The Key » Superlith http://thekey.xpn.org Discover Philly's Best Local Music Fri, 24 May 2013 00:43:31 +0000 en-US hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.5.1 Copyright WXPN, The Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania Watch an album teaser from VaVatican (playing The Rotunda on 1/16) http://thekey.xpn.org/2013/01/14/watch-an-album-teaser-from-vavatican-playing-the-rotunda-on-116/ http://thekey.xpn.org/2013/01/14/watch-an-album-teaser-from-vavatican-playing-the-rotunda-on-116/#comments Mon, 14 Jan 2013 21:45:52 +0000 Julie Miller http://thekey.xpn.org/?p=65571 Avant-garde jazz quartet VaVatican is prepping for the release of their next record Falling In Love With U with a teaser video and an appearance at The Rotunda this Wednesday, January 16th.  Finding a middle ground between free-form improvisation and angular structures, the Prom Night Records musicians operate in the vein of abstract painters, creating detailed and impressionistic soundscapes that tell a hundred different stories for each interpretation.  Information for Wednesday’s free show with Superlith and MPSP can be found here.  Watch VaVatican’s teaser trailer below.

]]> http://thekey.xpn.org/2013/01/14/watch-an-album-teaser-from-vavatican-playing-the-rotunda-on-116/feed/ 0 The Key’s Year-End Mania: Elliott Sharp’s Top Five Local Albums To Listen To Loudly With Headphones http://thekey.xpn.org/2012/12/26/the-keys-year-end-mania-elliott-sharps-top-five-local-albums-to-listen-to-loudly-with-headphones/ http://thekey.xpn.org/2012/12/26/the-keys-year-end-mania-elliott-sharps-top-five-local-albums-to-listen-to-loudly-with-headphones/#comments Wed, 26 Dec 2012 19:12:01 +0000 Elliott Sharp http://thekey.xpn.org/?p=63789 For The Key’s year-in-review, we asked our trusted sources – our writers and photographers, XPN’s on-air staff, fellow bloggers in the Philly scene and even a few musicians – to send us their Top Five Whatevers. Could be the traditional music route – albums, songs, concerts of the year – or it could be only loosely connected. We’ll be sharing these recaps every day through to the end of the year. Today, contributing writer Elliott Sharp shares his top five local albums to listen to loudly with headphones.

 

1. Bee Mask – When We Were Eating Unripe Pears (Spectrum Spools)

The experimental electronic musician Chris Madak stretches sounds so far your ears will rip, and bleed, and it feels delicious, like an unripe pear.

2. Nick Millevoi – In White Sky (Flenser)

The Many Arms guitarist’s bleakest and scariest solo work so far.

3. Superlith – Plasma Clusters (Eh?)

The trombonist Dan Blacksberg and circuit-bent Casio keyboardist Julius Masri unleash droning, brutal, bubbling and gorgeous noise.

4. Starkey – Orbits (Civil Music)

Digi-orchestral splendor, hard melodics and trunk-busting bass thrive on electronic music artist Starkey’s deep-space opus.

5. +HIRS+ – NUNMILK (Human Beard)

The queer-grind duo deliver violent, blistering, devil-worshipping ditties that never last longer than 57 seconds.

Bonus: Mary Lattimore – Mary Lattimore (self-released)

On her first solo album (Arc In Round’s Jeff Zeigler plays synth on the 25-minute-long opener), harpist Mary Lattimore contrasts blissful melodic sweeps with the eerie warbles, blurs and drones realized by (gently) ramming her harp through effects pedals.

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