In conjunction with Philly Tech Week, WXPN and Little Giant Media present The Intersection of Music and Technology at Underground Arts.  The free event will feature live performances by Lushlife (pictured), Khari Mateen and POW POW (Chris Powell of Man Man), DJ sets by DJ PHSH and Making Time’s Dave Pianka and a panel discussion / Q&A with Questlove and XPN’s Bruce Warren.  More information for free 21+ event can be found here.  Below, watch Lushlife’s video for “Magnolia.”

At World Cafe Live, it’s An Evening with Kaki King.  The guitar virtuoso has embarked on a retrospective tour, commemorating the 10th anniversary of the release of her debut album Everybody Loves You.  Recently, King released Glow, an instrumental record on which she collaborated with string quartet ETHEL.  Tickets and information for tonight’s all-ages show can be found here.  Below, watch her video for “Glow” and revisit her set at the 2012 XPoNential Music Festival via Archive.org here.

Buried Beds headline Kung Fu Necktie tonight with support from Auctioneer and Great American Canyon Band.  Bridging the gap between their most recent release Small Stories and an upcoming as-yet untitled release, local indie pop band Buried Beds have been detailing their recording experience with video clips and updates, including this one in which the members filmed a “huge drums” session.  Tickets and information for tonight’s 21+ show can be found here.  Below, watch Auctioneer’s Shaking Through episode.

Shaking Through: Auctioneer from Weathervane Music on Vimeo.

Hosted by WXPN’s Bruce Warren, the event will kick off an hour-long Q&A with Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson of The Roots. Presentations will be made by the folks at Rapgenius.com, Soulspazm Digital and theFUTURE.fm, and DJ’s Dave P of Making Time and DJ Phsh will spin.

The centerpiece live performances will come from production wizard and sonic adventuerer Khari Mateen, electro-pop experimenter Chris Powell of Man Man performing under his Pow Pow moniker, and tech-savvy rapper Lushlife. For more information on The Intersection of Music and Technology, visit its Facebook event page here. Below, watch Lushlife perform “Still I Hear The Word Progress” and talk about his gear fixation in his HotBox Studio / Deli Magazine Choice Cuts Session.

Bleeding Rainbow at SXSW 2012 | Photo by John Vettese

The music portion of the Austin’s annual South by Southwest festival kicks off today, and many of our city’s finest up-and-coming bands have been spent the last week crammed in hatchbacks or vans with amps and instruments, making their trek to Texas. Several have, over the past couple years, recorded Key Sessions in our studio, and today we present you with a downloadable sampler of artists who are repping Philly in in Austin this week.

Beginning with a snappy performance of “Jackie” by Philly pop-rockers Cold Fronts, who won a JanSport competition to be a SXSW featured artist, all the way to the doom-y “Downward Years to Come” from Nothing, it showcases some of the rock (Cheers Elephant), hip-hop (Lushlife) and punk (Lantern) Philly bands on the various bills across Austin. Listen to the set below, download at Soundcloud. And check out some bonus video after the Jump – West Philly’s Waxahatchee performs a ton of shows this week, including an NPR Music showcase with Nick Cave tomorrow, while Bleeding Rainbow is making the rounds as well. See videos of the former playing “Dark Moon” in our studio and the latter tearing up “Get Lost” at Johnny Brenda’s.

Waxahatchee “Dark Moon” – Key Studio Session at WXPN from WXPN FM on Vimeo.

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]

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

The annual Roots Picnic returns in 2013 with an ever-eclectic lineup of rock, pop, hip-hop, electronic music and more. According to an Instagram post from Roots drummer Questlove, the show will be one day this year – Saturday, June 1 – at the Festival Pier at Penn’s Landing. On the lineup will be rock guitarist Gary Clark Jr., buzzing pop duo Macklemore & Ryan Lewis (of “Thrift Shop” fame), mysterious electronic artist Grimes, a reunion of Naughty by Nature, Philly hip-hop impressionist Lushlife and more. Tickets go on sale this Friday at noon via Ticketmaster; full lineup after the jump.

