set. OhBree are certainly an acquired taste, but I left wanting more.

If OhBree were enjoyably amateurish, then the Family Crest is what you want when you say professional. Arriving on stage in matching black jeans and deep navy button downs (save keyboardist and flutist Laura Bergmann, who wore a matching dress), the band lead off with “Sparks,” the first song from their new EP “Prelude to War.”

I was initially worried about their sound fitting into the small room, and the mixing for OhBree was not great, but the song managed to back all of the punch of the excellent studio version. Lead songwriter and vocalist Liam McCormick delivered the grandiose chorus “As our hearts shake off sparks, we grow” as the rest of the band sang with him, every voice audible despite the lack of microphone.

After each song the band is forced to banter, since they have seemed to written with a separate tuning. They remained extremely flattered throughout the performance, happy to just be playing these songs in a live setting. The band’s strongest songs are all ballads that build to cathartic endings, and each successive tune seemed to top the next. Each member gets to take a turn leading the charge as well, whether it was the undeniable violin hook that plays off the vocal melody of “Can You Stay” or the jaw-dropping cello opening to “Beneath the Brine”.

By the time the band brought out the bongos and cowbells for lead single “Mirror Love”, I was just as hooked as the die hard fans who were singing along to every word. The band not only managed to strike a wonderful balance of pop structure with classical virtuosity, but they fit it in the back room of the local vegan bar and that has to count for something.

Photograph courtesy of Tiny Engines Records

I first took notice of Cayetana about two years ago, when Michael Tender shadowed the band during research for his excellent account of Philadelphia’s (rock) music scene. I bought their first full length, “Nervous Like Me”, and became a quick fan of their specific blend of pop punk coupled with lead singer Augusta Koch’s heart-on-her-sleeve lyrics.

The album was extremely catchy, if a little gritty, and their confidence and musicianship improved with each successive release (including a stellar cover of  New Order’s “Age of Consent”). All of this is to say that I’d been eagerly anticipating their second full LP, “New Kind of Normal,” which did not disappoint.

The album starts out with a feedback fade into the uptempo “Am I Dead Yet?” The song serves as a nice transition from “Nervous Like Me,” keeping a classic three-chord structure while demonstrating an increased production value as well as one Allegra Ankra’s best bass lines to date. “Is there a way out of this? Is there a way out?” the whole group sings in the chorus. The real hook, however, comes with the quick instrumental that follows as Koch and Ankra’s interplay jangles and bounces from the speakers and lodges itself in your memory.

The song is followed up by lead single “Mesa,” another upbeat tune, where Koch sings “together we make flowers out of leaves” but still acknowledges the darkness that surrounds life, admitting “we can only hurt ourselves so long.” It stands as a more formal introduction to the album’s main theme: mental health. The theme is strung throughout the album, but Koch’s flowers metaphor is as close to summing up the bands worldview as any of her lyrics: make the best out of what the world has given you, but it won’t be easy.

After “Mesa” comes “Too Old for This,” a meditation on a failing relationship through the prism of writer’s block that serves as the closest thing to ’90s radio fare they have ever created. Tracks “Bus Ticket” and “Easy to Love” show Koch using her personal life the ground the LP’s theme, admitting “I’m adjusting to this medication so I can feel more, care less.” With the medication come major changes in the narrator’s life, and the struggle of the personal balance of mental illness can often bring apart a relationship, as it does on “Easy to Love.”

“Side Sleeper” comes in at the halfway point and is the first midtempo song on the album, and comes with Kelly Olsen playing with the precision of a drum machine as the rest of the instrumentation and vocals swim in a soup of reverb and echo. “It’s the crux of me to communicate cryptically,” Koch sings, but when in her plainspoken lyricism she finds a way to impart the burdens of self improvement quite simply: “I should get my shit together. You know I could be so much better.”

