.pre-orders, glorious pre-orders

 Thought I'd share some of the items I recently pre-ordered. First is Crystal Fairy. Crystal Fairy is a side-band project that contains members of The Melvins, At The Drive-In, and front woman Teri GB from Le Butcherettes. Their debut album "Drugs on the Bus" drops February 24th! You can check out some of their songs on band-camp as a sneak peek. 

Garbage is releasing a coffee-table picture book called "This is the Noise That Keeps me Awake." It features live-shots, behind-the-scenes images, portraits, as well stories from the four on their journey as a band. If you have the money to shell out (and I mean over $100) you can get a signed copy and 7". The book drops on July 4th. I'm really excited for this as I'm seeing Garbage this summer with Blondie on the Rage and Rapture Tour.

Those PWR BTTM kids can take all my money. Their new album "Pageant" drops May 12th. On their website you can choose from different bundles as well as different colored vinyl! I choose the starburst vinyl so I'm curious to see what that looks like. Of course it won't be anything short of amazing! Being an insane pin collector I picked up the Ben and Liv pins as well as the Ben and Liv magnets. You can change their outfit and accessories! Wha?! How fun! I will probably buy more merch come June when I see them in concert again.

Saw this on Jennifer Clavin's (Bleached) Twitter last night. The zine is $12 and came out to less than $20 with shipping. All of the proceeds go to Planned Parenthood. It's titled "Can You Deal?" and features a compilation from many different artists: Julien Baker, Suzi Gardner/Donita Sparks, Alice Glass, Allie Hanlon, Kate Nash, Liz Phair, JD Samson, Patty Schemel, Mish Way, Allison Wolfe, Tegan Quin, and many more. It deals with the annoying question many women (especially Sleater-Kinney) have mentioned time and time again they are sick of answering, "What is it like to be a girl in a rock band?" I'm really interested in reading this.

.vinylmeplease april and may haul

Killing two birds with one stone I present my April and May hauls from Vinyl Me Please. Since so many albums were very festive in color, how could I not capture their awesomeness by taking photos below?!

 Here is my April haul. It consisted of the Album of the Month which was Fugees: The Score. Freshman year of high school? How could I not love it?! Other albums included the new Bleached (looks like a cookie dunked in milk), Parquet Courts, Black Mountain (green vinyl), Explosions in the Sky (clear vinyl with geometric shapes), Yeasayer, and Sufjan Steven's anniversary release of Illinoise (the one album is in the shape of a star - red, white and blue!) Check out all of the radness below....

Here is May's haul. The album of the month being Weezer's "Pinkerton." An album I did not appreciate as much in the past but now I have a strong liking for. The album is marbled blue with black and the inside of the sleeve is a pop-out! Aesop Rock's albums are neon green and magenta. There is a HUGE poster which folds out to a gargantuan size of stellar artwork. White Lung I will see in August and have heard so much buzz about them, I had to pick up their album. Here are pictures of the albums....

 

.6 concerts 6 days

So yes, I came up with the idea to do six back-to-back shows in 6 days on top of work. Was this a dumb idea? Actually no! I took off of work for a 3-day weekend, spent most of Saturday sleeping in bed to catch up and had the energy of a firecracker for the last show. Instead of doing separate entries it would be easier to just do short, mini-reviews on all six. Ready? Here we go! On Monday The Kills played Union Transfer. I've liked them since 2005 and tend to like their earlier songs. When A&J hit the stage kicking into "No Wow" it took me back. The show was phenominal. Alison has amazing stage energy and presence. Hotel killed it on guitar and used the mic stand to actually shred. I got some pretty amazing shots and I got to catch up with one of my Sleater-Kinney friends and her friend. After I hung around in hopes of getting a set list and it was graciously handed to me. Here are the songs..

NO WOW

URA FEVER

HEART IS A BEATING DRUM

KISSY KISSY

HARD HABIT

DNA (crossed off)

HEART OF A DOG

IMPOSSIBLE TRACKS

BLACK BALLOON

DOING IT TO DEATH

BABY SAYS

WHIRLING EYE

POTS & PANS + MONKEY

TAPE SONG

BITTER FRUIT

SOUR CHERRY

Kim and the Created opened for them. I was not feeling it nor was my friend. However I did like her stage outfit of a fireball cat suit. She crowd surfed a few times and I enjoyed the lights around her guitar. At the merch table I bought the most amazing Kills poster. That is getting framed and hung on my door.

