NYC Scene Report – Seth Benjamin & the Philistines, Strawberry Runners, & aldrch

This week’s NYC Scene Report features Seth Benjamin & the Philistines returning to Square One, Strawberry Runners finding clarity with “Look Like This,” and aldrch teaming up with Madelline for a song you can take to the bank.

* Brooklyn-based indie rockers Seth Benjamin & the Philistines are a band I discovered a few years ago when they shared a bill with three other bands at Arlene’s Grocery. They grabbed my attention, and I kept an ear out for what they were working on. Fast-forward to this past month, and they have a brand new EP titled Square One.

With vocals reminiscent of Ludo frontman Andrew Volpe, on Square One Benjamin (photo: far right) and his band continue their tradition of creating music that feels good out of topics that can be downright dour.

Take, for example, “One More Night,” which starts with the attention grabbing lyric, “I know I said I’d stop being fucked up all the time / but look, I’m already drunk tonight,” and then dives into a rabbit hole of darkness, lyrically, while being musically upbeat. It’s kind of like when Third Eye Blind turned lyrics about crystal meth addiction into a pop hit everybody sang along to (“Semi-Charmed Life”).

Give “One More Night” a spin, and get to know the music of Seth Benjamin & the Philistines.

* Strawberry Runners, the musical project of Emi Night, will be hitting the road from August 7th through the 31st, but before packing her bags she gave listeners some new music with the single “Look Like This.”

“Look Like This” is off Strawberry Runners’ upcoming self-titled debut album, which will be released on August 25th via Duper Moon Records. Night discussed the song in a statement, saying, “‘Look Like This’ is a song about ego distortions, depression, the contradictions of the false self, and finding the boundary between imposed perceptions, and one’s own spontaneous reality. Finding this boundary for yourself is something we should all strive to do in our image-driven world. The intention is to gather energy, to break out of oppressive thinking patterns, and find clarity.”

Night’s warm vocals on “Look Like This” make the search for clarity a welcoming journey. You can give it a listen right here.

* NYC-based artist, and producer aldrch is currently on the road with poptropicaslutz! through August 18th, and as soon as he returns he’ll be readying the release of his debut album, industry standard, which is due out September 22nd via Epitaph Records.

He says his goal for his opening salvo, and for all of his music, is to “(marry) genres that otherwise wouldn’t be combined, toeing the line of what makes sense, and what doesn’t.”

For a taste of what that sounds like, check out the single “TM2TB” (Take Me To The Bank), featuring Madelline. It’s a high energy ride that has elements of rock, electronic music, and hip-hop. I can only imagine how wild the crowd gets when he performs it live.

For more of the best of NYC’s indie music scene, come back next Wednesday, and check out the archives for previous columns.