The back half the record doesn’t quite maintain the same ferocity and catchiness as the first, but that is more a testament to the LP’s starting six tracks. “Grumpy’s” is the true standout of the second half, with Olsen’s crashing cymbals and Anka’s best bass line on the whole album backing the catchy refrain, “Is that your friend or your drinking buddy? First call or the understudy?”

When Cayetana closes out “Nervous Like Me,” Koch sings “I go to sleep to the sound of violence and I wake up to the sound of sirens.” On the final cut “The World” those sirens return as atmospheric background to some truly ethereal vocals. The sound of South Philadelphia surrounding the band, Koch reminds us “The world is wide and I forget it all the time,” bringing a somber finish to the album.

The band’s undeniable ability to fill a song with hooks, coupled with Koch’s second person conversational lyrics makes for one of the best rock records out this year, as the girls exceeded my already high expectations.

Cayetana’s “New Kind of Normal” is streaming all this week via Hype Machine, and is out on the band’s very own Plum Records May 5. They will be performing a record release show at the First Unitarian Church. Doors open at 7 p.m.

When James Alex took the stage March 25 with Beach Slang, he was in full salesmanship mode.

Performing to a sold out crowd waiting for Minus the Bear, a math rock outfit from the early 2000s, he knew the crowd would take some persuasion to accept his three-chord debauched punk romps. So he did it the best way he could, with a loud rendition of “Noisey Heaven” followed by his signature banter opener, “We’re Beach Slang, and we came to punch you right in the heart.”

And punch they did.

Complete with new guitarist Aurore Ounjian, the new Beach Slang came back with the old and new hits while having more fun on stage than any band I’ve seen in a long time. Alex and company were happy to be back home and did not shy away from imbibing with old friends before the show. On several occasions Alex even took time to pop a breath mint, claiming he smelled like a gin mill. The result was a much looser set than what I’ve seen Beach Slang play before but equally as compelling.

Beach Slang’s is well known for their covers, and this tour is also partially an attempt to sponsor the band’s second cover cassette, “Here, I Made This For You (Volume 2).” While that release reflects Alex’s personal taste and influences (the Modern Lovers cover is particularly good), the choice of covers at Union Transfer were for persuasion and jest. First time listeners in the crowd may have heard Alex’s simple progressions begin to blend together by the end of the show, and he knew how to wow them with a cover of the Pixies’ “Where is My Mind.”

I love Alex’s original material, and the band gave a rousing performance of “Dirty Cigarettes,” but the best part of their sets are consistently the covers. They serve as a witness for Beach Slang’s preaching of rock and roll’s power in it’s lyrics, and it doesn’t hurt when everyone in the crowd knows the chorus.

Before closing out the set, Alex had the band play the riff to Lit’s “My Own Worst Enemy” as he finished chugging his vodka with no hands. It provided the biggest laugh line of the night, second only to Ounjian’s spontaneous breakout into “Smooth” while Alex tuned his guitar.

Through all of this Alex remained grateful, a full smile on his face even in the weaker parts of the set where he struggles to win the headliner’s crowd over. No one is a bigger believer in the power of music than Alex, and watching him preach it to a crowd between Townshend windmills was worth the price of entry.

Photo: Shane O’Connor, The Triangle

When the Japandroids first announced their tour in support of “Near to the Wild Heart of Life,” it wasn’t New York City or their native Vancouver that sold out first, but a Friday-night stay right here in Philly at Union Transfer. A second night was added, and four months and one record release later the duo made their return to an uncannily sunny Philadelphia for a weekend full of sweat, beers and rock ’n’ roll.

Opening the show was The Hold Steady frontman Craig Finn. He performed a solid set of his solo heartland rock including a few tracks from his forthcoming “We All Want the Same Thing.” A few faithful fans had made their way to the front of the crowd, and their love for Finn was evident. As for everyone else, they waited with bated breath for Brian King and David Prowse of Japandroids to finally arrive.

