Photo by Teresa Salinas
Watch My Basement is a Sh*thole, a student-produced documentary on Philadelphia’s DIY scene
Pill Friends
RECENT POSTS
The Week’s Best MP3 Downloads, incl. Calexico, Quilt, The Naked Sun
Bringing their sunny psychedelic sounds to Philadelphia, Boston’s Quilt recently stopped by the Folkadelphia studios to record a live session full of warmth and color. The 60s vibe of the band seems so natural it’s easy to slip into a dreamy daze while listening to the five tracks they recorded. Stream and download “Arctic Shark” below and head over to Folkadelphia’s Bandcamp to get the rest of the session. Quilt will be back in town this Saturday, February 16th for the 2013 Northern Liberties Winter Music Festival at The Fire. Tickets and information can be found here.
Free Download: Get a snapshot of the Philly DIY scene from across the globe in this Slovakian digital compilation
Start Track is a new digital label based in Slovakia that showcases bands and local music scenes from other corners of the world for the Central European audience. Their latest comp, Philly, was released yesterday, and provides a thorough snapshot of the Philly DIY / house show / basement punk circuit, from Key Sessions alums Cousin Brian and groove-poppers Night Panther, to singer-songwriter Abi Reimold and nihilistic rockers Pill Friends, who provided the inspiration for the set. Says the compiler, who goes only by Filip:
this mixtape has been collected by a great homie Ryan Wilson from Pill Friends pillfriends.bandcamp.comall bands are active in a beautiful music scene formed in Philadelphia and its neighborhood and they will be pleased with your support
there many other incredible bands from this scene which are not covered in this compilation, but you should definitely listen to them
You can listen to the compilation and get to know some of your neighbors – from an across-the-globe perspective – in the player below. To grab a free download, head to Start Track’s Bandcamp.
Meet Philly’s Pill Friends, download their new track “Please Murder Me For My Sins”
“Hell’s a place where I feel fine as long as your not mine” — Pill Friends “Bummertime”
Punk…death…and friendship. The lo-fi/indie trio Pill Friends’ recent 2012 release, It’s Kyle’s Birthday Everyday, is a chaotic yet heartfelt reunion with emotions usually reserved for an intervention. With just three members (as well as a bass player who is supposedly “missing”), Pill Friends creates a full orchestra from only a guitar, drums and cello. The beauty in this album comes from all the unoccupied space between the notes that is filled in a unique and personal way be each listener. The group has an affinity for using their limitations to their advantage, allowing the vocals on each track to crawl from beneath the noise – on it’s hands and knees – like being one shot shy of an overdose. Pill Friends, sonically, have settled somewhere in the realm of folk music, infused with a heavy dose of morphine, and then played through headphone speakers while mowing the lawn. It’s Kyle’s Birthday Everyday is sparse, its eclectic and extremely discomforting– and that’s what makes it satisfying to listening to. You can download It’s Kyle’s Birthday Everyday, Pill Friend’s first official EP, on Bandcamp. Last week the band released an even newer track called “Please Murder Me For My Sins” – download it below.
Download Roof Doctor’s “I Am Going to Die” (playing Maggot House tonight)
We met Philly DIY collective Roof Doctor back in October when The Key interviewed lead guitarist/vocalist Mark Harper about his band’s beginnings and desire to start a beef with Conor Oberst. While the beef never happened, the folk-rock-with-a-saxophone band has been busy since that interview, remastering their first album I Am Going To Die for CD release, starting work on their follow-up called Mobile Freedom Home (expected spring 2013) and opening for New Jersey pop/punk outfit The Front Bottoms. With word spreading down Broad Street of Roof Doctor’s energetic baroque folk, now’s a great time to grab a name-your-own-price copy of I Am Going To Die from their Bandcamp and to check them out live tonight at Maggot House with Alex G., Pill Friends, Kiddo Marink, Traffic Nightmare and Kendrick. More information can be found on the event page here. Below, stream “Ocean City.”