Dark Horse & The Carousels

Do not attempt to adjust your 3-D glasses. Look how freaking psychedelic these kids are! Dark Horse & The Carousels are coming strong for '08 from the streets of Philadelphia to your town. Oozing with attitude and rockness, DH&TCs mix in a little early Stones with the Chocolate Watch Band, a lot of yelping, New York Dolls with The Seeds, a lot of hollerin', Nazz with Brian Jonestown Massacre and a lot of shoutin' in to their rockadelic nuggets. An album is soon to come, but enjoy these songs for now...

Bottle Of Truth - Dark Horse & The Carousels

Crazy - Dark Horse & The Carousels

Lost Philadelphia - The Interpreters

Before The Hives, Franz Ferdinand, The Strokes, Interpol and oh so many other revivalists who've enjoyed a moment or two in the sun was a band from Philly called The Interpreters. A few weeks ago I was rummaging through an old box of mix tapes and found their demo, a collection of high energy classic '60s Brit-pop, that at the time it made the rounds was the latest rage. The Interpreters debuted as one of the most hyped new bands in the late Nineties and included singer & bassist Herschel Gaer, guitarist Patsy Palladino and drummer Branko Jakominich. When the band started in 1996 the buzz was deafening. They became stars in Philly and soon became the focus of a major-label bidding war. An early single, "I Remember," was produced by Shel Talmy; and in 1998 they released their one and only album Back in the U.S.S.A.. The album went nowhere quickly, despite a rave review in Rolling Stone and the quick demise of the band was unfortunate. Not even the band's surreal appearance at the Republican Convention in 2000 could help. I've heard that Gaer is in NYC, making movies and still playing music, but I haven't seen him since one glorious rocking night at the Khyber Pass here in Philly many years ago. Here's a couple songs from their debut, which sounds as fresh now as it when it came out a decade ago.

Glorious - The Interpreters
Dogskin Report - The Interpreters

The Parsnip Revolt

The Parsnip Revolt are a very talented four piece that include Geremiah Giampa on vocals & guitar, Jake Williams on guitar & vocals, Doug Holton on drums & vocals and Brian Finucane on bass. Rooted in acoustics and rock, there's a lilting and comforting Travis meets Damien Rice vibe to the band's music.

And what's really cool is that one of the band's new songs, "Follow Me" was selected for Neil Young's "Living With War Today" song site. The song says guitarist Jake Williams "is about the war and the state of affairs here at home."

Check the song out here -

Follow Me - The Parsnip Revolt

The band has a promising EP that you can download for free here

Cheers Elephant

They may be pretending to be the Monkees in the above picture, however Cheers Elephant are more like The Kinks meet the 13th Floor Elevators. They've got a bunch of shows coming up including a full-on residency at The Khyber in January, but closer opps to see them include a gig at the Downingtown School of Rock on November 24th. And on Thursday December 6th, the boys will be a part of WXPN's Philly Bands Together, a benefit for Musicians On Call with a great lineup including Matt Duke, The Trolleyvox, Nicole Reynolds & more TBA. More info here. In the meantime, here's a couple Cheers trax for your entertainment pleasure.

Hey Pagoda - Cheers Elephant
Tracking The Whale - Cheers Elephant

Jotto

I know it's been a while, so I figured I'd get back to local biz with some cool new stuff from Jotto, some local Philly indie-rockster fellas who probably owe as much to the Gang Of Four and The Rapture as they do to Kylie Minogue and Oingo Boingo. The band's new EP immediately grabs you on to the dance floor in an "I'm almost too indierock to dance" kind of way, and then sort of spazzing out in an interesting Strokes/indierockdance manner that's deserving of repeated listenings. But here's the thing: I can play all the spot the influences I want with this band, but so far they've managed to come up with something that's uniquely different and familiar at the same time. The guitar/keyboard interplay is dynamic and cool and lead singer Aaron has this slightly affected yet compelling charm in his vocals. Way to go Jotto.
Young In The City - Jotto

You can buy the EP here

Downtown Harvest

Downtown Harvest's new album, Golden Dragon, is one of those records - had it been released in 1988 or 1993 - that would have been described by music critics as some "brilliant postmodern alt-rock hip-hop masterpiece." It is an album that probably would've sounded more comfortable during that era than the one we're in now. And that's the reason why the record sounds so g-damn good now. It probably would've gotten lost back then. It's a throwback but it sounds so stylishly fresh. They're a rock/dance/rock/funk/rock/newwave/did i say rock? crew that owes as much to Beck and the Lo Fidelity Allstars as they do to early Chili Peppers, the Ohio Players, Hot Chip, and Philly's very own raprock allstars, The Goats.

I know: that's a lot to digest. But dig if you will the new album from this foursome who shift musical gears and moments with ease and creativity and some tough beats. The Harvesters take some familiar elements and make them sound brand new - between the heavy beats and sinewy grooves and the horn flourishes and grungy sounding guitars there's more than a handful of great songs on this record that you'll find yourself putting on repeat no matter where the party is, even if its in your own head. Here's one of those songs and if you dig this one then find it in your heart wallet to buy the album.

