Our Friends Jotto Have Some New Music For You

Our friends Jotto have a new EP called Good Friend Electric which you can download for free. These art damaged indierockers have nicely cornered the next Philly band least likely to sound like the next Dr Dog award by sounding like The Fall. And Jotto's frontman Aaron Fisher is dreamy.

Fall 1998 - Jotto

Glad We Weren't There - Jotto

Jotto will celebrate the release of their CD on November 15th at the Connie's Ric Rac in South Philly. Ya mo be there.

The Mural And The Mint

Philly's The Mural And The Mint are releasing their first full length album called Private Pockets on November 18th. The band includes singer and songwriter Michael Kiley along with Eliza Jones and Jack McBrearty and the album was produced and mixed by the dymanic duo of Brian McTear (Espers, Hail Social) and engineered by Amy Morrissey at Miner Street Studios.

TMATM's operating principle is to make their music available for free. They embrace an art versus money philosophy and as they did with their first EP the band is releasing their new album for free (contributions, of course, are welcomed). The band has an engaging baroque folk-pop sound highlighted by ornate musical and vocal arrangements. Check out this new song

Builders - The Mural And The Mint

The band are having a record release show on November 21 @ Johnny Brenda’s.

The Mural And The Mint myspace

Meet Perkasie

One of our favorite new local discoveries is Perkasie based out of Lancaster. Described by the Philly Weekly as "bubblegum baroque pop," and frequently compared to Bright Eyes, Perkasie are more Puff The Magic Dragon meets Lynyrd Skynyrd meets O Brother Where Are Thou than Woody Guthrie meets Left Banke meet The 1910 Fruitgum Company. Just the idea of that has the musical senses working overtime!

Fronted by guitarist Alex Walsh, the five piece also includes Dom Billett on drums, vocalist Kate Foust, Danny Sadler on bass and Ben Roth on guitar. They have one EP behind them and a full album on the way. While the band does mine some familiar musical territory like Bright Eyes, they also recall the Dead circa Workingman's and The Band. Mostly though, the band has a broad musical range and versatility; they're finding their voices and we're digging what we're hearing.

Ginger Sobs - Perkasie

Phillies Fever 2008

Now that we know it's The Phils vs Tampa Bay, we're off to the series. This tasty tune arrived on my blogsteps and given that my fellow Phillies citizens and I sure have a huge dose of Phillies Fever I had to share it with you.

Back in 1976 the Phillies recorded a record a single called "Phillies Fever." It was sung by Larry Bowa, Mike Schmidt, David Cash, Greg Luzinski and Garry Maddox. Capturing the disco craze of the moment, the song swung like an old school Sound Of Philly jam with conversation between the players and introductions by Dan Baker.

Pretty classic, eh? Go Phils!

Phillies Fever '76

PS - And if there's anyone out there who knows where this was recorded, who the musicians were and who wrote it, please let me know.

P.S.S. - And to push the baseball analogy a little further here's one of the classic love & baseball songs from one of the great Philly R&B bands, The Intruders.

(Love Is Like) A Baseball Game - The Intruders