November 18, 2012 | 1:30 PM | By

The Week’s Best MP3 Downloads, incl. Ellie Goulding, Kingsfoil and The Trouble With Sweeney

FILED UNDER: Artists, Downloads, Recordings, Adam Green and Binki Shapiro, Ellie Goulding, Family Vacation, Johnny Brenda's, Keepers, Kingsfoil, The Fire, The Reflexes, The Trouble With Sweeney

Joey Sweeney | Photo by Marie Alyse Rodriguez

Alex James, the Blur-bassist-turned-cheesemaker, once said he celebrated his 20th birthday with alcohol, his 30th with drugs and his 40th with food.  I can’t speak to how Arctic Splash‘s Joey Sweeney celebrated his 20th and 30th birthdays but I do know his 40th will be celebrated with a reunion of his bands, past and present, at Johnny Brenda’s on December 8th.  To celebrate the celebration, download “The Break Up” from Sweeney’s 1999-2004 band The Trouble With Sweeney.  Information about the show is available here.

Brand-new Philly band Family Vacation released their first EP last weekend.  The self-titled, five-track record includes the seasonally apropos song “Winter’s Wind,” which you can stream and download below (go here to download the full EP).  Family Vacation will play an all-ages release party at The Fire on December 1st with Keepers and The Reflexes; go here for more information.

Hotly-tipped U.K. singer Ellie Goulding released “Bittersweet” earlier this week as a free download on Good Music All Day.  The new song, which will be included on the soundtrack to The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn: Part 2, was produced by Skrillex.  Goulding comes to Philadelphia on January 25th; more information can be found here.

York, PA’s Kingsfoil stopped by last weekend and recorded a great Key Studio Session.  The band performed four songs off of their latest record A Beating Heart Is a Bleeding Heart, including the single “American Veins” (stream and download it below) and a solo-piano take of “Giving.”  Check out the full session here.  Kingsfoil recently wrapped up a U.S. tour (the first with newly-added Frankie Muniz on drums) and play their final show of the year at The Chameleon Club in Lancaster on December 29.  Information is available here.

Thursday’s My Morning Download featured the duo of Adam Green and Binki Shapiro.  Green (of The Moldy Peaches) and Shapiro (of Little Joy) teamed up to record a self-titled album, expected out in January.  Get a taste of the album’s sixties-style pop duets with “Here I Am” below; you can download the track in exchange for your email address.  “Here I Am” is also featured on a preview EP called Fall, out now on iTunes.