Philadelphia music

Mega Ran: “Live 95 (Basketball Diaries)”

Since the genre’s earliest days there’s been a fruitful relationship between hip hop music and basketball, a legacy that’s soon set to continue with Philadelphia’s Mega Ran. The rapper’s dressing out for the NBA’s 75th season with his upcoming 11th album, Live 95, a loving tribute to this unique intersectionality of sports, music, and urban life that features some of Mega Ran’s finest verbal athleticism to date.

Live 95 struts onto the court next Friday and Mega Ran celebrates with a scrimmage next Tuesday at Empire Control Room, where we’re pretty sure he’s only going to be shooting threes with no unnecessary dribbling. So score some extra hoops this hump day with the title track’s just-released music video, “Live ’95 (Basketball Diaries)”!

Michael Cormier: “More Light!”

As drummer for Friendship and songwriter for Hour, multi-instrumentalist Michael Cormier‘s already made quite the impact on Philadelphia’s music scene. And that’s not even including his solo work that dates back to his 2019 debuts Days Like Pearls and M-F, which both introduced us to the inherent human nature of Cormier’s profound folk.

In the brief couple years since, Cormier’s furthered himself even more from distractions to fully focus on his latest artistic offering, More Light!!!. As you may have been able to guess from its triple punctuation, More Light!!! illuminates Cormier’s passion with a bit more psychedelic energy than its stripped down folk predecessors, and you can catch some of its shine early with its just-released title track!

Carsie Blanton: “Be Good”

Fueled both by her adoration and disgust over the world she inhabits, Philadelphia singer Carsie Blanton strikes a balance between the seduction of jazz and the outspokenness of pop punk with her arsenal of societal anthems. Blanton’s upbeat brand of folk-rock defies any of the gloomy outlook you might take on given certain, pertinent subject matters, owing to the songwriter’s natural sense of humor and joy.

This Friday Carsie Blanton releases her LP Love & Rage, just under a dozen new tracks that tackle the facets of our current society and do so in a way that’ll keep your feet tapping with instant earworms like “Be Good”!