Little Big League

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March 12, 2013 | 12:37 PM | By

Little Big League joins Tiny Engines Records roster, preps album for summer release

LBL
Just in from AbsolutePunk.net: Philly indie rock four-piece Little Big League has signed a deal with the Carolina-based Tiny Engines Records, who also recently picked up local trio Cayetana. The band recently wrapped up recording its debut full-lengths These Are Good People, and will release it through Tiny Engines this summer. From Absolute Punk:

The band’s debt to 90s indie guitar rock is respectfully paid while Zauner’s gorgeously unique vocal stylings and striking lyrical imagery add to the album’s dark atmosphere. There is a level of tension and impending danger built, both lyrically and musically, that revels in the vulnerability of us all. These Are Good People is an album about coming of age, loss, and the overwhelming acceptance of reality over a failed romanticism. Due out this Summer on Tiny Engines, the album is a stunning indie rock debut from the Philadelphia quartet.

Congrats to Michelle, Kevin, Ian and Deven. Download their Key Studio Session performance of “St. John’s” below.

FILED UNDER: Artists, Concert Previews, Downloads, Events, News, Recordings, Little Big League, Tiny Engines
December 15, 2012 | 10:52 AM | By

Tonight’s Concert Picks: XPN Welcomes Strand of Oaks with Buried Beds and Little Big League to Johnny Brenda’s, Concrete Blonde at World Cafe Live, Ape School at Kung Fu Necktie, XPN Welcomes Shawn Colvin to The Landis Theater, XPN Welcomes Jane Siberry to The Arden Gild Hall

XPN welcomes Strand of Oaks to Johnny Brenda’s tonight for his first headlining Philadelphia show.  The stage name of local bearded guy Tim Showalter, Strand of Oaks is a vehicle for storytelling and yarn-spinning that has taken Showalter through the darker days of his life and into the better-lit year of 2012; this year saw the release of Strand of Oaks’ third full-length Dark Shores and a tour with Swedish one-man-show The Tallest Man on Earth.  Also playing tonight are local acts Buried Beds and Little Big League.  Tickets and information for the 21+ show are available here.  Below, watch a live video of Showalter and band performing the title track from Dark Shores.

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FILED UNDER: Artists, Concert Previews, Events, Scene, Ape School, Arden Gild Hall, Buried Beds, Concrete Blonde, Jane Siberry, Jim Bianco, Johnny Brenda's, Kung Fu Necktie, Landis Theater, Leverage Models, Little Big League, Shawn Colvin, Strand Of Oaks, The Caribbean, The Royal You, World Cafe Live
October 30, 2012 | 2:30 PM | By

Video: Little Big League’s “Never Have I Ever Walked Away When The Time Was Right”

Crash pad in Baltimore | Photo courtesy of Little Big League

It’s a sparkling new cut in this performance video from Philly indie four-piece Little Big League. The song title is a mouthful – “Never Have I Ever Walked Away When The Time Was Right” – but the band is spot-on, melancholic, maybe a bit slower paced than its usual fare but that’s okay, as it’s a wonderful piece of music. Shot by the Out of Town Films crew, we get lots of way-tight closeups (kind of uncomfortably close at points) and arty blur, but also a warm and inviting sense of the band’s Christmas-light-strewn practice space at Viking Mill in Fishtown. Hear the song and watch the video below; Little Big League’s next Philly show is Saturday, December 15, when XPN Welcomes Strand of Oaks, them and Buried Beds to Johnny Brenda’s.

FILED UNDER: Artists, Concert Previews, Events, News, Recordings, Johnny Brenda's, Little Big League, Out Of Town FIlms
September 22, 2012 | 2:36 PM | By

Instagrams From the Road with Little Big League (homecoming show at Kung Fu Necktie tonight)

Philly indie rock four-piece Little Big League has spent the last few weeks looping the country on their first U.S. tour. We’re excited to welcome them home tonight in a show at Kung Fu Necktie with Daniel Ryan Belski and The Downtown Club opening. But we’re just as excited to bring you this band’s-eye perspective of life on the road. Little Big League documented their travels extensively via Instagram, and it showed the ups and downs and overall fun times of tour – hang times in Baltimore, a van breakdown in the south, a ranch party in Charlotte, days off in St. Louis and Chicago and a rad headliner in Michigan. The gallery above contains some of our favorites. Thanks to the band for sharing, and catch them tonight at KFN.

