Despite what any sitcom title might suggest, it feels like Philadelphia stays the same shade of grey for about 360 days out of the year. It’s one of the country’s hardest cities, with a well-earned reputation for being full of fighters. There’s pride in the way they pelted Santa Claus with snowballs at an Eagles game or beheaded a Canadian hitchhiking robot. Fighting is so ingrained in the Philadelphia experience, you can find statues of two legendary boxers – one real, one fictional – outside the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
That said, Philly’s also notorious for being a good hang. The people may not be “nice” in the conventional sense of the word (especially if you’re a hitchhiking robot), but they’re kind, loyal and strong. It only makes sense that Philly has a rich musical tradition, exporting some of the greatest, most influential soul, punk and hip-hop artists of all time. From The O’Jays to The Roots to Mannequin Pussy, the city’s always had a lot to say.
That’s what brings us to one of the most thrilling bands in hardcore right now, the mighty Soul Glo. Equipped with unstoppable energy and their hometown’s love for joyful confrontation, they’re loud, fast and absolutely unrelenting. They hurtle along at breakneck speed, with moments where it sounds like the wheels are about to fly off and the entire band is about to blow into a million pieces before everything snaps right back into place. It’s exhilarating.
The Songs to Yeet at the Sun EP is a great starting point, but 2022’s Diaspora Problems is where you really find them firing on all cylinders. It isn’t too early to call the album one of this century’s defining punk statements, expanding their sound and incorporating unexpected influences in ways that just make sense. This is where Soul Glo really hit their stride, and critics took notice. BrooklynVegan described it as “ferocious and life-affirming,” Pitchfork gave it that coveted Best New Music label and Rolling Stone named it one The 100 Greatest Punk Albums of All Time earlier this year.
Soul Glo spoke, and the world listened.
And while it’s felt like a long four years since Diaspora Problems, they just announced that they’ll be back with a brand new album, Na I’m Gon Grab Allat, on January 15 via Epitaph Records. Described by lead singer Pierce Jordan as “largely about failures, mine and others, in my relationships with different men in my life,” our first taste of the new record is the powerful, Mannequin Pussy-featuring single, “February Theory.”
If you’ve never seen Soul Glo live, here’s your chance. Be there when they take the Rise Stage on Friday afternoon at 1:30 PM.
[yarpp]
