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.

If ever there was a mystery about how The Lumineers became so popular so fast, last night’s appearance at The Tower Theater solved it: they involve the fans in their concerts as much as themselves.

Having catchy songs with singalong refrains helps, sure. But even given those, other acts might make performances a one-directional thing – they play, you watch, and applaud when it seems appropriate. The Lumineers, on the other hand, make the crowd feel involved and at home, all the way to the coat rack and living room piano they deck the stage out with.

“This is a new piano, so we thought we’d break it in,” explained player Stelth Ulvang as the band launched into the barroom jangle of “I Ain’t Nobody’s Problem But My Own” – a cover of a song by their Denver compatriot Sawmill Joe. This wasn’t a tune that folks knew, but its snappy melody had them bopping around all the same. “Flowers in Your Hair,” later on, raised a rousing chorus – it’s the first track on their self-titled 2012 album, so it that familiarity (and its killer melody) was an easy in for the room to join on. The band took this opportunity to push things a step further.

For the first of two performances of their signature song “Ho Hey,” singer Wes Schwartz and drummer Jeremiah Fraites played offstage, among the fans. “We want to do this one without microphones,” Schwartz explained. “So turn off your phones, put away your cameras, just be in the moment with us.”

The sound that ensued was less the acoustic instruments and the band, and more the capacity crowd singing along at the top of their lungs. Which was totally the point – the song was so ingrained in their consciousness they were able to join in, not just through the ho’s and hey’s but along the winding, romanticized verses about traveling on the Chinatown bus to find love in Manhattan.

With only a 40-minute album under their belts, The Lumineers stretched out their set by playing three unreleased songs (one had lyrics to the effect of “All the pretty days,” another made reference to a drama queen) and a couple more covers. Bob Dylan’s “Subterranean Homesick Blues” was spun anew to put interesting emphasis on its chord changes and instrumental passages (as opposed to the original, which was just words, words and some harmonica), while The Talking Heads’ “Naive Melody” didn’t connect as strongly. Still, these were songs the folks knew, songs they could join in on – and they did.

The Lumineers revisited “Ho Hey” towards the end of their set, rocking a proper full-band rendition of it and then inviting openers Y La Bamba onstage to accompany “Stubborn Love.” The hits were exhausted by the time the encore rolled around, but that was fine. “Big Parade” has a big chorus, and everybody knew the words to that one too.

Setlist
Submarines
I Ain’t Nobody’s Problem But My Own (Sawmill Joe cover)
Classy Girl
Flowers In Your Hair
Ho Hey (a capella)
Subterranean Homesick Blues (Bob Dylan cover)
Charlie Boy
Slow It Down
Drama Queen (new song)
Dead Sea
Stubborn Love (performed w/ Y La Bamba)
Ho Hey (full band)
Flapper Girl

Encore:
All the Pretty Days (new song)
Big Parade
Naive Melody (Talking Heads cover)

Photo by Pete Troshak | flickr.com/photos/petryfrompa/sets | twitter.com/shak74

The lineup for the 6th Annual Roots Picnic includes Gary Clark Jr., Lushlife and more [link]

Dave Hartley‘s Top of the Key returns to tell you why the NBA should #LetBonnerShoot [link]

Folk-inspired Philly songwriter Gretchen Lohse records a stunning Key Studio Session [link]

The latest album from Joe D’Amico gets the Unlocked treatment [link]

Portland dance-rock artist ONUINU chats about his upcoming show at Kung Fu Necktie [link]

Get your vote on in The Deli and Tri-State Indie‘s year-in-review polls [link]

Pitchfork gave Bleeding Rainbow‘s new LP a bad review, then premiered it anyway [link]

UK pop singer Jessie Ware played Union Transfer, reminisced about World Cafe [link]

Listen to Simian Mobie Disco recorded live on Making Time RADio [link]

Elder grunge statesmen Soundgarden brought their reunion tour to The Tower Theater [link]

Listen to Yo La Tengo cover The Spinners’ classic “I’ll Be There” from Free at Noon [link]

Ohio singer-songwriter Dolfish is spotlighted in this week’s Folkadelphia session [link]

Setlist

Hands All Over
Spoonman
Outshined
Flower
Jesus Christ Pose
Taree
Attrition
My Wave
Been Away Too Long
Worse Dreams
Loud Love
Drawing Flies
Hunted Down
Mailman
Non-State Actor
Blow Up the Outside World
Ugly Truth
Fell on Black Days
Fresh Tendrils
Blood on the Valley Floor
Halfway There
Eyelid’s Mouth
Rusty Cage
Rowing

Encore:
Room a Thousand Years Wide
Let Me Drown
Dusty
Beyond the Wheel

Denver trio The Lumineers are returning to Philadelphia at the Tower Theater on February 9th. The roots-pop group, who are currently scheduled to play with Dave Matthews Band at the Wells Fargo Center December 22nd (tickets available here) took off this year with the breakaway hit, “Ho Hey.” Although the group has been together since 2005, their self-titled debut album was released in April. Tickets for the February show will be available starting at 10 AM Friday, November 2nd here. Below, watch the video for “Ho Hey.”

