Philadelphia Weekly

MUSIC

Critic's Pick: Little Women, Split Red, Many Arms + Banned Books

By Elliott Sharp

Add Comment | Comments: 1 | Posted Nov. 30, 2011

Little Women

This kicks off a new monthly rock and experimental music series in West Philadelphia. It’s a monster bill, with four heavy bands, as well as Dr. Dog’s Eric Slick DJing between sets. The headliner's Little Women, a skronky quartet from N.Y.C. that makes jagged and brutal, but alarmingly sophisticated, post-fire-jazz music in the spirit of Archie Shepp and Black Flag. Split Red, a composition-centric West Philly punk outfit named after a Minutemen song, is debuting their new frontman tonight, Justin Duerr from Northern Liberties. You may also know him as the dude from the movie Resurrect Dead: The Mystery Of The Toynbee Tiles. Philly’s Many Arms is a prog/jazz/noise/rock/improv trio that believes in life on Mars and traverses alien sonic domains. Next year, Arms drops an LP on John Zorn’s Tzadik label. Finally, Philly trio Banned Books open the evening with gritty, noisy, trashy, overdriven lo-fi pop. Whew!

Thurs., Dec. 1, 8pm. $6. Elena’s Soul Lounge, 4912 Baltimore Ave. 215.724.3043. elenassoul.com