The brand new, tour only EP, Tout New Age, from Philly's lovable A Sunny Day In Glasgow. Says CP's Brian Howard: "The Daniels brood — Ben and twin sisters Lauren and Robin — do up the gauzy/ambient/ethereal thing right, channeling equal parts My Bloody Valentine, Sigur Ros and, oh, The Cocteau Twins, but imbue their songs with a deep-down fascination with death. It’s not so much an obsession with the morbid; A Sunny Day In Glasgow sound as if they’d like to take death up in their arms, sing it a little lullabye, rock it gently to sleep."

CP's Shaun Brady explains: "Dan Peterson is given to wandering willy-nilly through cultural reference points as he discusses the origins of his own music. Sure, the jazz signposts are there — Wayne Shorter comes up often, as does Odean Pope, with whose Saxophone Choir Peterson regularly plays — but he'll just as often bring up Led Zeppelin or Woody Allen or a friend from high school and you get the sense that they all bear equal weight on what comes out of Peterson's horn."

According to CP’s Andrew Parks, Philly-based Pissed Jeans is “on one of the country's biggest indie labels but still hovering below the poverty level.” Their Sub Pop debut Hope for Men “sounds like the sludge-doused ramblings of four everyday dudes, scraping together enough money for rent and a round of life-affirming ice cream cones.”

The debut CD from Sean O'Neal's foundsound label. Clicky-chill minimal techno composed of manipulated field recordings by the once and future king of Philly's techno scene. Though we bid Sean adieu this week, you can listen to him here. It's as if he never left.

A compilation of tracks from Philadelphia's Playloop Records, featuring Kezner, Justin Paul, Nigel Richards, Tattoo Detectives, Microstar, DJ Everyday and Locality

RJD2's The Third Hand "doesn't sound like the work of a jaded artiste who foolishly peeled off a perfectly good layer of sonic skin," says CP's Drew Lazor. "Rather, it arrives at your door in neatly folded folk packaging, full up with dancing, down-but-not-out chord structures, thoughtful major-key piano tickles and range-y vocals. Risky? Absolutely. But he's given this a lot of thought..

"GANG is part science class, part art project, part dance party," says CP's M.J. Fine. "If the tight beats and frequent giggle fits make it seem like they've been together longer than a few months, that's because they have. Amanda and Jaclyn have been best friends for more than eight years; Jaclyn and Nicole have been sisters for nearly 25. Tim joined the family a few years back, when he and Nicole started dating..

"Although Jake Lefco has been around awhile, dropping guest verses here and there," says CP's Deesha Dyer, "And You Are? is the first proper introduction to the Conshohocken-raised MC. He gives his offbeat perspectives on everything from music to politics without taking on a gimmick or adopting a false identity.

Red Heart The Ticker's musical equilibrium is deftly captured on For the Wicked, which was recorded over the course of a winter in a neighbor's barn," writes CP's John Vettese. "Tyler Gibbons' indie-pop tastes show through on the effervescent 'Go-Cart Thrills,' while Robin McArthur goes Nashville on 'Pilot Eyes.' Some moments are a true fusion; the spiritually themed 'Depression' carries her torch and twang, as well as his layered arrangements, glockenspiel and all."

After One Star Hotel split, Steve Yutzy-Burkey became wary of again devoting so much energy to something that could crumble around him. That's why his "new sounds" were only shared with his closest friends: Rick Sieber, his former bassist; Krista, his wife and a keyboardist; and Scott French, an old buddy and drummer," says CP's John Vettese. "And when they began playing together as The Swimmers, 'It didn't start out as being very serious,' Steve says. 'But the reaction to the first three songs was far better than we'd hoped.' The sonic pallet leaned toward '60s pop, but was expanded to a less era-specific brand of indie rock, somewhere between The New Pornographers and Paul Westerberg. But while the melodies are playful, even whimsical, Steve's somber, reflective musings are always lurking nearby. .

