by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: A Sunny Day in Glasgow - Ashes Grammar / Ashes Maths (MP3)

For more weekend picks from me (Fiery Furnaces, Yellow Fever), check out This Week in Indie Pt 1.

I think my top pick for Saturday has to be That Petrol Emotion at the Bell House, their first NYC show in 15 years. (You can get a ticket here.) One of the '80s more underrated bands, TPE were the band formed when Feargal Sharkey left the Undertones and most of the rest of the band carried on together with new singer Steve Mack. 1986's Manic Pop Thrill (the title's an apt description of the music, too) is one of the best albums of that year, and 1987's more ambitious, politically-minded Babble spawned what is probably the band's best-known song, "Big Decision."

Sean O'Neil left after 1988's End of the Millennium Psychosis Blues and the band became a little more straightforward alt-pop and laid off the politics lyrically, but still delivered some great hooky singles. As I said previously, I caught them at SXSW earlier this year and they're still an amazingly energetic live band, especially Steve Mack who is as wiry and manic as he was back in the day. Fans should expect a set heavy on the last two albums (1990's Chemicrazy and 1993's Fireproof) but as Bell House booker Skippy is a huge Babble fan, I'm hoping he has coerced them into adding a few of that album's more amazing tracks ("Creeping to the Cross" and "Swamp") to the mix.

Opening for TPE will be The Mad Scene (Clean drummer Hamish Kilgour's long-running NYC band) and the debut of The Forgery Series which is a solo project from Obits guitarist (and big That Petrol Emotion fan, and old friend of mine) Sohrab Habibion. Some of you may remember Sohrab's '90s band, Edsel, who were one of my favorites from the '90s DC scene. (Factoid: Edsel started the Desoto label that ended up being run by Kim Colleta and other members of Jawbox.) The Forgery Series are new songs from him that don't exactly fit the Obits mold, and he's gathered an all-star band to help him out: old DC pal Michael Hampton, who was in S.O.A., One Last Wish and Manifesto; Radio 4 bassist Anthony Roman (Radio 4); and Joe Newton who drummed for Gas Huffer. Who knows when or if they'll play again (pretty sure they're just doing this for the fun of it) but should be interesting.

A Sunny Day in Glasgow

Also this weekend, Philadelphia's A Sunny Day in Glasgow are in town playing Saturday at Union Hall and Sunday at Le Poisson Rougue. Their new album, Ashes Grammar, is one of the year's more overlooked albums (it got an 8.3 on P4K but not Best New Music), it's a 22-track ethereal wonder, with songs flowing into interstitial soundscapes and back again. (It reminds me a lot of Slowdive's 1995 album Pygmalion.) Maybe not the best record for picking a song for a mix CD, but as a cohesive listening experience, it's gorgeous. Since making the album, the band went through a state of flux when they decided to tour, losing both singers Robin and Lauren Daniels, resulting in a worldwide search to fill their void. They settled on Jen Goma who, along with Annie Fredrickson, are now fronting the group. Will be curious to see them attempt to recreate the album's sonic miasma in a live setting.

Videos and tour dates after the jump.

Continue reading "That Petrol Emotion, Sohrab Habibion, A Sunny Day in Glasgow & more in This Week in Indie (part 2) "

by Bill Pearis

There's always one band at SXSW that makes you do a double-take when you see them on the schedule. For me it was That Petrol Emotion, who were popular in the late '80s (on college radio at least) and broke up in 1994. They were the band the O'Neil brothers of The Undertones formed when Feargal Sharkey left in 1983, recruiting Seattleite Steve Mack for vocals. The crowd to see them in at 1AM was sparse, but included Bell House / Union Hall booker Skippy, Britt Daniel and Andrew Bird. Sound was a bit of a mess, but the band played great - vocalist Steve Mack was still manic as ever, and they played my favorite TPE song, "It's a Good Thing."

That Petrol Emotion were one of my favorite shows at SXSW this year, and now the they'll be back in the U.S. playing The Bell House on December 12. This will be TPE's first New York show in 15 years -- tickets are already on sale. It's their only upcoming U.S. show as of this writing. While the SXSW set I saw focused mainly on the band's more straightforward final two albums (1990's Chemicrazy and 1993's Fireproof), I'm hoping the Bell House folks will try and get them to break out some of TPE's jagged early stuff like "V2" (from their essential first album Manic Pop Thrill) or "Creeping to the Cross" (from 1986's Babble).

Some classic TPE videos, plus footage from that SXSW show, are below...

Continue reading "That Petrol Emotion are playing NYC (++ video from SXSW ++)"

by Bill Pearis

I saw upwards of 50 bands during the four days of SXSW. These were the most memorable. I think.

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1. Pete and the Pirates (Emo's Annex, 3.20.2009)

Easily the best band I saw at SxSW this year. Of course, as their album Little Death made my Best of 2008, I already had a predilection to like them but Pete and the Pirates so nailed their great songs live -- the harmonies, the guitar interplay, everything -- that I just had a big grin on my face the whole time. My only regret: not seeing them more than once.

Continue reading "Bill's Top 10 SXSW 2009 highlights (with pics, videos)"