{"id":713467,"date":"2026-06-19T11:40:09","date_gmt":"2026-06-19T11:40:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/713467\/"},"modified":"2026-06-19T11:40:09","modified_gmt":"2026-06-19T11:40:09","slug":"philadelphia-based-alt-rockers-cold-court-release-debut-ep","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/713467\/","title":{"rendered":"Philadelphia-based alt-rockers Cold Court release debut EP"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>From Philly and the Pa. suburbs to South Jersey and Delaware, what would you like WHYY News to cover? <a href=\"#Section1\">Let us know!<\/a>\n<\/p>\n<p>Philadelphia-based alternative rockers <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/coldcourt_\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Cold Court<\/a> released their debut EP on Friday, acting as an introduction to the boundless soundscapes that the emerging band is capable of.\n<\/p>\n<p>The EP\u2019s title, \u201c\\(^_^) \/,\u201d is a string of characters depicting an emoji with its hands raised that band members refer to as \u201cHands Up.\u201d\n<\/p>\n<p>All seven tracks were written by sibling duo Jojo Lavina-Maldonado and Mini Serrano, with the original goal of keeping everything outside of the computer. They recorded in various locations, including their old apartment in Philadelphia and upstate New York.\n<\/p>\n<p>Lavina-Maldonado said while the initial recordings sounded cool, they weren\u2019t quite right.\n  <\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe kind of panicked and started clipping everything, started turning everything up,\u201d he said. \u201cIt was just kind of like our instinct.\u201d\n<\/p>\n<p>Originally hailing from New Jersey, the siblings have been making music together since they were children. The two would tag along with their father to recording studios where he worked on hip-hop tracks.\n<\/p>\n<p>While those early memories were foundational to their first collaborative efforts, the siblings said they somewhat grew apart as they got older. Once Serrano found the guitar, their bond was stronger than ever.\n<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy first year [in high school] was when I found rock music,\u201d Serrano said. \u201cOnce I found My Chemical Romance, I was like, \u2018I want to learn guitar.\u2019\u201d\n<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs soon as Mini came to me about playing guitar and recording stuff, I was like, \u2018Yeah, this is like the coolest thing ever,\u2019\u201d Lavina-Maldonado said.\n<\/p>\n<p>The band officially formed in 2021, when Lavina-Maldonado was a senior in high school and Serrano was a freshman. The two would record songs using computer programs like FL Studio, which they would carry into their songwriting process.\n<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe were very ambitious with the way that we started this and the way that we approached it,\u201d Serrano said. \u201cWe kind of wanted to make the best music ever. Every idea to us had to be so cutting-edge.\u201d<br \/>\n<img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-744844 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/cold-court-csharber-2026-06-18-5-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"Mini Serrano and Jojo Lavina-Maldonado in their practice space.\" width=\"640\" height=\"427\"  \/>Cold Court, the Philadelphia-based alternative rock outfit, is the musical output of siblings Mini Serrano and Jojo Lavina-Maldonado. On June 19, 2026, the band released its debut EP, \u201c(^_^) \/ (Hands Up),\u201d a genre-bending affair of seven tracks that serves as an introduction to the songwriting duo. (Cory Sharber\/WHYY)\n        <\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"From Philly and the Pa. suburbs to South Jersey and Delaware, what would you like WHYY News to&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":713468,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[88,216,307590],"class_list":["post-713467","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-entertainment","tag-music","tag-philly-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/713467","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=713467"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/713467\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/713468"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=713467"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=713467"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=713467"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}