When the duo finally took the stage, the room went dark and feedback fed the air as Prowse began an ever-increasing drum roll until the opening chords of “Wild Heart” were met by strobe lights flashing, and instantly a mosh pit was formed.

The fans had only had the record for less than a month, and the tour stops were still in the single digits, but the band already seemed confident in delivery and the crowd knew every word to the songs. It was a reassuring sign that the new material, originally made for the studio, would match the intensity of 2012’s “Celebration Rock,” a record that was created to be played live rather than born from the liberties of multitrack instrumentation.

That is not to say that “Celebration Rock’s” collection of anthemic choruses, guitar solos and drum fills is gone. “Adrenaline Nightshift” followed swiftly after King made a quick introduction mimicking rock interviewer and fellow Canuck, Nardwuar. A chorus of adoring fans chanted back at King “there’s no high like this,” which seemed to be a truism of the crowd, a cathartic release that comes from seeing a band live after a three-year absence.

“Nightshift” is a great example of the high octane dynamic of Japandroids past shows, but with more material, King and Prowse have devised a new, refined setlist to extend the show without tiring out the crowd. This is mostly allowed by the addition of slower, lyrically dense fare from “Wild Heart” to pace out the more hectic moments. Those hectic moments are still heavy and often, however, like during “Wet Hair” when the size of pit threatened to swallow the whole crowd.

This goes to show that King and Prowse care about these shows and that the fans enjoy them — immensely. Past interviews have revealed that the duo finds time in the studio laborious; Prowse and King have acknowledged that the reason they are a band is for the touring. And it’s not just the band’s technical chops that contributes to the rush fans receive when they kick off “The Night of Wine and Roses” or the first synth line on “Arc of Bar.” The efforts their stage team puts in to fill a room like Union Transfer with a simple kit and a six-string is astounding as well. Behind the duo stands a wall of amplifiers used to fixate the booming sound, and beyond that what I can only imagine is a truly excellent light display (it was tough to see from up front).

It all made for an inviting atmosphere, knowing how much care was invested in putting on the best possible show. The band took requests for songs that they haven’t played in years, such as “Heart Sweats.” King also invited fans to come on stage to crowd surf and stagehands helped to make sure everyone was safely returned to the crowd. At one point towards the end of the set, the stagehand even lifted King on his shoulders mid-song, carrying him around the stage.

By the time the closer “The House That Heaven Built” came around, the crowd’s collective catharsis had morphed into a sense of camaraderie — everyone brought together by what is easily the best show I’ve seen this year.

Sometimes you can tell by the crowd whether or not a show is going to go over well before it starts. Usually, this intuition is foreboding, but in the case of the Steve Gunn and Lee Ranaldo show at PhilaMOCA Jan. 21, one couldn’t help but be ready to lighten up with some music.

The past few days had been a whirlwind for the performers, who had the surreal experience of playing in Washington D.C. the night before, the same day as the inauguration. Ranaldo in particular felt the need to express his thoughts on the night, asking members of the audience if they participated in the women’s march or casually talking about Trump’s Twitter the way one would with friends.

Gunn, on the other hand, took a much more laid back approach. He tried to avoid the topic, but couldn’t help but crack a smile mid-song when a friend placed a “Steve Gunn for President” sign up against the wall. The most words he could muster was to dedicate a song to the marchers. Their respective responses to the event would mirror the way they performed.

Ranaldo opened his set with what could only be described as a noise collage, the closest thing to live musique concrete one is likely to find this side of a synthesizer. Using various pedals, loops and even a cello bow, Ranaldo constructed waves of feedback that hit the crowd as he would prepare his next sound, adding bells as well. It was a sobering reminder of just how far Ranaldo is willing to take the instrument and distort the sounds to his liking.

After the ambient introduction, Ranaldo spoke briefly about each song he would perform, the majority of which were for a new album co-written with author Jonathan Lethem. Among the highlights were a rumination on daily activities titled “Circular” and a post-modern cowboy narrative called “Uncle Skeleton.” Ranaldo’s stage presence was daunting, and the force with which he screamed and pounded on the guitar made me forget some of his less thought out lines. In particular, a “gratitude/latitude/attitude/platitude” line that almost ruined a song was saved by his return to a passionate final rendition of the refrain, “Are you afraid of a human love?”

