When I first checked out Netherfriends last year, I may have noted that they reminded me a bit of Animal Collective. That, maybe, and perhaps The Dodos. But, in actuality, they’re somewhere between. Gone are AC’s tribal shrieks and gone are The Dodos’ acoustic strums. When it comes down to it, Netherfriends really are their own beast. They may fit that same string of genres — folk, pop, experimental, psychedelic, and eccentric as all hell, to name a few — but their sound is really …

Dave Brett, vocalist for the Philadelphia based trio Busses, sounds like Neil Young. That’s pretty obvious and should be stated directly. But, the sound of these genuinely diverse artists as a whole would only strike the Harvest man if punk and prog jazz became a staple during a three-quarter life crisis. The estranged madness on this record is what keeps you searching for other comparisons that are not likely to appear in a regular imagination.

Written by JB.
It took nearly a year to record his first proper LP (and almost twice as long to release), but Deathcard is the sweet fruit of singer/songwriter David Janes‘ tedious work. After a limited release of his Kill-a-man Sessions in early 2008, Janes spent months writing, recording, and mixing songs for the next record, only to scrap the majority of it and start anew. Backed by his live band, including Philadelphia studio-musicians Phil D’Agostino and long-time collaborator Nathan Gonzalez, as well as Rick Wise and Emily Shick, the …

Kronotsky by Psalmships opens with a soft hum that remains so throughout opening track “Resurrectionist”, building and growing subtly with the clash of post-rock drone meets minimalist folk. It’s a slight departure from the true minimalism of which those familiar with Josh Britton’s music know well, and it continues in “Smaller Constellation”, a song title pulled from an album Britton released under earlier moniker The Sweetheart Parade. Combining the world of drone-friendly folk with the sensibilities of ethereal minimalist drone may not seem groundbreaking, but they are in …

For those of you fortunate enough to catch Andrew Thiboldeaux and Chris Ward, the Philadelphia based duo better known as Pattern Is Movement, on their recent tour and appearance at SXSW, you may recognize this track. As well as being the title track for their upcoming album, out later this year, it was offered up on their tour E.P. “Light Of The World” is another wonderful example of this band’s eccentric hip hop style that is fused with a healthy dose of indie rock and folk, especially on …

The Philadelphia-based record label, Edible Onion, might very well be the only thing that can be called music as we once knew it. In the digital frenzy of now, it is often harder get yourself excited about a new release — even one from your favorite artist. Few folks venture away from their laptops to buy music anymore (and that’s a shame). For anyone born in the 90’s, you might be surprised to learn that there once were stores called “Record Stores”, “Music Shops” etc. that sold …

On their debut full-length, Tradition, Golden Ages picks up where they left off on last year’s Sitting Softly In The Sea EP. “Waiting” is packed with eccentric electronic experimentation on par with a more melodic, less tribal Animal Collective. What really sets this band apart from its contemporaries is that they take common elements of electronic dance and filter them through an Oz-like world of mystery and bizarre darkness. From the ambient calm to the melodic electro-noise, Golden Ages are pretty much one of a kind.

I’ve long thought that Joshua Britton of the band Psalmships and the band Sweetheart Parade sounded on par with an artist like Jason Molina (Songs:Ohia, The Magnolia Electric Co.). Hearing that Britton occasionally covers Molina live, then, was no surprise. In his latest release, now seemingly consistent under the moniker Psalmships, Britton completes one of his most masterful accomplishments yet — a nod to his earlier moniker and a song full and plush with a chorus of vocals in the bridge and a barrage of heavily strummed guitars.

Mixing the psychedelic pop of the 60s with a more orchestrated baroque sound, The Soft Skin is four sunny tracks by Philadelphia’s most promising pop band in quite a while. Brown Recluse began as duo Timothy Meskers and Mark Saddlemire, and ultimately grew to six individuals. Within The Soft Skin, you’ll hear the plush instrumentation, from a focus on keys and jangle guitars in opener “Rotten Tangerines” to the trumpet feature in closer “Contour And Context”.

Philadelphia’s Golden Ages dub themselves as creators of psychedelic pop, and that would be an adequate description. But it would also be incomplete. Their songs certainly possess elements of the psychedelic; however, there’s a lot going on in each tune that also pulls in everything from electronics to experimentation. Take, for example, the closing track of their new EP Sitting Softly In The Sea, “Everything Will Be Alright”. There’s more electro-pop here than psychedelic pop. The same can be said about opener “Here We Are At …