The Stray Birds

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May 2, 2013 | 10:00 AM | By

Download The Key Studio Sessions Vol. 7 (feat. Waxahatchee, Pissed Jeans, Ruby the Hatchet + more)

kss vol 7

The latest edition of our Key Studio Sessions compilations is out today – now streamable and downloadable from Soundcloud!  Check out this year’s in-studio appearances with The Key Studio Sessions Vol. 7, including the down-tempo folk stylings of Waxahatchee, the thrashing punk of Pissed Jeans and the all-out rock jams of Ruby the Hatchet.  Thanks to production assistants Fred Knittel, Madeleine Lesperance, and Dan Malloy as well as photographers Rachel Del Sordo and Kate McCann, and videographers The Angry Mountain, HotBox Studios and Out of Town Films for sharing their work.

FILED UNDER: Artists, Downloads, Recordings, Anjuli Josephine, Cayetana, Everyone Everywhere, Free Range Folk, Glocca Morra, Gretchen Lohse, Juston Stens and the Get Real Gang, Modern Inventors, Pissed Jeans, Ruby The Hatchet, Ryan Tennis, Slingshot Dakota, St. James & the Apostles, The Key Studio Sessions Vol. 7, The Lawsuits, The Naked Sun, The Stray Birds, waxahatchee
February 3, 2013 | 1:00 PM | By

The Week’s Best MP3 Downloads, incl. The Stray Birds, Local Natives, Lord Huron

With their debut full-length Almost Endless released this past week, Philly new-wave / rock outfit The National Rifle were the featured topic for this week’s Unlocked series here on The Key.  The new album takes the band’s sound in a new direction with it’s polished overtones, which you can learn more about here and here.  Below, stream and download “Street Burn.”

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FILED UNDER: Artists, Downloads, Recordings, Local Natives, Lord Huron, Photo Ops, The National Rifle, The Stray Birds
January 31, 2013 | 11:15 AM | By

The Week So Far: 12 must-read stories on The Key (incl. Nightlands, Catnaps and Thao)

Nightlands | Photo by Matthew Davis

Prairie Empire stops by to record a Folkadelphia session [link]

Philly’s Nightlands celebrates the release of Oak Island at Kung Fu Necktie [link]

My Morning Jacket’s Jim James streams his new album, announces a Union Transfer show [link]

Philly rockers Free Energy get interviewed by a couple sixth graders [link]

Remembering versatile guitarist Jef Lee Johnson, who passed away at age 54 this week [link]

Indiepop five-piece Catnaps releases a new EP for free downloading [link]

Shoegazers Nothing will make the First Friday crowd wish they packed earplugs [link]

Lancaster folk trio The Stray Birds records a Key Studio Session, comes to World Cafe Live [link]

Philly rapper Chill Moody releases a mini-documentary of his December TLA show [link]

Thao Nguyen plays “We The Common” on a banjo, through a microphone, at a rally [link]

All week the Unlocked series features Almost Endless, the new LP from The National Rifle [link]

FILED UNDER: Artists, Catnaps, Chill Moody, Free Energy, Jef Lee Johnson, Jim James, Nightlands, Nothing, Prairie Empire, Thao, The National Rifle, The Stray Birds
January 31, 2013 | 9:33 AM | By

Tonight’s Concert Picks: XPN Welcomes Freelance Whales to The Abbey Bar, Dave Hause opening for Flogging Molly at The Electric Factory, XPN Welcomes The Stray Birds to World Cafe Live, Sour Mash at City Tap House

Brooklyn indie kids Freelance Whales head out to Harrisburg for a show at The Abbey Bar tonight.  The quintet followed up their 2009 debut with Diluvia last year.  The sophomore effort sees Freelance Whales expanding their sound and their narrative with more intricate arrangements and a complex sci-fi concept running through the tracks.  What hasn’t changed with the new release is the band’s accessible and appealing indie pop sound that got the buzz started in 2009.  Tickets and information for tonight’s 21+ show with Hundred Waters can be found here.  Below, watch the video for “Spitting Image.”

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FILED UNDER: Artists, Concert Previews, Events, Scene, Beaucoup Blue, City Tap House, Dave Hause, Flogging Molly, Freelance Whales, Hundred Waters, Sour Mash, The Abbey Bar, The Electric Factory, The Stray Birds, World Cafe Live
January 30, 2013 | 9:42 AM | By

The Key Studio Sessions: The Stray Birds

Illustration by Keith Warren Greiman | keithgreiman.com

It’s like our friend Fred Knittel at Folkadelphia likes to say: there are many definitions of folk music. Among the current crop of young, up-and-coming practitioners, it runs the gamut from XPN favorites The Lumineers and The Avett Brothers – who use rootsy instrumentation to inform pop songwriting with broad appeal – all the way to Lancaster trio The Stray Birds, who are folk in a more traditional sense. Their preferred method of performing is non-amplified, non-percussive, standing around a single microphone. They blend vocal harmonies and fiddle harmonies. Heck, they closed their Key Studio Session with a dang-near six minute Appalachian-style fiddle medley that cartwheeled and raced laps around our studio. The trio of Maya de Vitry, Charles Muench and Oliver Craven got some national attention from NPR Music last fall, and return to Philly tomorrow night for a show upstairs at World Cafe Live. Below, download the five songs they performed in our studio, and check out a gallery of photos from the session.

FILED UNDER: Artists, Concert Previews, Downloads, Events, Recordings, The Key Studio Sessions, The Stray Birds, World Cafe Live
November 28, 2012 | 5:21 PM | By

The Week So Far: Eight must-read stories on The Key


Lancaster’s The Stray Birds perform “Dream in Blue” for Folk Alley’s backstage sessions [link]

Sellersville progressive hip-hop group I&I record an adventurous Key Studio Session [link]

Get a free song from Florida’s rootsy Roadkill Ghost Choir in My Morning Download [link]

Philly punk four-piece The Menzingers released an acoustic version of “Casey” [link]

Meet rootsy Philly group The Naked Sun in their new Bands in the Backyard video [link]

Philly country-rockers The Lawsuits released a new EP and a new music video [link]

Quirky rockers Eels announced a fall tour with a Philly stop in March, and a new song [link]

Founding Smashing Pumpkins guitarist James Iha played Free at Noon on Black Friday [link]

FILED UNDER: Artists, Events, News, Recordings, Eels, I&I, James Iha, Roadkill Ghost Choir, The Lawsuits, The Menzingers, The Naked Sun, The Smashing Pumpkins, The Stray Birds
November 25, 2012 | 10:00 AM | By

Watch The Stray Birds perform “Dream In Blue” for Folk Alley’s Backstage Sessions


The Lancaster trio The Stray Birds released one of the year’s best folk and roots albums. Maya de Vitry, Oliver Craven and Charles Muench released their self-titled album last summer and on it, the band’s fantastic harmonies mingle with soulful, honest playing and excellent songwriting. Below, watch a video of them performing “Dream In Blue” from Folk Alley’s Backstage Sessions, featured on NPR Music.

FILED UNDER: Artists, The Stray Birds