Go to Ark’s soundcloud here for more beats.

XPN Welcomes The Amazing with Market East tonight at MilkBoy.  The Amazing released Gentle Stream in 2012, a misty, psychedelic effort that could pass as a long-lost ’70s Laurel Canyon record with its tight but fluid guitar ramblings and steady groove.  Joining the Swedish quartet are local boys Market East for their first hometown show in several months.  In another nostalgic vein, Market East released a doo wop-informed self-titled record last year that blends acoustic surf vibes with classic a capella harmony interludes.  Tickets and information for the 21+  show can be found here.  Below, listen to “Flashlight” from Gentle Stream and download “Elena” from Market East for free here.

Download B.C. Camplight‘s BBC Radio 6 session featuring two new songs [link]

Juston Stens and the Get Real Gang bring rock and soul to their Key Session [link]

Listen to Free Energy‘s new album Love Sign at Consequence of Sound [link]

Thrash out with a new Surgeon track; they play Kung Fu Necktie next month [link]

The collaboration between Ground Up and The Lawsuits continues in a HotBox session [link]

David Bowie releases a new single for his birthday [link]

Chill Moody releases his latest album, RFM [link]

Get psyched for Zilla Rocca‘s Tuesday Tune-Out with his new Wrecking Crew video [link]

Download The Key Studio Sessions Vol. 6, our new 17-song compilation [link]

Stream the new album from The Lone Bellow, a Georgia-bred close harmony trio [link]

Stream a new EP from Philly’s Acres of Diamonds, who play PhilaMOCA next week [link]

Plow United announces the details of their all-ages album-release show at The Barbary [link]

Download Anais Mitchell‘s Folkadelphia session [link]

The WXPN Philly Local Show expands to three hours [link]

Zilla Rocca’s top 5 joints for a beer
1. Industry
2. South Philly Tap Room
3. Royal Tavern
4. Bainbridge Street Barrel House
5. Bob & Barb’s

Zilla Rocca’ top 5 joints for a cocktail
1. Twisted Tail
2. Franklin Mortgage and Investment
3. Trestle Inn
4. Ranstead Room
5. Hop Sing Laundromat

The unofficial cover art to Birdie Busch's unofficial instrumental album Oh You Who Believe, which was released in 2011 (unofficially)

By now, you can probably tell that we’re devout fans of the local music-and-film showcase Tuesday Tune-Out, held every week at PhilaMOCA. Some of the best music minds in Philly have curated this thing so far – Herbie Shellenberger of Pet Milk and Black Circle Cinema; Fred Knittel from Folkadelphia; fellow bloggers and local music enthusiasts The Deli, The Swollen Fox, JUMP Philly and Bands in the Backyard. It’s totally good company, a great event that enriches the city’s music and arts scenes, and we’re super excited to join the ranks by curating the month of January.

We’ll begin January 8 with an exciting solo set by Dr. Dog drummer Eric Slick, continue on January 15 with some funky noir-hop from Zilla Rocca, present an improvisatory instrumental set from Birdie Busch and Carl Cheeseman on January 22 and conclude on January 29 with a rare solo performance by Frances Quinlan, frontwoman of Hop Along. All shows begin at 7:30 p.m. at PhilaMOCA, 531 N 12th St., are all-ages, with $5 suggested donation for admission. After the jump, get details about each show with links for more information.

January 8
Eric Slick

Best known as the drummer for Dr. Dog, Eric Slickis a longtime Philly multi-instrumentalist and frequent musical collaborator who also performs with Ape School, Norwegian Arms, Paper Cat, Lithuania and more.

For his Tuesday Tune-Out, Slick will perform a live / improvisatory set to “Primal Essence,” a film he’s preparing specifically for the event. The interactive short follows a day in the life of Eric Slick, and will blur the lines between film and live performance.

Short opening sets will be performed by Capillary Action and one more TBD, more information (and RSVP) at the show’s Facebook Event Page. Below, watch a Madoff Productions drummer profile on Slick.

January 15
Zilla Rocca

Philadelphia MC Zilla Rocca built a name for himself in 5 O’Clock Shadowboxers, a rap duo that creatively sampled tracks from Espers, The Velvet Underground, Neil Young and Elliott Smith.

