Or, at least, a lot of it.

The other day I had the privilege of seeing Mannequin Pussy, whom I’ve previously described on this blog as the most important rock artist right now, play Bowery Electric in Brooklyn. I had seen them in concert once before, in college, (my first mosh pit!) with a friend of mine who is much cooler than me, after a different friend who is much cooler than me saw them in 2016 and put me on to their music.

The show was perfect; they’re incredible performers, they run a good pit, and I Got Heaven is their greatest album so far. It’s the kind of concert that makes you feel so happy to be in the right place at the right time.

They leaned in to the cathartic quality of punk music, talking at length about the fucked-up-ness of our world right now, and how they wish they could do more to fix it, but instead they can offer us a moment of escape. That’s what unites us all in the audience: wishing we could fix the fucked-up-ness; being mad that we can’t, mad that things are this way in the first place; and coming together to scream and jump around about it. Nazi punks fuck off, and all that.

Speaking of screaming, their opener, Soul Glo, sure knows how to scream. They are also from Philly, they also really rock, they also made me feel honored and excited to be in the right place at the right time. I wasn’t familiar with their music before this concert. Even though I bought the tickets a while ago, I usually don’t study up on opening acts before a show anymore because I love the life-changing dual experience of listening to a great band for the first time and seeing a great band live for the first time. At the same time.

I loved the energy they brought, I love what they’re doing for the genres they engage with (Screamo, Hip-Hop, Punk), I love seeing talented people loudly scream and shred on their instruments for 45 minutes straight. What’s not to love?

Mannequin Pussy’s completely sold-out (!!) tour is wrapping up with three nights in Philly right now, but if you didn’t get a chance to see them this time, you’re in luck – they’re going to Europe for the summer, and then they’re going to do a whole other American leg in the fall. So, check out their music if you haven’t already, and then go ahead and buy a ticket before they sell out again. My personal favorite records of theirs are I Got Heaven, Control EP, and Romantic. But Patience is the album that got me hooked initially, especially the song “Drunk II.”

On a separate note, the past few weeks I’ve been obsessively re-visiting the music of another Philly legend, Remember Sports, particularly their latest full-length album, Like A Stone. This one came out in 2021, when I was still in college, shortly before I finally got the Covid vaccine and therefore was still holed up in my room taking Zoom classes most of the time. I would take walks around my college town – er, college suburb – listening to music, seeing neighborhoods that were just a stone’s throw (sorry) from my school but that I had never explored pre-pandemic when I was too busy with clubs and parties to venture off campus much.

The first thing I knew about Like A Stone when I listened to it at the time, and the lasting impression I still have of it, is that this album is immortal. It’s not often that I hear music and immediately know that many decades from now, I will still be listening to it. Like A Stone will be remembered forever, hopefully by many people, but at the very least by me and anybody who wants to feel like they really know me.

I’ve been pestering my very patient girlfriend about this album incessantly. When I’m listening to “Easy” for the fifth time in a day and raving about Remember Sports to her, I explain that I will play this album for my kids someday and tell them that this is what music was like when I was in college, or I tell her that she really needs to see them live ASAP because they have been together for over a decade already, or I ask if she would be willing to go to Philly one of these weekends when they are doing a show because I would really like to see them live again ASAP.

My point is, this album is perfect. It’s catchy in the good way while also being deeply personal, a combination that makes me feel as though the record has fused itself into my being, and like the stories in these songs have become my own memories. All of the band members are so talented; Carmen’s voice never fails to blow me away.

I’ll wrap this post up without trying to tie it into some greater theme because the goal here is just to share some music recommendations and the theme is simply that Philadelphia has the best music scene in the world, to me. I’m sad to be missing West Philly porchfest again this year, but someday I will go, and nobody will be able to understand why I’m freaking out about finally being there. Except for you guys, if this post has done its job.