Photos by Chris Sikich | countfeed.tumblr.com

In their biggest headlining show to date, Jukebox the Ghost played Union Transfer last Friday night. Fellow formal local Matt Pond played an opening set with his new band, and Delaware buzz-makers The Spring Standards opened the show. Check out scenes from the evening in the photo gallery above.

Matt Pond’s eponymous project doesn’t feel 15 years old. With upbeat harmonies and jangly choruses, his new album could be filed next to Les Savy Fav as easily as it could be next to The Lumineers.  It is Pond’s tenth full-length and follows the release of his ninth EP, The Natural Lines, which came out earlier this month. The album, The Lives Inside the Lines in Your Hand, drops February 5th, but Paste is streaming it now. Matt Pond will be coming to Philadelphia with his new album to play with Jukebox the Ghost at Union Transfer on March 15th. Tickets and information for the show are available here.  Below, watch the lyric video for Pond’s new track “Love to Get Used.”

Jukebox the Ghost | Photo by Charlotte Jacobson

Continuing to tour in support of their summer 2012 release Safe Travels, Jukebox the Ghost today announced a new string of winter / spring tour dates that lands them at Union Transfer on the ides of March. It’s their biggest headlining appearance in Philly to date, and tickets go on sale this Friday, November 30, at noon via the venue’s website. It’s probably a safe guess that we’re not the only folks in the Philly music scene that are psyched for this show. Below, check out a video that our friends at Tri-State Indie recently released – an interview with the band at Appel Farm from the summer.

RNDM is the newly formed bluesy alt-rock brainchild of singer/songwriter Joseph Arthur, drummer Richard Stuverud from Three Fish, and Pearl Jam’s Jeff Ament on bass. The supergroup will be performing tonight at Union Transfer fresh off the release of their debut album Acts, which dropped last week. Fans listening will recognize that Acts is heavily influenced from the bandmembers’ other projects, with nostalgic lyrics and rhythms and Ament’s mesmerizing bass lines on tracks like “Darkness” and “Cherries In The Snow.” Tickets for the 8:30 show are available here. Watch the video for “Walking Through New York” below.

Now Now, formerly known as Now Now Every Children, will be opening for Motion City Soundtrack tonight at Theatre of the Living Arts. The midwestern indie rock trio released their second full-length album, Threads, in March. Jukebox The Ghost, who previously toured with Now Now supporting Hellogoodbye’s winter tour last year, will also be performing tonight. Tickets for the 6 pm show are available here. Below, check out Now Now’s video for the title track from Threads.

XPN Welcomes The Milk Carton Kids to Tin Angel tonight.The folk duo, which is Kenneth Pattengale and Joey Ryan, released two albums in 2011, Retrospect and Prologue, both of which are available as free downloads on their website here. Tickets for the 21+ show tonight can be found here. Watch The Milk Carton Kids perform “Michigan” as part of NPR Music’s Tiny Desk Concert Series below.

R5 Productions summer concert series at Morgan’s Pier continues tonight with a performance from Jukebox the Ghost. This show is totally free but apologies young’uns, you must be 21 to enter. The show kicks off at 6 p.m. Jukebox also played our free at noon in June, you can listen to it here (via the XPN media player). Special guests tonight also include Norwegian Arms, who you can read more about here (and listen to in the player below).

Ian Bavitz, who goes by the moniker Aesop Rock, practices hip hop while jumping the fence to a new wave underground sound. He’s an indie rapper, a hip hop producer, a San Franciscan. And you can catch him tonight at Union Transfer along with Rob Sonic and DJ Big Wiz. Tickets to this all ages show are $15-17; doors open at 8 p.m. Below watch a video for “Zero Dark Thirty” off his latest album Skelethon.

Tonight at the Tin Angel, WXPN welcomes John Francis. He wrote his first album, Strong Wine & Spirits while living in Philadelphia in 2005, and then followed with his sophomore album The Better Angels after relocating to Nashville. Francis takes inspiration from Johnny Cash and other blues rock influences. He performs tonight at 7:30 p.m., this show is 21+ and tickets are $10, grab yours here.

If that sounds like a good time, then make sure to get to Morgan’s Pier early on Saturday; Norwegian Arms are opening the show at 6 p.m.! For more info on the event visit R5′s website here.  In the meantime, cool off from the Philly summer heat with Norwegian Arms’ track “Tired of Being Cold” off the band’s new album, Wolf Like a Stray Dog.

