Naked Lightbulb Presents:
Carnivorous Bells, CS Cleaners, Nadafinger, Dasgut
Cousin Danny's
5001 Market St.
June 17, 2026
Inside the broad spectrum of genre descriptors like noise rock, no wave, or art rock, you could probably find a home for both Nadafinger and Carnivorous Bells. Each stand loosely within this structure but both come at it from very different places to create what they do. I saw those bands play at Cousin Danny's last week; their performances showcased the level of variation generated between groups coming from similar genres.
If I was forced to come up with a visual analogy for Nadafinger, I would describe them as a high powered Formula 1 vehicle to which someone has purposely affixed large, wooden box-shaped wheels of various sizes. The engine is all guts, but the steering and shock-absorption is a cacophonous nightmare. They are very much an experiential performance entity. When we speak of bands really being on the same page, there are actual familial ties that can bring people together to be that page. In country music there's a concept called "blood harmony" that is used to describe how the voices of immediate family members are able to merge to the point that they sound as one, a difficult achievement perfected by the likes of groups like The Louvin Brothers. Here in Nadafinger we have a brother sister combo, Johnny on drums and Carla on bass, playing along with their friend Jon on guitar, that form a tight family unit built on distortion and dissonance. They move along so seamlessly and closely through the chaos that you could refer to them as 'blood-disharmony'.
Johnny and Carla were raised by the folks who run Molly's books and records and have been steeped in a vast pool of music and culture by book and record collectors. You can feel their level of comfort as they wade through seemingly harsh genres like noise rock, post punk or no wave. But the loud chaos for them comes together effortlessly as partially improvised song catastrophes. They are like a dysfunctional jet engine of a band, spiraling downward as though about to crash, but the pilots are smiling because the crash feels like a roller coaster. Each member as a vocalist brings their own mood. Jon, the guitarist, sings through a chorus pedal with his voice sounding like it's been chopped to pieces in a blender. In the songs Carla sings, I can feel nods in the direction of solid riot-girl muscle. Johnny singing from the drum kit has a similar bent to early Folk Implosion's "Daddy Never Understood" off the 'Kids' soundtrack or maybe Bruce Loose from Flipper. Most songs this night ended with Jon, knees bent, screaming his janky propeller vocal at the ceiling, and Carla flat on her back slapping her bass like she was having a fit. The effect on the audience was intoxicating; you can't help but smile as you hold on for dear life. I've seen them play three times now and they keep getting better each performance. I highly recommend catching them live.
Similarly entrancing was Carnivorous Bells. Their act had a more austere feel to it, especially in comparison to the jubilant performance of Nadafinger. The Bells definitely have their own take on dissonant song structures. Wading further out into the vague area of art rock or post punk, the band takes an abstract approach to their craft.
The singer Mathew Adis has a snarling vocal attack. On the surface he seems to share common ground with hard-rock or metal; he uses a masculine throaty delivery in measured bursts. Performance wise he lunges forth into the audience and his moves hit like hard-core posturing ,but there is something strangely abstracted, something almost balletic about it. The whole band seems capable of letting out a thrash but holds back with a snarl.
Besides some appropriate ratty distortion, Adis liberally uses shimmering reverb soaked guitar work that could fit tone-wise into a Chris Isaak song, or even drift into Dick Dale surf rock. He threads in off-beat phrases and works against the bass and drums in an exacting execution, letting the guitar echo lag like a shiny golden chain behind him. The reverb shimmer drenched the songs in a dream-like state, instilling a sense of subconscious uncertainty among the audience. This odd effect was even further amplified by the abstract nature of the drumming, which establish a perpetual feeling of irresolution. He was keeping a beat half in rock and half in jazz, carefully controlling the volume from soft patters to sudden and intense cymbal and bass drum blasts. The crowd seemed really taken back by the performance and it made for a hell of a closing set. Looking back at videos I can hardly believe how good these band were.
Nadafinger and Carnivorous Bells are like inverse versions of each other. Both pull influences from a similar well. Both deal with abstraction and dissonance, and seem to blow apart typical song structures. One feels like it comes from the mind, the other from the heart, but both are from the gut.
Epilogue: I'd be remiss if I didn't say how lucky we are to live in a town were we can see music of this caliber for $10-$15 in a VERY local venue like Cousin Danny's with a small crew of like-minded fans and bands and affordable drinks to imbibe and all on a Wednesday night. This still feels like when I landed in Philly 20 years ago, but it is starting to feel rare. Cheers to this, I hope it lasts.
