Photo by Peter English for Shaking Through | shakingthrough.com

Indie pop quintet Glitter play upstairs at World Cafe Live tonight.  Taking cues from retro new wave pop, Glitter’s debut Wyld Hrts LP could have been the soundtrack to your favorite eighties-era tv show with its catchy guitar hooks and spacey moog synth projections.  The full-length, available on super cool clear vinyl, follows up the young band’s debut Attack On Fort Gold Paw EP (free download here).  Tickets and information for tonight’s all-ages show with Joseph Mulhollen and Katie Becker & The Bricklayers can be found here.  Stream “Mirror Master” from Wyld Hrts below.

This week’s Unlocked band Restorations will play the First Unitarian Church tonight.  As we learned from Key contributor Beth Ann Downey’s introduction to the local punk rock outfit, Restorations are upfront and straightforward in every sense imaginable, from the honest and unrestrained nature of their music to their literally-titled sophomore effort LP2.  Check out the full Restorations series for Unlocked here and download “Kind of Comfort” below.  Tickets and information for the all-ages show with Self Defense Family, Exploded Drawings and Psychic Teens can be found here.

• Kind of Comfortby Restorations from LP2Download

Even though today’s Free at Noon with They Might Be Giants and Frightened Rabbit was sold-out, you still have a chance to see the former at The TLA tonight.  The New York nerd pop / rock duo released their 16th studio album Nanobots last month following a brief stint in the children’s music arena and 2011′s Join Us LP.  Despite the multitude of releases over their 20+ year career, the 1990 hit “Birdhouse in Your Soul” remains TMBG’s highest charting song to date.  Tickets and information for tonight’s all-ages show with Moon Hooch can be found here.  Below, watch the original video for “Birdhouse in Your Soul” and then stream their new single “Nanobots.”

Philly rapper Meek Mill will finally step on to the stage at The Tower Theater tonight, several months after the release of his Dreams and Nightmares record.  The quickly-rising performer had to put his tour on hold following a court-ordered travel probation.  But with all of that behind him, Meek Mill is ready to take his Dreams Come True tour across the country this spring.  Tickets and information for tonight’s event with Ace Hold can be found here.  Below watch Mill’s interview with The Fader at Sigma Sound Studio.

Also Happening: XPN welcomes Carolina Chocolate Drops to The Grand Opera House in Wilmington, DE; XPN welcomes Joan Osborne to The Levoy Theater in Millville, NJ.  Tickets and information for both shows can be found here.

Gunn is a Philadelphia native currently based in Brooklyn who blends beautifully intricate, raga style guitar compositions with Americana / singer-songwriter sensibilities.  Following up 2009′s Boerum Palace LP, he will be releasing Time Off this spring with trio bandmates John Truscinski and Justin Tripp (formerly of Aspera) through his new label Paradise of Bachelors.

Mining an all together different, and much louder, quarry of virtuosic guitar playing, Paul Sukeena jumps effortlessly between the fuzzy, scuzzy noise rock of Philly buzz band Spacin’ and his own distorted, looping organ arrangements.  Spacin’ released their debut record Deep Thuds last April. To RSVP for this free event go here; more information can be found here.  You can also catch them at Johnny Brenda’s on February 23rd when Steve Gunn performs with Light Heat and Spacin’ (tickets and information here).  Below, watch Gunn perform “Old Strange” for Fader TV.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GNtjlzw0yOw

Next on the docket is Steve Gunn, a Philly native who is often mentioned in the same breath as John Fahey, Jack Rose and Michael Chapman. Where Spacin’ melts with amps and noise, Gunn takes a stripped back (though still totally blissed-out) approach with intricate acoustic guitar compositions that weave together the schools of Indian Raga and American Primitivism (checkout the epic “The Lurker (Extended)” to get a sense of what this guy can do with six strings).  Gunn’s most recent solo release is 2009′s Boerum Palace, but he also works prolifically with drummer John Truscinski as a duo and released the well-received Ocean Parkway earlier this year.

Finally, we’ve got psych-rock extraordinaire Quentin Stoltzfus with a new post-Mazarin project called Light Heat.  Featuring Mickey Walker (Mazarin), Sam Cohen (Yellowbirds / Apollo Sunshine) and Drew Mills (Aspera / Blood Feathers), Light Heat are the psychedelic kaleidoscope projected on the ceiling of a Julian Casablancas basement party.  We’ve heard a few samples from the band, including the strummy “And the Birds” and “Elevation,” as filmed by Bands in the Backyard.

Tickets for the 21+ show are available here.  Check out videos of the bands below and get more information from the event page here.

Light Heat “Elevation”

Steve Gunn “Old Strange” (Live at The Kensington Picnic, August 2012)

Spacin’ “Sunshine, No Shoes”

Spacin'

As far as band names go, Spacin’ is a perfect fit. The Philly psychedelic rock foursome features members of Birds of Maya and Acid Kicks and, like both of those bands, it bends heavy guitar riffs into expansive explorations all across its tremendous debut, Deep Thuds. The most exciting thing about the record, though, isn’t just its trippy sonic shamanism, but the breadth of stylistic territory it covers. You’re just as apt to hear a washed-out, lo-fi number as you are a straightforward Stones-y garage jam – like today’s Philly Local Phile, “Sunshine, No Shoes.” Once you download the song, and its sufficiently rocked your afternoon, make plans to catch the band live next month. It plays Kungfu Necktie on Sunday May 13; opening is Hippy Johnny, the new project of the equally spacy Brendan Codey and Dan Svizeny of Cough Cool.