City Of Brotherly Love
* Brother JT: This Is The Life (4.5 mb) | Oh Mother (6 mb) | Live Better Electrically (4.5 mb)
From Rainy Day Fun : Drunken Fish Records : DFR30
For no real reason, I’ve been thinking more and more of moving to Philadelphia. It’s kind of weird because I’ve never been there, don’t really know all that much about the city, and yet I’ve always been kind of obsessed with Philly. Here’s some of the reasons (not that y’all really care, right?)
1) First and foremost, the Philly Cheese Steak
2) Affordable
3) Proximity to New York City (hour and a half by train??)
4) Sun Ra was there.
5) History of great soul music.
and
6) A great music scene.
And one of my favorites from Philly (well, very close by) is Brother JT. Brother JT originally cut his teeth in a 60’s garage rock inspired band called the Original Sins. They released a bunch of albums over a number of years before deciding to call it quits. I heard about him when he decided to start a band called Brother JT & Vibrolux (RIP). Now that was an incredibly drug addled psychedelic rock band. The first time I heard them on “music for the other head”, I was blown away. The very first song on that album is a 20+ minute song that starts out with a great beefheart-ian chant: the comets will come > the comets will come > cooome > coome yeah.
He, at the same time, was releasing records and playing under the Brother JT moniker and continuing on in more of a drug addled psychedelic folk vein. These tracks are from that side of him. And I think they’re fantastic rainy day pop songs.
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Jimi C said,
February 19, 2005 @ 5:44 am
Don’t. Do. It.
I grew up in the greater Philadelphia Area.
I love the greater Philadelphia Area.
I will never go back to greater Philadelphia Area.
It is a tortuous cesspool of idiocy. Spare yourself before it’s too late… the music scene in any-city-other-than-that-in-which-you-live is always “great”… Trust me. Philly music sux with a capital “s” and “x” (so it actually SuX!!!!!)…
Unless it’s the late 60’s to the mid 70’s, then it’s pretty cool…
I bleed Phillies red and would give my eye teeth for a cheesesteak right now, but no way I ever live in that city again…
Jimi C in Seattle
Jimi C said,
February 19, 2005 @ 5:46 am
Oh, PS…
I saw the Original Sins in 89ish open for the Replacements… they were transcendent… JT ripped/rips..
cb said,
February 19, 2005 @ 8:40 pm
So, Philly is really that bad, huh? Man, I’ve honestly heard lots of great things about it, and lot’s of not so great things, but you’re the first person who’s reacted so strongly. Eh, it’s definitely something that, if it happens, will happen in the not too near future…
I’ve never gotten the chance to hear Brother JT, but can imagine that he/they’d be absolutely incredible.
-cb
DigitalDjigit said,
February 25, 2005 @ 8:23 pm
The only place which is a bigger shithole than Baltimore is Philly. But it almost definitely has a better music scene.