The tour wraps up at The Depot in York, PA, on the 6th of July with Rocky Votolato also performing; information on the show can be found here.  For the full tour dates, click here. Below, watch mewithoutYou’s video for “February, 1878″ and Auctioneer’s recent session for Weathervane Music’s Shaking Through series.

Shaking Through: Auctioneer from Weathervane Music on Vimeo.

The Menzingers (Photo by Madeleine Lesperance)

The amount of news that surfaces in a 24 hour period is astronomical anymore; multiplied by 365, that’s an onslaught of information we present you with during the calendar year. But some items always rise above the fold and prove to be something bigger. Here are the ten stories from The Key that drew your collective attention (and eyeballs) in 2012.

10. Recap: Richie Sambora rocked for the fans at Free at Noon (photos, setlist, audio) – Sept. 14, 2012

Jersey-bred rocker (and heartthrob) Richie Sambora of Bon Jovi played a Free at Noon concert at the beginning of the fall. It was the first show of his tour with a new backing band, and lots of you turned up to cheer him on. Even more of you tuned in online, and continued to revisit the set weeks after it happened.

9. The Key Studio Sessions: The Menzingers – Feb. 22, 2012

A criminally overlooked album in the year’s various top-tens (and I’m as guilty as anyone), Philly punk rock four-piece The Menzingers released the outstanding On The Impossible Past on Epitaph Records this year, and toured hard in support of it. Their Key Studio Session show just how razor sharp their playing was after months on the road.

Photo by Ashley Elizabeth

8. Central Pa.’s music scene mourns the loss of Jersey Mike – Nov. 19, 2012

The sudden passing of Harrisburg-area music promoter and community advocate Michael “Jersey Mike” Van Jura was a huge blow to the music scene across the state. The day after his passing, we remembered him in this post.

7. 15 reasons why Philly’s music scene will go from 10 to 11 in 2013 – Dec. 28, 2012

As the year drew to a close, Bruce Warren not only recounted everything that was great about Philly music this year with a massive roll-call, he presented a round-up of 15 releases that will make 2013 even bigger.

6. Six essential covers from The Afghan Whigs (playing The Electric Factory on Sept. 27) – Sept. 16, 2012

With one of my all-time favorite bands reunited and playing the Electric Factory this fall, I took the opportunity to round up some of my favorite covers it recorded over the years. The Afghan Whigs must have appreciated my nerdery, as they shared the story out to their followers, and suddenly Whigs listeners from across the country were checking in.

5. The Key Studio VIDEO Sessions: A decade of mewithoutYou – Dec. 21, 2011

Technically a post from late last year that generated some serious excitement this year as mewithoutYou, the post-hardcore art rock group from Upper Darby, reflected on ten years of being a band and debuted material from their excellent 2012 LP Ten Stories in this Key Studio Session video.

Artwork by Steve Powers | Photo by Jesse Trbovich

4. And now, a first look at the Kurt Vile mural at Front and Master – Dec. 19, 2012

I happened to be checking Facebook one afternoon when I saw a few of my friends liking and sharing a photo that Violators guitarist Jesse Trbovich snapped of the new Kurt Vile mural at Front and Master, which will be used in the album art for his upcoming 2013 full length. I quickly dropped Jesse a line, got his okay to run the photo, and Vile fans across the internet went abuzz.

3. My Morning Download: Ellie Goulding covers The Weeknd’s “High For This” (produced by Xaphoon Jones of Chiddy Bang) - June 1, 2012

One of those rare confluences of factors that’s somehow magic. Ellie Goulding, a UK pop singer we love, covered a banger from The Weeknd, a singer blogs go wild for, and it was produced by Xaphoon Jones of Chiddy Bang, one of our favorite hometown heroes. That mix equaled The Key’s third most-viewed story of the year.

2. WXPN Local Twelve Days of Christmas 2012 – Dec. 6, 2012

The Twelve Days of Christmas compilations we release not only give Philadelphia artists a chance to reflect on the season in song, they become a huge favorite among the XPN crowd. This year’s was by far the most popular, with originals in the mix from York Street Hustle, Ben Smith and Ryan Tennis, and bonus “stocking stuffers” from Tin Bird Choir and The Districts.

1. Stream a new Bruce Springsteen song, “This Depression” from Wrecking Ball – Feb. 24, 2012

It’s a funny recurring feat, but also a huge reflection of music tastes in the greater Philadelphia region – The Boss always comes out on top. What made this post exciting wasn’t just the first taste of new material from Wrecking Ball, but the discussion that ensued in the comments – conversation about the song, sharing of memories, and a general sense of rock and roll camaraderie, all bound by Bruce Springsteen.

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.