Killer Queen Bee - Downtown Harvest

Downtown Harvest's myspace

Now, That's What I Call Philly Indie Rock, Volume 1

Inspired by my guest post yesterday over at The Late Greats, here's a Philly music bonanza for you to check out. When The Duke asked me to pick my Philly 7 From '07, I couldn't just stop it at 7 and decided to take it to the limit.

Worst Trip - Dr. Dog
Dr. Dog myspace

Ball of The Dead Rat - The Teeth
The Teeth myspace

Diamonds - The A-Sides
The A-Sides' myspace

Mystical - Birdie Busch
Birdie's myspace

Alone Again - Illinois
Illinois myspace

Mr. Pie Eyes - Drink Up Buttercup
Drink Up Buttercup myspace

Jean Jacket - The Trolleyvox
Trolleyvox myspace

Bonusdelphia old school track
Expressway To Your Heart - The Soul Survivors

Van Helsing Boombox
Man Man's myspace

Glory Bound - The Lowlands
The Lowlands' myspace

It's Time They Knew - The Swimmers
The Swimmers' myspace

Danger In The House - Bitter Bitter Weeks
Bitter Bitter Weeks' myspace

Modern Thinker - The New Motels
The New Motels' myspace

Open It Up - Okay Paddy
Okay Paddy myspace

Sugaring - Illuminea
Illuminea's site

Mirage People - The Capitol Years

Sister You've Fuckin' Got It - Orphan Family
Orphan Family myspace

The Orphan Family Have Fuckin' Got It

New local upstarts the Orphan Family really aren't new; essentially it's the dirty leftovers of The Situation who broke up and have morphed into some heavy fucking jangly-psychedelia gangsta singer-songwriter shit. Sort of like a Dandy Warhols/Robyn Hitchcock/Kinks kind of thing with three of the four Situationists including Jared Styles on bass, John Paul McCartney Bonham Travis on drums and Christopher Tucker on the lead vocals and guitars. The fourth member of the O-Fam is an Apple mac that shoots out mad images in a multi-media experience that will leave you hot and bothered and always ready to rock. Like these guys do. This song is dope. Check it out and play it loudly.

Sister, You've Fuckin' Got It - Orphan Family

The Trolleyvox

My history with The Trolleyox actually goes way back almost 20 years to when I first started volunteer DJ'ing at WXPN doing the late night alt-rock show called Beat Planet back in the '80's. I was one of a number of DJ's who spun the late night college/alt-rock and one of the DJ's was Andrew Chalfen - the songwriter, guitarist and sometime singer currently behind Trolleyvox. Back then he was the DJ who turned me on to just about any cool band that played jangly melodic pop. From (early) REM to the Chills to Miracle Legion, Big Star, the dB's, Let's Active, and The Verlaines and the many bands who were tagged a part of the Paisley Underground, Chalfen was back then and still is a lover of psychedelic melodic pop. Great chords, singalong choruses, Rickenbackers, mostly 3 & 1/2 minute energy charged pop leaning rock songs. Back in the 80's and almost into the 90's, Chalfen was also a member of The Wishniaks, an important band amongst a handful of important bands in the local music scene, along with Electric Love Muffin, Nixon's Head, The Johnsons, Flight of Mavis, The Low Road and Baby Flamehead.

All this history to say that while Andy has been in a number of bands since The Wishniaks, The Trolleyvox have just released their fourth album. That Chalfen remains a vibrant part of the local music scene is a testament to his ability to write timeless pop songs. I should say albums since it is a double disc; Your Secret Safe is the electric disc and was produced by Brian McTear; Luzerne is the acoustic collection - just Andy and vocalist Beth Filla(recorded by Chris Unrath). The rock side features Chalfen on guitar and some vocals, Owen Biddle on bass, Adam Stranburg on drums along with Beth on lead vocals.

Jean Jacket - The Trolleyvox

You can buy the record here

Sure Juror

New Jersey's Sure Juror are on to something interesting. They got a delightfully skewed sense of popstrionics. At the heart of their songs, are um, real songs, and sometimes heaped on top of the all the cool indiestructure is some crazy experimental stuff that's just enough to keep you on your toes rocking and your little indiemind challenged. Musically they've got a lot going on, some lo-fi here, some punk rock there, a little jazz breakdown thing here, some found noises that float withinandwithout...it's a collision of styles that works.

Sure Jurors have two albums out, both available for download (how about that!) on their website. Here's a little sampling from both of their albums including their latest Smut.

Making Friends Has Never Been This Easy - Sure Juror
Broken Crayons - Sure Juror
Ex-Cuties - Sure Juror
The Drive Will Do You Good - Sure Juror
Christmas Shopping - Sure Juror

Sure Juror perform at The Khyber on Tuesday Sept 11th with Windsor Park Walkers, Mean Streets and CounterVision. A good chance to support local music. And for the NY'ers in the house, Sure Juror play Piano's on Sept. 21.

Sure Juror's myspace