Still riding high from the release of their debut full-length a few weeks ago, Philly’s Bleeding Rainbow headline Johnny Brenda’s tonight.  The duo-turned-quartet signed to Kanine Records last fall and though the release date was pushed back several months, the noise-punk band put out their gloriously shoe-gazey Yeah Right LP in January.  Yeah Right is The Key’s featured album for this week’s Unlocked series, which means you can dig into it with a review here (and an interview later today).  Tickets and information for tonight’s 21+ show at Johnny Brenda’s with Pet Milk and Ghost Light can be found here.  Watch a new video for “Waking Dream” from Yeah Right below.

On the other Kung Fu Necktie stage tonight, you’ll find local harpist Mary Lattimore performing with Jeff Zeigler. This collaboration is but one on each musician’s long list of projects, Lattimore’s including work with Thurston Moore, Kurt Vile and Meg Baird and Zeigler’s expanding with his band Arc in Round and production work for The War on Drugs, Ape School and others.  When the two pair up for nights like tonight, though, the result is about as far away from those other projects as possible.  Lattimore’s dreamy harp compositions and Zeigler’s warpy but gentle synth layers froth with emotion and understanding.  Tickets and information for tonight’s 21+ show with Trummors, Fred Thomas and Morning River Band can be found here.  Stream Mary Lattimore and Jeff Zeigler’s improvised Folkadelphia session below and learn more about Lattimore’s debut full-length The Withdrawing Room here.

Philebrity and BITBY.TV have teamed up to bring you the hoppin-est Valentine’s Day variety show in town at Underground Arts tonight.  WIth love-themed sets by Juston Stens & The Get Real Gang, Blayer Pointdujour, Katie Frank & The Pheromones, J.M.M. Sweeney Jr. (Mr. Philebrity himself) and others, the event lays claim to being “the city’s only destination for old school-style slow dancing,” with the groove being set by DJ Langor.  More information for the 21+ show can be found on the Facebook event page here.  Stream and download “Strange Love” by Juston Stens & Jessica Lea Mayfield (part of the With Love, From WXPN Philly Local sampler).

Also happening:

XPN welcomes New Jersey rockers The Smithereens to World Cafe Live in support of their 2011 self-titled record.  At The Sellersville Theater, XPN welcomes long-standing rock ‘n’ roll act Soul Asylum.  And finally at The Fire, XPN welcomes the Northern Liberties Winter Music Fest with American Babies, The Fleeting Ends, Ross Bellenoit, Joe D’Amico Band and Miz.  Tickets and information for all shows can be found here.

Philly’s Pet Milk play a free show at Ortlieb’s Lounge tonight.  Utilizing punk structures with twee sensibilities, the local outfit’s 2011 EP Philadelphia Punklife is full of earworms, as if Bleeding Rainbow and Bleached became Bleached Rainbow.  Pet Milk are currently working on an LP; you can check out some unreleased tracks from the band’s Key Studio Session here.  More information for tonight’s 21+ free show with Hippie Cult and DJ Ryan Grotz can be found here.  Stream “Husker Dudes” below and download the full name-your-own-price release here.

Oakland metal band Neurosis play Union Transfer tonight.  Back in Philly for the first time since 2004, Neurosis are touring behind 2012′s Honor Found in Decay.  Decay is the band’s tenth studio album and first studio release after 2007′s Given to the Rising.  Complementing the their blend of metal and experimental rock, Neurosis’ live shows often include psychedelic visuals created specifically for the band.  Tickets and information for tonight’s all-ages show with John Dyer Baizley & Pete Adams (of Baroness) can be found here.  Below, watch Neurosis perform “We All Rage in Gold” from the new album.

Allentown-bred, Philly-based thrash punks Pissed Jeans open for Hot Snakes tonight at Underground Arts. Known for their raw adolescent Sub Pop Records sound, Pissed Jeans released their third album, King of Jeans, in 2009, surprising fans with a more mature direction. Doors open at 7:30. Tickets to the 21+ show start at $18, more information can be found here. Below, watch their video for “False Jessi Part II.”

Pet Milk are opening for The Native Cats at Kung Fu Necktie tonight. The 21+ show starts at 9 p.m., admission is $10 and more information can be found here. The local pop-rock group performed songs from their 2011 EP Philadelphia Punk Life, and a few extras, for a Key Studio Session Key Studio Session in June. Below, download a performance from that session, “The Dream Has Turned.”

