The latest edition of our Key Studio Sessions compilations is out today – now streamable and downloadable from Soundcloud!  Check out this year’s in-studio appearances with The Key Studio Sessions Vol. 7, including the down-tempo folk stylings of Waxahatchee, the thrashing punk of Pissed Jeans and the all-out rock jams of Ruby the Hatchet.  Thanks to production assistants Fred Knittel, Madeleine Lesperance, and Dan Malloy as well as photographers Rachel Del Sordo and Kate McCann, and videographers The Angry Mountain, HotBox Studios and Out of Town Films for sharing their work.

Whichever it is, Lohse is a very active songwriter and longtime fixture in the Philly music world, whether as a backing player / behind-the-scenes type, or the person at center stage with the 60s folk melodies and the haunting voice. This week she appeared on the new On the Hill video session series from Kettle Pot Tracks studio in Lafayette Hill. She performed two songs – “Role of Rabbits” got its first public airing and it sounds great, as does “All Around the River,” which appeared on her Key Session. Watch the videos below, and see Lohse live at Ortlieb’s Lounge on May 4th.

Photo credit: Vince Miesejewski

Gretchen Lohse’s “Primal Rumble” is aptly named. Lohse’s voice has a raw, wild quality and the song is not unlike a primal rumble, even if it sounds more like the primal rumble of a songbird than of a wild cat. Lohse is a veteran of the Philadelphia music scene. She performed in Yellow Humphrey and collaborated with Summer Fiction before branching out on her own. She has a solo album due out this summer and recorded a studio session for The Key in January with Thomas Hughes of The Spinto Band. She played “Primal Rumble” then, too, but the ethereal video of Hughes and Lohse performing is an added compliment to her singing and writing style. Below, watch “Primal Rumble.”

• Hanging Up My Heartby Emmylou Harris & Rodney Crowell from Old Yellow MoonDownload

Wooden Wand is James Jackson Toth, and singer-songwriter who has released over 100 recordings in almost every audio format but most recently in the form of this month’s Blood Oaths of the New Blues LP.  Toth carries the heritage of old-style country singers into current times with his back-porch twang and dusty ballads.  Stream and download “Outsider Blues” below.

This week The Key Unlocked local musician Joe D’Amico‘s A Short Time’s a Long Time.  The West Chester singer-songwriter, perhaps best known for his work with bluegrass / folk band Mason Porter, uses his solo material to experiment with a larger spectrum of sounds ranging from ambient to rustic to upbeat rock.  Stream and download “Where Does the Time Go?” below and then check out his Unlocked interview, album review and video.

The breezy lilt of Austin’s Tiger Waves calls to mind Real Estate mixed with 60s psychedelia on their just-released single “Fields.”  Giving nods to The Beach Boys, The Byrds and The Beatles as influences, the young five-piece completed a successful Kickstarter campaign last year, enabling them to tour the States over the next two months.  Tiger Waves will stop by Kung Fu Necktie this Wednesday, January 30th; tickets and information can be found here.  Below, stream and download “Fields” b/w “A Smirk & A Smile.”

Yellow Humphrey’s Gretchen Lohse stopped by to record a Key Studio Session this week, sharing four unreleased works in progress and one reworking of a Yellow Humphrey song.  Departing from her band’s intricate lattice-work compositions, Lohse’s solo work in this session is an intimate, stripped back approach to her classic folk sound.  Stream and download “Primal Rumble” below and then head over here for the full session.

