Below is a promo video for Oh! Pears’s show tonight at World Café Live with Sea of Bees. Corey Duncan gives you a taste of “The Sounding of the Earth” solo acoustic while he takes a car ride with the BITBY folks.
Slavic Soul Party w/Electric Simcha & West Philadelphia Orchestra at The Blockley May 19
The horns are the primary element that will creep into your mind. Subconsciously circling about the listener like a spider, trapping the ear with its subtle sweetness. However, brass is only part of the equation. As the bass continuously thumps along bringing with it a tempo that forces you onto the dance floor. The drums push the limits rolling and smashing along with a pedal to the floor passion. The guitar plays off the onslaught of percussion, shredding with a cruise control consistency. Energy will be at a premium when Hassidic punk rockers Electric Simcha take to the stage at The Blockley. They’ll be sharing the bill with West Philadelphia Orchestra, whose hypnotic interplay of strings and horns is a modern sound yet does not drift too far from traditional roots. The Blockley, 3801 Chestnut St., 9pm, $10, 21+ – Michael Colavita

Ugh God & Swimmers Ear in Favor of Weed at Little Berlin May 19
Just in time to coincide with the Trenton Avenue Arts Festival and Kensington Kinetic Sculpture Derby, Little Berlin has a supercharged showcase that may leave you feeling a little baked thanks to BC’s Weed and Indiana’s Honey Radar. But there are also two Philly acts that may transcend you into a higher state of being. When he’s not providing heavy tones for Bleeding Rainbow, Al Creedon joins up with Sam Levine to form Swimmers Ear, the two-man experimental outfit that merges hardcore underground with psychedelia. Sometimes it’s almost hard to believe that Ugh God have been blazing guitars in some form or another since 2004. But with their latest release Rock and Reverb and a successful tour with Pile under wraps, the newest incarnation of the local rock outfit seems reinvigorated. And with this being their first home show returning from tour, it’s sure to be a rager. Little Berlin, 2430 Coral St., 8pm, $5 – $7 Donation, All Ages – Bill McThrill
Weekend Warrior, May 18 – 20
Making Time is celebrating their 12th Anniversary tonight at Voyeur with Kindness, which is rather apropo! Dave P and crew have certainly shown it to the Philly indie music scene with all their hard work bringing the radness week after week, month after month. (Yes, if you’ve ever put together an event an eighth of the size of some of the ones that they have pulled off over the years, then you should know that it is definitely hard work.) Come out this evening and have a toast with the Making Time crew (it’s on them, PBR and Sailor Jerry from 9pm – 11pm)! Cheers fellas! Voyeur, 1221 St. James St., 9pm, $10 adv/$15 door, 21+ – H.M. Kauffman
Free Download: “When We Make It” – Young Gliss & De’Ko
Young Gliss has a new project with De’Ko called The Dream Sequence. Here’s their first single “When We Make It,” which was produced by Geez Seven. You can download the track for free below. Look out for more from their collaboration coming soon. Enjoy!
Free Download: “Ya’ll Boots Hats (Die Angry)” – Glocca Morra
Local indie punk outfit Glocca Morra premiered a new track yesterday called “Ya’ll Boots Hats (Die Angry)” via RCRD LBL. You can download it for free below. It is off their upcoming album that will be released June 10 via Kind Of Like Records.
Psalmships CD Release Show at PhilaMOCA May 18
Joshua Britton’s earnest vocals ring while a menacing acoustic guitar trails behind resonating. The percussion beats along the broken path, and the organ howls from a distance giving a glimpse of light to an otherwise dismal picture. Psalmships’s songs play like the soundtrack to an outdoor revival. There is a sense of comfort created by the simple guitar and the spoken-word style of singing suggesting that the man strumming next to the fire is prescribing his own dose of grief-stricken medicine. Rather than masking his thoughts and intentions behind unnecessary layers of production, Psalmships leave the front door wide-open – unafraid of invaders. The results are straightforward personal snapshots that peek into the soul. The truth hurts, but at least it’s real. Britton & company will unveil their latest musical photograph Hymn of Lions (which you will receive a CD copy with your donation) tonight at PhilaMOCA with Allison Polans and Boog. PhilaMOCA, 531 N. 12th St., 8pm, $8, All Ages – Michael Colavita
New Video: “Bummer Summer” (UO Promo) – PO PO
Check out Urban Outfitters using PO PO’s “Bummer Summer” for their Summer 2012 dress line promo video. We’re always happy to see UO giving more exposure to hometown talent.
The Ball w/Prowler at KFN May 18
DJ Apt One and DJ Bruce are ready to get Kung Fu Necktie moving when they host The Ball tonight. And for the first time since it opened to the public, Willyum and Jesse Merlin will be taking you to higher frequencies of booty moving upstairs. It’s shaping up to be the summer of Prowler this year for the incendiary electronic dance party band that is getting ready to cut another album and unleash some fresh new beats upon the masses. And if the most recent songs that they’ve revealed "Leap Year" and "Sideways" are any indication, it’s going to be a hot time in the city tonight. Kung Fu Necktie, 1250 N Front St., 10pm, $5, 21+ (Photo by Eddie Austin) – Bill McThrill
Mallrat Records to Release Cousin Brian’s First LP
Free Download: “Water” – White Birds
New Music Video: “The Living Things” – The Spinto Band
Check out another rad new music video from The Spinto Band for the track “The Living Things,” which recently premiered via NPR’s All Songs Considered. It was created by animator Phil Davis, and is “a combination of hand drawn animation and pixilation (stop-motion animation of humans). All of the roughly 2,000 drawings in the animation were created frame-by-frame by Davis over the course of 20 months.” Enjoy!