XPN welcomes Primus to The Tower Theater.  The wild-and-crazy rock band is touring in support of their 2011 record Green Naugahyde, their first full-length release in eleven years. As is their wont, the band is taking things to the next level on this tour with the first-ever 3D-enhanced stage experience.  The two-set evening will be outfitted with a quadraphonic sound system and a 3D backdrop; 3D goggles will be given to attendees.  Tickets to the all-ages event (because it is definitely more than just a show) are $35 to $55 here.  Doors will open at 8:00 p.m.  Below, watch the official video for “Tragedy’s A’ Comin’” off of their latest record.

Rock-hop outfit Flobots take the stage at MilkBoy Philly tonight for a show with Astronautalis and local hip-hop artist Rone.  The Denver, CO band released their socially-conscious album The Circle in the Square in August, a poetic and political exploration of national and international issues including the Occupy Movement (“#OccupyEarth”) and religious struggle (“Wrestling Israel”).  Tickets for tonight’s 21+ show are $16 and doors open at 8:00 p.m.  Below, watch Flobots’ new video for the title track to The Circle in the Square.

Photo by Ryan Jay

This month’s Tuesday Tune-Out series at PhilaMOCA is curated by The Swollen Fox’s Kevin Kennedy, so you know each night will feature some stellar local acts (read an interview with Kennedy previewing the series here).  Tonight’s event is a doubleheader with Thom McCarthy and Toy Soldiers’ Ron Gallo each playing a set, followed by a screening of a film that “may not be directed by (and starring) a legendary silent-film era comedic star.” The event is open to all ages; doors are at 7:30 p.m. and the show starts at 8:00 p.m. with the movie screening beginning at 9:00 p.m.  Tickets are $5 at the door.  Below, watch Thom McCarthy perform his song “Tiempo” at PhilaMOCA from May 2011.

Dispatch, the stereotype-defying trio from Boston that has disbanded and re-banded a few times over the last decade, has joined together once more for the release of Circles Around the Sun and a national tour that brings them to The Tower Theater tonight.  Even after so many years they’re still a little bit reggae, a little bit funky and totally rock ‘n’ roll as fans happily experienced at the band’s Free at Noon performance back in August.  Tonight’s show is with local favorites Good Old War.  Tickets are $46 and available here; doors open at 8:00 p.m. Watch a new video for the title track from Circles Around the Sun below.

After headlining the first show at Union Transfer last year and playing the XPoNential Music Festival a couple of months before that, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah come back to Philly to play a special show at the First Unitarian Church tonight.  The partially-local rock band released their latest album, Hysterical, last year.  Tickets to tonight’s show with SKATERS are $20 and available here.  Doors open at 8:00 p.m. and the event is open to all ages.  Below, watch the video for Hysterical‘s title track.  (You can also download a free EP from Skaters here).

Hysterical from CYHSY on Vimeo.

Who
Weekend in the Dust
Save Me From What I Want
Strange Overtones
I am an Ape
Marrow
This Must Be The Place (Naive Melody)
The Forest Awakes
Optimist
Like Humans Do
Lightning
Lazarus
Cheerleader
Lazy
I Should Watch TV
Northern Lights
The One Who Broke Your Heart
Outside Of Space And Time

Cruel
Burning Down The House (video)

The Party
Road To Nowhere

Photo by Ashleigh Haddad

Grateful Dead founding member Bob Weir plays a solo show tonight at The Tower Theater in Upper Darby. Tickets to the all-ages show range from $45 to $55 and are available here. Below, check out a video of Weir performing in Philadelphia in 1986.

Sondre Lerche celebrates his first decade of making music tonight at World Cafe Live. The Norwegian indie singer-songwriter recently reissued his first four albums in expanded vinyl editions, which he should have in tow tonight. Tickets to the all-ages show are $15, and available here. Below, download “Boxing Day,” an outtake from the Phantom Punch album.

• Boxing Dayby Sondre Lerche from Phantom PunchDownload

South Jersey pop-punkers Vinitage Kicks are performing the four-year anniversary party at Kung Fu Necktie tonight. Tickets to the 21+ show are $7 and available at the door. Below, download Vintage Kicks’ performance of “Bad News Broski” from The Key Studio Sessions Volume 5.