Results tagged “wxpn”

Matt Duke (MySpace) is easily one of Phillyist's favorite things about, well, Philly. Because he plays frequently at World Cafe Live—probably our favorite place to catch live music in the city—we've seen him, and talked about him, many times. But it wasn't until his most recent show at WCL that we actually got a chance to talk Duke. So read on, and if you didn't get to see Duke when he played with Tony Lucca and Jay Nash a couple weeks ago, fear not; Matt will be opening for also-ridiculously-talented Charlotte Martin at WCL on Wednesday night. So check out our conversation with Matt, and get details on Wednesday's show below the interview.

A couple months back, we told you about tickets going on sale for this year's XPoNential Music Festival. So did you get tickets? No? Well why the heck not? XPoNential kicks off tomorrow evening, and there is a ton of music worth catching, so it's time get moving and get your tickets—which are an absolute steal at $25 per day or $60 for a pass to all three days (with a discount for WXPN members). The event will feature 25 acts, plus a crafts village with vendors selling their handmade wares, and a Village Green where festival-goers can learn about sustainable and eco-friendly products that are the forefront of the Delaware Valley's green scene.

For a lot of people, Memorial Day means summer. Of course, Memorial Day really means things that are very much more important than summer. But informally, it is the kickoff to a few months of oppressive heat and humidity nice weather and getting absolutely nothing done at work good times. So it's time to start thinking about summer concerts. One of this summer's sure-fire best events is the XPoNential Music Festival, put on by our friends over at WXPN.

Fun around town, for $10 or less:

Fun around town, for $10 or less:

Mix-tapes your specialty? Always thought you could spin tunes at least as well as those college kids they throw onto Y-Rock every now and again? Know a band that is truly awesome but also under-appreciated because no one else has as good a musical taste as you? Well, today's your lucky day; share your best picks with XPN's Program Director for a day. Give them a call at 1-800-565-WXPN between now and 1PM and your favorite tune will be broadcast for all to hear. Unless it's that indie band you saw at the church last week. XPN is cool, but not quite that cool.

By now, you've probably read about Matt Duke (MySpace) on these pages more times than you can count. We've also mentioned Rachael Yamagata (MySpace) a couple of times. And back in December 2007, we told you about an awesome concert benefiting WXPN Musicians On Call and featuring some great local talent, including Duke. So, if you were to put all those things together, what would you get? Well, if you're looking for a good time and would like to help a good cause, you get your plan for tomorrow night.

The best of the internet, squirted out in flavorful neon globules, just for you.

We'd be lying if we said we had anything less than complete adoration for the music of Matt Duke (MySpace). We've covered Duke a couple times before, and each time we've seen him, he's met—and exceeded—our expectations. But there are certain artists, and Duke is one of them, who we feel that we should cover on a regular basis, and it's been way too long since we last saw him perform, at last year's WXPN Musicians on Call holiday benefit show.

A steaming hot pile of our favorite things from around the internets.

Phillyist reader/commenter bruhinb passed along this excellent video, via DJ Robert Drake's personal blog.

We told you to hurry, but because many of you may not have been able to make it to Penn on time, here's XPN's video coverage of The Kooks busking at the university.

Fun around town, for $10 or less:

Dear Scrabulous:

We mentioned the other day how Facebook's much-loved Scrabulous application bit the dust, to be "replaced" by the Hasbro-sanctioned "Scrabble Beta" application. (We're refusing to add Scrabble Beta to our Facebook on principle.) But take heart, for this morning we learned via the XPN Morning Show news that the makers of Scrabulous have essentially re-formed the game, and you can now find it as the WordScraper. We haven't played WordScraper yet, but apparently the functionality is slightly different. We're told that the game board uses circles instead of squares, and the point system has been altered so as not to mimic that of Scrabble. So it's not really your old Scrabulous, but it's something. Now go forth, and procrastinate!

A steaming hot pile of our favorite things from around the internets.

The XPoNential Music Festival kicks off tonight at Wiggins Park on the Camden Waterfront. Featured acts will include The Blind Boys of Alabama, Beth Orton, Alejandro Escovedo, Amos Lee, Ingrid Michaelson, and Joan Osborne. (Remember her? We do, too!) Tickets are available for $25 a day ($17 for XPN Members) or $60 for a four-day pass ($40 for XPN members) online or at the door.

Fun around town, for $10 or less:

Fun around town, for $10 or less:

Despite their name, NYC four-piece Vampire Weekend (MySpace) is not a shoe-gazing, emo goth band. In fact, their self-titled debut LP, just released at the end of last month, is perhaps best described as "sunny" - the very antithesis of a vampire's idea of a good weekend. This band, beloved of many blogs (including us), performs bouncy, funny, clever, retro indie/punk/pop/New Wave songs about love. Their music is so fun it feels like there has to be something wrong with it, but nothing is. It's been a while since we listened to an album the first time through, and loved every song on it instantly. (Although of course we did love some more than others; the head-bopping "A-Punk," which they performed live on Letterman just the other night, is the best, and "One (Blake's Got a New Face)" is the worst.) If you haven't got your copy of the album yet, hit the R5 Productions website to download some free MP3s.

