Artist to Watch

WXPN Radio

The premier guide for new and significant artists in rock, blues, and folk - including NPR-syndicated World Cafe ®

Listen Xpo

24/7 Musical discovery. A unique mix of emerging and heritage blues, rock, world, folk, and alt-country artists.

Singer Songwriter Radio

Featuring classics from heritage troubadours to new musicians and bands in the singer-songwriter tradition.

Folk Radio

Folk music radio streaming on the web; Americana, Roots Music, recordings, and stories from folk's best.
Listen Live

Free Energy: WXPN's May 2010 Artist to Watch

When Philadelphia's own Free Energy formed in 2008, they lived in relative darkness before deciding to step into the light a year ago. Upon their arrival, the five piece outfit was met with an enormous amount of buzz, and with the release of their debut album, they are taking the rock world by storm in 2010.

Their fun spirited rock has a reminiscent appeal to it, as if pulled right from a batch of 70's records. So while their heady and raw sound is fringed with familiarity, it managed to distance the group from a huge pool of emerging indie rock bands. Fusing elements of 70's glam, power pop, bubble gum, and arena rock, the band unabashedly embraces poppy hooks and boy-girl romance, wooing critics and fans with their exuberant and joyous take on life. That take won the attention of LCD Soundsystem's James Murphy, who produced the band's debut album, Stuck on Nothing, for DFA Records. The album's spring arrival saw the band quickly catapulted to the national stage, with stellar SXSW performances cementing what fans knew all along: Free Energy's "hopelessly hopeful" music is not only jam-packed with fun,it's also really good.

See Free Energy at this summer's XPoNential Music Festival, presented by Subaru at Wiggins Park on the Camden Waterfront on Friday, July 16, 2010! Here's the full lineup for this year's Festival.

See Free Energy
May 8 at the Chameleon Club in Lancaster
May 28 at First Unitarian Church w/ Minature Tigers and Jukebox The Ghost
July 16 XPoNential Music Festival

Website: freeenergymusic.com
MySpace: myspace.com/freeenergymusic
Recent Release: Stuck On Nothing
Release Date: May 4, 2010
Label: DFA Records
Origin: Philadelphia

Help Support WXPN

Make Music Philly Spotlight: Sylvia Platypus

If the name alone wasn’t enough to pique your curiosity, then the bagpipes will. Philly’s own six-piece...Read More

Light Heat’s new album now streaming at The New York Times website (appearing on XPN Philly Local...

Light Heat‘s self-titled debut is due out on June 25th via Ribbon Music, but if you’re itching to hear it now, the album...Read More

Folkadelphia Session: Balto (performing at Lickety Split this Wednesday)

Because you love to discover great music, this week we’ll be debuting 3 new Folkadelphia Sessions for you to fall in love with....Read More

How some Philly punk rockers are giving back to the community with the Big Footprints Project

Brendan Lukens is used to watching things grow right before his eyes. The frontman and founder of Philly local pop punk band Modern...Read More

Watch a conversation with instrumental duo El Ten Eleven, shot at the North Star (playing Johnny Brenda’s on...

El Ten Eleven is a duo that doesn’t like to be captured in a label.  They make powerful instrumental music that spans various...Read More