Night #2 was Sheer Mag at my favorite venue, The First Unitarian Church. I love seeing all of the "punk people" as I call them. Because I am a tiny thing I usually don't stand front and center since the pit is alive and well at these kinds of events. The first band was Blank Spell and they were pretty good. The second band was from Ontario called Triage. I really loved them and purchased their album. The third band was Fuck SS. They had some followers there and the pit became more crazy when they performed. Finally Sheer Mag came on. Tina is so great. Since the man in front of me was 6'7" I could barely see and had to get footage on my tip-toes. They are playing again at Phila Moca in May so I'm definitely going. Sadly I do not have a set list from this show so I don't know exactly what was played other than most of the songs off their third EP.

Night #3 was Pins at The Milk Boy. My friend recommended I see this band with her as they opened for a band called The Subways. Waiting in line I ironically met two Sleater-Kinney fans that ironically attended the NY shows since they looked semi-familiar. They claimed they were also there for Pins as well. Pins are from Manchester. They are pop / punk. During their one song "Girls Like Us" they kick into "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun." It was neat to hear. The four of us stood up front and danced the entire time. Faith and Lois came out into the audience a few times to interact with us and it was a blast! They enjoyed us so much they tweeted and wrote on Instagram "Thank you Philly, love all you ladies at the front." We said they basically put on a show just for us. After buying tons of their merchandise we spoke briefly to them and they told us thanks for dancing. Here is their set list...

MOLLY

YOUNG GIRLS

TOO LITTLE

TROUBLE

LUVV4LYF

GET WITH ME

GIRLS LIKE US

MAD FOR YOU

OH LORD

WFTE

DAZED

MISFITS

Night #4 was Bleached at Johnny Brendas. Ironically we did not catch the opening act, went upstairs five minutes before Bleached went on and still nabbed front spots. We loved the stage decor of fake flowers around amps and drums. Very 90s vibey. Their sound is very grungy, California pop. Jennifer was really great and the band as a whole sounded really great live. The girls came close to the end of the stage and in the audience. My favorite song is "Wednesday Night Melody" and I was elated to hear it live. Hitting up the merch stand we bought their coloring book which was just adorable, pins, tee shirts, etc. My friend nabbed some discarded drum sticks on the stage and got those signed by the drummer. Here is the Bleached set list...

TRYIN LOSE

KEEP ON

WEDNESDAY

SLEEPWALKING

SEARCHING

RAMONES

ELECTRIC CHAIR

THINK OF YOU

DESOLATE TOWN

TELEPHONE

CHEMICAL AIR

SOUR CANDY

NEXT STOP

DEAD IN YOUR HEAD

Night #5 Taco Cat from Seattle. My friend was so excited for this show, I was too. It was the first time I've been to Everybody Hits which is a batting cage but it hosts bands which is different and cool. I LOVE feminist girl punk bands. This was stellar. There were 3 opening bands; Audacity, Pujol, and I honestly forget the name of the other. The venue was FREEZING inside so I started to get the chills by the end of the night which sucked majorly. Taco Cat did not go on until midnight and had to cut their set because of curfew issues with the building. Major suckage when they are the headlining band! Damn it. They played some awesome songs as "Hey Girl!" which all the girls in the crowd chanted along to, "I Hate the Weekend" "FDP" and others. Their wardrobe was killer as it consisted of cats, eye stickers, guitar stickers, emoji leggins, and just fabulous attire all around. Their merch was amazing as we bought pretty much everything. We talked to Emily about Kathleen Hanna and the band was so excited about that moment and picture with her. Anyway my friend nabbed a set list, I did not but I'll come back and post what songs they played.

Night #6 Thao and the Get Down Stay Down. With tons of sleep and Dayquil Saturday afternoon I made it. Thao? Twitter was all abuzz about her so I decided to check out her songs. At first it took me a few listens to "A Man Alive" but it clicked and I was hooked. Her lyrics were not really hard to memorize so I was happy to sing along to most of her songs. I met up with some Sleater-Kinney fans from NY that I went to shows with. It was fun. The crowd was great, she was into it. I honestly did not want it to end. The best was at the end she kicked into a cover of Missy Elliot's "Get Your Freak On." There was also audience participation sing-along and just rocking out. At the merch table I bought two of her albums (most recent and We the Common). My friend was very kind to let me have his set list, here are the songs...

EVENING

CITY

DEPARTURE

ASTONISHED MAN

HOLY ROLLER

FOOL FOREVER

AGE OF ICE

SWIMMING POOLS

HAND TO GOD

MILLIONAIRE

EVERYBODY

SLASH/BURN

KINDNESS

BEAT

WHEN WE SWAM

GUTS

NOBODY DIES

M BIRD

GET YR FREAK ON

WE THE COMMON

Apologies if this entry is completely incoherent and my brain is mush trying to articulate how amazing all the shows were. I would probably do this again. A lot of people think I'm nuts but people need to realize, your job is secondary. You need to have fun in life.