REVIEW & PHOTOS: Dante Elephante at PhilaMOCA
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PHOTOS BY: Zach Rineer & WRITTEN BY: Ross Aronow
While on the road for the 2018 release, Rare Attractions, Dante Elephante stopped by PhilaMOCA on Friday, Feb 15 with support from South Carolina’s Shirlie, and New Jersey’s Professor Caveman.
“Shirlie the band from Charleston the South Carolina” has been playing around for the past couple of years under the name Del Sur. And now with a new name attached to their project and a modified lineup, Shirlie brings a new and unique sound to indie surf pop. Starting their set off with the old Del Sur track, Palm Lines, the band showed off their matured and evolved sound in the best way possible. A big difference from the old Del Sur lineup is the addition of a female vocalist. Her beautiful voice adds a whole new texture to the music and allows for great group vocals throughout a lot of the tracks. Shirlie played a fantastic set with some very crazy chords and had songs that felt that like driving rock tunes, alongside slow surf pop jams. Check out their new single, “Cool With It”, released the day of the show on bandcamp and soundcloud.
Next to take the stage was Professor Caveman. After being called Shirlie’s favorite band earlier in the night, Professor Caveman’s wild set definitely lived up to the hype. The band started off with a cover of Roy Hargrove’s jazz tune, “Strasbourg / St. Denis.” Just by jamming on those changes for a couple of minutes, the band proved their music prowess to the crowd immediately. After quickly moving into their first original tune, a second guitar player (who I’m assuming maybe showed up a little late to the show) jumped on stage mid song, plugged in, and started playing. This just shows how much Professor Caveman is able to “go with the flow” and that energy made for a really interesting set. A standout track for the band was “Babies” off of their EP Vol. 4. The song kicks off with a really cool bossanova feel and the energy on stage definitely made its way into the crowd. The crowd started singing along to the only lyrics in the song, “Life would be easier if we were babies” over and over as the musicians played some crazy solos. Professor Caveman is definitely a band worth seeing live and check out their recorded music on all streaming services.
Finally, Dante Elephante closed out the night. All the way Santa Barbara, California, the band brought their indie rock vibes to Philadelphia for the first time. The set kicked off with the band’s hit, “Never Trust a Junkie” that sent vibes of the Pixies with the energetic guitar and punchy drum grooves. The band moved through their set fairly quickly, making sure to throw some standup comedy during any downtime. Some highlights from the set includes, “Never Trust a Junkie,” “Pop Song,” and “Call Me (On the Phone).” “Call Me (On the Phone)” was the leading single for Dante Elephante’s newest release, Rare Attractions. It’s a really cool track that got the audience dancing. The lead vocalist made his way into the audience and paced through the crowd as he perfectly sang his heart out to close to the set. Definitely check out Dante Elephante’s Rare Attractions on all streaming services!!
