Come get weird tonight with Norwegian Arms and Laser Background at Dreamcastle in South Philly as they begin their Philly house show residency experiment. The guys sent us an email at the end of August announcing their plans to tour our city’s various house venues from mid-September to mid-October. The message also included a set of rules that the members of each band must adhere to during the tour (including living at each house for at least two days). You can check out the note with the complete list of rules and tour dates HERE.

Norwegian Arms posted this status on their Facebook the other night which perfectly sums up our feelings of why their house show tour is important for the city’s underground music scene and why you should go out and support the artists and houses involved. “I think the best thing about this House show residency is that not only does it allow me to play in four hardworking house venues in this city, but it also raises people’s awareness of spaces like there, where people allow folks to enter into their homes and share in a common cultural experience. We’ve also chosen them because they reflect different neighborhoods.” They’ll also be joined this evening by buddies The Circadian Rhythms and Jon Pfeffer (from Capillary Action). Dreamcastle, (Please contact one of the acts or the venue for more deets.), 8pm, $1 – $5 (sliding scale), All Ages, BYO-fun things – Dan Brightcliffe

Nineties-style straight edge hardcore outfit Dying plays tonight at the Tinley Park 5 Benefit Show, held at the “Turnerdome.” Bringing awareness to the Tinley Park Five, anti-fascists who were arrested for taking action in shutting down hate speech. The band’s willingness to use flourishes and moments of severe wistfulness where pure aggression would have come naturally is refreshing. Unafraid of the tender moment, Dying starts their album History of Nothing off in a downright contemplative direction with "Pray," leading off with muted, almost dreamlike arpeggios that eventually smolder into the reality of their pummeling hardcore. The group’s sound is the loudest contender of the night, with the other bands on the lineup – Erik Petersen of Mischief Brew, The Adults, Corporate Hearts, Mean Streets, and Collingswood ska band Autocracy East – coming from wildly dissimilar ends of the punk spectrum for this night’s call to action. Turnerdome, N. 2nd St. and Turner Ave., 7pm, All Ages – Alyssa Greenberg

Below is a free sampler of live recordings from local jamtronic band Lotus. The tracks are handpicked selections from their spring 2012 tour. The band released the compilation to celebrate a couple big shows for them – last weekend’s performance at legendary Red Rocks and tomorrow’s one-day fest at FDR Park. (Looks like Larry Magid is finally getting a chance to use his permits from the “rained out” POPPED! Festival.) If you dig taking hallucinogens and dancing, then tomorrow will be a nice day to do so in South Philly.

Our friends at PhilaMOCA just announced that they’ve partnered up with The Institute Bar to host the inaugural 12th Street Art & Music Festival on September 22. It will be held on the stretch where the Mad Decent Block Party once raged back in its hey day. However, the fest will be a more family-friendly, art-centric event with food and drink vendors, local arts and crafts vendors, DJs, and live music from artists like The Love Club, Thom McCarthy and many others.

We are happy to announce that Cousin Brian have been added to our final Tuesday Tune-Out of this month on September 25 at PhilaMOCA that will also feature Vintage Kicks. You can check out our review of their rad LP First HERE, which was The Deli Philly’s August Album of the Month. The record was released on coke-bottle-clear vinyl via Mallrat Records (the local label started by Slutever’s Nicole Snyder).

On Ghost Light’s latest release Awful Feelings, multi-instrumentalist Barrett Lindgren creates beautifully cathartic pieces of art. Having put together a full band to fill out his hermetic sound, the once quintet turned quartet provides vibrant interpretations of his songs with intense percussion and blistering guitar work intertwining effortlessly with Lindgren’s deep, rich vocals. Pay close attention to this project. You won’t regret it. Ghost Light will be performing tonight at DIY space The Great Indoors with local avant-garde outfit Hermit Thrushes and Brooklyn’s SoftSpot. The Great Indoors, (Please contact one of the acts or the venue for more deets.), $5, 7pm, All Ages – Q.D. Tran

We love giving away free equipment to help artists improve on their sound, and we’re guessing that there will be plenty of people out there interested in our current Deli Magazine/SonicScoop prize. Enter for your chance to win the new Mackie DL1608 (MSRP: $1249) digital live sound mixer PLUS a 16GB iPad3 (MSRP: $499.99). You can check out the deets and submit for your chance to win this rad prize HERE. The contest ends tomorrow (9/13) so hurry up, and good luck!

Check out an in-studio performance by John The Conqueror of their song "I Just Wanna" below. The band’s self-titled debut album will be available on October 16 via Alive Naturalsound Records. You can also watch some behind-the-scenes footage for their song "Say What You Want" HERE. They’ll be performing live next in Philly on October 5 at MilkBoy Philly with Willis Earl Beal.

Grade school pals and Northeast Philly neighbors, Strawman are contributing their blend of garage rock and indie pop to the local music scene. The four-piece seems to have the rest of 2012 and 2013 planned out. They are the most recent victors in our Featured Artis(s) Poll. You can get to know the band a little better HERE.

The Tough Shits are the type of rock ‘n’ roll band whose musical output doesn’t fall squarely into a genre-specific parking spot. However, the elements of influence shine through creating a group that can play with a rough and tumble garage-rock edge and pair that with a California-casual surfer style. Using vocal harmonies and wave-crashing percussion and guitar riffs that nonchalantly start at a jog and turn into a sprint as their musical weapons of choice, the Tough Shits sound has a touch of so many things that you like. They don’t fit into a specific spot, but for the double-fisting rockers, there better be one open. Well, they’ll find one tonight on the bill at Johnny Brenda’s with Sub Pop’s Jaill and Hardly Art’s Fergus & Geronimo so make sure to get there early and grab your spot. Johnny Brenda’s 1201 N. Frankford Ave, 9pm, $10, 21+ (Photo by Aliya Strychnine) – Michael Colavita