His solo work moves in a more mysterious direction. Self-described as “noir-hop,” Zilla samples funky tracks and aggressive beats, mixed with clips from hardboiled detective films from the 1940s and 50s. He followed up last year’s Nights and Weekends EP with the new Party Like Villains, and was most recently seen collaborating with fellow rappers Curly Castro and Has-Lo in The Wrecking Crew, which released a Wu-Tang Clan homage called Wu-Tang Pulp this fall.

After his set, Zilla will screen a darkly comedic 2005 thriller starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt. For more information (and to RSVP), go to the show’s Facebook Event Page. Below, watch the music video for “Full Spectrum.”

January 22
Birdie Busch and Carl Cheeseman

Over the past ten years, Birdie Busch (http://birdiebuschmusic.com/) has proven herself a standout among Philadelphia’s vastly talented pool of folk-inspired singer-songwriters. Her songs are honest, whimsical, yearning and uplifting, and her arrangements on albums like 2008′s Penny Arcade and the new Birdie Busch and the Greatest Night are stunning.

Less known about Busch is her improvisatory, freeform side. The new album was largely born out of jams with her longtime backing band, and back in 2011 she recorded an album of instrumental compositions with versatile guitarist Carl Cheeseman.

For this very special Tuesday Tune-Out appearance, Busch and Cheeseman will improvise a live score to a film TBA, more information (and RSVP) at the show’s Facebook Event Page.

Below, watch a home-recorded video of Busch performing “Penny Arcade.”

January 29
Frances Quinlan

As frontwoman for Hop Along, Frances Quinlan writes haunting, expressive, vaguely surreal songs matched perfectly with punk-infused instrumentation and her striking, singular vocals.

The band’s full-length release Get Disowned was, in the humble estimation of this curator, the best album of 2012 – it’s music resonates just as easily for listeners who like a challenging narrative and unconventional arrangements as it does for those who want a good poppy hook to rock out to.

For this installment of the Tuesday Tune-Out, Quinlan will perform a rare solo set, testing new Hop Along songs out for the first time, digging into the band’s back-catalogue and hopefully dropping one of her trademark covers.

Following Quinlan’s set will be a screening of a 1950s Fellini movie that one of Hop Along’s early songs was named for. For more information (and to RSVP), go to the show’s Facebook Event Page. Below, watch Hop Along performing “Young And Happy!” at Death By Audio earlier this year.

Touring together for the first time since 2004, Neil Young & Crazy Horse will perform at The Wells Fargo Center tonight.  The legendary band gave fans reason to celebrate with two new releases this year, the first a collection of American classics called Americana and the second the original-material studio album Psychedelic Pill.  As if Neil Young & Crazy Horse weren’t enough on their own, they’ve invited Patti Smith to open the show.  Tickets and information can be found here.  Below, watch the music video short film for “Ramada Inn.”

Oakland’s High on Fire storm into Union Transfer tonight.  The “stoner metal” band released their sixth studio album De Vermis Mysteriis on E1 Music in April, a record that references the work of early twentieth-century writers Robert E. Howard, Robert Bloch and H.P. Lovecraft.  Tonight’s show will open with Goatwhore and Primate.  Tickets and information can be found here.  Below, stream the sludgy title track to De Vermis Mysteriis.

Cambridge, MA natives Passion Pit will play The Electric Factory tonight (moved from The Liacouras Center).  The synth-pop band released their eagerly-anticipated sophomore record Gossamer earlier this year, a record that sees them return to their doom-glitter aesthetic.  Opening for Passion Pit tonight are Ra Ra Riot.  Tickets and more information can be found here.  Watch Passion Pit perform “Carried Away” on Saturday Night Live below.

Noir Hop emcee Zilla Rocca stops by Kuf Knotz’s BoomBox Collective at World Cafe Live tonight.  The South Philly rapper released his Party With Villains EP a few weeks ago on the heels of the Wu-Tang Pulp project, and the EP is chock-full of Rocca’s signature comic book references and pulp fiction b-movie samples.  More information about the free show can be found here.  Below, listen to “Nothing in the Bank” aka The Funky Bank Heist song.

• Creature Pleaserby Gracie from The Key Studio SessionsDownload

Rachael Yamagata released a ten-track EP on NoiseTrade this week ahead of her upcoming tour.  Yamagata’s emotionally intimate and relatable style is made even more charming on the seven acoustic and three studio tracks.  The sampler also includes a song called “It’ll Do” off of Yamagata’s forthcoming Heavyweight EP, out on November 20th through her own label.  Stream and download the NoiseTrade mixtape below; Rachael Yamagata will bring her tour to the First Unitarian Sanctuary on December 7th.  Tickets and information can be found here.

