Grooms merge dissonant guitar riffs, alternative percussion, Moog attacks and haunting vocal melodies into a whirlwind sound that challenges the listener at every turn. Although Sonic Youth comparisons can certainly be made, Grooms also channels Pavement, Chavez and countless other bands that pioneered the sonically-intense, broken-pop sound of 90’s indie rock—but with an attitude and approach uniquely its own. – Check Grooms out live on June 25 at Cameo or on June 27 at Silent Barn. Read Bill Dvorak interview with the band here.
NYC
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Ernest Jenning Records short film + showcase tonight at Cameo
Ernest Jenning Record Company from Ryan & Rob
Brooklyn label Ernest Jenning Record Company has released nearly six dozen albums since founders Pete D’Angelo & Gandhar Savur set up shop in 2002. Ernest is nowhere to be found, except perhaps in the label’s ethos which is pure and simple — get our favorite bands heard. That mission and great ears have allowed D’Angelo and Savur to grow Ernest Jenning into one of the nation’s premiere independent labels, with releases by homegrown talent (Takka Takka, La Strada, The Black Hollies – in the picture – and Blood Warrior) alongside national bands (San Francisco’s Still Flyin’) and international acts (Toronto’s Cuff the Duke). This year, Ernest Jenning also released the debut LP from Washington DC’s Title Tracks, the solo venture of former Q & Not U drummer and Georgie James frontman, John Davis. Davis’s former bands had recorded for Dischord & Saddle Creek, respectively, but for his solo project he chose Ernest Jenning. The Deli is proud to offer the worldwide premiere of this video, which was produced by the good folks at www.musicmovingimages.com. 
The video finds D’Angelo revealing how it all got started, what makes an indie label tick, and features the Ernest Jenning bands who showcased at this year’s SXSW — including Wild Yaks, Title Tracks, Still Flyin’ — and La Strada, who headline Ernest Jenning’s showcase tonight at the Cameo Gallery. Check it out.
NYC
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Weekly Feature #208a: Class Actress, live at The Knit on 06.26
Class Actress’ debut EP “Journal of Ardency,” released on Grizzly Bear Chris Taylor’s Terrible Records, brilliantly honors ‘80s new wave but looks forward with a discerning eye. Elizabeth Harper, the heavenly voice behind Class Actress, Scott Rosenthal and producer Mark Richardson extrapolate the best elements from the past and carefully construct modern electropop masterpieces. From the sexy, slithering romp “Journal of Ardency” to the breezy, sweet serenade “Let Me Take You Out,” the band flexes its wide range of abilities. The songs maintain the perfect balance of alluring vibrancy and dark undertones, and this lethal combination forces listeners to play the EP on repeat. The beats will infiltrate listeners’ minds, Harpers’ voice will entrance them, and the sparkling synths will stay in their hearts. – Read Nancy Chow’s interview with Elizabeth Harper here. Read the older Deli interview from 2007 here.
Chicago
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Kindred
This week Jenny Gillespie put her new album Kindred on bandcamp for her fans and the world to stream. The physical edition of the album will be released on July 13th, but you can now become familiar with this new and beautiful album before the release show on July 17th at Martyrs. Kindred picks up where last year’s Light Year album left off, and pushes forward. One of my favorite tracks from the album has to be “Golden Central”. It is an elegant piano ballad in the same vein as Sarah McLaughlin or Tori Amos.
Kindred is a sonically rich album that should garner much national attention. You can see Jenny Gillespie perform at Martyrs on July 17th.
NYC
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Woods premier music video, play Music Hall on 06.25
I’m not sure what the percentage of indie bands that manage to stick together for long enough to put out 5 records is – but Woods‘ story shows that sometimes persistence pays off, even in a super tough field like the indie rock world. The band, that has been enjoying a few years of attention and constant touring and recording, has just released this video (probably their first? It’s hard to tell as the name Woods is pretty much "un-googable"), and will be performing at Music Hall of Williamsburg on 06.25.
Austin
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Searching for Signal Interview + Upcoming Show
[The subjects of today’s interview, Searching for Signal (photo above by Nicole Christians) will be part of the Ghost Room’s show this Saturday, 7/26, headlined by our earlier interview subject The Pons and also featuring Wiretree and STEREO IS A LIE…]
How did the band start? When did you get together? What kind of factors led to your coming together? Crazy cosmic destiny, the good, old friends-forever bit or just a lucky answer of some classifieds?
