this mixtape has been collected by a great homie Ryan Wilson from Pill Friends pillfriends.bandcamp.com

all bands are active in a beautiful music scene formed in Philadelphia and its neighborhood and they will be pleased with your support

there many other incredible bands from this scene which are not covered in this compilation, but you should definitely listen to them

You can listen to the compilation and get to know some of your neighbors – from an across-the-globe perspective – in the player below. To grab a free download, head to Start Track’s Bandcamp.

Guest curator QD Tran (of The Deli Magazine) presents his final Tuesday Tuneout event at PhilaMOCA tonight.  Music will be provided by over-the-top punk rock band (and recent Key Studio Session alums) Cousin Brian and surfy-punk quintet Vintage Kicks (also Key Studio Session alums).  To complete your punk education, the bands have chosen to screen Don Lett’s 2005 documentary Punk: Attitude.  Admission is $5 and doors open 8:00 p.m.  For more information, check out the event page here. Stream “Do Stay Over” from Cousin Brian’s Key Studio Session below.

Irish rockers Bell X1 will play a special acoustic show tonight at World Café Live.  The band is touring in support of the limited edition, two-disc live album they released earlier this summer called Field Recordings, featuring tracks that were recorded during a previous acoustic tour in 2010 (to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the band’s first record).  Tickets for this seated show are $22, available on World Café Live’s website.  Doors are at 7:00 p.m, with music by Duke Special beginning at 8:00 p.m.  Below, watch the official video for Bell X1′s “Velcro”.

Longtime XPN favorite David Gray makes his way to Lancaster this evening for a performance at the American Music Theatre.  Gray nestled into the alternative singer-songwriter consciousness with his 2000 breakthrough White Ladder featuring the hit “Babylon”, and he has been mainstay of the scene ever since.  Tickets to tonight’s 8:00pm show with Foy Vance are $58 for general admission seating.  Watch David Gray’s video for “Babylon” below.

Alternative-pop band Gossip bring their undeniably catchy dance riffs to The TLA tonight.  Taking cues from both ends of the spectrum (think Sleater-Kinney meets Pet Shop Boys), Beth Ditto and her band want to make you dance.  Gossip are touring behind their latest album A Joyful Noise with Magic Mouth opening.  Tickets to the all-ages show are $16 and doors are at 7:00pm.  Watch Gossip’s new video for “Move in the Right Direction” below.

Looking for more? Visit WXPN’s Soundcloud page to download The Key Studio Sessions Vol. 1 through Vol. 4.

And here we are, once again. Last week in August. Symbolic end of summer and all that. Time to stay out late, crank the speakers, skip town, get crazy, whatever floats your boat. If there’s a band in Philly that embodies reckless abandon right now, it’s Cousin Brian. Their self-titled record (which got a vinyl release on Mallrat Records, the label started by Slutever’s Nicole Snyder) is an aggravated sugar rush, an adrenaline high of skittish pop rhythms and aggressive hardcore grit. The bass is cranked and buzzing, singer Sean Caruthers voice sears and hollers, and the four-piece tears across its 11 songs in just about 25 minutes. It’s not the most accessible album, but if you’re along for the ride, it’s so freaking good. Likewise, they’re not the most accessible live act. Might even call them a bit confrontational. At PhilaMOCA back in May, they taunted the crowd in true punk rock fashion for not standing closer to the stage (“We played to a bunch of 30-year-old metal dudes in the northeast last week and they were more excited than you!”). When this had no effect, Caruthers dove offstage and sang right in the middle of the fray. Evidently, he’s fond of doing this. And don’t even get me started on the between-song banter when they recorded their Key Studio Session back in June. (Hint: it involves awkward jokes and mouth noises. Listen to the XPN2 Philly Local Show tomorrow if you’re curious.) Point being – these guys are insane, they live in the moment and shrug off the consequences, and their infectious songs are all the awesomer for it. Dig into the session below if you dare, enjoy your last hurrah of summer, and make plans to catch Cousin Brian at the North Star Bar on Oct. 13.

• Do Stay Overby Cousin Brian from The Key Studio Sessions, Aug. 29, 2012Download

• Fear Instilledby Cousin Brian from The Key Studio Sessions, Aug. 29, 2012Download

• Displacedby Cousin Brian from The Key Studio Sessions, Aug. 29, 2012Download

• Tiredby Cousin Brian from The Key Studio Sessions, Aug. 29, 2012Download

• Comfortably Bummedby Cousin Brian from The Key Studio Sessions, Aug. 29, 2012Download