MAY WHINE: TEQUILA SUNRISE RECORDS IN THE FISHTOWN STAR

050108 TEQUILA SUNRISE RECORDS IN THE FISHTOWN STAR

---

here’s the unedited version of the column we submitted to the fishtown star…



MAY WHINE

Johhny Brenda’s is supposed to be the epicenter of NoLib/Fishtown Hip. We’ve never checked it out, but we hear they get a lot of good bands! We’re gonna hafta go down there on Thursday, May 1st, though, when Jack Rose returns to town. What can we say about Jack Rose that hasn’t already been said? That he’s eight feet tall, that he hammered through that tunnel faster than a steam-drill, and that he founded Fishtown – all in one day! Plus, he plays guitar, and he’ll be whipping that box at JB’s as he has from coast to coast and across the pond. With him on the bill are D. Charles Speer & the Helix (NNCK-affiliated downer singer-songwriters) and Randall of Nazareth (former Pearls and Brass guitarist and bassist for Pissed Jeans), so all in all it’ll be a pretty acoustic evening, and no real need to bring your earplugs.

You might need ‘em Tuesday May 20 (at 8:30 sharp, and also at Johnny Brenda’s), when KTL rolls into town. They take their name from Mahler’s “Kindertotenlieder” (songs on the death of children) but don’t expect classical romanticism. Expect “extreme computer music,” “drone-doom,” and “dark ambient.” KTL features Stephen O’Malley of SunnO))) and Khanate on guitar, with Peter Rehberg, the avant-click computer-noise whiz also known as PITA. Expect to be overwhelmed by sound.

Heroic noise titan Hiroshi Hasegawa will unpack his synth at Big Jar Books, on Wednesday May 21st at 8 pm. He’s headlined at Brooklyn’s NO FUN festival in the past, but this will mark his first appearance in Philadelphia. Prior outfits he’s participated in include Astro and South Saturn Delta, as well as the legendary C.C.C.C. (Cosmic Coincidence Control Center). As Wikipedia will tell you: “Astro's music is made using a Moog synthesizer and covers a wide range of styles in the experimental psychedelic music field, from space music to psychedelically tinged harsh noise.” Noise? Noice! Along with Astro on the bill, _____ will perform; another in a series of seemingly endless permutations of the infinitely elastic Bardo Pond collective. BTW: Big Jar Books (on 2nd Street in Old City) has long been a whistle-stop on the American sub-underground railroad, and if those philobiblists would bother to update their website’s calendar to something more recent than March, there’s prolly a lot more interesting things coming up on the radar down there. Nice list of all the cool shows you’ve already missed, though!

I guess we’re not going to be able to get out of this column without making a note of one more show at Johnny Brenda’s: Kurt Vile and the Violator’s CD release party on Thursday, May 8. K.V.’s crazed Dylanesque psychedelic folk-rock noise thing is worth checking out. Opening acts include geezers King of Siam (not Bhumibol Rama IX of Thailand, the world's longest serving monarch, but Philadelphia’s longest-serving garage-prog band) and Meg Baird (of Espers fame, and whose first solo release was on Tequila Sunrise, though we haven’t kept up with her subsequent output).

Stanley Milgram,
Tequila Sunrise Records

Tequila Sunrise Records is a record label and shop located at 525 w. Girard Avenue. Their most recent release is a double cd by Jack Rose entitled Dr. Ragtime And His Pals.
For more info please go to www.tequilasunriserecords.com