The Great Unknown are also celebrating a record release tonight over at Johnny Brenda’s.  The local five-piece are setting forth So Strange and Loud into the physical world, following the album’s digital release last May.  With reflective melodies and intricate arrangements, the The Great Unknown strive to make connections with their audiences both through live performance and recorded material.  Tickets and information for tonight’s 21+ show with KC Jones and Ali Wadsworth can be found here.  Below, stream “The Laws of Energy” from So Strange and Loud.

XPN welcomes Martin Sexton to The Landis Theater tonight.  The singer-songwriter is a quintessentially American musician, blending a variety of traditional playing styles including country, rock, gospel and R&B.  Following up his 2010 LP Sugarcoating, Sexton released his Fall Like Rain EP last year.  Both efforts come after his commercial breakthrough with 2007′s Seeds, which debuted at #6 on Billboard’s Heatseekers chart.  Tickets and information for tonight’s all-ages show with The Alternate Routes in Vineland, NJ can be found here.  Below, watch Martin Sexton perform “Can’t Stop Thinking ‘Bout You” with John Mayer.

Dave Hartley continues his busy start to the year with a Nightlands show at the Arden Gild Hall tonight.  The solo project of the War on Drugs’ bass player, Nightlands released its sophomore effort Oak Island last week.  The album fuses Hartley’s affinity for mystery and sci-fi with rollicking melodies and percussion, creating layer upon layer of rich textures through overdubbing and tape machine manipulation.  Hartley spoke with ArtInfo recently to share some of his recording techniques and tricks; read the full interview here.  Tickets and information for tonight’s show with School of Seven Bells can be found here.  Below, watch the video for “I Fell In Love With a Feeling.”

Moving forward to 2013, KC Jones released the full-length Sounds From the West just last week.  West takes Jones’ sound in a new direction, moving from the electronic pop of lead track “So Sad” to the rock-structured “Hiding Behind Glass.”  Named for Andrew Wyeth’s painting “Christina’s World,” West “follows a singular journey through the disconnect of life in a time of social and political strife.”

KC Jones will play Johnny Brenda’s on Saturday, February 2nd with The Great Unknown (celebrating the release of So Strange and Loud) and Ali Wadsworth.  Tickets and information for the 21+ show can be found here.  Stream “I.O.U.D.” from Sounds From the West below and download the name-your-price album on Bandcamp here.

Looking for more? Visit WXPN’s Soundcloud page to download The Key Studio Sessions Vol. 1 through Vol. 4.

Photo by Shawn Brackbill

Here at The Key, we toss a fair heaping of free downloads your way, so it’s completely understandable if you miss a few. Here are our top five bits of digital music from the past week:

Richmond, Virginia musician Matthew E. White is releasing his album Big Inner on Hometapes/Spacebomb Records on August 21st, and plays the TLA on Oct. 11 with The Mountain Goats. This week, his song “Big Love” was a My Morning Download, and you can get it below.

On the heels of making an XPoFest splash a couple weeks ago (and tearing up The Barbary last week), Work Drugs released another track for free download from their album Absolute Bearing. Download “The Art of Progress” below – the band says it was “originally written in 1994 as a response to U.S. President Bill Clinton and Russian President Boris Yeltsin signing the Kremlin accords.” You can also watch the music video here; Work Drugs next plays Philadelphia on Aug. 31 at Johnny Brenda’s.

Family Band celebrated the release of its excellent new record Grace and Lies this week by playing the First Unitarian Church’s side chapel, recording a Live at the World Cafe session and appearing live on the air for XPN2′s Folkadelphia. You can download their Folkadelphia performance of “Ride” below.

• Rideby Family Band, recorded live on Folkadelphia, 07.29.12Download

Northern Liberties’ 2nd Street Festival is going on today, and one of the great Philly bands playing the main stage at the Pizza at Schmidt’s is The Great Unknown, who were spotlighted in last week’s Key Studio Session. Download their performance of “Borrowed and Temporary” below, and catch them this afternoon at 4:15.

• Borrowed and Temporaryby The Great Unknown, from The Key Studio Sessions, Aug. 1, 2012Download

As anticipation for their new record Soft Fall builds, Sun Airway released a mixtape on Wednesday that blends Bartok, Boards of Canada and The Chemical Brothers.

Some of the featured performers for this year include headliner Man Man, as well as Blayer Point Dujour and the Rockers Galore, The Spinning Leaves, The Great Unknown, Lushlife, and many more.

If you’re planning on not staying too late in Northern Liberties, head over to World Cafe Live to see Steve Kimock‘s Summer Tour. Kimock is known for his improvisational stylings ranging from jazz to world fusion to funk and anything that inspires him at the time. He will be performing tonight along with Bernie Worrell. The show starts at 8 p.m., tickets are $20-30. Below watch a short video preview of the tour.