6th Annual Roots Picnic Lineup
The Roots
Gary Clark Jr.
Macklemore & Ryan Lewis
Grimes
Naughty By Nature
AraabMUSIK
DJ Premier
Solange
Trinidad James
Gaslamp Killer
Hitboy
How to Dress Well
Joey Bada$$
Robert Glasper
Sonnymoon
Lushlife
Jennah Bell

Hideaway Music in Chestnut Hill uses album art as wall art

We can all agree (I hope) that the old “can’t judge a book by its cover” adage applies just as easily to albums. From Magical Mystery Tour to Rumours, The Talking Heads to The Smashing Pumpkins, and even this year’s standout Cat Power LP Sun, there’s a rich history of great music hiding behind heinous artwork. So does album art matter?

I think no and yes. “No” in that it’s about the music, not the packaging. In a world of digital listening, we interact with the songs themselves more immediately than ever before – there’s not that barrier of a bizarro / ugly sleeve to “get over,” in the event you find the sleeve bizarro and / or ugly. But also, “yes” in that cover art is still a way an musician represents themselves and their work. It may no longer be a first impression, but it is an impression, and you can almost look at it as an indicator of how much care they put into their overall project. And even on a more practical end, sure, physical releases no longer drive sales, but they are prized by collectors – the 180 gram vinyl editions and so forth are the sort of thing where people use the download card, then frame the LP cover and hang it on their wall. Would you really want to have Grimes’ frantic scribbled acid freakout hanging in your living room? (Okay, maybe you do.)

This week, UK music and culture blog The 405 listed their worst and best album covers of the year – lively reads, always – and it got me thinking about the role album art plays in 2012. Do you ignore it? Do you (like me) get antsy when your iTunes doesn’t have artwork for all its mp3s? What was the worst decade for album covers? (Hint: the 90s.) Which album covers blew you away this year? Which made you wretch? Discuss in the comments section, and check out some standout Philadelphia album covers from 2012 after the jump.

Cough Cool – Lately (Bathetic Records) – This album cover is just so Philly, from the vintage shot of our hometown team smack in the center to the fact that it’s surrounded by that very specific shade of Phillies red. I’m not even a sports person and I love this. And sure, it doesn’t have a lot to do with the scuzzy lo-fi rock contained within, but it doesn’t not have a lot to do with it – and it certainly draws me in.

Family Band – Grace and Lies (No Quarter Records) – On the other hand, this cover has everything to do with the music. There is a lot of mystery, mystique and uncertainty in the atmospheric tones and surreal lyrics of recent Philly transplants Family Band. Words written on eyelids, startled and brethlessly gazing outward, gets it about right.

The Wrecking Crew – Wu-Tang Pulp (Three Dollar Pistol) - Illustrated album covers tend to be more impressive than photograph-based ones. This release from The Wrecking Crew goes a step further – it’s not just some impressionistic painting, it’s remarkable comic book style renderings of Philly MCs Zilla Rocca, Has Lo and Curly Castro, who this year nerded out over their own personal Beatles, Wu-Tang Clan.

mewithoutYou – Ten Stories (self-released) - Long-standing Upper Darby post-rock outfit never disappoint with their album covers, which often feel more like they should be on a museum wall than in a plastic shrink-wrapped case. For Ten Stories, which loosely tells the story of an 1800s circus train crashed in the wilderness, we get a rich illustration of the scene to help us connect the dots of the album’s narrative.

Lushlife – Plateau Vision (Western Vinyl) – Like Family Band, I’m drawn to the mystery on this one. One could easily dismiss it as blurry-arty-black-and-white-photo, but it seems an apt fit for Raj Haldar’s stream-of-consciousness raps and his imaginative backing tracks. It’s clearly a stage we’re looking at, and on Haldar’s stage, just about everything can happen.

Aaron and the Spell – Sing (self-released) – Another impressive painting; here, Aaron Brown is rendered as a wandering serenader, a nomadic musician somewhere in between the world of the living and the dead. Or maybe it’s more just an illustration placing him on the grounds of his grandparents’ Florida church where he first was inspired to sing. In any case, it’s a lovely cover for a lovely record.

Everyone Everywhere – Everyone Everywhere (self-released) - Photograph of a photograph. But more important, an illustration of vicarious living. The woman in the lower left loves the majestic mountain peaks and tall pines, but is content to experience them through a poster on the wall. Like Cough Cool, not particularly tied to the music, but it does get you thinking.