Self-described as ghost folk, Philadelphia’s Psalmships make haunting, stripped-down music with an emphasis on storytelling.  The project of singer-songwriter Joshua Britton, Psalmships digitally released their beautifully aching upcoming EP Hello, Traitor on their Bandcamp ahead of its official release on November 20th.  Stream and download “Heart Carries Blame” below, and then celebrate the EP release with Britton and friends at Burlap and Bean on Saturday, November 17th.

Philadelphia pop favorites Work Drugs released a new track this week called “Beyond  Greenpoint”.  Featuring the smoothest of saxophone solos and Work Drugs’ signature breezy vocals, “Beyond Greenpoint” is a reality check song “about life outside the bubble that is micro-bloggers, designer dogs, and high priced haircuts.”  Download the track here and watch the video below, directed by Italian visual artist Marco Scago.  Work Drugs plays Ortlieb’s Lounge on December 8th.  Information can be found here.

Philly “noir-hop originator” Zilla Rocca dropped his Party With Villains EP last week, and it’s chock-full of local crime lore and comic book references.  Rocca grew up in South Philly during the mob wars of the ’80s and ’90s, and that experiences seems to have a creative mark on the MC.  Below, stream the South Philly mobster-inspired “Ron Previte.”  Rocca Zilla will be a part of Kuf Knotz’s Boombox Collective at World Cafe Live on November 29th.  Tickets and information are available here.

But what is it, exactly? A covers record? Those don’t look like Wu-Tang song-titles. They don’t sound like familiar Wu-Tang beats. Are they deep cuts and rarities? Are they never-released jams? Might The Wrecking Crew be be such fans / obsessives that they’re into a whole other depth of Wu obscuro nerdery? Note the “Pulp” in the album title – these are comic book loving dudes, after all.

“Jeff Weiss [hip-hop critic and blogger at The Passion Of The Weiss], a diehard lifelong Wu fan who correctly surmised that Wu-Tang is our Beatles, didn’t even catch that the reference point for ‘Awkward Slang’ is RZA’s ‘Tragedy’,” Zilla says. “We picked deep album cuts so that people might rediscover them later and also give it an album feel — you can’t make an album with 15 singles.

“So ‘FCK YR LF’ is a flip of ‘The Stomp’ off Ol’ Dirty’s album, not ‘Brooklyn Zoo’ or ‘Shimmy Shimmy Y’all’,” he continues. “Same goes for ‘Mystery Inside’, which is a flip of ‘Rainy Dayz’ off Raekwon’s album rather than the obvious choice like ‘Ice Cream’. ”

To hammer the cred points home, the Crew sequenced the album based on Wu Tang’s oft-overlooked 2000 offering The W, one Zilla considers “an undeniable classic,” and did not reinterpret any songs from Wu-Tang’s – best-known offering, 1993′s Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers). So don’t go looking for “C.R.E.A.M.” or “Bring the Ruckus” here, y’all. Dig in to Wu Tang Pulp at Bandcamp and see how many references you pick up on.

Zilla Rocca x Curly Castro x Has-Lo – Scallops (prod by Y?Arcka) WU-TANG PULP by wreckingcrew

Back in late August, we zig-zagged north to Asbury Park, NJ, the stomping ground of Bruce Springsteen, the world famous Pinball Museum, and soggy old casinos last scene in the film The Wrestler to shoot the video for “Full Spectrum”.

Our directors Joe Castro & Justin Clowes were convinced that the only way to capture the essence of the song was to A) hit up the old pinball mecca beachtown and B) shoot exclusively on Super8 film. Problem is I’ve had root canals cheaper than 1 roll of Super8, so we opened up the back door of the deli where the kids could sneak in and play Arkanoid, asked them toss in some extra quarters to Kickstarter to fund the damn operation, and voila: folks from Chicago to Tasmania threw some bucks in, and the video is now here. THANK YOU to all the five and dime money shakers all there who made this video possible.

