Philly Jays Offer Pop That Will Rot Your Teeth - And Save Your Town

Those Aussie pop punk rapscallions Philadelphia Grand Jury are releasing a 7" bit o vinyl for their new single 'Save Our Town'.

Now PGJ aren't exactly a normal fit for us here at Sonic Masala, even though we posted about them once before in the lead up to their support slot for Male Bonding for XFM. Nevertheless I feel that I owe the boys, as they impressed me on a couple of levels, mainly due to their drummer (who seemed totally out of place but was impressively octopus-like), their manic energy, and their insane cover of Jay-Z's '99 Problems'. This has become such a crowd favourite in the past 12 months (within which the Jay's have recorded an album, toured the US 3 times, flogged the heck out of all sorts of UK venues, and hit the main stage at Australia's Splendour In The Grass festival) that it is on this pressing as the B Side. It is treacly saccharine gooey pop spazz punk, but there is more than enough space in this world for these guys, I can assure you.
And to be honest, its a great way to finish off the week!

Close your eyes, listen to this and you will forget that the weather is about to turn ugly...maybe...

Philadelphia Grand Jury - Save Our Town

Friday cover up - mining the Noughties hitlist

Im in control of the Friday Cover Up this week, as again Im am left to man the controls while Paul and Ani flitter off to a festival (something called Glastonbury - speaking of which, when are we going to hear about Primavera? Seeing as most of us had to stay here in England and live life in the 'real world' - insert vitriol here...) Last time I was left to do my own thing, I brought in David Cross. Today - its the It couple of Hip-Hop and RnB, Beyonce and Jay-Z.

Well, strange imitations thereof. Jay-Z's iconic anthem '99 Problems' is given a twee as fuck makeover by none other than Philadelphia Grand Jury, as mentioned earlier this week.



For Beyonce, we are attacking a Destiny's Child song - and we owe Elbow for the offering. Well, kind of...

Elbow - Independent Woman (Destiny's Child cover) - as covered by kittens...

So Jay Z says stay clear of independent bitches, and Beyonce says get out of the way of us independent bitches - or pussies - that smoke... They're a match made in heaven - a true intellectual force to be reckoned with... And that's it, Im in desperate need of getting shitfaced! Enjoy the weekend folks - there'll be some ruminations on Sebadoh, Modest Mouse, and other things to spit at your monitor over. Until then - get smashed!

Judge, (Philadelphia Grand) Jury and Executioner

Tonight at Barfly Camden Dalston (and SM) faves Male Bonding are playing.  They are
supported by the very able Philadelphia Grand Jury.  Consisting of MC Bad Genius on bass,
keyboard and guitar and Berkfinger on vocals and guitar, the Australian duo (now with
drummer Calvin Welch) pump out effervescent garage rock pop, and have been going
from strength to strength - they played an especially delicious White Heat gig at Madame
Jojo's, last month, and recently toured with the likes of Fiery Furnaces (a band Ive never
fully gotten into, but still...) They mark another Aussie band who have fled to the UK to
chance their arm at something bigger and brighter.  Check out their 7" now.  

On a side note, the other support act is Standard Fare, who we have championed in the past.
This promises to be a special (and very sunny) gig indeed, so make sure you grab tix now!

Philadelphia Grand Jury - The Good News