Sun Airway – Soft Fall (Dead Oceans) - Something about this reminds me of a Pink Floyd LP jacket. Intricately art-directed and highly surreal, this work the band commissioned from the N-A-M photographic collective is an otherworldly image for otherworldly music.

Heyward Howkins – The Hale and the Hearty (self-released) - I’m not sure how many photographs were shredded and geometrically arranged to create this striking, sky-blue illustration for Heyward Howkins’ debut LP. But if we are to assume that a major function of the album cover is, like we said, to draw you into the music, this one brings you directly in to the center and through the sleeve into its brilliant new folk character sketches and metaphorical musings.

Hop Along – Get Disowned (Hot Green Records) - My favorite LP of the year on a number of levels, and its album art couldn’t be more appropriate. Get Disowned‘s songs are covered in layers of sound – instruments, voices, noisemakers – and its lyrics can be as uncertain: the character Frances Quinlan follows is at once tormented, confused, frustrated and haunted. You just don’t know what’s going on, even after dozens of listens, and the image of a dense foliage, a vortex of leaves we can’t see beyond, fits. But like Howkins above, this cover draws you in, to the center, through the sleeve and beyond.

Montreal five-piece psych boys Elephant Stone are performing tonight at The Fire. The band’s self-titled sophomore album is slated for a February release; in the meantime, you can download the dreamy single “Heavy Moon” here. Tickets and more information about tonight’s 21+ show can be found here; watch the band record “Love The Sinner” below.

London electronic duo Simian Mobile Disco are playing the Making Time party tonight at Voyeur. The pair’s third album, Unpatterns, is a giant break from their last two records, casting out the poppy dance-filled hits from 2007′s Attack Decay Sustain Release, instead opting for a more ambient vibe. Tickets to tonight’s 21+ performance can be found here. Watch the video for “Cerulean” from Unpatterns below.

Philly rapper Lushlife is opening for Oakland hip-hop trio The Coup tonight at Underground Arts. The Coup, made up of Raymond “Boots” Riley, E-Roc, and DJ Pam the Funkstress, dropped their sixth album, Sorry To Bother You, in October, their first release in six years. The 21+ show starts at 9 PM; find tickets and more information here. Check out the single “The Magic Clap” from Sorry To Bother You below.

“The goal of the Les Professionnels project is to connect with people of the world and beyond though the language of music.  We had the pleasure of working with some really stellar artist/producers on the Move! EP who are at the forefront of their game.  Each record exemplifies something that we love about electronic and dance music.  The message is simple…we’re all alive so let’s Move! Come on.”

Les Professionnels will play MilkBoy Philly on December 21st with Keys N Krates; tickets and information for the 21+ show are available here.  Below, stream the new Move EP and purchase it here.  You can still grab a free download of the originial mix on Les Professionnels’ Soundcloud.

LUSHLIFE “MAGNOLIA” [DIR. LAMAR+NIK] from LAMAR+NIK on Vimeo.

American-Belgian singer/songwriter Trixie Whitley will be performing at Milkboy Philly tonight. Whitley’s forthcoming debut album, Fourth Corner, will be released January 29, 2013. The 21+ show tonight starts at 9:30; more ticket information can be found here. Five tracks from Trixie’s album can be downloaded from NoiseTrade for free prior to the release of Fourth Corner here. Below, watch Whitley’s video for “A Thousand Thieves”.

The revival of the 215 Festival Music Showcase presents the Bibliodiscotheque Dance Party tonight at Underground Arts featuring Lushlife, Light Heat, Lily & the Parlour Tricks, and the Dave Quicks Trio. Proceeds from the event, which is only $5.00, will go to Mighty Writers. The event starts at 8; more information can be found here.  Below, listen to “Dance The Cosmos Light” from Light Heat.

Come celebrate the release of The Parsnip Revolt’s new full-length album, A Sunshine Report tonight at World Cafe Live. In addition to performances from The Lux and Rodger Delany, each guest at the event will go home with a copy of A Sunshine Report. Tickets for the 9 pm show are available here. Below, listen to the first single from A Sunshine Report, “You Can’t Save Me.”

