Ahead of its return to the airwaves on Sunday, XPN2′s Folkadelphia presents ((TACO)) at the Green Line Cafe on Locust St. with Prairie Empire and The Sun Flights.  ((TACO)) (real name David Mitchell Esparza) has been an illusive character in the Philadelphia music community since 2007 and did not release his first full-length, with backing band The Love Club, until this year’s succinctly-titled Full Length.  More information for tonight’s show can be found here.  Below, listen to the bluesy “Mellow Peaches” from ((TACO))’s 13 takes by the krautrock kid.

The Folk Show’s Gene Shay presents We’re About 9 at the PSALM Salon.  Bonded during weekly open mics at the Jahva House in Maryland, We’re About 9 are a trio of harmonizing musicians that have found an age-defying audience thanks to the band’s unique and fun approach to songwriting and performing.  Tonight’s show marks We’re About 9′s first Philly-proper show in eight years (although they played just outside Philly, in Lansdowne, back in the spring). More information can be found here.  Below, watch them perform “Same Seed” live.

XPN welcomes Garland Jeffreys to World Cafe Live at The Queen. In 2011 the Brooklyn-born musician released The King of In Between, an album that found itself on many year-end best-of lists including Rolling Stone and NPR.  Over the course of the four-decade-long career leading up to that release, Jeffreys developed a long list of collaborators including John Cale and Dr. John and he most recently joined Bruce Springsteen on stage in Holland.  Tickets and information for tonight’s show in Wilmington, DE can be found here.  Below, watch a video for Garland Jeffreys’ “Modern Lover” from 1980′s Escape Artist.

Philly power trio Many Arms perform at The Rotunda tonight.  The free-jazz conspirators released their third full-length self-titled record in 2012, an exploration into math rock-informed chaos spanning three extended tracks.  In the realm of avant-garde noise bands, Many Arms has thrashed their way to the forefront with the new record, receiving praise from music tastemakers including Spin.  Tonight Many Arms will be joined by saxophonist/guitarist Colin Fisher.  The show is free, and more information can be found here.  Below, listen to “Rising Artifacts in a Five-Point Field.”

Antique Matter

Cirque Skeletique vacillates between conscious and subconscious experiences, portraying the final canto of a dream in security culture infested metropolis, manifesting amidst a city on the periphery of apocalypse; alienated people oppressed by fascism face their dreams, fears, and darker inclinations.

Presenting their ode to mankind with Cirque Skeletique is Antique Matter, featuring members of TJ Kong & The Atomic Bomb, Pig Iron Theater Company’s Twelfth Night and the West Philadelphia Orchestra.  The gathering will take place at Ruba Club-Studios this Friday, December 21st at 8:00 p.m.  Tickets are $10 in advance (available here) and $12 at the door.  Below, watch Antique Matter perform at the Highwire Gallery in Philadelphia.

For more photos by Eric Ashleigh, visit eashleigh.com