• Primal Rumbleby Gretchen Lohse from The Key Studio SessionsDownload

Photo by Pete Troshak | flickr.com/photos/petryfrompa/sets | twitter.com/shak74

The lineup for the 6th Annual Roots Picnic includes Gary Clark Jr., Lushlife and more [link]

Dave Hartley‘s Top of the Key returns to tell you why the NBA should #LetBonnerShoot [link]

Folk-inspired Philly songwriter Gretchen Lohse records a stunning Key Studio Session [link]

The latest album from Joe D’Amico gets the Unlocked treatment [link]

Portland dance-rock artist ONUINU chats about his upcoming show at Kung Fu Necktie [link]

Get your vote on in The Deli and Tri-State Indie‘s year-in-review polls [link]

Pitchfork gave Bleeding Rainbow‘s new LP a bad review, then premiered it anyway [link]

UK pop singer Jessie Ware played Union Transfer, reminisced about World Cafe [link]

Listen to Simian Mobie Disco recorded live on Making Time RADio [link]

Elder grunge statesmen Soundgarden brought their reunion tour to The Tower Theater [link]

Listen to Yo La Tengo cover The Spinners’ classic “I’ll Be There” from Free at Noon [link]

Ohio singer-songwriter Dolfish is spotlighted in this week’s Folkadelphia session [link]

• All Around The Riverby Gretchen Lohse, from The Key Studio Sessions, Jan. 23, 2013Download

• Two Travelersby Gretchen Lohse, from The Key Studio Sessions, Jan. 23, 2013Download

• Spider At The Gateby Gretchen Lohse, from The Key Studio Sessions, Jan. 23, 2013Download

• Primal Rumbleby Gretchen Lohse, from The Key Studio Sessions, Jan. 23, 2013Download

• Twisted Applesby Gretchen Lohse, from The Key Studio Sessions, Jan. 23, 2013Download

XPN welcomes Raul Malo to World Cafe Live tonight for a special solo acoustic holiday show.  Holiday music has been a part of Malo’s catalog throughout his career and in 2007 he released Marshmallow World & Other Holiday Favorites, which he recorded with his three sons helping out on vocals.  The Cuban musician reunited with his longtime band The Mavericks recently and the country group will be releasing a new record in January called In Time.  Tickets for Raul Malo’s show with Seth Walker can be found here.  Below, listen to Malo’s version of “Blue Christmas.”

Philadelphia multi-instrumentalist Gretchen Lohse performs at Johnny Brenda’s tonight.  Lohse may be better known as the front-woman for the local psychedelic folk outfit Yellow Humphrey, though lately she’s been striking out on her own, contributing a set to Folkadelphia’s Tuesday Tune-Out series in August and paying tribute to Harry Nilsson and Randy Newman at the Ron Gallo Revue in September.  Currently, Lohse is recording a solo record expected out next summer.  Gretchen Lohse opens for Sera Cahoone and Rayland Baxter tonight.  Tickets and information for the 21+ show can be found here.  Below, listen to “Primal Rumble.”

Randy Newman (left) and Harry Nilsson

Fans of snappy piano pop would do well to head to Fergie’s Wednesday night, when Toy Soldiers frontman Ron Gallo hosts a tribute to 70s songwriters Harry Nilsson and Randy Newman. Admission to the show is free, and music gets underway starting at 9 p.m. It’s the first installment of the new weekly “Ron Gallo Revue”, and features an impressive list of local collaborators: Ali and Claire Wadsworth, Tim Arnold of Good Old War, Thom McCarthy, Ross Bellenoit, Gretchen Lohse of Yellow Humphrey, Jerry Bernhardt of The Get Real Gang, Aaron Brown, Modern Inventors and Gallo himself. With so much talent in the room, we couldn’t help offering a few suggestions / challenges from the Nilsson / Newman repertoire that we’d love to see these folks perform. For instance, Nilsson’s iconic 1971 hit “Without You” – re-popularized by Mariah Carey in the 90s – would rock so hard coming out of one or both of the powerhouse vocalist Wadsworth sisters. And Aaron Brown’s voice already has the husky smoothness of Newman’s – he’d tear up “I Think It’s Going To Rain Today.” Check out our picks below, and get more information on the tribute at its Facebook event page.

Last night at PhilaMOCA, the lead singer of Yellow Humphrey, Gretchen Lohse, put on a beautiful and intimate solo set. Check out a photo recap of the performance in the gallery above.