Photo by Arrah Fisher

Special thanks to all of the bands for coming to our studio, and to John Vettese for recording them. We’d also like to thank volunteer production assistants Fred Knittel, Madeleine Lesperance, and Dan Malloy as well as photographers Kate Bracaglia, Corey Cohen, Sarah Fry, Shamus McGroggan, Noah Gabriel Merenda, Sylvia Ramirez, and Heidi Schlenzig for sharing their work.

Click here to download the 18-track compilation in its entirety as a .zip file. Want to hear more? Click here to listen to the full sessions by all 18 local acts; you can also download The Key Studio Sessions Compilation Volume I, Volume 2, and Volume 3.

Playlist:
Zakee “Spotlight”
City Rain “Real Good”
Pink Skull “Oh, Monorail”
Mason Porter “Back To Where We Started From”
Univox “What’s More”
Arrah and the Ferns “Waterproof Gold Watch”
Acid Kicks “Take My Soul Away”
The Menzingers “Mexican Guitars”
Music For Headphones “Why”
Lushlife “Gymnopiede 1.2″
Griz “The Secret In The Garden”
New Sweden “Saint, Don’t You Lie”
Sunny Ali and the Kid “Stop the Haiti”
Peasant “Girls”
Chill Moody “Cotton”
Little Big League “St. John’s”

Photo by John Vettese

For this month’s Key Studio Video Session, we profiled Pink Skull, the Philladelphia indie-dance quintet that, last year, released its third album, Psychic Welfare, on RVNG Int’l Records. In our video, band leaders Julian Grefe and J.G. Geller talk about bridging the divide between hooky pop songs and expansive disco epics, the growth of the electronica scene in Philadelphia, and the origins of their “music for record-store nerds.” Watch the video below and download their performance from December’s Key Studio Sessions Live concert at Johnny Brenda’s.

Key Studio Video Session #6 – Pink Skull from WXPN FM on Vimeo.

• Oh, Monorailby Pink Skull from The Key Studio Sessions, Jan. 18, 2012Download

• Summer Readingby Pink Skull from The Key Studio Sessions, Jan. 18, 2012Download

• El Topoby Pink Skull from The Key Studio Sessions, Jan. 18, 2012Download

• If You Know Can, Then I Guess You Really Know Musicby Pink Skull from The Key Studio Sessions, Jan. 18, 2012Download

• Janine Aubergineby Pink Skull from The Key Studio Sessions, Jan. 18, 2012Download

• Peter Cushingby Pink Skull from The Key Studio Sessions, Jan. 18, 2012Download

• Hot Bubblegumby Pink Skull from The Key Studio Sessions, Jan. 18, 2012Download

Bleeding Rainbow performs at The Level Room on Dec. 31st

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 30th
Gandalf Murphy And The Slambovian Circus of Dreams at World Cafe Live (7:30 p.m., $30–$40); Mock Suns + Music Box Dynamo, Phantasm, Man The Fire at Milkboy Philly (9:30 p.m., 21+, $8–$10); Orbit to Leslie + The Circadian Rhythms, Your Children Is Beautiful (9:15 p.m., 21+, $10); Thursday + mewithoutYou, Screaming Females, Make Do And Mend at Theatre Of Living Arts (6 p.m., SOLD OUT)

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 31st

Phonographic Arts presents Bleeding Rainbow with Eternal Summers + Creepoid, Arc In Round, Pink Skull, Slutever, Fire In The Hearts And Mind, and Exploding World at 8 p.m. at The Level Room; tickets to the 21+ show are 8 p.m.

Also Playing: Johnny Brenda’s and Philebrity present The Second Annual New Year’s Eve Snowflake Ball featuring DJ sets by Nick Krill (The Spinto Band) + Chris Powell (Man Man), Eric Slick (Dr. Dog), John Barthmus (Sun Airway), Schoolly D at Johnny Brenda’s (8 p.m., 21+, $5); Nico’s Gun + Lady, Greg D, Black Stars at The Fire (9 p.m., 21+, $10); Prowler + Busses, Hott Tubb at Kung Fu Necktie (8 p.m., 21+, $5)

SUNDAY, JANUARY 1st
Beth Hart + Christine Santelli, Gina Sicilla, Aster Phoenix at The Blockley ($45)

Summer Fiction

We’ve spent the better portion of the the week hyping up tonight’s Key Studio Sessions Live concert at Johnny Brenda’s, running interviews with performing acts Summer Fiction and Attia Taylor as well as a Pink Skull mixtape the band made just for us. Well, the show is finally here, and we couldn’t be more excited. A handful of free tickets are still available, but only if you RSVP here. In the meantime, you can listen to a track from each band below (including Key Studio Session tracks from Attia Taylor and Summer Fiction). See you tonight at the show!

Singer-songwriter Bill Ricchini‘s latest musical project, Summer Fiction, finds the former solo artist collaborating with a handful of other musicians, tying together his self-professed love of late-’60s pop and old movie scores. While recording Summer Fiction’s Key Studio Session, XPN2′s John Vettese described the band’s 2010 self-titled debut as a mix of “stylish arrangements and eclectic sounds, wistful love songs and breezy waltzes”—and it made a strong enough impression to land a spot in his Top 10 Philly Albums Of 2010 list. Below, you can listen to “By The Sea” from Key Studio Session Summer Fiction recorded earlier this year; the full session can be found here.