1. Adulthood
2. Oh, Emily
3. At Last
4. Don’t Let Me Fall Behind
5. Say When
6. Somebody
7. Man In The Moon
8. The Spiritual

• I Wanna Dance With Somebodyby Jukebox The Ghost recorded at Brighton Music Hall, Boston, Mass. 6/21/12Download

Saturday, June 23rd – Free Energy and Grandchidren
Saturday, June 30th – Algernon Cadwallader
Saturday, July 7th – Hoots & Hellmouth
Saturday, July 14th – The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart
Saturday, July 21st – Fang Island
Saturday, July 28th – Pissed Jeans and A Place To Bury Strangers
Saturday, August 4th – Jukebox The Ghost
Saturday, August 11th – TBA
Saturday, August 18th – Mishchief Brew
Saturday, August 25th – TBA

Go here for show times and more information.

Also Playing: XPN Welcomes Sam Roberts Band + Zeus, Canadian Invasion at North Star Bar (9 p .m., 21+, $15); XPN Welcomes Marin Sexton at Sellersville Theater (8 p.m., $33–$45)

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 3rd
XPN Welcomes Jukebox The Ghost, The Spinto Band, and White Birds at Union Transfer (8 p.m., all ages, $12–$14) You can watch Jukebox The Ghost’s new video for the track “Half Crazy” off the band’s 2010 album, Everything Under The Sun; the video was shot in South Philly by local animation production company Juggling Wolf. You can check out White Bird’s recent Key Studio Session here.

Also Playing: XPN Welcomes The Roches: Suzy And Maggie Roche with a Holiday Twist at New Hope Winery (8 p.m., $30–$40)

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 4th
XPN Welcomes the 6th Annual Lizanne Knott And Friends Philabundance Benefit at World Cafe Live (8 p.m., $10)

Listen to this week’s Key Studio Session and count the ways the guys in White Birds impressively play off one another. There’s vibey ensemble moments: Mike Cammarata’s minimal floor tom percussion provides the broken heartbeat to the tales of loss singer Jim Harvey spins thru a 60′s pop loom (“Floating Hands”). Chris Radwinski’s strolling bass line strikes a harmonic counterpoint to the scene in “Hondora.” But the breezy Bucks County psych band also works at the simplest level: “No Sun” and “Veins Lined With Rust” are carried by breathtaking harmonies between Harvey and his brother Farzad Houshiarnejad. It’s a far cry from the spastic carnival music these guys delivered as Drink Up Buttercup, but the band says you shouldn’t be fooled by the downtempo approach of its debut EP (or this session). It’s catalog runs broader, since it’s preparing to release a full length next year, and when White Birds opens for Jukebox the Ghost on Saturday, it promises energetic rock-out moments to break up the mellow mood. Get the full story when their session and interview plays back on The Key Studio Sessions Hour on XPN2 tomorrow night at 7. White Birds opens for The Spinto Band and Jukebox the Ghost Sat. Dec. 3 at Union Transfer. Tickets to the all-ages show are $14, more info at UTPhilly.com.

• Floating Handsby White Birds from The Key Studio Sessions, Nov. 30, 2011Download

• Hondoraby White Birds from The Key Studio Sessions, Nov. 30, 2011Download

• No Sunby White Birds from The Key Studio Sessions, Nov. 30, 2011Download

• Veins Lined With Rustby White Birds from The Key Studio Sessions, Nov. 30, 2011Download

“It was stop-motion, so each scene was painstakingly shot frame-by-frame (think ‘Wallace and Gromit’, but with us instead),” says Jukebox’s Tommy Siegel. “They hand-drew over 2,500 animated mouths (whoa), which were taped to my face one by one. Under the direction of Marina, Jason and Ian, we moved very slowly for a few days and resisted the urge to itch ourselves for hours on end. We hope you dig the end result of Jukebox the Ghost’s first time participating in a stop-motion experiment!”

December tour dates:
Dec. 1 @ 930 Club in Washington DC
Dec. 2 @ Brooklyn Bowl in Brooklyn NY
Dec. 3 @ Union Transfer in Philadelphia PA
Dec. 4 @ The Brillobox in Pittsburgh PA
Dec. 8 @ The Spot in Providence RI
Dec. 9 @ The Space in Hamden CT

• The Sheriffby The Spinto Band from Biba! One Island, 879 VotesDownload

For more photos by Eric Ashleigh, visit eashleigh.com.

