We’ve always been a little conflicted about covering Wilmington, DE’s The Spinto Band, but not because we don’t like them. On the contrary, we seriously dig their heartwarming, feel good indie pop. It’s just that The Deli Philly’s mission is to be a resource for Philadelphia area musical artists and fans, and obviously the band being from Wilmington doesn’t exactly fall under that category. However, as our site gets longer in the tooth, it continues to evolve. And we realize that though some acts don’t necessarily live in our beloved city it doesn’t mean that they haven’t invested a lot of their time and energy to help shape the landscape of Philly’s music scene. That’s why we felt like it was about time to open up our borders of coverage a bit to these hard-working, talented acts whose cities aren’t represented by a branch of The Deli. So giving some long overdue love to Philly’s adopted sons The Spinto Band, who will be celebrating the recent release of their latest album Shy Pursuit with a residency every Tuesday night for the rest of this month at Kung Fu Necktie, would be as good of a time as any to start. The Delawarean outfit has also done a nice job of curating the opening slots for each of their evenings. Tonight they’ll be joined by ex-Teeth members’ latest incarnation Purples and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah’s Alec Ounsworth. The Spinto Band has also invited Nightlands, Via Audio, The Extraordinaires, Heyward Howkins, Cheers Elephant and Langor to hang with them this May. Come out and help them kick things off tonight at KFN! But first, check out the band’s adorable music video for their track “Take It” below. Kung Fu Necktie, 1250 N. Front St., 8pm, $8, 21+ - Q.D. Tran
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