What's not to love about Old 97's frontman Rhett Miller? He's attractive. He's talented. He's wired. He's charismatic. He's a Texan. (Hush, you – the president is not representative of the entire state.) AND, he's going to be back in our fair city on Saturday night.

Raise your hand if you don't love YouTube/Viddler/Google Video/etc. Okay, that one guy raising your hand? You probably just want to scroll past this post, because it probably won't interest you in the slightest. To the rest of you, here are the fifteen videos we've posted in 2007 that I'm still entirely too proud of myself for finding. (The video embedded here didn't make it to the list, but deserves honorable mention if only because it's a locally-produced response to one of the best SNL musical numbers in a decade.)

The holidays kind of snuck up on us this year. Perhaps because Thanksgiving was so early. After Turkey Day was over, it was still too early to get into the Christmannakkanzaa spirit. (This Phillyist adheres to a strict "No Christmas music before December 1" rule.) And then we got caught up with other things, and we didn't really notice that, yep, we're in holiday season. It took Thursday night's WXPN Musicians On Call benefit concert...

It's the holiday season, so many of us are in a charitable mood. Certainly, there are good feelings to be had from performing acts of selflessness, and we at Phillyist encourage you to donate your time, money, or a toy this holiday season. Sometimes you get the opportunity to contribute to a good cause and have a lot of fun at the same time. Thursday night, you'll get one such opportunity. WXPN is presenting a...

We'd heard Matt Duke's name before (like when Phillyist Meghan's sister covered him for us), but this Phillyist's first encounter with the young Jersey-bred singer-songwriter was a few months ago at the WXPN-hosted Philly Local Lonely Hearts Club Band. Duke, in a pair of crazy patchwork-embellished stovepipe pants (each leg was probably wider than his whole body – you can kind of see them here), completely stole the stage with his performance of "When I'm 64." We left the World Cafe Live that night sure of two things: that we'd had an awesome time, and that we needed to see more of Matt Duke.

Next weekend's XPoNential Music Festival - featuring artists such as The Fratellis, Fountains of Wayne, Eastern Conference Champions, The A-Sides, Bob Mould, Dr. Dog, The Smithereens, Hoots and Hellmouth, and local-musician Anthony Riley - is going to be three days worth of sun and great music. You can find out all of the details by going to the WXPN website for times, dates, and of course parking. Today, though, is the last day to purchase...

You can worship local music down at the church this Friday when local boys Hoots & Hellmouth (MySpace) take the stage, along with Rocky Votolato and Langhorne Slim (a Pennsylvania-born defector to New York). It promises to be a good old-fashioned country-inflected hillbilly ho-down. Which normally wouldn't be our cup of tea. And indeed, the first time we listend to Hoots & Hellmouth's recently released self-titled album (their first), we weren't sure we cared for it very much. Country, after all, is one of our least favorite music genres. But H&H aren't just country. They're part alt-country, part folk, part roots-rock. And during our second listen to their disc, we noticed that our feet were tapping and our head was bobbing uncontrollably to the music. This is catchy, fun stuff with strange, intriguing, and sometimes silly lyrics, as well as a hand-clapping, foot-stomping beat that's undeniable. We're particular fans of the songs "Abattoir Altar Boy and Girl" and "Two Hearts, a Snake and a Concubine," and not just because they have awesome titles. Hoots and Hellmouth weren't named WXPN's Artist to Watch in July for nothing!

Tuesday night, we carted ourselves out to the hot, misty expanse of the Tower Theater to see Bloc Party with the Maccabees and the Noisettes. British band the Maccabees started things off right with a rousing set which, they confessed, was their first performance as a band in America, and their first performance in front of a seated audience. They didn't sound like they were doing anything for the first time, though; they played strong, loud, post-rock tracks with emotional vocals and fantastic beats. We were racking our brains trying to come up with a comparison to describe what they sounded like, and then realized they sounded vaguely like Bloc Party, which made perfect sense. Anyway, we were very impressed.

"Come to Jesus," the featured hit single of Mindy Smith's debut album, sold 300,000 copies, as well as being featured on numerous TV night-time talk shows and VH1 and CMT. Frankly, with a hit like this, we thought she was a Christian-Pop star. But after listening to her sophomore CD, One Moment More, we've realized that she has crossed many genres and landed in Country, Folk, and even Pop. Time Magazine calls it a "hybrid...