Indie pop bands DIIV and Wild Nothing are playing tonight at Union Transfer as they continue their 2012 tour. DIIV, who performed at North Star Bar in April, released their debut album Oshin in June to great reception from critics; Pitchfork claimed “How Long Have You Known?” as one of their Best New Tracks. Wild Nothing frontman Jack Tatum says Nocturne, the band’s sophomore album which dropped in August, was crafted more for fans than 2010′s Gemini.  The all ages show starts at 8 p.m.; more details can be found here.

Looking for more? Visit WXPN’s Soundcloud page to download The Key Studio Sessions Vol. 1 through Vol. 4.

This week was Herbie Shellenberger‘s first curating the Tuesday Tune-Out series at PhilaMOCA. His band Pet Milk was the featured performer, and the super pop rock band was welcomed by a small, but exuberant crowd. They played songs from their EP, Philadelphia Punk Life and a few new ones as well.

From booking shows to performing in bands (currently with Pet Milk; formerly of Brown Recluse) and screening films (his day job is in the programming wing of the Ibrahim Theater at the International House), Herbie is a longtime player in the Philly indie scene with a wealth of knowledge both musical and cinematic. We asked him to put together a guest VJ post previewing the musicians and the films he’s picked out for the next four weeks.

From Herbie:
I was asked by Eric Bresler of PhilaMOCA (also of Cinedelphia) to curate a series of live music + film/video on Tuesdays in July. I have also been thinking about starting my own screening series, so it was a good time to inaugurate Black Circle Cinema. John Vettese asked me to share some videos on The Key so here’s a guide to that series with accompanying videos. All events are at PhilaMOCA (531 N. 12th Street), start at 7:30pm and are $5.

Tuesday 7/10:
Pet Milk with Future Shock (1972)

PET MILK “CHRISTIAN SOLICITORS” from herb shellenberger on Vimeo.

I thought I would start off the series pairing my band Pet Milk with a film that I’ve wanted to show with one of our performances. Future Shock is a film I’ve been obsessed with for quite a few months now. It almost has the feel of a Mondo film but mixed with a sort of anti-cyberpunk technology paranoia. But the aspect that puts it over the top is that the “documentary” stars the elder version of Orson Welles, the one with the Cheshire cat beard who wears a cape. He’s almost convincing in relating the ideas from Alvin Toffler’s book that the film is based on: that people are going to become part-cybernetic because of artificial organs; that all of our relationships are temporary; that art will be created by computers instantly and replace man-made art.

Here’s a teaser for the film that I threw together:

Future Shock (1972) + PET MILK trailer – 7/10/12 from herb shellenberger on Vimeo.
Note: Unfortunately the motor belt in my 16mm projector broke, so we’re going to have to show Future Shock off of a DVD transfer from my 16mm film print. The film isn’t available on DVD or VHS so this is still a very rare screening!

Tuesday 7/17:
Jesse Kudler and Alex Tyson with 16mm educational films

Two ideas came to mind in the creation of this program. First, I wanted to do a program of “orphan films,” a term that refers to films outside of the commercial mainstream that don’t have any immediate caretaker. Examples of this include educational films or home movies, both of which are at risk and a priority for film preservation. You can film more information at the Orphan Film Symposium or watch many examples at the Prelinger Archives. Secondly, I wanted to do a program where musicians interact with the films. Jesse Kudler and Alex Tyson are both experienced improvisers who will be performing along with the selected 16mm films. Some we will run without the sound on. Some we will run with the sound on. The audio on some other films will be controlled and manipulated by the musicians. This is why I described the program as the musicians “improvising and interacting with” these films. No film in the program (such as “Polarization of Single Photons” or “Mission Third Planet: Creatures of the Land”) is online, but here is a taste of something similar.

Measuring the Universe, 1968, produced by Film Associates of America:

Tuesday 7/24:
Tom Guycot with Quiet Cool (1986)

Tom Guycot was an easy choice for me. Ryan Todd has long been obsessed with film soundtracks and trawls VHS bins to look for new material for his DJ sets and inspiration for the synth-driven music of his project Tom Guycot. I wanted to give Ryan complete control over this night. He’s been hard at work ripping portions of his VHS collection to use as background video during his performance. After that performance, he wanted to screen Quiet Cool which is the pinnacle of his ideal film aesthetic: a renegade cop who is up against the world; a group of chiseled, anonymous bad dudes who are full-up on guns and drugs; and ridiculous explosions and mixed with intense 1980s synthesizers. We’ll be projecting Ryan’s VHS copy of Quiet Cool.

A representative clip (with bonus Russian dubbing):

Tuesday 7/31:
Literature with videos by Shawn Kornhauser
This program came into my head because of the amazing video Shawn Kornhauser did for Austin power pop band Literature (who are no longer Austin-based as they moved to Philadelphia just last week). The video for “It’s Cruel” is a brilliant reenactment of the foot chase scene in Point Break with bassist Seth Whaland doing a pretty convincing Keanu. Literature will give their first performance as a Philly band and Kornhauser will present a 30-minute program of some of his short narrative work and music videos.

