Going Back To School With The Geator With The Heator

Jerry Blavat, The Geator With The Heator remains one of Philly's most incredible DJ's. He had a hand in breaking the careers of all the greats, and he's done a little recording of his own. In celebration of the new school year, here's a side he did on Cameo-Parkway back in 1962. It's a classic.

One More Time Back To School - Jerry Blavat

Tripping down memory lane with the Executive Slacks

Philadelphia's Executive Slacks were way ahead of their time, which in their heyday was around early 82/83 until about 1986/87 when lead singer and guitarist Matt Marello ended the band to pursue his career in art. They were one of Philly's proto-electronica/goth/industrial/techno bands and pretty damn good at it. I used to see them a lot particularly at Revival on 3rd Street in Philly. The band included Marello on guitars, John Young on synths and effects, Bobbie Rae on percussion and Stuart Levy on organ. The Slacks' earlier works were produced by former Killing Joke bassist Youth (the band were fans). Adding a bit of some Philly history to the mix, their now classic Fire And Ice album was one of the earlier words mixed by the now legendary Phil Nicolo and Andy "Funky Drummer" Kravitz.

With their moody, funky, atmospheric and noisy patchwork of searing guitar, found sounds and hip grooves, Executive Slacks were a mainstay of the local music scene back in the day. Here's a couple from Fire And Ice including their cover of Gary Glitter's "Rock And Roll."

Rock And Roll - Executive Slacks

Wide Fields - Executive Slacks

Trouser Press - Executive Slacks

The Sw!ms

The Sw!ms hail from Scranton Pennsylvania and mine a popspace where early Elvis Costello & The Hollies comingle. Their retro-psych stands out all the better due in large part to the strength of the songwriting and their confident playing. The band consists of Brian Langan on vocals, guitars & percussion; Phillip Price on Farfisa and Hammond organs, Moog and Korg synthesizers, Rhodes piano, vocals & theremin; Matt Walsh on bass, vocals, percussion and Neil McCann on drums & percussion. Their most recent album came out in Feb '06 called Ride Of The Blueberry Winter and it sure does rock.

We Need Lava - The Sw!ms
Noid - The Sw!ms
Depth Charge - The Sw!ms

The Sw!ms myspace

The Thursday Triple Threat

Tonight at Johnny Brendas is the record release party for The A-Sides; newly signed to Vagrant Records and ready to rock your world with the Sept 18th release of their dazzling new Silver Storms. Special guests include Bitter Bitter Weeks - the work of super-producer and musician Brian McTear (who produced the forementioned Silver Storms) and The Capitol Years. If there's ever a night to see three bands who represent the finest side of the local music scene in Philly it's this one.

Cinematic - The A-Sides
Danger In The Halls - Bitter Bitter Weeks
Mirage People - The Capitol Years

Listen to The A-Sides live set from this summer's WXPN Xponential Music Festival.

The A-Sides spill the beans to the Philly Weekly

Drink Up Buttercup

The daisy age of Philly indie-rock is upon us.

Led by bands like Dr. Dog and The Capitol Years, Drink Up Buttercup are the latest in this group of very creative up-and-coming day-glo indie-rockers from outside Philly in Bucks County, where there's definitely something good in the water. The four lads in the band include Jim Harvey guitars and vocals, Farzad Houshiarnejad (Keys/Bass/Melodica/Vox/Percussion), Ben Money (Keys/Bass/Melodica/Vox/Percussion) and Mike Cammarata (Drums).

Sometimes when people use words like quirky or eclectic it doesn't always connote a positive thing. However as I think of these words to describe what these lo-fi demos sound like to me, I say it in only the most positive manner. This is the sound of a young band with an ambitious musical vision. Clearly there's psychedelic influences however there's something more going on here which will present greater opportunities once the band gets down to doing more proper recordings. They're working on an EP which could be out in the Fall. They are touring a lot. They do a residency at The Fire in Philly the last three Wednesdays in September, as well as a show in Brooklyn at the Lit Lounge in November. Be on the lookout for them.

Drink Up remind me of Love You era Beach Boys and early Frank Zappa. Drink Up!

Mr. Pie Eyes - Drink Up Buttercup

Sosey And Dosey - Drink Up Buttercup

Read more here at Playphilly.com


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Illinois in the weeds

Some of you Weeds watchers may have recognized one of the songs during "The Brick Dance," and if not, it was Philly's very own Illinois. Check out the scene and then grab some tunes from one of Philly's finest.

The Brick Dance


Along Again - Illinois
Screendoor - Illinois

George Stanford

The name George Stanford may be familiar to fans of the band he formed in Philly called Townhall. After the band split up, Stanford went to LA, City of Dreamers and Rock Stars in search of the elusive deal. Well, he deservedly got one. He signed an initial deal with Epic Records however, the corporate record company world being as fucked up as it is, a shake-up took him to the revitalized Mercury Records. Good news is that George has an EP out on Smash Records (I think they're an indie-in-disguise-as-a-major) with a record coming either by the end of this year or early next.

Stanford's always been a soul-singer at heart who can sound a little like Paul Simon and the songs on his EP are outstanding. Here's one of them from his myspace page and one from his old days with Townhall.

Let's Stay Here - George Stanford

Night Patrol - Townhall

Tickley Feather

I'm intriqued by Tickley Feather (real name: Annie Sachs) whose electronica is hypnotic and lush and gorgeous and all the other things hipsterindieposeur bloggers would say about some new band from Iceland or Scandanavia somewhere only that Tickley's from Philly which is about as close to Ice as we'll ever get to Iceland and we're darn proud of it. But I will tell you that Tickley's got much more than just ice. The girl's got vision and some twisted beats inside her cold cold heart.

You may have seen Tickley open for Panda Bear here in Philly and she's about to head out on the road opening for Animal Collective. Right now, Ms Feather has a limited, yet excellent amount of music avaialble including a split 7-inch single on Badmaster Records, a couple of songs on another split single on CNP Records

Natural - Tickley Feather

The Python - Tickley Feathers

Tickley - "Sex Face"

Philebrity has a foggy notion

It's a candy. It's a gum. It's a party. It's Philebrity's Foggy Notion. Phileb's Joey Sweeney has got on the surface what looks like a cool idea in a 24 hour party people kind of way - DJ's and livemusichipsterindierock.

Tonight (hey, that's tonight!), the Notion throws down at Silk City with Dark Horse And The Carousels and on Sept 13th it's the newly signed to XL Records New York indierock sensations Vampire Weekend. WOW!

Foggy Notion Party Trailer No. 1 from Philebrity and Vimeo.

The Break Up - The Trouble With Sweeney

Lima Research Society

Thankfully, without the aid of any drug-induced personality change enhancers, I have fallen giddily in love with the Lima Research Society. LRS are a four piece from New Jersey (Lima, Ellen, Michael and Chris) which is close enough to Philly for Blogadelphonic. They remind me of a cross between Schoolhouse Rock, The Flaming Lips, The Banana Splits, Animal Collective, the lighter side of Paul McCartney and are playful, hyper-melodic and just plain fun.

If you like this song, you'll love their new EP which you should buy here. I promise you'll want to cuddle up with this along with your webkinz at night.

Magic Juice Box - Lima Research Society



LRS's myspace