"This is like homework," says Matt Salois. "Did you see how long this interview is??"
We’re a band; we just decided to start playing. We started playing in freshman year of high school. Matt (guitar, lead vox) and I (Benny – drums), had been good friends since 7th grade and jammed occasionally. Freshman year, we met Michael (guitar) at a Super Bowl party and we started Searching for Signal, writing songs and jamming and eventually playing shows. John (bass/vox) joined the band in junior year for the release of our full length self-titled LP and we recorded our EP Its So Bright… during senior year.
What would you say you’re all about? Who your musical influences are, what you want your music to do/where do you want to take it/the genre/your audience? What genre do you consider yourself, or would you rather try and stay genre-ly undefined?
Love. We are about music and getting it to the people. We make music we like to hear and hope other people like to hear.
"We’re in it for the sweat of our brow," says John.
We define ourselves as post-rock and are influenced by Explosions in the Sky, Captain Geech and the Shrimp Shack Shooters, Beatles, Phoenix, Pilot Speed, Radiohead, Coldplay and local artists trying to do the same stuff we do.
John says he is personally influenced by Ronaldo and Journey.
We are post-rock but vary to indie rock and hard-pop-core.
We have been described as Explosions in the Sky meets Coldplay.
What is the best/favorite venue or show you’ve ever played?
The best venue we’ve ever played is probably House of Blues Houston or Emo’s Outdoors.
Our favorite venues personally are:
Walters on Washington (Houston) – John
The original Super Happy Fun Land in Houston – Matt. "We started playing our first shows there and continued playing there all through high school. We went there to see bands we liked in high school, ended up playing there and setting up shows there. I like it for the memories."
Artmosphere in Lafayette, LA – Michael. "Best hookah bar/pizza cafe/drink bar/music venue on this side of the Mississippi. I love it when people get up to dance for us"
Emo’s Outdoors – Benny.
How do you like to get ready for a show? How do you like to perform a show, what’s it all about for y’all?
Trying not to sweat. Trying to comp drinks, and avoid getting x’s on our hands.
Its about not messing up, not sweating, being energetic and getting the crowd involved by winning them over with our boyish good looks.
Sometimes we do themes (suits, sunglasses, hats, blazers, basketball jerseys, button-ups etc).
Is there a new album in the works? Concept phase, recording? What’s the idea behind it? Tour plans?
Yes in fact. We will be recording this summer and releasing 4 or 5 songs for free by the end of the summer.
We recently went on a week long tour through Austin, New Orleans, Lafayette, Baton Rouge and Houston and will probably tour again next summer.
We tried to get a van but apparently you have to be 25 and responsible to rent one. So we took two cars and managed to fit clothes, equipment and ourselves into a Ford Escape and a Chevy HHR. We had a venture, but just to list a couple topics:
-Staying at a frat house with no running water (no bathroom aka craps in the Circle K)
-Michael getting patted down by a female LSU cop.
-Matt going on a 6 am bike ride around a lake in the clothes from a show
-and finding out John looked like Ben Linus from Lost
What are your Top 5 Desert-Island Albums?
Instead of a top 5, we each gave one:
John – Blood Bank EP by Bon Iver
Benny- Into the West by Pilot Speed
Michael- Electric President by Electric President
Matt – All of the Sudden Everyone by Explosions in the Sky
All – our personal mix of favorite Annuals songs.
Let the yellow mellow or flush it down?
Flush it down. Gross. Unless you’re at a frat house with no running water and you don’t have a choice.
Guiltiest-Pleasure TV show?
The Hills – John
The OC – Matt (he owns two seasons)
Keeping Up with the Kardashians – Michael
Dog the Bounty Hunter – Benny
All-time favorite movie?
Aristocats – Michael
Aladdin – John
Remember the Titans – Matt
Lord of the Rings trilogy – Benny
Do you consider Austin a part of your band? Would you be the same without this city?
