The Key

XPN welcomes California band Animal Liberation Orchestra (ALO) to The Blockley tonight.  SIgned to Jack Johnson’s Brushfire Records, ALO create a laidback, jammy brand of surf rock / pop that has bound them to other Johnson-fan favorites Donavon Frankenreiter, Matt Costa and G. Love.  In 2012 ALO released their seventh studio album Sounds Like This.  Tickets and information for tonight’s 18+ show with Ryan Montbleau Band can be found here.  Watch an acoustic performance of “Storms & Hurricanes” from the new album below.

Denison Witmer celebrates his album release at Johnny Brenda’s tonight.  The self-titled record is Witmer’s ninth and most personal effort since the start of his career fifteen years ago.  Recorded at his Brooklyn studio The Honey Jar (co-run by Philly native Devin Greenwood), the Lancaster-born musician called in friends Sufjan Stevens and Greenwood for creative collaboration, though the stories told on the album’s ten tracks are purely Witmer’s.  Tickets and information for tonight’s 21+ show with Soporus can be found here.  Below, stream and download “Asa,” a song named for Witmer’s young son.

New Sweden head down to Phoenixville for a show at Steel City Coffeehouse.  The Wilmington five-piece enthralled a Saturday morning audience at the 2011 Noncommvention with their rootsy, robust folk rock and they’ve been climbing the proverbial ladder ever since.  With two Tri-State Indie awards on the shelf and a buzzy appearance at SXSW earlier this year, the local band hasn’t slowed down one bit after the release of their debut LP The Mountain.  Tickets and information for tonight’s show with The Turnips can be found here.  Watch New Sweden perform “Frying Pan” below.

The Hooters and Good Old War play a hometown show at The Electric Factory tonight.  An institution in the Philadelphia musical cannon, The Hooters got their start in the 80s with hits like “All You Zombies” and “And We Danced.”  In recent years, members of the band have sparked their own projects, with drummer David Uosikkinen’s In the Pocket and vocalist / keyboardist Rob Hyman’s Elm Street Studios in Conshohocken.  Good Old War, a trio that is becoming a local institution in their own right, returns to the stage in support of 2012′s Come Back As Rain while working on material for a new album.  Tickets and information for the all-ages show can be found here.  Below, watch The Hooters’ video for “And We Danced” followed by Good Old War’s “Amazing Eyes.”