11:00 a.m. – 11:30 a.m. Brian McGee (outdoor stage)
12:00 p.m. – 12:30 p.m The Parson Red Heads (outdoor stage)
1:00 p.m. – 1:45 p.m. John Byrne (indoor stage)
1:00 p.m. – 1:30 p.m. Wigwams (outdoor stage)
2:00 p.m. – 2:45 p.m. Pinemouth (indoor stage)
2:00 p.m. – 2:30 p.m. Birdie Busch (outdoor stage)
3:00 p.m. – 3:45 p.m. Toy Soldiers (indoor stage)
3:00 p.m. – 3:30 p.m. Nicos Gun (outdoor stage)
4:00 p.m. – 4:45 p.m. North Lawrence Midnight Singers (indoor stage)
4:00 p.m. – 4:30 p.m. Reading Rainbow (outdoor stage)
5:00 p.m. – 5:45 p.m. Avi Wisnia (indoor stage)
5:00 p.m. – 5:30 p.m. Viva Voce (outdoor stage)
6:00 p.m. – 6:45 p.m. Stephen Lyons (indoor stage)
6:00 p.m. – 6:30 p.m. Jukebox The Ghost (outdoor stage)
7:00 p.m. – 7:30 p.m. Thao with the Get Down Stay Down (outdoor stage)
8:00 p.m. – 8:45 p.m. The Head and The Heart (outdoor stage)
9:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m. Good Old War (outdoor stage)

Reading Rainbow – Dead End by RRPhilly

HVNLP85 The Head and the Heart – The Head and the Heart by heavenlyrecordings

SOLDIER by nicosgun

Jukebox The Ghost took the XPoNential Festival’s Marina stage Sunday amid a cloud of heavy heat. The late-afternoon set had the muggy weather and an equally sluggish audience to contend with, but Jukebox’s brand of sunny piano pop prevailed, proving irresistible to even the most lethargic listeners. By the end of the show, a contingent of previously sedate spectators had taken up at the foot of the stage, dancing with whole-hearted enthusiasm.

As the members of Jukebox launched into their first song (“Good Day” from 2008’s Live And Let Ghosts) the crowd was restless, milling around or sitting on blankets and lawn chairs on the sloping hill, clutching water bottles with sweaty palms. As the tune wound down, singer and keyboardist Ben Thornewill’s chirpy voice cut through the haze: “Guys, check this out. To get to this show, he came from Kentucky, I came from Alaska, and he came from New York. So we’re really excited to be here.” People began to pay attention as the crowd swelled, and with the opening chords of “Empire” Jukebox was fully in command.

Along with the obvious charms of an energetic, hook-heavy sound, Thornewill’s and guitarist Tommy Siegel’s amiable, self-effacing banter won over a group mostly unfamiliar with their music. (Turning to her friend, one woman said, “I’ve never heard of them, but they’re great!”) Siegel discussed the pitfalls of Kentucky wedding attire in the summer: “I was…in a suit. So the sweat was private but it was there” and Thornewill prefaced the new song “Say When” by saying “It’s a dance song about how much I hate dance clubs.” (“That was an opportunity to boo, so we appreciate that,” Thornewill said after asking if they could play material from their upcoming record.) All three members of Jukebox The Ghost seemed happy to be there, all eager to convert a new cohort of fans—and just to have a good time.

With the jaunty and much-beloved “Hold It In” the band really hit their stride. A trio of girls by the sound tent stood up to shimmy and sing along. There were teenage boys chanting the words and one guy whistling and yelling, “You f–king rock, man!” Even the seated onlookers bobbed their heads, fanning themselves in time with the beat. Each sudden start and stop of the music found Thornewill flicking his wrists and bouncing. Jukebox’s fondness for the abrupt mid-song pause led to a lot of false-start applause, but their ability to snap without warning into and out of utter silence also showcased how polished and practiced they are.

The last local artist for this XPoNential was Jukebox The Ghost, a bouncy indie-pop trio whose infectious tunes have been on XPN’s rotation for some time. As David Dye put it while welcoming the band on the Marina, they gave the World Cafe one of our favorite sessions ever. Today they played from their 2010 release, letting their piano-filled quirkiness filter out across the festival grounds. —Bekah Larsen

You can listen to the audio of the full performance here; videos will be available soon. You can also listen to Mike Vasilikos’ interview with the band here.

Set List
Good Day
Half Crazy
Empire
Summer Sun
Say When
Popular Thing
Hold It In
The Sun (Interlude)
The Stars
Schizophrenia

Visit Jukebox The Ghost’s band page at the XPoNential Music Festival website for complete coverage.

Jukebox The Ghost plays piano-driven pop, but don’t label them the next Ben Folds. Jukebox’s approach to the genre is more offbeat and less packaged; they favor whimsical, fictional lyrics and jangly keyboards. Though they’ve been around since 2003, Jukebox has recently been building buzz with their sprawling, buoyant tunes—having appeared on Late Show With David Letterman and played at Lollapalooza last year. Prior to the band’s appearance at XPoNonential Festival this Sunday, The Key sat down with lead singer and pianist Ben Thornewill to discuss his music major, Philly’s concert scene, and why he doesn’t listen to a lot of music.

The Key: What was the band’s original name, and why did you change it?

Ben Thornewill: Our original name was The Sunday Mail, and it was just something we stumbled upon when we started playing in college. And we were very much a college band and we weren’t doing too much. So when we started to take ourselves a little more seriously we thought it was important to change to something that meant something. So we came up with Jukebox The Ghost, which is sort of a terrible band name, but aren’t they all? It’s from a Nabokov novel.

