February looks to be a great month to play spectator at some of Philly’s excellent music venues.
With Kelela, Jay Electronica and the Philly Loves Dilla DJs playing at some of the city’s top spots this month, you have plenty of reasons to get out and enjoy a show (or three).
Read about this month’s biggest shows below.
Jay Electronica
Beginning with his rise as a mid-2000s Internet phenom, New Orleans born hip-hop artist Jay Electronica has built a career that's kept everyone guessing, from his fans to fellow collaborators like Jay-Z. While his debut record Act II: Patents of Nobility (The Turn), has reportedly been finished for years now, he's still not ready to release it. That seems OK for his fans, who are just excited that he's releasing singles and performing live.
George Clinton & Parliament Funkadelic
George Clinton revolutionized funk music by injecting his vibrant personality — fueled by his love of experimental music, life and culture — into his work with Parliament Funkadelic. His songs piece together influences from '60s psychedelic songwriters, jazz, spoken word poetry and heavily synthesized machine music. His career has spanned decades, and outside of his musicianship, his stage presence is part of the reason.
George Clinton & Parliament Funkadelic
Yung Lean & Sad Boys
Yung Lean comes to Philly with Sad Boys, the group that helped him rise to international status in the cloud rapper scene. The Swedish rapper's melancholy rhymes helped drive the genre, which is more reflective of early '00s singer-songwriters like Conor Oberst and Elliott Smith than the rap music of the same decade. Case in point: Listen to the lo-fi, piano-driven Agony and you can almost hear Smith singing over the track.
Yung Lean & Sad Boys
Philly Loves Dilla 6th Annual Party
Donuts rapper and producer J. Dilla is extremely influential. Professional crate diggers hope to find him, hip-hop artists and producers try to emulate him and, of course, Philly loves him. It's no wonder that 12 years after his death, this party in his honor is still going strong.
Philly Loves Dilla 6th Annual Party
Creepoid
After nearly a decade, Philly shoegaze group Creepoid is calling it quits. Three of its four members plan on forming a new group, but all are in agreement that this show is the last one where they'll perform any of the 44 songs — some heavy rock, some fuzzy psych, some intimate and beautiful — that they've recorded together over the years.
Creepoid
BØRNS
Garrett Borns is a beautiful person with a beautiful voice and an undeniable flair for crafting catchy synth-pop songs. (Try not to fall in love with Electric Heart from his 2015 debut, Dopamine). This year, Philly's own Public Cinema Club followed the singer to the West Coast to film funny videos to promote his new album. A sense of humor and ties to Philly? What a package.
K. Michelle
With this year's release, Kimberly: The People I Used To Know, the award-winning singer K. Michelle follows up her No. 1 Billboard R&B record with one that's equal parts bold, raw, honest and beautiful. Of the 21 tracks, Alert sounds like an update for the singer, and one that's just as powerful as the soulful songs for which she's known.
K. Michelle
Bone Thugs-N-Harmony
Iconic '90s hip-hop group Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, who quickly rose to fame after the release of their (quite literally) harmonious first album, has had a few setbacks over the years, but they're back for the ultimate #TBT. Head to The Ardmore Music Hall to sing along to 1st of Tha Month and Tha Crossroads.
Bone Thugs-N-Harmony
Soulection Radio Tour with Joe Kay
Soulection co-founder and DJ Joe Kay is coming to Philly and bringing his radio show to life. His artist collective, Soulection, has become an unstoppable force in the music and party scene through his legendary globe-spanning parties and the release of records by some of the most promising up-and-coming hip-hop singers, artists and producers of the decade.
Soulection Radio Tour with Joe Kay
Kelela
Somehow, Kelela's latest record, 2017's Take Me Apart, is sexier and more hypnotic than her 2015 breakout album. The singer's ability to fuse classic R&B vocals with catchy, electro-pop beats makes her music extraordinary — think the most precise, laid back club music you could ever hear.
Rhye
R&B duo Rhye has been crafting bright, elegant melodies for years, starting with two songs — The Fall and Open — which were first released online with little information behind the shockingly gorgeous falsetto featured within. Later, both tracks made it onto the group's 2013 debut, Woman. The band release Blood, its sophomore record, February 2.
A$AP Ferg
As a rapper, clothing designer and A$AP mob mogul, Ferg doesn't go anywhere without putting on a show.
Leave a comment directly on the blog