Blast to the past! Look back to 1995 when wearing plaid outfits was hip and boy bands were popular. Some of the all stars of decade will be featured in Party in Fairmount Park, including New Edition, Salt-n-Pepa, and El Debarge. Tickets to the show at The Mann Center range from $39.75-125; doors open at 6 p.m.

When it comes to cosmopolitan country music, The Great Unknown are a reliable local source, making mellow moves these past few years to Jordan “Tuck” Burger’s emphatic midtempo drumbeats and ringing out the three-part harmonies with lead singer and songwriter Todd Henkin at the center. The Philly four-piece’s new album, So Strange and Loud, blows its sound open into something more lush and expansive, big on the crescendos and shout-out-loud refrains. Before, they might have been Philly’s answer to The Band (for those who didn’t already consider Dr. Dog such); now, they could be (dare I say it?) our own Dawes. Their Key Studio Session, recorded in the round last week, kept things relative downtempo and contemplative, in classic Great Unknown style, but just you wait till they open for Man Man at the 2nd Street Festival this Sunday; Henkin promises electric guitars, organs, amps and a whole lot of energy.

• Patch the Sails and Break the Arrowsby The Great Unknown, from The Key Studio Sessions, Aug. 1, 2012Download

• The Switchby The Great Unknown, from The Key Studio Sessions, Aug. 1, 2012Download

• Something As Good As Thisby The Great Unknown, from The Key Studio Sessions, Aug. 1, 2012Download

• Borrowed and Temporaryby The Great Unknown, from The Key Studio Sessions, Aug. 1, 2012Download

The music portion of the day-long festival – which will also showcase local arts, crafts, and food vendors – takes place on the stage of the Piazza at Schmidt‘s, and is presented in conjunction with the Philadelphia Folksong Society. The initial lineup announced today includes:

Man Man
The Great Unknown
The Spinning Leaves
Blayer Pointdujour & The Rockers Galore
Auctioneer
Chris Kasper
The Kalob Griffin Band
The Doublewides
KC Jones
Norman Taylor
Mikey Jr.
DJ Matt Beck

Watch our Key Studio Video session with Blayer PointduJour and the Rockers Galore below.

Key Studio Sessions #2 – Blayer PointduJour & Rockers Galore from WXPN FM on Vimeo.

The Great Unknown have released a new album, So Strange And Loud. You can listen to and buy the album here. The band rips a page or two from the classic Americana songwriting books of The Band, Dawes, The Avett Brothers and Wilco, yet the members of The Great Unknown put their own warm and unique spin on it. Here’s what they have to say about it:

Last winter we recorded So Strange and Loud in a beautiful circular three story cabin in the woods of Mystic, Connecticut.

In true DIY form, we turned the cabin into our studio using only an old 8 track reel to reel, a handful of well placed microphones, & an infinitely patient engineer.

The character of the location and the time we spent living together is all reflected in these songs.

This is the album that we’ve been working towards for the last five years and are proud to now share it with you.

Photo of Adrien Reju by Shervin Lainez

XPN Welcomes this year’s Northern Liberties Winter Music Festival, February 14th through the 19th at The Fire in Northern Liberties. The festival begins with an evening of duets from locals including the musical pairings of Adirien Reju with Chris Kasper, Denison Witmer with Lauryn Peacock, and three other musical couplings. Additional bands playing throughout the festival include Arrah And The Ferns, Band Name, Conversations With Enemies, Ron Gallo, The Great Unknown, and more. A complete lineup schedule and ticket information is here. Below, sample some tunes from a few of the performing acts.

• High Groundby The Great Unknown from The Key Studio Sessions 2011 Summer MixtapeDownload

Arrah and the Ferns – Wake Up by Arrah and the Ferns

MilkBoy Coffee

Ticket prices for the concerts are cheap, ranging from $8 – $13.50, so be sure to check out the new venue and support some local music while you’re at it.

Preliminary MilkBoy Philly show calendar:

9/17: Gang w/ Hank & Cupcakes and Pink Skull
9/21: Jim Ward
9/24: Black Landlord
9/28: We Are Augustines
9/29: West Philadelphia Orchestra w/ The Great Unknown
9/30: Meeting in the Aisle (Radiohead Tribute Band) w/ Man Like Machine
10/6: Toubab Krewe w/ Gongo Junction
10/20: Lisa Hannigan

MilkBoy Philly is located at 1100 Chestnut Street. Its hours of operation are from 6am – 11pm. Tickets to all upcoming shows can be found here.