We’ve always been a little conflicted about covering Wilmington, DE’s The Spinto Band, but not because we don’t like them. On the contrary, we seriously dig their heartwarming, feel good indie pop. It’s just that The Deli Philly’s mission is to be a resource for Philadelphia area musical artists and fans, and obviously the band being from Wilmington doesn’t exactly fall under that category. However, as our site gets longer in the tooth, it continues to evolve. And we realize that though some acts don’t necessarily live in our beloved city it doesn’t mean that they haven’t invested a lot of their time and energy to help shape the landscape of Philly’s music scene. That’s why we felt like it was about time to open up our borders of coverage a bit to these hard-working, talented acts whose cities aren’t represented by a branch of The Deli. So giving some long overdue love to Philly’s adopted sons The Spinto Band, who will be celebrating the recent release of their latest album Shy Pursuit with a residency every Tuesday night for the rest of this month at Kung Fu Necktie, would be as good of a time as any to start. The Delawarean outfit has also done a nice job of curating the opening slots for each of their evenings. Tonight they’ll be joined by ex-Teeth members’ latest incarnation Purples and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah’s Alec Ounsworth. The Spinto Band has also invited Nightlands, Via Audio, The Extraordinaires, Heyward Howkins, Cheers Elephant and Langor to hang with them this May. Come out and help them kick things off tonight at KFN! But first, check out the band’s adorable music video for their track “Take It” below. Kung Fu Necktie, 1250 N. Front St., 8pm, $8, 21+ – Q.D. Tran

End your weekend with a party tonight by heading down to Union Transfer for local hip hop star Meek Mill’s 25th Birthday Bash. Starting the festivities will be Philly’s own DJ Drama, best known for his mixtape productions which have included the Gangsta Grillz series and Dedication 2, as well as being the official DJ for rapper T.I. After Drama warms up the crowd, the birthday boy himself Meek Mill will take the stage. Since his debut on the Philly hip hop scene with the Flamerz mixtapes, Mill has been widely regarded as the city’s next great rap artist due to the gritty rhymes and impressive wordplay of his lyrics. His latest mixtape, Dream Chasers 2, is due out May 7th, so fans can look forward to hearing a lot of new tracks in addition to fan favorites at tonight’s show/party. Union Transfer, 1026 Spring Garden, $40 – $75, 10 p.m., 21+ – Dan Brightcliffe

OK, it’s Cinco de Mayo this Saturday, and there will also be a supermoon so you already have your excuses to go crazy. Well, why don’t you do it for a good cause? We know of a couple that you should support, and they’ll be having bashes with plenty of music for you to get “crazy with the cheese whiz.” Neighborhood Bike Works (NBW), a nonprofit organization that seeks to create educational, recreational, and career-building opportunities for urban youth through bicycling, are having their second annual bike racing event called The Works, which will also come with an after-party where Dangerous Ponies, The Bad Doctors, Them Jawn and The Cats will be performing at The Beaumont Warehouse. NBW also hosts a number of different programs for kids throughout Philadelphia, including fitness classes, summer camps, group rides, entrepreneur groups, youth employment programs, community service projects, and their flagship Earn-a-Bike workshops. All proceeds from the bike race (which start at Washington Square Park at 3pm) and after-party will go to funding these programs. And on practically the other side of Philly at Little Berlin, the multipurpose art space will be joining forces with BITBY to launch their Kickstarter Campaign to bring a community garden performance space to be known as “The Fairground” to the Kensington neighborhood. Little Berlin was recently award a $10,000 grant from the Knight Arts Challenge, but they’ll definitely need more than that to make this project come to fruition. Musical acts donating their time and talents to the party will be Pet Milk, Arc In Round, Wigwams, Arctic Splash, Summer Fiction, Heyward Howkins and Penrose. You are now in the know about two ways that you can make a difference in your community while still getting inebriated so donate and try not to get arrested this weekend. Cheers! The Works Vol. II After-party, Beaumont Warehouse, 5027 Beaumont Ave., 6pm, $5 – $15, All Ages; BITBY & Little Berlin Kickstarter Launch Party, 2430 Coral St., 7pm, $8, All Ages – H.M. Kauffman

A peaceful yet post apocalyptical ambiance is the scene Ape School paints in Michael Johnson’s latest creation. Before the vocals enter the picture, futuristic echoes set the stage and the coast appears to be clear. Then a smooth even-keeled voice arrives bringing with it a sense of relief like a cool mist hitting your face. Slowly the instrumental layers build as life naturally reemerges from every corner and crevice of protection and so begins the new age. When you scan the surroundings, The Homophones fronted by Jason Ferraro might catch your eye. Ferraro’s rich baritone vocals give him the heir of a wise man, and his songs read like an oral history bridging the gap between the not so distant past with the uncertain future. As your mind fights to figure out the next step, relax and recover to let the fire burn while the humorously deviant shaman eases your mind. It’s a sweet lineup with the two acts opening for The Deli NYC’s Best Emerging Artist(s) of 2011 Caveman, who will provide dense vocal harmonies and sophisticated instrumentation to some seriously captivating indie pop to win the locals over. Milkboy Philly, 1100 Chestnut St., 8:30pm, $12, 21+ (Photos by Q.D. Tran) – Michael Colavita

Oh man – this is happening way too often to bands these days. The Menzingers were robbed while on tour in Manchester, England. Here’s part of what Greg Barnett posted, and you can read the rest of his message at their Tumblr:

“The driver side window was smashed out and 3 personal bags were stolen. Unfortunately my bag was stolen with all of our tour money inside it. To top it off, we brought around $2000 in US cash with us in case of an emergency. So let’s see €5000 Euros, an iPad, 3 iPods, 3 passports, 2 pairs of raybans (I know, I know they’re super expensive but they make you look pretty cool), my personal tour journals from the last year and a half which included all of my “On the Impossible Past” lyrics and all of my god damn memories, a digital camera, prescriptions, blah blah blah. This sucks. It really fucking sucks…”

This is obviously a shitty situation. If you’d like to help the guys out, you can make a donation HERE or at their PayPal account (MenzingersSkrilla@gmail.com). We’re sure that they’d greatly appreciate it.

Far-Out Fangtooth just premiered a new music video today for their track “Patience” via Vice. It was filmed by James Horn, Elliot May, Carly Franks and Lauren McFadden, and edited/effected by Vince Alvaré. The song appears on the band’s forthcoming EP The Thorns. All posted info states that the record will be released on May 15 via HoZac Records, but we received an email from Nick Kulp saying that the album will be available May 29. Far-Out Fangtooth will opening along with Bandname for Pierced Arrows this Saturday (Cinco de Mayo/Supermoon) at Kung Fu Necktie.