XPN Welcomes Diego Garcia to Tin Angel tonight. Garcia, the former frontman of indie rock band Elefant, is currently touring promoting his solo 2011 album, Laura. Tonight he will be playing back to back performances at 7:30 and 10:30; you can find tickets for the shows here. Below, watch Garcia’s perform “You Were Never There” from this year’s XPo Fest.

Some of the featured performers for this year include headliner Man Man, as well as Blayer Point Dujour and the Rockers Galore, The Spinning Leaves, The Great Unknown, Lushlife, and many more.

If you’re planning on not staying too late in Northern Liberties, head over to World Cafe Live to see Steve Kimock‘s Summer Tour. Kimock is known for his improvisational stylings ranging from jazz to world fusion to funk and anything that inspires him at the time. He will be performing tonight along with Bernie Worrell. The show starts at 8 p.m., tickets are $20-30. Below watch a short video preview of the tour.

Blast to the past! Look back to 1995 when wearing plaid outfits was hip and boy bands were popular. Some of the all stars of decade will be featured in Party in Fairmount Park, including New Edition, Salt-n-Pepa, and El Debarge. Tickets to the show at The Mann Center range from $39.75-125; doors open at 6 p.m.

Last year, I did a crazy one-month tour in Europe before I was even finished with Plateau Vision. I wanted to feel some of the music in a live setting before the album was wrapped. There were weird festival dates with Handsome Furs and No Age in far off places like Skopje, Macedonia. I played a tiny heavy metal bar in Sofia, Bulgaria, too. It was some wild shit. Anyway, here’s a full-on mastered live recording from the May 8, 2011 date in Bratislava. At the very least, it should be an interesting artifact.

More on how you can get your download of LUSHLIFEINBLAVA from Haldar’s blog, The Young and In Love. Lushlife was just added to the Piazza stage of 2nd Street Festival this Sunday, happening this Sunday in Northern Liberties.

A big addition to the festival’s main stage in the Piazza is Philly hip-hop impressionist Lushlife (listen to his Key Studio Session here). The Poplar stage now opens with a set from soulful songwriter John Francis (hear his Key Studio Session here), feisty Philly rockers Purples (their Key Session can be downloaded here) and ubiquitous MC Kuf Knotz (he did a Key Session too, and it’s here). Also on Poplar are mind-blowing Baltimore psych heads Secret Mountains, as well as DJ DNA of Johnny Brenda’s popular gospel brunch and twangy rockers Brooke Shive and the 45s.

Last, there’s the Fairmount Stage, which is pretty much entirely new additions. Two Philly dance troupes will perform – Philareyto, which specializes in Puerto Rican dance, as well as Fuego Nuevo, a group preserving Aztec dance and culture. Opening that stage will be The Webbs and a jam session with John Fuhr, as well as a set in the middle of the afternoon from the Philly School of Rock.

The 2nd Street Festival runs from noon to 10 p.m. along 2nd street in Northern Liberties; the day also includes craft and food vendors, is free and open to the public. More information at 2nd Street Fest’s Facebook page.

South Philly native Lushlife will bring his beat-making swagger with him to Milkboy Philly tonight. Having made a stellar name for himself over the past year, Lushlife blends experimental production and live rapping together into one nuanced sound. Also performing is funky psychedelic duo THEESATISFACTION and indie electronic artist Mast. This show is 21+, doors open at 8 PM. Go here for tickets.

Bucks County native Alec Gross has been making a name for himself in the New York City singer-songwriter scene, but he returns to the region tonight for a show at the Abington Arts Center. The lushly-arranged songs on his album Strip the Lanterns are both introspective and anthemic, recalling Josh Ritter and Bruce Springsteen – you can grab a download of his single “If You Don’t Mind (Baby Go Ahead)” below. The Abington Art Center is located at 515 Meetinghouse Road in Jenkintown. Admission to the all ages show is $5 and music begins at 7 p.m.

A band from California who calls themselves The Growlers will be playing tonight at Johnny Brenda’s. The group experiments with different sounds ranging from psychedelic to classic rock to hip hop. Also playing will be Philadelphia psych rock boys, Mountjoy who just released their Naked Lake EP. To purchase tickets to this 21+ show go here. Doors open at 8PM.