2004's Expansion proved Dave Burrell can be blood-on-the-keys kinda pianist, but this darker follow-up is a whole other kind of masterpiece. CP critic Shaun Brady calls Momentum the best jazz CD of 2006.

Singer/songwriter Cynthia G. Mason breaks her six-year silence with the release of the stunningly stark Quitter's Claim. Her rhythmically droning guitar figures, haunting voice and bewitchingly abstract lyrics return in full force over 10 songs that ruminate, not surprisingly, on the frustration of trying to get things accomplished. Read about Mason's quest to finish Quitter's Claim while jugglng law school.

Super-charged garage rock from Local Support favs Beretta 76. Black Beauty is bursting at the seams with the Joan Jettiness of frontgal Camille Escobedo and a whole lot of extra-crunchy guitar grind.

Swirly, space-rock sounds from the folks behind the Philadelphia PopNoise festival. Living Under the Radar is like a lost artifact from Philly's Low Orbit Lounge era. Only it doesn't sound like an artifact at all.

The Capitol Years: Stalwart Philly mods under the leadership of Shai Halpern find a new home on Park the Van. Their label debut, Dance Away the Terror, captures both their clever songwriting and their live energy. Don't miss the meta-musical "Mirage People" with its wry declaration --- "The Capitol Years are not a good band." Lies.

National Eye: Philly's answer to the Olivia Tremor Control, the quintet's dense layers of instrumental arrangements back well-crafted songs on Roomful of Lions. Key cut: "Abwehr," with its odd titular reference to German military intelligence, is your classic blend of synth effects, guitar feedback, a memorable melody and a steady beat.

Park the Van: Just your basic smorgasbord of awesomeness from the little lable that could and continues to. You've got your Dr. Dog, The Teeth, National Eye, Junkbox, Carter Tanton, Frank Jordan, The Henry James Orchestra and Die Young & Deeskee. You just can't go wrong. Try. You can't.

Nineteen tracks from 19 artists all recorded in one night at West Philly's Danger! Danger! house. From punk to rock to twang to hip-hop, this comp is a sort of all-you-can-eat buffet of what's awesome in Philly right now. We like Falkonr and Citywide Specials and Tickley Feather and King Kong Ding Dong. For starters, anyway. Released by New Third World America

Cherry Hill native Toby Lightman's come a long way since belting out a gospel-infused "Bridge Over Troubled Water" at her high-school graduation. She's worked with Wyclef and shared stages with Jewel and Train. Her new sophomore record, Bird on a Wire shows off her honey-and-whiskey vocals over a sharp R&B/soul vibe. Catch her twice on Aug. 25, on XPN's Free At Noon and at 7:30 p.m., both performances at World Cafe Live.

Catchy, sneaky, freaky, This Radiant Boy recall the heyday of indie pop when every chorus was singalongable. They're calling it quits, but they leave us Feelin' It on a Motorcycle to remember them by.

Joshua Marcus is the guy from Like Moving Insects and the guy from Fan of Friends. But he's also the guy who recorded Make Believe, a gorgeous, haunting, banjo-flavored solo effort. But it's only "solo" because it's got his name on it. It features him and lots of friends playing strings and upright bass and, oh yeah, singing in harmony. "I like the idea of everybody singing," says Marcus, "because it kind of lends ... to the audience being comfortable with singing."

Like a Fox: Lenola's Jay Laughlin and Dave Grubb are back with a new band that pays homage to the whooshy, wall-of-sound that was their old outfit, but tweaks up the subtle prettiness. Perhaps you heard them on Local Support 009.

Bloodfeathers: As featured in Local Support 009 — the biannual report, this is shimmering, Quentin Stoltzfus-produced guitar pop from the malicious minds of Ben Dickey and Drew Mills (who you know and love from his work with Aspera).

Would-be Elephant 6 fuzz folk from one of Philly's most spectacularly evocative lyricists. Though his debut is all-around dazzling, you must hear "1981."

