The Key

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 Adam Gould shares his top hip-hop and electronic releases of the year.

I would like to preface this list by saying that I found this year to be pretty underwhelming. Some of my favorite bands put out albums and none of them would have made a Top 10 list. There were a bunch of ‘good’ albums, but I don’t remember the last time there were so few ‘great’ albums. I can’t believe I am going to say this, but I miss 2006. That being said, hip-hop was awesome this year. Continue reading →

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, Tri-State Indie founder Stephanie Seiple shares her top five Philadelphia businesses.

Since we (TSI, Rich and Myself) recently moved to East Kensington / Fishtown in 2012 – here’s my top five Philly local businesses in our new hood:

Loco Pez - This place looks like your dad’s basement from 1979. The decor is awesome and the food is addicting. We go here sometimes once a week. It’s super cheap, but always packed, so the good thing is that it’s a fast turn around for tables. It’s more traditional Mexican rather than Americanized, which is awesome, and you can tell everything is made on site. I’ve tried many things on the menu, but my go to is the Carne Asata tacos ( small soft tacos) and a bowl of red rice, along with a bunch of homemade hot sauces.  Continue reading →

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, Q.D. Tran of The Deli shares his favorite albums from non-Philadelphians.

OK, so here is my year-end list of top 5 favorite albums from non-Philly artists that I’m just getting in under the gun. I know. I should have chosen a more original topic like some of the other folks who were asked to contribute to The Key’s Year-end Mania, but since I spent most of my year focused on writing about Philly’s indie music scene, it actually was a lot of fun for me to think about and revisit other albums making the rounds internationally/nationally. Continue reading →

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, Kyle Costill of Bands in the Backyard shares the five favorite videos he produced in 2012.

Here are our top videos for BITBY. 2013 is gonna shred.

5. Nothing live Key Studio Session at WXPN – “The Rites of Love and Death”

Continue reading →

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, photographer Chris Zak shares the five songs from 2012 that were his.

There is always music that is yours. Perhaps the musicians who wrote and played those songs that are yours would beg to differ, but don’t overthink it. I’m not talking about a song that says all the loving or bitter-as-hell things you’ve never been able to express. Let me break down my opinion of what is yours:

1. You want the record on vinyl so you can hug the music, and literally make it near (and dear to) your heart.

2. You’d probably consider it the greatest thing you could be doing with your life to see them live. And everyone not going to this concert is a doofus.

3. You think that the musicians making these songs probably don’t watch TV. It’s just too low-brow for them. If anything, they definitely don’t watch comedies. Maybe Louie.

4. Their music has appeared in your dreams. And any song that appears on your dreams is a queue from an unconscious part of your brain saying “Hey! Wake up and remember how good this song is before you forget it!”

5. Hearing one song unlocks a string of music history connections that you feel compelled to share with the world.

So, let’s get down to the top five music that belongs to me in 2012. Continue reading →