Needle Points is a band from an alternate universe in which the 70’s never ended. They’re not so much reminiscent of groups like Zeppelin and The Who as just sounding like their natural progression. The band’s debut release Bom Tugangu is the kind of music you would play at barbeques of days past – the sort involving El Caminos and at least one American flag bikini top. And despite that fact, the album makes absolutely no effort to put on airs or to qualify itself as anything beyond straight, dirty rock; there’s a certain cleverness at play here.

One could very easily call Needle Points unoriginal, and they would technically be accurate. But what needs to be understood is that assertion would be preceded by the phrase “refreshingly.” We’re living in a period where every band has to push the envelope in some way, and it’s honestly great to see one leave the envelope alone and focus on the craft itself. All too often albums feel the need to be an experimental post-something with elements of some type of other genre. But the energy that any other band would put towards rockin’ differently; Needle Points puts towards rocking better. Each song is positively thick with instrumental content. The guitar alternatively echoes and howls. The bass line swells and breaks with an almost oceanic quality. Collie Halloways vocals are potent yet understated. Even between the immediate interchange of songs like “Cocoanut” and “Biting At The Rose,” there’s a monumental amount of range on display. And it never seems to feel any pressure to be angst-ridden or deconstructive or even particularly cool; it’s just upbeat, straightforward rock ‘n’ roll – the kind that really earns that “n” in the title.

And these aren’t just kind words of consolation for a dopey band. Needle Points knows exactly what it’s doing, and go about it with an understated wink. Listen to Bom Tugangu enough, and you really start to hear the tongue in their collective cheek. Guitar riffs sound a little too close to something out of a Deep Purple song to be accidental (particularly in “Child Is Wild”), and are entirely too intricately constructed to be considered derivative. Eventually, the whole endeavor starts to very much sound like a loving tribute/send-up to the foundations of modern music; evocative enough to be reminiscent, but building off of that enough to be original. Needle Points is, at the end of the day, a band with the confidence to showcase its originality within the confines of the subtext. – Daniel Ludwig

Creepy, lo-fi, indie-pop outfit SandCastle recently posted their latest record Nymph & Necromancer, the follow-up to the group’s rad EP Kisses for Witches, which came out earlier this year. You can stream and purchase the eight-song album below. The band will be celebrating its release tonight in the Italian Market at Connie’s Ric Rac. Enjoy!

Rising emcee Young Savage dropped a new eight-song EP earlier this week entitled Camos & Jordans. The release features contributions from Philly vets Young Chris, Gillie Da Kid and Tone Trump as well as next generation artists GrandeMarshall, Ryshon Jones and Asia Sparks. You can stream and download the mixtape in its entirety for free via DatPiff.

When you’re working on recordings and piecing songs together, sometimes you give a quick name to whatever you’ve produced as a reminded of how it might sound like or a feeling that it possibly had evoked at the time, and it sticks. Well, we’re guessing that’s the case with the opening track, "Great Rock Bounce," from Gorgeous Porch‘s latest EP of demos entitled Silver n’ Goldie. The solo project from Chris Wood (Orbit to Leslie, Grimace Federation) hasn’t really left the basement of his makeshift studio/practice space yet, but we dig the preliminary sounds coming from the underground. 

All this merriment and cheer can be a little difficult for some to to deal with over the holidays. We feel ya, and so does Barney Cortez. Here’s his latest track, "Everything’s Fuc&^%," a collaboration with Steve Montenegro, a.k.a. Mental Jewelry, which he describes as "goth dilla in a vacuum with heavy gotham city overtones and a steady dose of hallucination." Happy Xmas, y’all – Seacrest out!

After announcing the future release of their LP Full of Snakes (due out in 2014 via Fleeting Youth Records), Mumblr just posted a new six-song EP entitled Bang Bang that you can stream in its entirety below. They’ll be performing next in Philly on Sunday, December 29 at The Fire as part of Kat Kat Records’ Phest Two. Enjoy!

Billy Polard, a.k.a. The Ghost In You, created one of our favorite music videos ingeniously using a Nintendo DSi for the beautiful, tear-jerking track, "Losing Light." In the video for his new single "Bag of Bones," he bikes a different path that once again captures the feelings of isolation and loss found in his music (as well as his explanation behind the production below). Also, The Ghost In You’s version of John Lennon’s "Oh Yoko!" will be featured on an upcoming double-CD Wes Anderson tribute album entitled I Saved Latin!, which is due out this spring via American Laundromat Records with contributions from Black Francis, Mike Watt & the Secondmen, Juliana Hatfield, Kristen Hirsch, Telekinesis and more.

"i really wanted to make another music video, but not having anyone else to help me out, i came up with this simple idea. aside from shooting typical scenery and putting music on top of it, this is pretty much all i could do on my own…. i hope you enjoy it."

As we learned in our Featured Artist(s) Poll Winner interview with Roof Doctor‘s Mark Harper last year, the band’s name is an homage to his father, who owned a roofing company with the tag line "the roof doctor" and had passed away when Mark was fourteen due to a heart attack while working on a roof. We can’t help but feel some of the weight of the tragic event in the group’s latest single "Dad," which you can stream below. Roof Doctor will be performing live tonight at a "super last minute party show" being hosted by Univercity City DIY space Michael Jordan with acoustic sets by Winthrop "Throp" Stevens from The Hundred Acre Woods, Jeremy Berkin and Pittsburgh’s Fun Home. And if you have trouble finding your way there this evening, then you can also catch them fully plugged in on Saturday, January 4 at The Boot & Saddle.

Daytrotter posted their session with Rosu Lup earlier this month, which also features two unreleased songs – "Lonely Plain" and "Blackbird." You can stream and download their performance for free HERE (w/membership). (Illustration by Johnnie Cluney)