Local folks including Ape School, Tadoma and King Britt – as well as outside-Philly names Benoît Pioulard and Lymbyc System – tried their hand at remixing Arc In Round‘s layered and heavy debut LP in the new ::::remixed:::: collection, available today as a free download. The set contains eight reconstructions of songs like “Spirit” (morphed into a driving krautrock rager by Pink Skull) and “II” (made all pulsing and dreamy by A Sunny Day in Glasgow), as well as two unreleased songs – “Even” and “Days Untried.” Give it a listen below, and download it at Bandcamp.
A Sunny Day In Glasgow
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A Sunny Day in Glasgow performing, providing live soundtrack to films at International House’s Spring Arts Preview on 1/17
Philadelphia-founded dream pop outfit A Sunny Day in Glasgow is playing its first local show in over two years this month at International House‘s Spring Arts Preview on January 17. The band will perform a live set at the event, and will also provide a live soundtrack to a Puce MomenT, a short by American underground filmmaker Kenneth Anger. Two other Anger shorts will screen as well, as well as a selelction of Russian science films from the Roman Vishniac Film Collection. The event is free, but RSVP is required here.
Sunny Day recently announced that its as-yet untitled fourth full-length is near completion; the band funded it through a successful Kickstarter campaign last year, and we’re hoping to hear a selection of new songs at the show. Its last release was Autumn, again in 2010. Below, check out a video of the band performing at Le Poisson Rouge in New York in 2009.
A Sunny Day In Glasgow from Ray Concepcion on Vimeo.
Meet Wasn’t Wisn’t, a new old side project from A Sunny Day in Glasgow
With some of us, the way to guarantee we’ll do something is by telling us not to do it. So yesterday afternoon, when Philly-bred electronic pop band A Sunny Day in Glasgow tweeted “new ASDIG side project sneak peak wasntwisnt.bandcamp.com you should not listen to it.”, of course the first thing I did was go and listen to it. Turns out this is Josh Meakim, who plays in both Sunny Day and Arc in Round, and back in the mid aughts used to be a sometimes member of the far-out space rock collective King Kong Ding Dong. This band is basically that band – Meakim along with founding KKDD members Jim Lewis and Steve Heise – and their washed-out jams, thumping rhythms and psychedelic twists and turns are totally hooking me in this afternoon. The details at this bandcamp are vague at best – mysterious proclamations state “Death to King Kong Ding Dong, Long Live WASNT WISNT, Same Lies; KKDD is dead.” It goes on to say these three tracks are selections from a forthcoming album called Steel Cut, with release info to be determined. So I’m not quite sure where Wasn’t Wisn’t is going, but I’m digging where they at. Stay dry and vibe out to the Animal Collective-ish vibes of the sampler below.
The Key Studio Sessions: Pet Milk
Photos by Madeleine Lesperance
Meeting at the crossroads of introspective indiepop and aggressive punk is Philadelphia’s Pet Milk. You see it in the group’s pedigree – drummer Josh Agran also plays in the mighty Paint it Black, a long standing local hardcore act, while singer-guitarist Herbie Shellenberger is an alumnus of South Philly-based Slumberland Records popsters Brown Recluse. Bassist Adam Herndon straddles both worlds, playing in dreamy local favorites A Sunny Day in Glasgow, as well as the hyper-spastic Faux Slang. Rounding out the group is singer Adriane Dalton – whose voice is warm and melodic but whose demeanor takes no guff – and guitarist Richie Roxas, who plays one six-string from two amps. Maybe one is his twee amp and one is his punk amp. I kid, but Pet Milk’s truly is a sound that doesn’t fit easily into either world – melancholic minor key musings on ex-lovers and the mid-twenties post-adulthood crash, but with a rough-hewn, gnarly edge showing that, for this crew, the fire isn’t out. Download its recent Key Studio Session below – including songs from its its 2011 EP Philadelphia Punklife, as well as a couple unreleased numbers – and catch Pet Milk in concert Saturday June 23 at Johnny Brenda’s when it plays with Arc in Round, Tadoma and Beige.
Video: Strand Of Oaks’ and A Sunny Day In Glassgow’s Black Cab Sessions performances
Earlier this month, we posted the trailer for the Black Cab Sessions‘ tour through the USA, which included a stop in Philadelphia and recording sessions with several local acts. The Philly-centric part of the trailer specifically lists performances by Freeway, Spank Rock, Meg Baird, Kyp Malone, Plastic Little, and Reading Rainbow; back when they were here last November, we noted that they had recorded with Grandchildren as well. For now, however, babelgum.com has videos of sessions with Strand Of Oaks and A Sunny Day In Glasgow. You can watch both videos below; more videos of the Black Cab Sessions’ USA tour are available on babelgum.com. (Thanks to The Swollen Fox for posting about the videos earlier today.)
Philly Local Philes: Arc In Round’s “II”
Philadelphia experimental-rock heads Arc In Round have a lot going on these days. Last week, the recent stars or our Key Studio Sessions released their latest EP, II , to Bandcamp; today, they begin a series of tour dates with Kurt Vile And The Violators. We send them on their way in this Philly Local Phile with the title track of their new EP, as well as a remix of it by kindred local spirits A Sunny Day In Glasgow. Arc in Round’s next Philadelphia show is Aug. 26 at Kung Fu Necktie.
Two Samplers Enter, One Sampler Leaves: A Sunny Day In Glasgow’s Key Studio Session
The members of local bedroom-pop-band-done-good A Sunny Day In Glasgow stopped by the WXPN studios a few Saturdays ago to chat while warming up for their gig at Swarthmore’s Olde Club. Topics included their brilliant new full-length Autumn Again, their seriously imaginative music videos, and the perils of being a band geographically scattered between Philly, New York, and Australia. You can hear the entire session and interview on Y-Rock Philly Local on Sunday, November 28th, at 8 p.m.; get a taste below with two songs and a sampler battle. Yes, you read correctly. While I was setting the studio up, bandleader Ben Daniels and singer Jen Goma triggered noises and beats on their respective samplers to soundcheck—and, once they realized they liked what they heard, spent two minutes waging all-out war. Totally hip-hop.