Nothing

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Go dark with the new music video for Nothing’s “The Dives (Lazarus in Ashes)”

NothingLately, Philadelphia’s Nothing has given us a lot to talk about.  They recorded a studio session back in October, played a first Friday show in January, have been playing sets in Philadelphia and beyond, and released a new music video.  The video is for their track “The Dives (Lazarus in Ashes)” was released this week and is predictably dark.

The group is known for creating ominous, unsettling shoegaze-inspired rock, but it may have out done itself on this new video.  Shots vibrate in and out of focus, revolving around a hospitalized young woman.  A vase of roses shatters, the girl’s wrists are wrapped in gauze, a woman who seems to be the protagonist’s mother cries.  It’s a somber, short black and white piece, and it works well with the track, which has large instrumental sections.  The result demands attention to detail and even re-watching, as the video leaves a sense of ending before it really starts.  Below, stream Nothing’s music video for “The Dives (Lazarus in Ashes).”

Download The Key Studio Sessions’ SXSW PHL sampler featuring Cold Fronts, Lushlife, DRGN King and more

Bleeding Rainbow at SXSW 2012 | Photo by John Vettese

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.

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Tonight’s Concert Picks: Psychic Ills at Johnny Brenda’s, Bilal at World Cafe Live, XPN Welcomes Northern Liberties Music Fest with Ruby the Hatchet and more to The Fire

New York experimental rock band Psychic Ills headline Johnny Brenda’s tonight.  The psychedelic-infused outfit recalls the distorted and distressed, laidback sound of early Kurt Vile with lo-fi vocals and hypnotic arrangements that seem on the verge of exploding.  Psychic Ills will be releasing One Track Mind on February 19th via Sacred Bones Records, following up 2011′s Hazed Dream.  Tickets and information for tonight’s 21+ show with Nothing and Mike Bruno & The Black Magic Family Band can be found here.  Stream “Might Take A While” from the upcoming record below.

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The Week So Far: 12 must-read stories on The Key (incl. Nightlands, Catnaps and Thao)

Nightlands | Photo by Matthew Davis

Prairie Empire stops by to record a Folkadelphia session [link]

Philly’s Nightlands celebrates the release of Oak Island at Kung Fu Necktie [link]

My Morning Jacket’s Jim James streams his new album, announces a Union Transfer show [link]

Philly rockers Free Energy get interviewed by a couple sixth graders [link]

Remembering versatile guitarist Jef Lee Johnson, who passed away at age 54 this week [link]

Indiepop five-piece Catnaps releases a new EP for free downloading [link]

Shoegazers Nothing will make the First Friday crowd wish they packed earplugs [link]

Lancaster folk trio The Stray Birds records a Key Studio Session, comes to World Cafe Live [link]

Philly rapper Chill Moody releases a mini-documentary of his December TLA show [link]

Thao Nguyen plays “We The Common” on a banjo, through a microphone, at a rally [link]

All week the Unlocked series features Almost Endless, the new LP from The National Rifle [link]

Why Nothing will make the First Friday crowd wish they packed earplugs (AKA Instore on 2/1)

Photo via http://wearenothing.tumblr.com/

Let’s not mince words here – Philly’s Nothing is loud. Boldy, righteously, circuit-overloadingly load. This is why we love them, this is why A389 Records released their recent Downward Years to Come EP; the Philly band’s blend of punk guitar overdrive and shoegaze-inspired sound-sculpting is equally suited for zoning out or thrashing about. This is also why the crowd that comes to 2nd Street every month looking to see art openings and sip wine might be taken aback by the concert raging this Friday evening inside A.K.A. Music.

For the two-years-and-change anniversary of Philebrity‘s tenure operating out of upstairs office digs at long-standing Old City record shop, Nothing will play an instore set beginning promptly at 7:30. Details can be found here; below, watch a video of Nothing in quieter times, recording their Key Studio Session before Bands in the Backyard cameras and a live studio audience.

Download The Key Studio Sessions Vol. 6 (feat. Reef the Lost Cauze, Kingsfoil, Bad Braids + more)

The latest edition of our Key Studio Sessions compilations is out today – now streamable and downloadable from Soundcloud! Check out highlights from fall of 2012 with The Key Studio Sessions Vol. 6, including some hard-hitting hip-hop from Ethel Cee and Reef the Lost Cauze, expressive Americana from The Districts, bright pop-rock from Kingsfoil, dense shoegaze from Nothing and more. Special thanks to guest engineer Chris Williams and production assistants Beth Ann Downey, Fred Knittel, Madeleine Lesperance, and Dan Malloy as well as photographers Laura Jane Brubaker, Kyle Costill, Shamus McGroggan, Marley McNamara, and Julie Miller for sharing their work.

Looking for more? Visit WXPN’s Soundcloud page to download The Key Studio Sessions Vol. 1 through Vol. 5.

The Week’s Best MP3 Downloads, incl. Nothing, Denison Witmer and The Roots

Space-rocking Philly shoegazers Nothing stopped by for a Key Studio Session recently.  Recorded in front of a live audience and several glowing candles, the resulting four tracks will have an effect on you similar to that of a planetarium; the songs are dreamy, hypnotic and transcendental.  The Bands in the Backyard crew were also on site and captured an atmospheric video of “The Rites of Love and Death”; watch the video below and head over here to download the full session.  Check out Nothing’s upcoming tour dates on their Bandcamp.

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