Literature “It’s Cruel” (directed by Shawn Kornhauser):

LITERATURE – It’s Cruel from Shawn Kornhauser on Vimeo.

There will be more Black Circle Cinema programs announced soon. Stay tuned to Tumblr and Facebook for more.

Little Berlin is a non-profit arts and community organization founded in 2007. A gallery located in the heart of Kensington, it features local artists curated monthly by a different Little Berlin member. This past year, they received a $10,000 grant from the Knight Foundation to fund the Little Berlin Fairgrounds project, transforming a vacant lot across from the gallery into an open community art space and sculpture garden. The fairgrounds will be designed around featuring live performances, film screenings, children’s workshops, musical events, and more.

To help raise the matching money they need for the Knight Foundation grant, BITBY, Bands in the Backyard, is creating a 12″ vinyl, featuring all of the artists from the bitby.tv monthly series over the past year. Some of the proceeds funded by the vinyl will go towards the fairgrounds project. The acts on the album include: Break it Up, Wigwams, Heyward Howkins, Pet Milk, Oh! Pears, Arc in Round, Faux Slang, Psychic Teens, Ports of Call, Summer Fiction, Blayer Pointdujour, and Streetwalkers.

The kickstarter will run until Monday, July 23rd to raise their goal of $5,000. Watch the video for the kickstarter here. Below, you can watch BITBY videos from: Ports of Call and Oh! Pears

Photos by Madeleine Lesperance

Meeting at the crossroads of introspective indiepop and aggressive punk is Philadelphia’s Pet Milk. You see it in the group’s pedigree – drummer Josh Agran also plays in the mighty Paint it Black, a long standing local hardcore act, while singer-guitarist Herbie Shellenberger is an alumnus of South Philly-based Slumberland Records popsters Brown Recluse. Bassist Adam Herndon straddles both worlds, playing in dreamy local favorites A Sunny Day in Glasgow, as well as the hyper-spastic Faux Slang. Rounding out the group is singer Adriane Dalton – whose voice is warm and melodic but whose demeanor takes no guff – and guitarist Richie Roxas, who plays one six-string from two amps. Maybe one is his twee amp and one is his punk amp. I kid, but Pet Milk’s truly is a sound that doesn’t fit easily into either world – melancholic minor key musings on ex-lovers and the mid-twenties post-adulthood crash, but with a rough-hewn, gnarly edge showing that, for this crew, the fire isn’t out. Download its recent Key Studio Session below – including songs from its its 2011 EP Philadelphia Punklife, as well as a couple unreleased numbers – and catch Pet Milk in concert Saturday June 23 at Johnny Brenda’s when it plays with Arc in Round, Tadoma and Beige.

• Phantom Loversby Pet Milk from The Key Studio Sessions, June 13, 2012Download

• Persian Rugby Pet Milk from The Key Studio Sessions, June 13, 2012Download

• Crucial Yearsby Pet Milk from The Key Studio Sessions, June 13, 2012Download

• Hüsker Düdesby Pet Milk from The Key Studio Sessions, June 13, 2012Download

• The Dream Has Turnedby Pet Milk from The Key Studio Sessions, June 13, 2012Download

[BITBY Episode 008: Pet Milk] from BITBY on Vimeo.

The band also recently announced a string of tour dates, which will kick off later this week and wrap up with a show at Little Bar with Shoppers and Creepoid on December 5th. Full dates below.

11/25: BROOKLYN @ DEATH BY AUDIO with HAND CREAM and MANNEQUIN PUSSY and GREAT VALLEY [link]
11/27: MONTREAL @ QUAI DES BRUMES with THE ETHER and REVERSING FALLS
11/28: TORONTO @ THE BOVINE
11/29: YPSILANTI, MICHIGAN @ ABSOLUTE BEGINNERS CLUB NIGHT AT WOODRUFF’S with BAD INDIANS [link]
11/30: CHICAGO @ THE JUCIER with BLIZZARD BABES and LEZURRECTION [link]
12/1: COLUMBUS @ CARABAR
12/2: BALTIMORE @ COPY CAT
12/4: WKDU PHILADELPHIA [live 8PM eastern on wkdu.org]
12/5: PHILADELPHIA @ LITTLE BAR with SHOPPERS and CREEPOID

Pet Milk

Pet Milk

Pet Milk

Party Photographers

Party Photographers

Creepoid

Creepoid

Creepoid

Creepoid

Creepoid