Daytrotter just posted their session with rising 19-year-old emcee GrandeMarshall. You can check out and download his recordings for free HERE (w/membership). Enjoy!
The AudioBox 1818VSL by PreSonus (MSRP: $629) is an audio/MIDI interface that takes hardware/software integration to the next level, delivering a dynamite combination of features for music producers at every level. Enter The Deli and SonicScoop’s Pro Audio Giveaway for your chance to win one, and find out more about the prize HERE, but hurry because tomorrow is your final day to do so. Good luck!
Phoenix offered up the stems for their track "Trying to Be Cool" off their new album Bankrupt! to be remixed as part of Vice's The Creators Project. Philly's own Moon Bounce (a.k.a. Corey Regensberg) was chosen as one of the remixes to be featured. You take a listen to and download it for free below as well as the others HERE.
Check out the latest video from Out Of Town Films with DRGN KING performing "Holy Ghost"! It was one the two songs recorded at an impromptu session hosted by Girard Hall after the band's recent show at Kung Fu Necktie on May 9, 2013. Below are a few words from Out Of Town Films about the evening.
Two weeks ago, we invited local Philly band DRGN King to come play at Girard Hall after their show at Kung Fu Necktie. The plan was to have them play acoustically and to have a few people over to watch the performance. Well, things didn’t go exactly as planned and for the better. The acoustic set turned into a full on electric set and the few people turned into many people. So basically it was a mini-show.
The police were lurking outside since it was midnight on a Thursday and DRGN King were playing pretty loudly. They only had time for two songs. One of which was “Holy Ghost”, a song apparently about looking like Jesus. Enjoy.
The band Literature transplanted to Philly from Austin, TX bringing along their truly infectious jangly indie pop. I instantly fell in love with group’s 2012 LP Arab Spring, and they’ve followed it up with a 7” single earlier this year. The four-piece is slowly but surely spreading the word and making their presence known here in town. They’ll be opening for locals Pet Milk, who have recently experienced some lineup changes with the addition of new female vocalist Sarah Schimenek (replacing Adriane Dalton) and their search for a new drummer or bassist. The show this evening has been moved to MilkBoy Philly due to a water main break at Johnny Brenda’s this past weekend. MilkBoy Philly, 1100 Chestnut St., 9pm, $10, 21+ (Literature Photo by Abi Reimold) - Q.D. Tran
Congrats to Cold Fronts for signing a deal with Warner Bros./Sire Records! We are certainly interested to see what life with a major label will be like for them, and wish them all the best. Cheers fellas!
Below is a new music video from emcee/producer/La Salle basketball player Taylor Dunn for the track "Water," which appears on his sophomore mixtape On The Contrary. It was directed by Rob Haffey with fellow Drexel University student Mike Koziel as his cinematographer.
YVYNYL, a.k.a. Mark Schoneveld, continues his curation of this month’s Tuesday Tune-Out at PhilaMOCA tonight with a one-two combination of lesser-known, talented local artists. Neighborhood Choir is the dream-pop project from Bennett Daniels, who is the bassist for Laser Background as well as a number of Philly acts such as Brendan Codey, Hippy Johnny, etc. Avery Rosewater is an impressive fledgling band led by Julien Rossow-Greenberg (formerly of Arches). This evening will be a good opportunity to hear the groups’ yet-to-be-released material and how their tunes transfer over into a live setting. Daniels has also chosen the film that will be screened after their performances so stick around for that too. PhilaMOCA, 531 N. 12th St., 8pm, $5, All Ages (Photo by Tiffany Yoon) - H.M. Kauffman
West Philly's Grandchildren recently performed at Glasslands in NYC on May 15, 2013 as part of the celebration for the release of their latest LP Golden Age (Ernest Jenning Recording Co.). You can listen to their entire set below, and download it for free HERE. Special thanks to NYC Taper for sharing.
For those who decide whether to come or go based on the first forty seconds of an album, Restorations’ LP2 is practically tailor-made for snap judgments. After a chiming, anthemic guitar opening, the band already known for fist-raising jams lets all hell break loose with “D,” their most unrestrained opener yet. The drum kit-mauling, earth-shaking bass lines and ascendant guitar riffs can only be described as complete sensory overload, and make it clear that the following eleven songs are going to be fueled by pure viscera. If your preferences run towards structure over huge sound, this release may leave you cold; LP2’s predominant means of exploring the band’s wealth of ideas are stadium-sized instrumentation and endless waves of atmospherics, as well as a dose of ennui.
This is a murkier, more inward-looking Restorations than we’re used to. Everything that was there before, musically, is blown sky-high this time around. They’ve managed to pack ideas into every iota of the song list, aided by Jon Low’s miles-deep production; the density of the music itself is offset by an album-long meditation on place, belonging, and the ramifications of leaving the familiar behind, which makes the outsized sound that much more of an interesting direction. Juxtaposing the existential discomfort with more sophisticated, complex forays into Restorations’ sonic wheelhouse.
The spiraling guitars, one of the album’s specially prominent features, are everywhere, serving various purposes in each song. “Kind of Comfort”’s jittery glam rock aspirations accompany lyrics of searching and wanderlust. Even the more downbeat cuts (“In Perpetuity Through The Universe,” “New Old”) are propelled beyond their subject matter by the songs’ barely-concealed restless energy. At its more pensive moments, like the folk-inflected “Civil Inattention,” there is a restless undercurrent of texture and volatility that never quite lets up.
Album closer “Adventure Tortoise” is all monster buildup laced with extraterrestrial effects, kicking off into a sort of requiem for the band’s neighborhood. “I’d really like to stay to help this place,” growls Jon Loudon through his teeth, but the allure of letting it all go is too strong to resist. The longing for a place “where nobody knows your name” isn’t quite all-consuming enough to inspire real action, but it is definitely the new paradigm Loudon means.
It takes guts to pull off a release that feels ten minutes long but contains more emotional and musical texture than most records. Restorations cover a whole lot of ground on LP2, and for the most part, pull off their ambitions. A bit too sanguine for shoegaze, and maybe too heady for punk, Restorations’ second full-length album brings an intriguing palette of aspirations to their open road-ready sound, prepared to try anything and everything. - Alyssa Greenberg