If the greatness of Ranaldo’s guitar work is due to his force and experimentation, Gunn’s is defined by his mastery. Taking the stage with a single guitar and some fingerpicks, Gunn proceeded to mic check and dive directly into the winding ballad “Old Strange,” a 2013 original that could be easily mistaken for some of Jimmy Page’s folksier material. The folk influence, though not quite as present on his newer material, is the key to Gunn’s writing style.

“Your faith is savaged and your mind is damaged/you’re more than halfway there,” he sings out to the crowd when he can manage to take his eyes off the fingers expertly pairing complex arpeggios.

Gunn’s banter is filled with non sequitur, whether it’s letting the audience know his feet are starting to sweat or asking about ’90s funk revival bands. It became increasingly personal as he told a story about being on the beach with his first girlfriend before diving into set closer, “Wildwood.” “Who am I? Too soon to say,” Gunn crooned as his guitar painted the uncertainty of young adolescence he can’t quite capture in words themselves.

“Wildwood” would have served as a perfect closer to the night, but the crowd wanted more and soon Ranaldo, Gunn and opener Meg Baird returned for a cover of Neil Young’s “Revolution Blues.” Young’s post-apocalyptic description of the havoc the Manson family reigned on the Laurel Canyon made for an ominous ending to the night.  Each performer took a verse as their guitars swirled together in what became the best performance of the night. As the crowd left, the wariness of the past days remained but Ranaldo’s and Gunn’s music had provided them beautiful refuge.

The crowd danced, the open bar drinks flowed, and the 714 club thumped with a swath of chic music spanning the modern pop era. The event, hosted by Making Time, was billed equal parts band and DJ.

Zachary Cole Smith, the creative force behind DIIV, stood on top of an elevated corner (I don’t know if I could call it a stage), attempting a sound check. The crowd, an expected mix of beards and skinny jeans, began to huddle towards Smith and the rest of the band, who were mouthing words to the sound engineer as the Talking Heads blared from the fifteen-foot speaker next to them. “Thanks for all the extra house music,” Smith joked before starting right into a song off the band’s new LP, “Is The Is Are.” Heads bopped and feet were tapped, with a mosh pit eventually forming in the center of the crowd.

To those familiar to DIIV’s music, this may come as a surprise. The band, which started as Smith’s solo project, first gained notoriety with the release of 2012’s “Oshin,” an album that was no stranger to the tropes of shoegaze. In retrospect, however, the punk roots of Smith’s music are evident, and not only from the Cobain idolization that takes place at his live shows. In returning to the record, the guitar work carries a much angrier tone than the prominent “chillwave” artists who shared his influences four years ago.

If the continuation of this punk tone is noticeable on the refined but long-winded “Is The Is Are,” then it is a force to be reckoned with in Smith’s live shows. Interlaced between the songs was very little stage banter, with Smith only stopping to take requests. Almost all of the crowd’s shouts were played, including standout cut from the new album, “Dust.” While the crowd was certainly rowdier than I anticipated, this came as a pleasant surprise. It was fairly easy for me to escape the fray while still enjoying the energy it provided.

Opening for DIIV were the female fronted Paranoyds, a California based band playing riot-grrrl style garage rock. They hopped up on stage wearing leopard and tiger print skirts, in what appeared to be equal parts homage and parody of Josie and the Pussycats. In between acts the aforementioned DJs spun some truly great tunes, in what made for an event without a single lull. I not only recommend seeing DIIV next time they come around, but also recommend any Making Time event, given that you enjoy the band. After all, who really wants to listen to the sound check?

The post Smokey Brian goes off the high DIIV at the 714 Club appeared first on The Triangle.