“A folk collective of oddballs, loons and hooligans via West Philadelphia” - that’s the description that appears on the Bandcamp page of On the Water. Originally, the solo side project of Fletcher VanVliet, the frontman for weirdo avante-rock outfit Da Comrade! and Chernobyl Collective conspirator, has amassed members from other artistic walks of life and local music acts like TJ Kong and the Atomic Bomb, Ghost Light, etc. to expand to a full-blown eight-piece tour de force with VanVliet (acoustic guitar and vocals), Dan Martino (accordion and vocals), Morgan Jamison (toy piano and vocals), Barrett Lindgren (drums), Stephen Landis (violin), Robin Carine (electric guitar and vocals), Taylor Jamison (bass), and Sean Cox (banjo). 

South Philly’s Lushlife a.k.a. Raj Haldar has returned with the follow-up to his impressive sophmore album Cassette City. In his new mixtape No More Golden Days, the local emcee/producer continues to effortlessly find common ground for his multitude of influences melding a cornucopia of flavors into a delectable stew that has its tasters coming back for seconds and more.

Far-Out Fangtooth recently released their first full-length album Pure & Disinterested via Siltbreeze Records. It’s been an interesting and rewarding journey watching the local four-piece evolve from their early days as a garage band with seemingly a little more attitude and style than knowledge of their craft to a much tighter gothic art-punk unit exploring the experimental realms of post-punk and psych-rock. The pathway of their evolution was hinted in their debut 7” from Ian Records. In Pure & Disinterested, you’ll find a maturation of that sound, but it also manages to capture the spirit of the disenchanted masses who once felt isolated and disconnected from their surroundings and sought refuge in the music and culture of 80’s punk and 90’s grunge.

Slave Ambient starts with a buzz and a warm, acoustic hum that swells into something reminiscent of the Broken Social Scene’s glory days. The latest effort by Philly four-piece, the War on Drugs, sonically fits into Secretly Canadian’s aesthetic, striking the same emotive chord as label mates Throw Me the Statue or Here We Go Magic. A cohesive fusion between indie pop and what feels like lo-fi folk, the hybridity of their sophomore LP release amplifies the War On Drugs’ ability to create lyrical texture and sound.

The alum’s opener, “Best Night,” is subtle and unfolds cathartic. A tempered mix of vocals and instrumentation frame the core appeal of the song. It is honest, lush, and memorable, much like lead vocalist Adam Granduciel’s diction. Effortlessly, “Best Night” eases into the following track, “Brothers.” Atmospheric wind premises jangly chords that seem to drip with harmonization. Granduciel’s delivery brings to mind Bob Dylan or a young Lou Reed, rendering the song into an apt anthem for autumn in the wake of summer’s decline. “I Was There” slides in with rustic distortion and vibrant melodies that swoon romantic to the tune of its harmonica and twangy riffs while “Your Love Is Calling My Name,” with its almost instantaneous tempo and rushing sounds, resembles the cinematic feel of traffic or the brilliance of a city skyline at dusk. The shift from “The Animator” to “Come to the City” is flawless and organic, occurring without a shred of disconnect or dissonance. Latter tracks like “It’s Your Destiny” glisten and feel prophetic with echoey vocals and persistent beats, making instrumental cuts like “City Reprise” feel like a less strung out AnCo laced with the skill of a psyched out Mogwai. “Baby Missiles” harbors a pop-friendly charm while “Original Slave” is an introspective revisioning of melodies rampant throughout the album’s length. Closing with “Blackwater,” the War On Drug’s Slave Ambient stands as a testament to earnest longings and the band’s prolific potential from start to end.

It may have been an excruciatingly long wait for the full-length follow-up to Wagonwheel Blues, but one that is worthy to be treasured. You can purchase Slave Ambient via Secretly Canadian HERE. - Dianca Potts

No, he isn’t a “hologram,” Mister Heavenly is out there…well, at least as a band. The three-piece is made up of indie rock veterans, guitarist/vocalist Nick Thorburn (Islands/ Unicorns), keyboardist/vocalist Ryan Kattner a.k.a. Honus Honus (Man Man), and drummer Joe Plummer (Modest Mouse/The Shins). Mister Heavenly self-describe their sound as “doom wop”, a new genre that they are pioneering on their debut full-length Out of Love. The “doom” part comes from the record’s strange dark lyrical themes, such as a “bronx sniper” and the creepy correspondence between a 10 year old girl and former Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega as well as the fascination with ill-fated romance as the album’s title suggests, whereas the “wop” derives from the poppy doo-wop based song structures and vocal harmonies between Kattner and Thorburn found over the LP’s 12 songs. The trio truly has a sound unique to themselves, although there are fragments of each member’s other groups dispersed throughout Out of Love’s sonic landscape. Another important factor into the album’s sound is the fact that the trio recorded and mixed the entire full-length in 12 days, the old-fashioned way on analog tape without the aid of modern recording technology, which gives the songs the warmth and familiarity of listening to your parent’s old vinyl records and creates an interesting duality between the new, but also vintage sounds of the LP.

The band from the Philly ‘burbs Hair Rocket has taken a Cheap Trick-gone-to-etiquette-school route in their newly released debut LP Punishment Cookie. Out on collective indie label Mountebank Records, the follow-up to 2009’s Novelty EP is an energized collection of greaser punk glam rock power pop. The threesome, whose band is named after the act of launching locks of hair into the sky for a “subversive enlightenment through cathartic art,” has created an album far easier to grasp than their thought-provoking alias. The 11-track recording is downright catchy without compromising the band’s significant sense of distinctiveness. Hair Rocket tactfully lets loose keyed-up rock inspired by the ghosts of 60s mod (as in clap-ridden, Strokes-inspired, pop-hook laden lead single “OK Alright”), 70s punk, 80s pop and 90s cheese…without rubbing your face in it.