Also tonight: Lushlife performs at the Tuesday Tune-Out at PhilaMOCA and Dengue Fever and Omar Souleyman perform at Union Transfer.

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”

Oh, hi there. Greetings from Austin, Texas. The Key is here—along with about a million billion other music folks – for the annual South by Southwest conference. And, over the next few days, we’ll bring you dispatches from the madness, beginning with a photo recap of a set by our man Raj Halder, aka Lushlife. He traveled from South Philly for the festival last week—he’s been here since the “Interactive” tech component of SXSW kicked off—and on Thursday afternoon, he played a hip hop showcase at Victory Grille, a soul food eatery slightly off the downtown grid.

To set the scene: it was about 80 and beautiful out, and the crowd was beginning to question its decision to stay indoors. Thanking them for their patience, Haldar explained “I’ve got a lot of nerdy shit going on up here,” gesturing to his array of samplers and mixers. From the opening beat of “Magnolia,” he had the room hooked, and people moved in from the wings to rock to his psychedelic sonic tapestries and mic-rocking bravado.

In the gallery above you’ll also see photos of Sacramento’s C-Plus, who played before Lushlife, and The Cranberry Show from Milwaukee who, despite the absurd name, harnessed innovative sounds, beats and rhymes to create a heady hiphop potpourri on par with Lushlife’s own.

Listen to a Key Studio Sessions performance of “Magnolia” below.

• Magnoliaby Lushlife, from The Key Studio Sessions, March 7, 2012Download

Typically when an artist pulls up at WXPN studios to record a session for the Key, the first thing I ask if they need help loading in – a handtruck, an extra set of arms, that sort of thing. When I posed this question to Philadelphia’s Raj Haldar a month ago, I got a friendly chuckle in return. “I think I’ll be fine,” he told me as he emerged from his car with a single bag of gear. Über-portability is something his psychedelic hip-hop outfit Lushlife strives for – Haldar said a goal in touring his one-man show is to be able to give an energized, compelling performance, fitting everything he needs in a single flight case. Once in the room, he set up MIDI controllers, a keyboard, a mixer, a laptop, and sleigh bells across a table and proceeded to deliver. His voice is fierce, and his presence is animated. He can turn the most nuanced bit of gear-tinkering – using drumsticks to trigger the subtly rhythmic, ethereal chimes in “Gymnopiede 1.2″ into something enthralling. Below, you can download his performance – which draws largely from Lushlife’s soon-to-be released full length Plateau Vision, as well as its warmly-received 2009 release Cassette City. Tune in to XPN2 tomorrow night at 7 to hear an interview with Haldar during The Key Studio Sessions hour. Austin-bound folks can catch Lushlife at next week’s South By Southwest festival. And those back home, keep your eyes peeled for news of the record-release extravaganza Haldar is planning in Philly when Plateau Vision comes out on April 17.

• MagnoliaMagnolia by Lushlife from The Key Studio Sessions, March 7, 2012Download

• Bottle RocketBottle Rocket by Lushlife from The Key Studio Sessions, March 7, 2012Download

• Gymnopedie 1.2Gymnopedie 1.2 by Lushlife from The Key Studio Sessions, March 7, 2012Download

• The Romance of the TelescopeThe Romance of the Telescope by Lushlife from The Key Studio Sessions, March 7, 2012Download

• Meridian Sound Part 3Meridian Sound Part 3 by Lushlife from The Key Studio Sessions, March 7, 2012Download

Earlier this month, Raj Haldar – the MC and producer behind buzzing Philadelphia hip-hop act Lushlife – stopped by our studio and recorded an impressive performance for The Key Studio Sessions. The entire set will be released next month, but today we’re giving you a sneak preview with “Meridian Sound Part 3.” The song deconstructs a pair of vocal lines from “I Just Wasn’t Made for These Times” by The Beach Boys, and reinterprets them as a hook. Paired with a signature Phil Spector beat, it lends the track total Wall of Sound overtones – something Haldar says he was excited to incorporate into hip-hop. Give a listen below, and check back on The Key on Wednesday, March 7 to hear the entire session.

• Meridian Sound Part 3by Lushlife, from The Key Studio Sessions, March 7, 2012Download