Last week Christinzio was profiled by the Manchester Evening News in advance of a club gig at The Deaf Institute (a venue that, reportedly, is the Mancs’ equivalent of Johnny Brenda’s) and he was forthcoming about the “dark place” he found himself in towards the end of his Philly stay – “everything was going downhill for me; physically, emotionally, everything was deteriorating… I knew I’d most likely be dead or in jail if I stayed there. I needed a fresh start, so I packed my bag and moved to Manchester.” From the article:

Christinzio, on today’s form, looks like he couldn’t be happier. Not long after moving into his flat on Oxford Road in 2011, Christinzio says he began “writing furiously…all these songs poured out. It’s a cliché to say it, but it did feel very cathartic.”

Awash with the beautiful tenor vocals, sumptuous pop melodies and opulent production that have previously earned him comparisons with Brian Wilson and Todd Rundgren, Christinzio’s new single Thieves In Antigua – released on April 22, with an album to follow in Autumn – makes it abundantly clear that his most recent life gamble has happily paid off: and he’s eager to share those musical riches.

Read the article here. Below, get a taste of the new era of B.C. Camplight in a performance of “Grim Cinema” for Manchester Scenewipe. And, amid the ups and downs he speaks of, Christinzio remains close with Philadelphia scene friends – including the Summer Fiction gang, who are enroute to the UK as we speak to record their new album with Christinzio.

This week’s Key Studio Session spotlighted the soulful rock and roll of Juston Stens and the Get Real Gang, who have a slate of regional dates lined up this winter – from Lancaster to Wilmington to right here in Philly. The band played selections from their 2012 LP Trash or Treasure, and dropped a spirited new one called “Blink of an Eye.” Steam or download it below, and get the entire session here.

• Blink of an EyeInsert caption hereDownload

Speaking of Key Studio Sessions, our latest compilation – The Key Studio Sessions Vol. 6 - was released last week. It features 17 tracks recorded last fall, from Ape School and Ethel Cee, to Aspiga and Arctic Splash. Download the entire compilation for free at Soundcloud, and get a taste below with “Witnessed” by Gracie.

Philly’s Brian Christinzio, aka B.C. Camplight, has been living in Manchester, UK, for the better part of the past year, working on his latest LP Grim Cinema. Last week he appeared on BBC Radio 6 Music for an interview and performance of two brand new songs – “Thieves in Antigua” and “Atom Bomb.” Stream and download the session below.

Folkadelphia dug into its archives for a bonus session this week featuring Sacramento singer-songwriter Jules Ann Bee, aka Sea of Bees. Listen to it below, download it at Folkadelphia’s bandcamp.

Download B.C. Camplight‘s BBC Radio 6 session featuring two new songs [link]

Juston Stens and the Get Real Gang bring rock and soul to their Key Session [link]

Listen to Free Energy‘s new album Love Sign at Consequence of Sound [link]

Thrash out with a new Surgeon track; they play Kung Fu Necktie next month [link]

The collaboration between Ground Up and The Lawsuits continues in a HotBox session [link]

David Bowie releases a new single for his birthday [link]

Chill Moody releases his latest album, RFM [link]

Get psyched for Zilla Rocca‘s Tuesday Tune-Out with his new Wrecking Crew video [link]

Download The Key Studio Sessions Vol. 6, our new 17-song compilation [link]

Stream the new album from The Lone Bellow, a Georgia-bred close harmony trio [link]

Stream a new EP from Philly’s Acres of Diamonds, who play PhilaMOCA next week [link]

Plow United announces the details of their all-ages album-release show at The Barbary [link]

Download Anais Mitchell‘s Folkadelphia session [link]

The WXPN Philly Local Show expands to three hours [link]

After making a big splash in 2005 with Hide, Run Away and its irresistible single “Blood and Peanut Butter” (watch a snowboarding video set to that song here), B.C. fell a bit off the radar in the states. His 2007 followup LP Blink of a Nihilist was released in the UK – where he cultivated a strong following – but was only available as a pricy import CD in the states until 2010. In late 2009 he was the first artist spotlighted by the Weathervane Music Project, recording a snappy song called “Your Daddy Is A Little Girl” and laying the groundwork for what would eventually become the Shaking Through series. Aside from that, he’d make periodic Johnny Brenda’s appearances (his cover of “Hot For Teacher” at a show opening for Buried Beds in 2010 was somewhat legendary, as was a later interpretation of Van Halen’s “Eruption” on piano), he’d bounce back and forth between England and Philly, drop hints about new music and leave us wondering when we’d get to hear it.

The word from Whisperin’ and Hollerin’ is that B.C. (aka Brian Christinzio) “can’t overstate how excited I am about [this new album].” Quotes from the blog:

“The record covers a much larger range than my previous work. It’s more intimate in places and in other places it is much more dense sonically – 100 percent melody driven. No filler”.

“It sounds like me and nobody else”.

“Although you can hear influences in my previous albums, this one sounds like a new creature we haven’t heard before:

“It ranges from deeply personal to frightening to ridiculous but sounds very much like one record”.

Christinzio / Camplight headlines a UK show in Manchester later this month, and will release a vinyl EP around the same time; Grim Cinema drops in the early part of 2013, and we’re seriously hoping that the shifts in the record industry / digital music landscape that have happened in the past half-decade will mean we get to hear it right away. Because, seriously, we’ve been waiting. Watch B.C. Camplight’s video for Weathervane Music below.

You can listen to the entire session here, however you can download the song “By The Sea” below. Click here to download the entire collection of song in one zip file.

• By The Seaby Summer Fiction from The Key Studio Sessions, Volume 1Download