• By The Seaby Summer Fiction from The Key Studio Sessions 1/19/11Download

Pink Skull recently released its third full-length album, Psychic Welfare, via RVNG Intl. The DJ-and-producer duo (composed of Julian Grefe and Justin Geller) mixes elements of ’70s disco, ’80s new wave, and ’00s dance pop. You can listen to the album’s lead track, “Hot Bubblegum” (described as a “a Television-inspired piece of pop perfectly pushes this dichotomy of psychotic playfulness’) below.

• Hot Bubblegumby Pink Skull from Psychic WelfareDownload

Girls Rock Philly alum Attia Taylor has just released her third EP, Wild Forest, which is currently available on a pay-what-you-can basis over at Bandcamp. The EP follows up on last year’s Short Stories And Small Glories EP, which features seven tracks of experimental electronic pop. Below, you can listen to “Did I Look Like Myself” from the Key Studio Session she recorded earlier this year; the full session can be found here.

• Did I Look Like Myselfby Attia Taylor from The Key Studio Sessions 2/9/11Download

The War On Drugs performs Dec. 17th at Union Transfer

FRIDAY DECEMBER 16th XPN Welcomes The Key Studio Session Live featuring Summer Fiction, Pink Skull, and Attia Taylor at Johnny Brenda’s (9 p.m., 21+, FREE with RSVP); Atlas Sound + Balkans, Carnivores at First Unitarian Church (8:30 p.m., all ages, $15); Atomic Square + Ages, Panic Years, Strangled By The Stereo Wire at Highland Gallery (9 p.m., 21+, $5–$10); Cuddle Magic + The Milkman’s Union, Lady Lamb The Beekeeper at First Unitarian Church (all ages, $8); The Wonder Years + Man Overboard, Fireworks, Wheatus, Into It Over It, Moving Mountains at Union Transfer (6 p.m., all ages, SOLD OUT); Wu-Tang Clan + Ground Up, DJ CruCut at The Trocadero (10 p.m., 18+, $45)

SATURDAY DECEMBER 17th
Though The War on Drugs released its debut album three years ago, 2011 has been a breakthrough year for the locally-based band. With the release of its second LP, Slave Ambient, the three-piece gained praise from everyone from Pitchfork to Spin and solidified themselves as Philly’s latest pride and joy. This is partly due to the neo-classic rock group’s nonstop touring this year; after wrapping up a tour with Destroyer last spring, and later a fall tour that lasted through October, the group announced yet another tour to close out the year, which appropriately wraps up in its hometown. Between the band’s choice of finale location and its stop at XPN earlier this year for a Studio Session (which we’ll be re-posting later this morning), it’s safe to stay the group is staying loyal to the place where it all began. The War On Drugs performs with Sun Airway and Ape School at 8:30 p.m. at Union Transfer; tickets to the all-ages show are $14. —Marielle Mondo

Also Playing: Andrew Lipke And The Prospects With The Azreal Quartet + The Codes, The Heat Run, Claire Wadsworth at North Star Bar (9 p.m., 21+, $10); Bands In The Backyard Episode Five Premiere featuring Break It Up + Psychic Teens, PC Worship, Spirit Animals, Streetwalkers at Little Bar (8 p.m., 21+, $7); American Babies at World Cafe Live (9 p.m., $13)

SUNDAY DECEMBER 18th
Free Range Folk + The Jersey Corn Pickers at Tritone (7:30 p.m., 21+); Shannon Pelcher And The Iron Threads (record-release show) at Tin Angel (7 p.m., 21+, $10)

Photo by Shane McCauley

Earlier this week, we interviewed Summer Fiction and Attia Taylor, two of the three acts performing at this Friday night’s Key Studio Sessions Live concert at Johnny Brenda’s. For Pink Skull—the DJ-and-producer duo of Julian Grefe and Justin Geller—however, we decided to do something a little different. Grefe and Geller spend a good amount of time in Pink Skull mixing elements of ’70s disco, ’80s new wave, and ’00s dance pop, so we asked them to put together a mixtape for us. They agreed, and gave us “Expeighyenmigks,” which includes some of the above and a whole lot more.

You can listen to the mix via the XPN Media Player here; you can get the full track listing below. You can also listen to the single “Hot Bubblegum” off Pink Skull’s third full-length album, Psychic Welfare, (released earlier this year on RVNG Intl).

Pink Skull performs with Summer Fiction and Attia Taylor at 9 p.m., Friday, December 16th, at Johnny Brenda’s; tickets to the 21+ show are FREE with RSVP.

Track list:
Yusef Lateef – Technological Homosapien
Todd Rundgren – International Feel
Sun Ra – Solar Symbols
Can – Sunshine Night and Day
Tangerine Dream – Sequent C
Boards of Canada – Triangles and Rhombuses
Suicide – Cheree (Remix)
Beta Band – Space
This Heat – Cenotaph
Bennie Maupin – Past Present and Future
David Axelrod – Mucho Chupar
John Cale and Terry Riley – Church of Anthrax

• Hot Bubblegumby Pink Skull from Psychic WelfareDownload