Just wanted to wish all the artists and attendees who are taking off today or are already on the road to the Caravan Festival in Belgrade Lakes, ME safe travels. For the fourth year in a row, Philly acts such as TJ Kong and the Atomic Bomb, Levee Drivers, Cheers Elephant, The Lawsuits, Juston Stens & The Get Real Gang, Conversation with Enemies, Penrose and more will be taking over Maine with some of their musician friends from other cities for a weekend (July 27, 28 & 29) of music and fun times. You can check out the full list of performers for the festival as well as purchase tickets HERE.

We love freebies! Free music, free food, free drinks, free goodie bags – bring that shit to me, mang. Ultra-styley and pricey clothing store Free People (1725 Walnut St.) are celebrating their half-year anniversary today with all that free good stuff. There will be performances by Market East (6pm) and Safari Dudes (4pm) as well as food provided by Honeygrow and alcoholic beverages for 21+ peeps. There will also be gift bags for the first 25 early birds to the event, which will go on until 8pm. It’s also Center City Sips if you are looking for a change of scenery. Cheers!

We’re back with the second half of July’s Choice/Cuts episode featuring South Philly emcee/producer extraordinaire Lushlife (a.k.a. Raj Haldar). This one is extra special because it is the first time he will be using a theremin that he received from the innovative and good folks at Moog. We are honored to be able to capture this moment and share it with you. Check out Lushlife performing “Meridian Sounds (Part III)” with his rad, brand new theremin! Special thanks again to the HotBox Studios crew.

You can catch him live this Thursday at MilkBoy Philly when he opens for R&B hip hop duo and Shabazz Palaces collaborators THEESatisfaction.

As far as the folky side of the music spectrum goes, On the Water is easily one of my favorite bands in Philly. Their songs have that beautiful dichotomy and balance of shadow and light, sorrow and joy, which captivates minds and stirs emotions. Wanna be moved and excited about music again? Soak it all in at PhilaMOCA tonight before they hit the road for a month-long tour. On the Water will be opening for Boston’s Mornin’ Old Sport. You can thank me later. PhilaMOCA, 541 12th St., 8pm, $7 – $10, 21+ – Alexis V.

Before Philly became the thriving indie music scene that it is today, we still had artists treading their way through the rough seas of the music industry. One of those fine acts was Mazarin, the moniker used by Quentin Stolzfus. It’s certainly been a while since we’ve heard from him though he was still keeping himself busy behind the scenes. Well, Stolzfus recently shared a new track called “And The Birds” from his latest project Light Heat, which received help from some of The Walkmen at Alec Ounsworth’s studio in Conshohocken. You can check out the song, and download it for free below. There should be more material coming from Light Heat in the fall. Special thanks to Philebrity for bringing it to our attention. (Photo by Jen Knee)

(In my best James Earl Jones voice) “the rock is strong in this one.” Tonight at Kung Fu Necktie, Watery (pronounced “wuddery” – obviously ;o) Love and Bandname will be hosting and showing Olympia buzz band Milk Music why Philly has balls. Led by former Clockcleaner Richie Charles with Daniel DiMaggio (Home Blitz), Meg Baird (Espers), and Max Milgram having his back, Watery Love will be bringing their basement sounds above ground for a little punk rock action and many beers. Opening the evening will be the breakfast lovin’, hard rockin’, warehouse livin’ Bandname, who are currently in the process of repressing their debut LP Breakfast via Self Aware Records. Kung Fu Necktie, 1250 N. Front St., 8pm, $10, 21+ – Alexis V. 

Take another taste of Ground Up’s upcoming mixtape Supernatural, which is due out September 18. The track is called “Hold Me Down,” and is their official single featuring Queens rapper and chef Action Bronson. They’ll be celebrating the release of Supernatural on September 29 at the TLA.

There’s a new remix of Cheers Elephant’s “Doin’ It, Right” by Inner Ear Thing. You can download it for free below. The band will be hitting the road this weekend along with a bunch of local acts/buds as Philly takes over Belgrade Lakes, Maine for this year’s Caravan Festival. (Photo by Olivia Vaughn)

Here’s a new music video from Everyone Everywhere and “Spice Lee” for the track “Queen Mary II” off their forthcoming self-titled album due out August 7. It was directed by the band’s frontman Brendan McHugh and filmed at PhilaMOCA. Also check out a Forbes.com article from earlier this month featuring Everyone Everywhere regarding their recent test of the pay-what-you-want model on physical media.