TK: Which novel?

BT: Pnin. It’s only about 100 pages, and he has this great line about how he doesn’t believe in autonomous jobs, but that it’s a democracy of ghosts.

TK: What are your thoughts on the many comparisons to Ben Folds that Jukebox the Ghost receives?

BT: My philosophy on that is that there are only so many points of reference for a piano-based group. If there were as many piano-based rock groups as there are guitar-based rock groups, we wouldn’t be compared to Ben Folds. I think. It’s a not a bad comparison. Everyone needs to stop thinking that. There are a lot of great bands from the early ’90s, like Jellyfish. People that know Jellyfish tend to compare us to Jellyfish, but because they’re no longer on the tip of people’s tongues, it doesn’t get thrown around all that much. You know, Ben Folds has been around forever, and makes great music, so it’s not a bad comparison. But there are better ones.

TK: You were a music major in college. How does being a music major inform your songwriting?

BT: It’s interesting, it’s more my classical background that I think informs the music. And in college, studying jazz. All that, absolutely influences it. The chords that I choose, the arrangements that I make… [B]eing a music major enabled me to immerse myself in music and get a broader wisdom of knowledge. But yeah it’s more specific than that. I wouldn’t say learning music history influenced it, but being able to surround myself with music definitely helped.

TK: In a previous interview, you said that you don’t listen to a lot of music. Why is that?

BT: I guess I get overwhelmed, overloaded. Sensory overload at a certain point. I also feel like I’ll listen to five or six songs, and if it’s new and big and important, then I’ll process it, and then I’m done. I need to take a break and I don’t have any real explanation for it. I don’t know. I just prefer silence a lot of the time.

TK: So what do you listen do?

BT: It all depends. I’ll listen to rock, I’ll listen to classic jazz, but you know all within the realm of not listening to a ton.

TK: Your lyrics are often fictional in nature. How much of your songs are personal and how much are they fictional?

BT: Even fiction comes from a place of truth and honesty. So, you know, I try not to be too explicit all the time. But even if I’m coming from a place that’s of actual emotion or something in my life, there’s a really fine line—and I find that once I get away from the song, a couple years after I’ve written the song, I have trouble distinguishing which parts were real.

TK: You currently live in Philadelphia. What’s your take on the music scene here?

BT: The Philly music scene is amazing. Part of the charm of Philly is that it’s a major city with a fantastic arts scene that’s also liveable, in a way New York isn’t. So you get a lot of people being able to spend more of their time just making music and being creative. We have some amazing friends in bands and musicians in Philly. Fantastic music scene.

TK: How does it compare to D.C., where the band was originally formed?

BT: The D.C. music scene is tough. There are not a lot of all-ages venues, and that was tough for us getting going. In Philly, it’s very much DIY warehouse scene, art show scene. So I find there’s a lot more bands, a lot more accessibility in Philadelphia.

TK: Jukebox the Ghost has gained a lot of buzz recently. You’ve been playing bigger venues and you were on The Late Show With David Letterman. What’s that been like?

BT: It’s the product of a lot of work. And even though we’re getting buzz, we’re still doing 150 shows a year. So it doesn’t feel for us like there’s been some change, like all of a sudden someone flipped a switch. It’s been a really steady growth spurt, the three and half years we’ve been touring. So I don’t know, that’s how we feel about it. It doesn’t feel like we’re the next buzzy band, but it’s nice to sort of to get more appreciated.

Jukebox The Ghost will be performing at the XPoNential Music Festival along with artists such as Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Givers, Sun Airway, Other Lives, Ra Ra Riot, and many others. The festival will be taking place July 22-24th at Wiggins Park in Camden, NJ. Tickets are available here.

Philadelphia trio Jukebox The Ghost originally formed while guitarist Tommy Siegel, pianist Ben Thornewill and drummer Jesse Kristin were in college in Washington, D.C. The group is known for its whimsical and energetic pop tunes, which draw from the band’s love for Ben Folds, Elvis Costello, Queen, They Might Be Giants and The Flaming Lips.

The band grew up a lot in 2010, playing SXSW, Lollapalloza and on “The Late Show with David Letterman.” In September, it released its second LP, Everything Under the Sun.

Visit NPR Music to hear the entire show.

Tickets to the XPoNential Music Festival are available now for members only, and start at less than $12 a day (for a three-day pass purchased in advance). Tickets go on sale to the general public on Monday, May 16th. Go to XPN.org’s support page (or call 1-800-565-WXPN) to become a member; if you pledge $24 per month, you’ll receive a pair of weekend passes, two festival t-shirts, and an XPN membership that gets you free beverages and artist meet-and-greets all weekend long.