Young Statues are a five-piece band from Philly who makes acoustic sounding beats that sound like early pop punk rounded off with a softer, gentler side. Their self-titled debut album came out in late 2011, hefty with sweet rock vibes honing in their truthful and simplistic lyrics. They venture to The Barbary tonight for an all ages performance along with Turnover and PJ Bond. Tickets are $10 and can be purchased here. The night starts out early at 6:30 p.m. Below you can listen to an acoustic EP they released in February.

Starting out as the frontman for the  alt-country rock band Vigilantes of Love, and continuing as a solo artist after their disbandment, Bill Mallonee has always enjoyed writing and singing. The band has since reconvened but Bill still continues to write and record his own music. He will be playing the early show tonight at 7:30 at the Tin Angel. The 21+ show is $12, snag your tickets here.

The non-profit art and culture space, Little Berlin hosts a music series entitled ‘Dream Oven’ and the series continues tonight with a performs from Juston Stens & The get Real Gang. Juston, former drummer of Dr. Dog, always had a head full of songs, and he was finally able to extract them with the creation of his band The Get Real Gang. Their debut album Trash or Treasure was released in March of this year, an eclectic combination of rock genre similar to dreamy 60′s rock bands like Zeppelin or Jefferson Airplane. The show begins at 7:30 p.m. and there is a $5-7 donation.

The dream pop duo, Lockets will be performing a 21+ show this evening at Kung Fu Necktie. Although Lockets is a duo they do live performances as a full band featuring drums, bass, synthesizer, and guitar. You can catch them along with Attia Dancers and Language Problems at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are only $10.

Last but not least, XPN welcomes the Philadelphia-based ensemble mewithoutYou back home for the last stop on their tour at the TLA. They released their fifth studio album, Ten Stories this past May. They have been touring along with Kevin Devine and Buried Beds, you can buy tickets to the 7:30 p.m. show here.

Photo by the Ely Brothers

The members of mewithoutYou have made their upcoming album, Ten Stories, available in its entirety on Spotify. The preview comes a week before the album’s official release date of May 15th (on the band’s own label, Pine Street). You can listen to the stream here. From the band:

This premiere comes on the heels of the album pre-order launch which caused such a frenzy that additional pressings of the deluxe edition had to be added after fans quickly burned through the initial allotment. Pre-orders for the digital download, CD, 150-gram colored vinyl LP and the Collector’s Box Set, is still underway – please visit www.mewithoutYou.com for details. Every pre-sale order will come with an automatic free download of album track “Fox’s Dream of the Log Flume,” to which Paramore’s Haley Williams contributed backing vocals.

The band has also announced the second leg of their North American tour, beginning July 13^th in Cleveland and wrapping August 19^th in the band’s hometown of Philadelphia. Kevin Devine and Buried Beds will open. The first leg of the tour kicks off in Washington, DC on May 17^th, with Buried Beds and Imaginary Cities opening on all dates.

You can get more information from mewithoutYou’s website. Full tour dates below. And, in case you missed it, check out our Key Studio VIDEO Session with the band here.

5/17 – Washington, DC @ Black Cat
5/18 – Charlotte, NC @ Amos’ Southend
5/19 – Columbia, SC @ New Brookland Tavern
5/21 – Birmingham, AL @ WorkPlay Theatre
5/22 – Nashville, TN @ Rocketown
5/24 – Oklahoma City, OK @ ACM@UCO
5/25 – San Antonio, TX @ White Rabbit
5/26 – Dallas, TX @ The Door
5/28 – Little Rock, AR @ Downtown Music Hall
5/29 – Springfield, MO @ Outland Ballroom
5/30 – Omaha, NE @ The Waiting Room
6/1 – Columbia, MO @ Blue Note
6/2 – Iowa City, IA @ Blue Moose Tap House
6/4 – Minneapolis, MN @ Triple Rock
6/5 – Milwaukee, WI @ Turner Hall Ballroom
6/6 – Indianapolis, IN @ Deluxe at Old National Centre
6/7 – Cincinnati, OH @ 20th Century Theatre
6/8 – Lansing, MI @ The Loft at Harem Urban Lounge
6/9 – Toronto, ON @ The Mod Club
6/11 – Rochester, NY @ Water Street Music Hall
6/12 – So. Burlington, VT @ Higher Ground
6/13 – Northampton, MA @ Pearl Street
6/14 – Pawtucket, RI @ The Met
6/15 – Hoboken, NJ @ Maxwell’s
6/16 – Asbury Park, NJ @ The Stone Pony
7/13 – Cleveland Heights, OH @ Grog Shop (Paper Route and Buried Beds open)
7/14 – Chicago, IL @ Bottom Lounge^
7/15 – St. Louis, MO @ Off Broadway Nightclub^
7/17 – Lawrence, KS @ Granada^
7/19 – Denver, CO @ Marquis Theatre^
7/20 – Salt Lake City, UT @ Club Sound^
7/21 – Boise, ID @ The Venue^
7/22 – Portland, OR @ Hawthorne Theater^
7/23 – Seattle, WA @ Neumo’s^
7/25 – San Francisco, CA @ Slim’s^
7/27 – Los Angeles, CA @ Troubadour^
7/28 – Pomona, CA @ Glass House^
7/29 – San Diego, CA @ The Casbah^
7/31 – Phoenix, AZ @ The Crescent Ballroom^
8/1 – Albuquerque, NM @ Launchpad^
8/3 – Austin, TX @ Red 7 (Buried Beds and second opener TBD)
8/4 – Houston, TX @ Warehouse Live Studio^
8/6 – Baton Rouge, LA @ Spanish Moon^
8/8 – St. Petersburg, FL @ State Theatre^
8/10 – Orlando, FL @ The Social^
8/11 – Atlanta, GA @ Masquerade^
8/12 – Carrboro, NC @ Cat’s Cradle^
8/13 – Richmond, VA @ Canal Club^
8/15 – Boston, MA @ Paradise Rock Club^
8/16 – Brooklyn, NY @ Music Hall of Williamsburg^
8/17 – New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom^
8/18 – Philadelphia, PA @ Theatre of the Living Arts^

