Trolleyvox with Beretta 76, Adrien Reju, City-wide Special (ex-Flat Possum Boys) January 6, 2007

If Chrissy Hynde and Bob Mould jammed with The Byrds, or if Pete Townshend and Mitch Mitchell joined Ben Watt and Tracey Thorn in early Everything But The Girl they might sound something like The Trolleyvox. Gorgeous vocal and harmonies on top of layers of arpeggiated guitars, percussion and piano combine to deliver emotionally impactful songs with hooks that worm their way into your brain and dont burn out.

Artist's Website

Beretta 76 has just released their debut CD - the self-produced Black Beauty - after being together since 2002, having Jane Magazine choose one of their songs to appear on their 2002 Reader Produced CD, posting an eponymous EP, and sharing stages with acts such as Shonen Knife, The Muffs, Downbeat 5, and The Fleshtones.

No Philadelphia quartet deals with whiskey nights and stark urbanity like they do. That attitude seeps through the pores of guitarist/composer Pete Rydberg, bassist Peter Santa Maria, and drummer Rob Giglio, even when raging through Beretta76 's thickest wordless passages. But throw in sex, beauty queens, one hour stands, attitude-y princesses, more sex, old rock scribes throwing dismal dinner parties, and even more sex (there's a woman wrapped in a cobra on the cover for a reason, hoss); make it blunt, unprissy, immediate, pissed off, melodic and raw-rocking without lacking in precision; toss in the punch of power pop and the cutting clarion foxiness of singer and guitarist Camille Escobedo... it's a brutal Beauty you got in your hands. It's a record that hones their acerbic agit-power-pop into something that's sleek, tender, taut and tough without ever embracing rock from a feminist aspect."

Adrien Reju, in one form or another, has continually had music at the core of her upbringing. When she was age three, her parents moved from the small town of Bennington, VT to New York City to pursue music careers. Little Adrien made her first public performance that year singing "Summertime" to a subway car full of delighted strangers. From that moment it was apparent that singing made her happy and people liked to listen.

For the past 5 years, she has been deeply involved in music as a solo artist and as part of several groups. Solo, she plays frequently in and around the Philadelphia/NY area and has shared the stage with such home-grown Philly artists as Amos Lee (Blue Note), Geoffrey Gaines (Artemis) and Ben Arnold. She also performs regularly with The Lowlands, a bluegrass/folk/roots ensemble which came about through collaborations with friends Chris Kasper, Todd Barneson, Adam Davis and Jeff Hiatt. The band is doing quite well, recorded an EP in the spring, got played a lot on WXPN, opened for Peter Rowan, David Bromberg and Tony Trischka, and continually recieves genuine praise wherever they play.

Recently, Adrien toured with a group called the Angel Band who performed at many a large venue and festival, including the esteemed Merle Fest, provided back-up vocals for such artists as David Bromberg and Linda Ronstadt, and shared the stage with the likes of Gillian Welch, Peter Rowan & Tony Rice and Sarah Lee Guthrie. On top of all that she has earned a reputation in Philadelphia as the go-to back-up singer making frequent appearances on the stage and on several independent recording projects.

The past year has been a whirl wind but it is all a result of Adrien's pure love for music, singing and performing. There is no ego, no pretentions, none of the hustle and bustle, just an honest soul with a big heart and a lot of energy. Hope you like the tunes.

Event submitted by Eventful.com on behalf of worldcafelive.