FILED UNDER: Artists, Concert Previews, Events, Johnny Brenda's, Little Big League
August 23, 2012 | 11:18 AM | By

Just Announced: Strand of Oaks’ first headlining show in Philly (Dec. 15, Johnny Brenda’s)

Not only is it exciting to hear that Strand of Oaks is headlining a show in Philadelphia for the first time – December 15 at Johnny Brenda’s – the killer lineup just cannot be denied. Opening acts include Buried Beds (whose singer, Eliza Hardy-Jones, collaborated with Strand of Oaks on the Shaking Through track “Spacestations”) and Little Big League (whose bassist, Deven Craige, is a sometimes-member of Oaks). The coolest thing of all, for us, is that all of these bands have been in our studio at one time or another; it’s a lineup of Key Studio Sessions alums! Download Strand of Oaks’ cover of “Wolves” by Phosphorescent and Little Big League’s “Saint John’s” below, and watch the Buried Beds Key Studio Session video.

Key Studio Sessions #8 – Buried Beds from WXPN FM on Vimeo.

FILED UNDER: Artists, Concert Previews, Downloads, Events, Recordings, Buried Beds, Johnny Brenda's, Little Big League, Strand Of Oaks
May 3, 2012 | 9:00 AM | By

Download The Key Studio Sessions Compilation Vol. 4 (feat. City Rain, Pink Skull, Lushlife, Chill Moody, + more)

Photo by Arrah Fisher

Special thanks to all of the bands for coming to our studio, and to John Vettese for recording them. We’d also like to thank volunteer production assistants Fred Knittel, Madeleine Lesperance, and Dan Malloy as well as photographers Kate Bracaglia, Corey Cohen, Sarah Fry, Shamus McGroggan, Noah Gabriel Merenda, Sylvia Ramirez, and Heidi Schlenzig for sharing their work.

Click here to download the 18-track compilation in its entirety as a .zip file. Want to hear more? Click here to listen to the full sessions by all 18 local acts; you can also download The Key Studio Sessions Compilation Volume I, Volume 2, and Volume 3.

Playlist:
Zakee “Spotlight”
City Rain “Real Good”
Pink Skull “Oh, Monorail”
Mason Porter “Back To Where We Started From”
Univox “What’s More”
Arrah and the Ferns “Waterproof Gold Watch”
Acid Kicks “Take My Soul Away”
The Menzingers “Mexican Guitars”
Music For Headphones “Why”
Lushlife “Gymnopiede 1.2″
Griz “The Secret In The Garden”
New Sweden “Saint, Don’t You Lie”
Sunny Ali and the Kid “Stop the Haiti”
Peasant “Girls”
Chill Moody “Cotton”
Little Big League “St. John’s”

FILED UNDER: Recordings, Acid Kicks, Arrah and the Ferns, Chill Moody, City Rain, Griz, Little Big League, Lushlife, Mason Porter, Music for Headphones, New Sweden, Peasant, Pink Skull, Sunny Ali and the Kid, The Key Studio Sessions, The Key Studio Sessions Compilation, The Menzingers, Univox, Zakee
April 25, 2012 | 10:00 AM | By

The Key Studio Sessions: Little Big League

With its debut 7″ celebrating a release this weekend, and only a handful of local live shows under its belt, some might say it’s jumping to gun to get all super psyched about Philly indie foursome Little Big League. On the other hand, you can just tell sometimes when a band is going to do great things. I’m opting for the latter in this case. Sure, the group has an impressive pedigree – former members of Post Post, Golden Ages and Titus Andronicus – so it’s almost like we sort of know them already. But joined as one, they do something else entirely. It puts an east coast megalopolis spin on the slow-burn woodsy tones of Built to Spill and early Death Cab (“Holes in Shape,” and that debut single mentioned above, “Tokyo Drift”), then catapults into spunky, soaring power pop (“My Very Own You,” and the spirited “St. Johns”). Two of the four songs the band recorded for its Key Studio Session are unreleased, and I’m thrilled to be presenting them to you for the first time. But if you’ve seen them live, you’ll totally remember hearing them, since they really are that catchy. If you haven’t caught them live…well, fix that already. Little Big League plays this Sunday, April 29, at Kungfu Necktie (8 p.m., 21+, $10), and then joins the stellar bill at The First Unitarian Church on June 1 for Hop Along’s record release show.

FILED UNDER: Artists, Downloads, Events, Recordings, First Unitarian Church, Hop Along, Key Studio Sessions, Kungfu Necktie, Little Big League, The Key Studio Sessions