Julia’s War Fest stacked higher than a hoagie

So I was getting jokes off on the Allston Pudding Twitter account for sure, but the truth of the matter is I love the city of Philadelphia (it’s still fuck the Sixers though). There is a certain laid-back, community-oriented vibe to that Philly that sets me at ease the moment I step into the various sandwich joints, dive bars, or Ukranian-American Citizen’s Associations that dot the Brotherly Tunnel of Love or whatever Springsteen was singing about. One thing I love about Philly is that it’s still a place where the freaks and meeks shall inherit the turf, an increasingly rare feat in whatever fucking stage of late capitalism we’re in. Cheap rents, cheap beer, an abundance of spaces to play: these are the tools that helped build a thousand Bandcamp success stories. And yet for a city with such a rich (if somewhat recent) history of explosive indie rock happenings, the general vibe around town does not reek of careerism or ambition so much as mutual love, respect, and admiration. Everyone seems to share band members if not also a similar artistic sensibility, and despite the report to the contrary: not everyone is playing shoegaze.

Julia’s War Recordings, the label headed by They Are Gutting A Body of Water‘s Doug Dulgarian and friends, is a neat snapshot of the moment right now in Philly. Though far from a figurehead (in fact spend virtually any time in the Julia’s War orbit and you’ll hear shouts to literally everyone else doing the work in deference to the greater good), his label and close partnership with the 4333 Collective promotion team has birthed its own kinda in-scene within a scene. The kind of scene where hundreds of heads pop out to a two-day fest at a rec hall from doors til curfew and are hype the entire damn time, throwing shapes and pit moves to feedback for six hours straight. Yes, there were plenty of bands playing loud-ass indie rock with pedals and big cabs (and you’ll read about some below), but Julia’s War has also found headspace for things like warped electronica, haunted trap, free jazz, and bedroom folk (among others) beside all those glider guitars and drum and bass interludes. They have amassed quite the discography in just 3 years of operation, putting the spotlight on their native city, but also reaching out beyond to the Midwest, the South, the West Coast, hell even Boston in support of inventive expression and a belief in doing things outside the margins. The label has sewn camaraderie between nominally disparate scenes at a time when that is needed most.

Having attended last year’s Julia’s War Fest simply as a fan, I returned with just my phone (sorry for the bad pictures I forgot to pack a camera lol) with the goal of trying to document why this little pocket of indie rock activity has become such a beacon of positivity and inspiration for me specifically, some 300 odd miles away, and I think I found it. The truth is that being fiercely DIY has forever been an often thankless and futile measure, but being in rooms like the Ukie Club last weekend, surrounded by people who share similar values (at the very least when it comes to art)? Well that shit is life-affirming.

Wanted to highlight a few sets each day below, but really everyone slayed so go check ’em all out!

Her New Knife (Friday)

Her New Knife exploded onto my radar at last year’s Julia’s War Fest fresh off a move to Philly from Florida with their blend of squalling guitar noise and drowsily aching slowcore. The quartet’s latest 3-tracker for JWar folds in some dance influence too, especially in the twin guitar interplay that favors intricately layered lines over the typical droning din of their chosen genre hallmarks. Her New Knife are absolute killers live, and they kicked off this year’s fest with a set leaning heavy on new material for what’s been teased as their debut LP. Her New Knife’s bass player was away so they added a friend on harp to fill in which made for a nice dynamic and some interesting textures on their otherwise gleefully punishing live set. By my estimation they are the young band to watch in Philly right now.

Joyer (Friday)

Of course I was gonna tip the sole Boston-ish group of the weekend. Joyer put out one of the best indie rock records of this year so far by any metric per my estimation just three weeks ago, and their set at Julia’s War Fest ran exclusively from it. Fronted by brothers Shane and Nick Sullivan, each have their own tendencies as songwriters that compliments the other well. As a live unit they are relentless on the heavier and slower material, but just as capably light and airy on the popier numbers. This and their record release show in Boston both felt like event horizons. This will be a big band I guarantee it. That said, being a 50/50 Boston New York split members wise means I have to take a side and I’m choosing Beantown every time, baby. Just playing it’s all love, go peep Night Songs if you haven’t already.

Mormon Toasterhead (Friday)

Mormon Toasterhead, the formerly Chicago-based solo vehicle of one Ben Klawans has become something of a local fixture since their relocation to Philly and round out into a four-piece band. Once known for eclectic releases that spanned genres and recording fidelities, the group has know zeroed-in on a (still plenty off-kilter) side of slacker-y indie rock that looks plenty good on ’em. I use that term loosely though, as their drummer hits so hard they broke a snare drum on like the third song of their set on Friday. Pulling mostly from last year’s Julia’s War issued Free Wheel LP, Klawans and co. inspired some of the most raucous push pits I saw all weekend.

Nabeel (Saturday)

Harrisonburg, Virginia’s Nabeel is a relatively new project with just a single EP on Julia’s War out thus far, though you wouldn’t know it from their confidently cracking set on the earlier side of Day 2. Fronted by Yasir Nabeel Razak, the group is very explicit in their Iraqi roots, combining some Arabic influence with their thick heaving distortion and head-nodding pop hooks . Someone in the crowd behind me sited Pavement as an influenced by their loose-limbed but sturdy attack, and while I can’t entirely disagree I think there’s something even headier and more contemporary going on underneath the hood of a Nabeel song. Very curious to hear the finishing touches on the handful of new tracks they worked through as well.

Hooky (Saturday)

Hooky just blew me away, man. The Philly two-piece slots somewhere between like smoked-out instrumental hip-hop, big beat, shoegaze, Soundcloud rap, and ambient and if that sounds like a mess it sorta is, but in a completely thrilling sorta way. Armed with a card table-filling rack of analog synths and vocal pedals, Hooky ran through a breathless set, playing scraps of new stuff and full songs and teasers alike. Sequenced more like a beat set than a rock band, the duo warp their beats-and-guitar set up in real time, woozily tripping up the dancers and themselves alike. All their vocals are draped in oozing auto-tune, and that combined with heavily processed and tremelo’d to hell guitars makes for a thick haze of noise that’s just purely intoxicating. Saddles between so many different underground approaches to music-making, Hooky feels kinda like the ultimate Julia’s War band. Peep their record from last year for a survey, but know that the live set is a different animal entirely in the best sorta way.

Feeble Little Horse (Saturday)

Feeble Little Horse‘s festival closing set felt like a coronation. The crowd greeted the Pittsburgh-based four-piece like they returned from war (heh), all screams and heaving swells of body movement from the very jump. I saw at least six of the weekend’s only crowdsurfers during their tightly wound set, with many more onlookers perched on the sides absolutely transfixed by their warped noise-and-pop tandem. Having seen Feeble slay an absolutely packed Allston basement a few years back, they are somehow a far more casually confident and air-tight operation as a live entity these days, just crushing the tossed-off brilliance of their records with glee. Having taken some time away for personal reasons, sets like these are a hopeful sign that we will indeed be getting more tunes from the Horse.

I also wanna shout out long-time friend of the Pudding Jasmine who catered all of the fest with some insane Sicilian/Algerian fusion cuisine that everyone was gushing about all weekend. Her coffeeshop Lombard Cafe in Philly’s Queen Village neighborhood has been dealing with hate crimes and some really vile bullshit from zionists lately and could use your support!