Up-and-coming local emcee, Mic Stewart is opening up for southern rappers Big Sant, Slim Thug and Big K.R.I.T. tonight at The Blockley. The 22-year-old rapper has been working hard at his craft for 10 years now, and is quickly becoming one of the most prominent figures in the Philly hip hop scene. Stewart’s accomplishments include sharing the stage with Inspectah Deck, opening for the Legendary Roots Crew and Earth, Wind & Fire, and receiving regular radio play on 100.3 the Beat and Hot 107.9. Most recently, Mic Stew won the national Red Bull “EmSee Competition” in May, which was judged by headliner Big K.R.I.T., DJ Premier (of Gang Starr) and David Banner. He was also awarded $10,000 and the opportunity to collaborate with the producer of his choice at the Red Bull Studio in Los Angeles as well as some serious bragging rights. So come out and witness Stewart’s energetic live show before he drops his first official album, All Good Things, this spring. The Blockley, 3801 Chestnut St., 9 pm, $20, 21+ (Jeremy Deputat) - Dan Brightcliffe
For those who decide whether to come or go based on the first forty seconds of an album, Restorations’ LP2 is practically tailor-made for snap judgments. After a chiming, anthemic guitar opening, the band already known for fist-raising jams lets all hell break loose with “D,” their most unrestrained opener yet. The drum kit-mauling, earth-shaking bass lines and ascendant guitar riffs can only be described as complete sensory overload, and make it clear that the following eleven songs are going to be fueled by pure viscera. If your preferences run towards structure over huge sound, this release may leave you cold; LP2’s predominant means of exploring the band’s wealth of ideas are stadium-sized instrumentation and endless waves of atmospherics, as well as a dose of ennui.
This is a murkier, more inward-looking Restorations than we’re used to. Everything that was there before, musically, is blown sky-high this time around. They’ve managed to pack ideas into every iota of the song list, aided by Jon Low’s miles-deep production; the density of the music itself is offset by an album-long meditation on place, belonging, and the ramifications of leaving the familiar behind, which makes the outsized sound that much more of an interesting direction. Juxtaposing the existential discomfort with more sophisticated, complex forays into Restorations’ sonic wheelhouse.
The spiraling guitars, one of the album’s specially prominent features, are everywhere, serving various purposes in each song. “Kind of Comfort”’s jittery glam rock aspirations accompany lyrics of searching and wanderlust. Even the more downbeat cuts (“In Perpetuity Through The Universe,” “New Old”) are propelled beyond their subject matter by the songs’ barely-concealed restless energy. At its more pensive moments, like the folk-inflected “Civil Inattention,” there is a restless undercurrent of texture and volatility that never quite lets up.
Album closer “Adventure Tortoise” is all monster buildup laced with extraterrestrial effects, kicking off into a sort of requiem for the band’s neighborhood. “I’d really like to stay to help this place,” growls Jon Loudon through his teeth, but the allure of letting it all go is too strong to resist. The longing for a place “where nobody knows your name” isn’t quite all-consuming enough to inspire real action, but it is definitely the new paradigm Loudon means.
It takes guts to pull off a release that feels ten minutes long but contains more emotional and musical texture than most records. Restorations cover a whole lot of ground on LP2, and for the most part, pull off their ambitions. A bit too sanguine for shoegaze, and maybe too heady for punk, Restorations’ second full-length album brings an intriguing palette of aspirations to their open road-ready sound, prepared to try anything and everything. - Alyssa Greenberg