Photo by the Ely Brothers

Off the band’s upcoming album, Ten Stories, due May 15th via Pine Street Records. Via Paste:

You might recognize the above Star Wars-reading fellow as Greg Jehenian, the convivial bassist we met in two of our Key Studio VIDEO Sessions: mewithoutYou‘s and Buried Beds‘. When he’s not busy with either of those acts, Jehenian also makes thoughtful, home-spun indie rock under the name Geology, and just last week released his latest EP, The Neighboring Sea. You can stream the percussive title track below, download the entire thing at Bandcamp, and keep tabs on Geology’s Facebook page for news of one of Jehenian’s irregularly scheduled live appearances.

Photo by the Ely Brothers

The members of mewithoutYou–who are set to release the band’s fifth full length album, Ten Stories, on May 15th (via their own Pine Street label)–have just announced a month-long U.S. tour in support of the upcoming album. The tour will kick off in Washington, DC, on May 17th and wrap up in Asbury Park, NJ, on June 16th. (The tour does not include a show in Philadelphia.) Philly’s own Buried Beds and Winnipeg’s Imaginary Cities are the opening acts on the tour.

From the band:

With 10 years as a band under their belt, it is only fitting that mewithoutYou has managed to make their most expansive and dynamic album to date. Ten Stories marks the return of their signature raucous vocals and hard-hitting instrumentation while the band’s more recent ventures into folk and lush orchestration are also present. Paramore’s Hayley Williams contributes backing vocals to two songs on the album, including “Fox’s Dream of the Log Flume” and “All Circles.” Ten Stories toys with the band’s favorite themes of romantic disaster and quasi-mystical speculation, offering up a collection of allegorical songs about a circus train crash in 19^th century Montana. Through the fable-like interactions of fictitious animals, the songs offer up deep ponderings about human character flaws and the circle of life. It is these ruminations on life, love, loss and spirituality for which mewithoutYou has become so well-loved. Ten Stories is yet another gem for their catalogue.

You can get more information from mewithoutYou’s website. Full tour dates below. And, in case you missed it, check out our Key Studio VIDEO Session with the band here.

5/17 – Washington, DC @ Black Cat
5/18 – Charlotte, NC @ Amos’ Southend
5/19 – Columbia, SC @ New Brookland Tavern
5/21 – Birmingham, AL @ WorkPlay Theatre
5/22 – Nashville, TN @ Rocketown
5/24 – Oklahoma City, OK @ ACM@UCO
5/25 – San Antonio, TX @ White Rabbit
5/26 – Dallas, TX @ The Door
5/28 – Little Rock, AR @ Downtown Music Hall
5/29 – Springfield, MO @ Outland Ballroom
5/30 – Omaha, NE @ The Waiting Room
6/1 – Columbia, MO @ Blue Note
6/2 – Iowa City, IA @ Blue Moose Tap House
6/4 – Minneapolis, MN @ Triple Rock
6/5 – Milwaukee, WI @ Turner Hall Ballroom
6/6 – Indianapolis, IN @ Deluxe at Old National Centre
6/7 – Cincinnati, OH @ 20th Century Theatre
6/8 – Lansing, MI @ The Loft at Harem Urban Lounge
6/9 – Toronto, ON @ The Mod Club
6/11 – Rochester, NY @ Water Street Music Hall
6/12 – So. Burlington, VT @ Higher Ground
6/13 – Northampton, MA @ Pearl Street
6/14 – Pawtucket, RI @ The Met
6/15 – Hoboken, NJ @ Maxwell’s
6/16 – Asbury Park, NJ @ The Stone Pony