Once a full-time member of The Roots (and still a recurring player with Philly's hip-hop mothership), Malik B is moving on. He teams up with Haak Blast for the Psychological EP, a raw, indie manifesto.

Glistening, idiosyncratic synth pop from this West Philly trio. Pony Pants and their debut Till Death Do Us Party are the secret nobody can keep.

For the release of their sophomore album Espers II, Philly's neo-psych-folk trio expands to a sextet and expands it's pastoral folk sounds into something darker, more chaotic.

Bardo Pond are Philadelphia space-rock pioneers. Their mix of gauzy atmospherics and amped-up stoner fuzz is the sort of elixir that can pause the time-space continuum. Their new album, Ticket Crystals, is the culmination of a trilogy the band started with Dilate.

We set Jon Solomon loose on Philly music like a pirate on booty. Arr, it's episode 016 of the very downloadable, totally portable Local Support podcast. Young guns will go for The Bad News Bats, The Clamor, The Capitol Years and Grandchildren. Oldheads will freak for Lenola, Bunnydrums, Eltro and their actual grandchildren, because their heads are that old.

Who's hot this time out? We can't encourage you enough to check out Panda Riot's "She Dares All Things" and we'd be all kinds of remiss if we didn't say yes, now, go listen to Birdie Num Num & the Spirit Squad's ""Come One Come All." You'd hate us if you ended up skipping over Brother JT's "Son of Man," and we'd hate you if you didn't pay heed to Cops on Dirtbikes and their rippin'-it-up "Absolutely Fabulous" or Danielson's "Kids Pushing Kids." And, of course, we should mention that mid-set, out of nowhere, Meg Baird and her "Waltze of the Tennis Players" will melt your hearts.

Gang throws a "Dance Party," McRad "McShred"s, Beretta 76 gets all hostile city with "Black Beauty," LS theme-song mongers The Yah Mos Def is a gang, and Zolof the Rock & Roll Destroyer have a "Moment." Plus music by The Original Sins, Bardo Pond and Rifle Nice. There's brand new sneaky-peak stuff from The A-Sides. Oh, and Jon gets a package from Siltbreeze. All on the most recent, most excellent episode of Local Support

The Bar Mitzvah episode of City Paper's local music podcast, featuring Home Blitz, Pepi Ginsberg, Trouble Everyday and much, much more.

Featuring The Extraordinaires, The Anderson Council, Seizure 17, She-Haw, Men in Fur, Overlord, Pink Skull and more.

It's episode 011. That's 22 weeks of Jon Solomon's Local Support podcast. While you've definitely got to hear it all, you double definitely need to hear Brown Recluse Sings' chamber-poppy "Margo, Left in Bed," The Fence Bells' chewy-twangy "All Around This Town," Birds of Maya's destruct-o-riffic "Ancient Witches Rise" and the Rabble Rousers' hands-down freaking-brilliant "Phightadelphia," which neatly sums up how we're feeling these days.

Local Support 010: Welcome to double-digits, local music fans. Episode 010 of Jon Solomon's Local Support podcast features Amateur Party, Pony Pants and The Dave Burrell Full-Blown Trio. The podcast's second set of music features artists playing the Local Stage of this weekend's SoCo Music Experience at Penn's Landing: The A-Sides, Amy Pickard, Mitch Fiction, Unlikely Cowboy and The Swimmers. Check it out now.

The well-manicured Jon Solomon, aka the Human Radio Station, drops the greatest hits, then picks them up and plays them. It's the Local Support bi-annual report, featuring: Armalite, Man Man, Audible, Home Blitz, Notekillers, Kenneth Masters, Bear Attack and more.

Local Support 008: Jon "The Human Radio Station" Solomon drops Gang's "Rat Poison," Birdie Busch's "South Philly," a demo version of Mazarin's "NE Winter," Stinking Lizaveta's "Ultimate Ass Kicking" and so much more in the eighth installment of the only local music podcast that matters.