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Tonight’s Concert Picks: Aspiga at Ortlieb’s, Jacqueline Constance at World Cafe Live, Hezekiah Jones at Ardmore Music Hall and more…

Aspiga
Aspiga | photo via Facebook

New Jersey punk group Aspiga celebrate the release of What Happened To You? at Ortlieb’s tonight.  The LP marks Aspiga’s second effort for Paper + Plastik records, following 2012′s Every Last Piece full-length.  On “My Little Eraser,” the first song shared from the new record, Aspiga hardens their pop-punk sound with an aggressive pace and a knack for brevity.  More information for the 21+ show with Thing Lips, By Surprise and Fo A Cha can be found on the Facebook event page here. Listen to “My Little Eraser” below.

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Tonight’s Concert Picks: The Warhawks at Bourbon and Branch, Deb Callahan Band at Steel City, Aspiga at Studio Luloo

Photo via facebook.com/thewarhawks
Photo via facebook.com/thewarhawks

Gloucester City rockers The Warhawks return to play Bourbon and Branch tonight. Two years ago, the band did an interview with the Key’s John Vettese where they discussed their recording process, their inspiration and their experience at SXSW. Last month, the band released their latest EP Exodus. The newest music is slightly more aggressive than their previous work. Along the same lines, the video for their single “Just Let Me” shows a very punk rock recording session. Listen to “Just Let Me” below. Get more information at the XPN Concert Calendar.

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Tonight’s Concert Picks: Aspiga at Kung Fu Necktie, Minus the Bear at the Electric Factory, Our Griffins / Rosu Lup at North Star Bar

Photo by John Vettese
Photo by John Vettese
New Jersey punk outfit Aspiga will play at Kung Fu Necktie tonight. The band released their split 7 inch record Aspiga/Among Giants back in July. Stream the record below and revisit their performance from our Key Studio Sessions here. Tickets are available at the door for $8.

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The Week So Far: 11 must-read stories on The Key (incl. Steve Gunn Trio, W.C. Lindsay, Disclosure and more)

Father John Misty | Photo by Noah Silvestry | silvestography.tumblr.com
Father John Misty | Photo by Noah Silvestry | silvestography.tumblr.com

Relive the weekend’s live music with reviews and photos of The National, Father John Misty, Devendra Banhart, The Bailey Hounds and Of Monsters and Men [link]

The Steve Gunn Trio recorded a Key Studio Session while on tour with Kurt Vile [link]

War on Drugs bassist and Nightlands frontman Dave Hartley returns to The Top of The Key with a look at basketball nicknames [link]

New Jersey’s Aspiga premiered a new song called “Direction” from an upcoming 7″ split [link]

Take an in-depth look at Break It Up‘s debut self-titled LP, featured this week on Unlocked [link]

Stream the exclusive premiere of W.C. Lindsay‘s super fun Tree EP [link]

WXPN announced the daily line-up for this summer’s XPoNential Music Festival [link]

We have a Gotta Hear Song from Disclosure and a Gotta Watch Video of Steve Martin and Edie Brickell this week [link and link]

PhilaMOCA announced their second annual ERASERHOOD FOREVER celebration of David Lynch and the venue’s Callowhill neighborhood [link]

Last Good Tooth teamed up with Folkadelphia for this week’s live session [link]

Sigur Ros, Kate Nash and Neko Case announced Philly shows for the fall

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Premiere: Aspiga’s “Direction” from new split with Among Giants

AspigaJersey punk rockers Aspiga are set to release a split 7” on Say-10 with the group Among Giants this July.  Today, we bring you a taste of the record with Aspiga’s hard-hitting punk-rock anthem, “Direction.”  Drums pound away, paired with a low marching bass and heavy guitar as frontman Kevin Day sings of love on the road.  Keeping it loud and powerful non-stop during this fast paced song, Aspiga really create a feeling of anxious restlessness for this single.  Check it out below and catch the group at Wah Manor in Philly on June 15th.  You can also Preorder the 7” here.

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Download The Key Studio Sessions Vol. 6 (feat. Reef the Lost Cauze, Kingsfoil, Bad Braids + more)

The latest edition of our Key Studio Sessions compilations is out today – now streamable and downloadable from Soundcloud! Check out highlights from fall of 2012 with The Key Studio Sessions Vol. 6, including some hard-hitting hip-hop from Ethel Cee and Reef the Lost Cauze, expressive Americana from The Districts, bright pop-rock from Kingsfoil, dense shoegaze from Nothing and more. Special thanks to guest engineer Chris Williams and production assistants Beth Ann Downey, Fred Knittel, Madeleine Lesperance, and Dan Malloy as well as photographers Laura Jane Brubaker, Kyle Costill, Shamus McGroggan, Marley McNamara, and Julie Miller for sharing their work.

Looking for more? Visit WXPN’s Soundcloud page to download The Key Studio Sessions Vol. 1 through Vol. 5.

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Tonight’s Concert Picks: Aspiga with Ex-Friends at North Star Bar, Ominous Ominous Ominous at The Trocadero

South Jersey punk band Aspiga will be rocking out with Ex-Friends at the North Star Bar tonight.  Aspiga released their second full-length Every Last Piece a couple of months ago via Paper + Plastick Records and found some time between East Coast tour dates to record a crushing Key Studio Session (listen back here).  Aspiga will be joined by Ex-Friends (bassist Joel Tannenbaum of the recently re-banded Plow United), Relatives and Goddamnit.  Tickets and information can be found here; below, stream and download “On The Defensive” from Aspiga’s Key Studio Session.

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The Week So Far: Eight must-read stories on The Key

Bing & Ruth’s David Moore on the ambient performance he brings to The Barnes Friday [link]

The new LP from The Fleeting Ends, Our Eyes are Peeled, gets the Unlocked treatment [link]

Dave Hartley, bassist for The War on Drugs, launches his sports column From The Key [link]

South Jersey pop-punks Aspiga treat us to a song from each release in their Key session [link]

Roots collaborator Truck North releases Our American Cousin free EP [link]

Does cover art make the album? We ponder this and look at some great local album covers [link]

Sonic Youth’s Thurston Moore and drummer John Maloney tonight at Space 1026 [link]

Brooklyn duo She Keeps Bees is features on this week’s Folkadelphia session [link]

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The Key Studio Sessions: Aspiga

If you didn’t already know, South Jersey is a hotbed of pop-punk talent. Today’s Key Studio Session guests, Aspiga, just released their second full-length, Every Last Piece, via Florida label Paper and Plastick Records, and spent the last month on tour, playing DIY shows in basements along the east coast (as well as proper shows at more formalized venues) in support of it. The band has a sound that’s at once melodic and accessible like 90s favorites NoFX, but also jagged and aggressive, a la Hot Water Music. In other words, if you spent any amount of time going to see suburban VFW hall shows with lineups of a half-dozen bands selling pins and 7″s, Aspiga is right up your alley. The band is playing its belated album release show for Every Last Piece at Studio Luloo in Oaklyn, NJ on December 22; more information on the show can be found here. Below, dig into the five live recordings Aspiga made in our studio – one song from each of their releases.