2024: A Year in Philly Music
The hits keep coming.
Hello from the 215/610. Happy New Year.
Last list of the year.
‘Twas a big year for Philly bands in 2024 - Mannequin Pussy, Tierra Whack, a band called Snacktime, a folksinger named Brittany Ann Tranbaugh, Mt. Joy’s world domination, Julia Pratt’s ascendence, a slightly distorted power-pop band called 2nd Grade, and a whole lotta indie musical excellence rolled out of the music scene here. And of course, let’s not forget The Philly Specials house band, a got damn hot bed of Philly session player excellence including Charlie Hall (The War On Drugs), the amazing Eliza Hardy Jones (The War On Drugs), Mt. Joy, Devon Gilfillian, Rob & Eric from The Hooters, James Poyser (The Roots), jazz saxophonist Immanuel Wilkins, Nick Krill on the producing ones and twos, DM Hotep, Kevin Hanson, Luke Carlos O’Reilly, and many more. Big ups to the Specials, and to Jason, Lane & Jordan - they’ve lifted Philly in ways off the field, also. Go Birds.
Being born and raised here, and having seen the Philly music scene through 5 decades of greatness, I’m happy to report that the sounds of Philly are as rockin’ in goodness as they have ever rocked. And I’m talkin’ not just “rock” broadly (cause I am and it includes the “indie” scene), but in jazz, hip-hop, R&B, and the hard to define but you know-it-when-you-hear-it folk/Americana continuum.
How awesome was Philly this year? Well. Naming names means I’m gonna leave some out, so apologies to those of you who have I overlooked. That being said, here’s some highlights:
Big year for Mannequin freaking Pussy if you haven’t freaking noticed. About a month (in February) before the band’s record was released (in March) MP played WXPN’s weekly Free At Noon concert. The show was magical and explosive and after experiencing some of the new material live my colleagues and I from ‘XPN knew this record was gonna kick some ass. It did. They do.
Eliza Hardy Jones, touring keyboardist/singer and guitarist w/ The War On Drugs released a beautiful singer-songwriter record, Pickpocket.
Dr. Dog drummer Eric Slick stepped out from behind the kit and released a kick ass record, New Age Rage, that was equal parts Miami Vice rock and Robert Palmer slickness. A followup, Rage Unplugged included three stripped down versions of songs from the lp with his pals Devon Gilfillian, Madison Cunningham and Kevin Morby.
Speaking of the Dog, not to be overlooked is the new self-titled lp by Dr. Dog.
Singer-songwriter Brittany Ann Tranbaugh might’ve been the hardest workin’ Philly based musician this year. Brittany didn’t release an album in ‘24 (check out her EP from September of ‘23), but worked hard at touring and equally as important helping to build and nurture Philly’s amazing singer-songwriter community (we see you Sug Daniels, Emily Drinker, Sam Rise, Grace Gardener, etc.) Thank you Brittany for doing so much to uplift the scene that you are a part of.
If you’re a fan of Joe Cocker, you’ll want to check out the solo debut from a cat named Owen Stewart. Active in the local music scene for about a decade, Owen made a record many of us refer to as Mad Dogs and Philadelphians.
Players of the Year: Pat Berkery, Pat Finnerty, Hannah Taylor, Jillian Taylor, Ross Bellenoit (everything that guy touches is gold!), Snacktime.
The “Don’t Call It A Comeback He’s Been Here For Years” Awards go to John Faye and Reef.
Kayla Childs performs as Black Buttafly and if 70s funk & r&b filtered through a kaleidoscope of Sly, Patrice Rushen, Herbie’s Headhunters and The Soulquarians is your thing, Kayla and the band just bring it. Go see this live.
Super amazing guitarist Chris Forsyth put a bunch of energy into his instrumental kool thang this year called BASIC, but let me tell you: His Neil Young tribute band, Coca Leaves and Pearls (with some members of Florry) is the fucking bee’s knees.
If you don’t yet know who jazz drummer Nazir Ebo is, then wtf you waiting for? You can catch him playing drums on this Tiny Desk Concert w/ Joshua Redman, and on this live EP by Salami Rose Joe Louis. I’ve had the pleasure of seeing him in multiple (genre) musical settings and to put it simply, he’s mind blowing to listen to and watch.
Christmas day delivered an indie rock gift from Yung Sham and the Curiosities, a sort of lo-fi-ish collection of quirky yet super melodic pop tunes featuring Francie of Florry on guitar, Tom Kelly on drums, Sam Silbert on bass/sampler/drum programming (and others).
2nd Grade made an outstanding power pop record.
Khalil Amaru won XPN’s Song Challenge and he’s emerged as an R&B force to be reckoned with.
Looking ahead to the Two-Five: a new lp by Florry, a new full length from the hold-steady-meets-’mats rock and rollers The Tisburys, Corey Bernhard’s jazz fusion debut (nice work on the Colbert gig, by the way), and guitarist Kristin Daelyn. Maybe we’ll get that new Roots record that Quest says they been working on.
While it might seem like I know wtf is happening in the Philly music scene, I don’t know as much as this guy, John Vettese. He’s the King.
Now, here’s some music.
See you at a show.
I'm really looking forward to that Tisburys record!