New Yorker Magazine, June 1, 2009 Event Listings
May 27th, 2009Cake Shop, May 30
The Philadelphia power trio Stinking Lizaveta comes to town at the tail end of a month long tour celebrating the release of an intense new record, “Sacrifice and Bliss.” The band, which takes its name from a mute character in Dostoyeveky’s “The Brothers Karamazov,” plays heavy instrumental rock that meshes complicated and precise prog-rock passages, gloomy riffs in the Black Sabbath vein, and occasional free-jazz blowouts. Led by the melodic guitar playing of Yanni Papadopoulos and backed by a frenetic rhythm section made up of Papadopoulos’s brother Alexi, on bass, and the drumer Cheshire Agusta, the group has been a linchpin in the vibrant West Philly underground since its founding, fifteen years ago. They are uncompromising in the best sense of the word.
