XPN welcomes Charles Bradley to Union Transfer tonight. The “Screaming Eagle of Soul” entertained the crowd during a recent Free at Noon performance with his exuberant showmanship and knock-out funk / R&B songs. Following up his 2011 full-length debut, the 64-year-old crooner released Victim of Love earlier this year. Tickets and information for tonight’s show with Paul & the Tall Trees can be found here. Watch the former James Brown impersonator perform “Why Is It So Hard?” live on the Public Radio Rocks stage at SXSW below.
JEFF the Brotherhood kick off a two-night stand at Kung Fu Necktie tonight. The Nashville band of brothers Jake and Jamin Orrall got the music bug from their father, who has written / produced for Taylor Swift and Reba McEntire. The younger Orralls’ brand of music couldn’t be much further from that of Swift’s though – with a raucous live show and a sound that inevitably finds itself described as grungy, scuzzy and sludgy, JEFF the Brotherhood attract attention through a barrage of loud and distorted but equally quirky and endearing rock songs on their latest Hypnotic Nights LP. Tickets and information for tonight and tomorrow’s shows can be found here. Watch them perform “Sixpack” on Late Night with David Letterman below.
Local singer-songwriter Lucy Stone performs at PhilaMOCA tonight. The Drexel University student has had busy year, recording and touring with Rusted Root last fall, working on her own new full-length currently and accepting accolades like The Deli’s Artist of the Month last year and and an Independent Music Awards nomination for her Would You? EP earlier this year. Tickets and information for tonight’s show with Cruiser and Former Belle can be found here. Below, watch an acoustic performance of “Out of Time.”
XPN welcomes Johnny Marr to The Trocadero tonight. The former Smiths guitarist is currently promoting his first solo effort The Messenger. Following the break up of The Smiths in the late 80s, Marr has worked on recordings with The Talking Heads and J. Mascis and contributed in large part to the score of Inception. Tickets and information for tonight’s show with ALAMAR can be found here. Check out an interview The Key did with Marr here and watch him perform “Sun and Moon” at Coachella below.
U.K. singer-songwriter Tom Odell plays Johnny Brenda’s tonight. Now touring in support of his 2012 debut Songs from Another Love EP and an upcoming full-length called Long Way Down, Odell got his start shlepping his keyboard to open mics night after night in Brighton before being discovered by Lily Allen. He’ll be support by Jeremy Messersmith, who recently signed to Glassnote Records in anticipation of his new album. Tickets and information for the 21+ can be found here. Watch Tom Odell perform “Another Love” on Later… With Jools Holland below.
PhilaMOCA‘s Tuesday Tune-Out and the Cinedelphia Film Festival have teamed up with local experimental rock project Pattern is Movement to present the duo’s “album screening party.” Set to scenes of Paul Thomas Anderson’s There Will Be Blood, the audience will get a full preview of Chris Ward and Andrew Thiboldeaux’s new album, as well as an inside look at the past four years of recording with a Q&A session after the screening. Learn more about the listening party in an interview with Ward here. The event is free – more information is available on the Facebook page here. Watch a trailer for the event below.
XPN welcomes Aimee Mann and Ted Leo to World Cafe Live at The Queen tonight. After sharing a bill last fall while Mann was promoting her latest Charmer LP, the singer-songwriter and Ted Leo teamed up for a proper collaboration called #BOTH earlier this year. The pair will return to their usual roles for this tour, however, with Leo filling in the support slot and probably reprising songs from the discography of his band The Pharmacists, as well as possibly (and hopefully) previewing songs from a new album he’s been working on. Tickets and information for the Wilmington, DE show can be found here. Below, watch Aimee Mann perform “Labrador” on Conan with help from Ted Leo.
Sparks headline The Trocadero tonight. The LA synthpop duo got its start in the early 70s, subsequently making their mark with over 20 albums. Their quirky stage presence is reflective of their quirky songwriting style, as the band of brothers Ron and Russell Mael have become known for their witty lyrics and cultural references. Sparks latest studio release was 2009′s The Seduction of Ingmar Bergman and they put out their first ever live recording, titled Two Hands One Mouth, last month. Tickets and information for the all-ages show can be found here. Below, watch the band perform “This Town Ain’t Big Enough For Both of Us.”
Local band Modern Baseball play The Barbary tonight. Recent headlines for the punk / pop four-piece have made references to their signing with Run for Cover Records, a reissue of their wildly popular Sports debut, a Valentine’s Day split for highly-regarded label Topshelf records and their ability to draw a crowd when they play a show. Currently on tour along the East Coast, Modern Baseball will help out fellow Philadelphians The Wonder Years with their record release show in May (more information here). Tickets and information for tonight’s show with Light Years and Safe can be found here. Below, watch Modern Baseball perform “Broken Cash Machine” for Maggot House Records‘ Piss Couch Sessions.
During his Friday evening set at Coachella, Johnny Marr performed “Sun and Moon” off of his recent debut solo album. The former Smiths guitarist put out The Messenger in February through Sire Records, the label responsible for The Smiths’ US releases in the eighties. It’s hard to believe The Messenger is Marr’s first solo album, but the Manchester native has been busy since he left the band. His name has been attached to to a number of projects in recent years including Modest Mouse and The Cribs, and he contributed to the score of Inception with Hans Zimmer. XPN welcomes Johnny Marr to The Trocadero on April 30th; tickets and information can be found here. Below, watch Marr and his band perform “Sun and Moon.”
Eternal Summers start off the show tonight at Union Transfer. The Virginia trio continues to tour in support of its 2012 LP Correct Behaviour, although a new album may be in the works judging by the fact that the shoegazey punk band played several unreleased songs last time they were in Philly. Despite their carefree name, Eternal Summers ventured into some darker waters on Behaviour with vocalist / guitarist Nicole Yun’s scratchy guitar riffs and drummer Daniel Cundiff’s manic beat-keeping, though Yun’s airy vocals keep things untethered on most tracks. Tickets and information for their set tonight with The Presidents of The United States of America and You Scream I Scream can be found here. Below, watch Eternal Summers perform “You Kill” live at MACRoCk 2012.
During his Friday evening set at Coachella, 