You can watch the video below; the track (and EP) is also available via Bandcamp and SoundCloud. Zilla Rocca celebrates the Nights And Weekends EP’s release with an appearance at Kuf Knotz’ monthly Boombox Collective showcase at 8 p.m. at World Cafe Live tomorrow night; tickets to the show are free. In the meantime, you can listen to Zilla Rocca’s Key Studio Session with the 5 O’Clock Shadowboxers here.

Photo by Justin Clowes

One half of Philly noir-hop duo 5 O’Clock Shadowboxers, South Philly MC Zilla Rocca recently dropped his latest solo outing, Nights and Weekends. This week he celebrates the EP’s release with an appearance at Kuf Knotz’ monthly Boombox Collective showcase at World Cafe Live. Grab a free download of the single “Black Cherry” below; listen back to his Key Studio Session with the Shadowboxers here; and catch the free show this Wednesday, Oct. 26, at 8 p.m. upstairs at World Cafe Live.

Zilla Rocca – Black Cherry (prod by Zilla Rocca) by ZillaRoccaNoir

Full Spectrum feat Has-Lo (prod by Dr. Quandary) by ZillaRoccaNoir

Philly MC/producer Zilla Rocca released a new mixtape last week entitled Zilla Rocca Presents The Nights & Weekends Mix. The mixtape features 16 tracks by artists including De La Soul, A Tribe Called Quest, Mos Def, and Zilla Rocca himself. It is available for streaming and download in full here.

Rocca is also keeping busy with a giant Kickstarter campaign this month. His $1500 goal is to support the making of his next EP Nights & Weekends, a recording that will be produced on vinyl and physical CDs. Supporters who donate to the project will receive thanks in the form of CDs, t-shirts, custom songs, video cameos, rounds of drinks, and more, all depending on the size of the contribution. With 13 days left in his campaign, Rocca still needs $885 to meet his goal, so visit his Kickstarter page here to help out.

Dilla (born James Dewitt Yancey) was a legendary producer and DJ who emerged out of Detroit’s underground hip-hop scene in the 1990s. He worked with A Tribe Called Quest, Common, De La Soul, and others; he was also a founding member of The Soulquarians (with Roots’ members Questlove and James Poyser, as well as neo-soul musician Bilal).

To better understand J Dilla’s legacy, take a few moments and read this article written by Rocca called “The Beat Generation: The J Dilla Effect“—which Rocca wrote for the music blog Passion Of The Weiss. In it, Rocca explains what he thinks made J Dilla so important:

After listening to The Shining, Welcome 2 Detroit , Like Water for Chocolate, Amplified, Fantastic Vol. 2 and Jaylib’s Champion Sound was that Jay’s greatest triumph as a producer wasn’t necessarily the off-kilter pacing of his drums nor the seamless blend of phlanged-out samples and spacey Detroit synths. No—Dilla had the gift of making average, ho-hum, nonsensical rappers sound like superstars.People worship at the altar of DJ Premier because not only does he make burger-flippers like Group Home sound dope, but he makes technically GREAT rappers sound UNF*!#WITABLE (hello Nas, Royce, Common, Jay, Big, etc). And they’re right—his tracks have a signature thumping kick drum and harsh snares (that 9th Wonder still can’t mimic) coupled with 2-4 bar chopped up samples that never get in the way of the lyricism. No big drum fills, no crashing cymbals—just supreme head nodding.

Last April, The Roots paid tribute to J Dilla with a collection called Dilla Joints, in which they played renditions of some of Dilla’s greatest hits (including the song”The Stars,” which you can listen to below). Right below that is Rocca’s tribute, a track called “Let’s Do This,” which he recently put up on his SoundCloud page.

The Roots – Dilla Joints 06 – The Stars by Hypetrak

Let’s Do This (J Dilla Tribute) by ZillaRoccaNoir

South Philly’s Zilla Rocca is one of our favorite local DJs/rappers/producers. He’s just dropped a new collection of beats and loops called Big Stupid Bangers; it’s a collection of 35 tracks featuring the kind futuristic-noir grooves that Zilla and his 5 O’Clock Shadowboxers are known for. As Zilla explains, “Most of these tracks were for projects that never dropped. Some are mixed beautifully and arranged as full songs. Others are just demo loops. Either way, you can’t go wrong hearing the best of what I’ve been quietly cooking up on the production tip since 2005.”

You can download Zilla’s beat tape here. Check out a couple of tracks below.

“It’s Got To Be That Dope”

“Main Street Money”