"Who’s Austin?" – Michael
Just kidding. We love Austin. We recently started playing here and it has a very receptive music community and enthusiastic audiences who love to support local bands. We look forward to more interviews and more exposure in Austin for many years to come. Thank you for everyone’s support who is reading this and thanks to Deli Austin for doing this interview.
Love,
The S4S boys
–Mitchell Mazurek
NYC
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Shayna Zaid & The Catch win free studio time at Innovative Music Studio
As you all should be aware by now, The Deli’s mission is to give local artists free exposure and opportunities. Recently Innovative Music, the Manhattan based recording studio, gave to The Deli readers the opportunity to win a FULL DAY (8 hours) of free studio time – there will be more, so stay tuned! We can now announce that the winners of this first studio time giveaway (chosen directly by the studio’s owner Joe Hernandez) are our February Band of the Month Shanya Zaid and the Catch – congrats!
NYC
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Best of NYC #30: Zombie Dogs
We continue our "Best of NYC Countdown", covering every day one of the artists that made our Year End Best of NYC list (a chart compiled by a jury comprised of local bloggers, music writers, promoters, record store personnel and DJs).
In a world dominated by male bravado, all-female hardcore punk troupe Zombie Dogs do their part to insure that the girls can get their rocks off in the basement as well. This preservationist Brooklyn troupe (whose four-song demo PUG’S NOT DEAD is lovingly only available on cassette) exude the virtues of a raw DIY approach with an understanding of the basic fundamentals of the genre intact, championing an all guns blazing sound straight from the back alley of an all-ages matinee. This quartet’s simple but effective delivery is far from original and definitely treads familiar ground, yet Zombie Dogs stays true to the roots of the matter, supplying genuinely visceral stabs of noise-mongering mayhem that harkens back to a simpler time when beer was cheap, drugs were cheaper, and studded jackets weren’t sold at Hot Topic. – Mike SOS
Philadelphia
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Turn On, Tune In and Drop Out at JB’s June 24
It’s no secret that we seriously dig Ravens and Vultures. We were honored that they performed at our first Tunes Whiz Wit Showcase at JB’s, and Last Love was on repeat in our players for weeks so we had to feature it as our CD of the Month. Their tunes often float gracefully like a jellyfish through ocean waters, but the ladies can certainly get down and dirty with the help of Andrew Ryan’s meticulous detail to their bleeps and bombs of computer-generated goodness. They’ll be joining this week’s featured Artist(s) Who Deserves Your Friendship Sun Airway (checkout the writeup below) and Eat Your Birthday Cake. As an added bonus, you’ll be treated to some amazing multimedia work from Ricardo at klipcollective. This guy knows how to seriously fuck with your brain – a true visual artist. You may have seen some of his work over the years at a number of Dave P events. This is definitely one of my “psychedelics recommended shows”. Johnny Brenda’s, 1201 N. Frandkford Ave., 9pm, $10, 21+ – Q.D. Tran
L.A.
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The Material is in the studio
If you’ve played Rock Band, chances are you’ve come across the downloadable song "Moving To Seattle" by The Material. These unsigned rockers, who hail from LA and San Diego, are in the studio hard at work on their upcoming album full of well crafted rock tunes. If their previous work is any indication, they may just be the be the best band you’ve never heard of. They’ll be touring all summer but you can catch them Thursday, June 24th at the The Troubadour with headliners Every Avenue.
Philadelphia
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Cheers Elephant Playing All Ages Show at WCL June 24
With a sound somewhere between folk rock and Brit-pop, Cheers Elephant are sure to keep you tantalized with their high-energy and toastable tunes. Their portfolio includes Beatles-esque vignettes bordering children’s songs like the crowd-pleaser “Comment Allez-Vous?” as well as psychedelic road songs like “Here We Are”. They’ll be headlining an all ages showcase for Origivation Magazine tonight. Looks like they have a busy summer full of shows planned this year after keeping relatively quiet in 2009. Lucky us! World Café Live, 3025 Walnut St., 9pm, $7, All Ages (Photo from 215mag.com) – Katie Bennett
Philadelphia
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Arc in Round Hosting the Naked Hearts at KFN June 24
Experimental shoegaze quartet Arc in Round is ready to hit the stage for another home show at Kung Fu Necktie tonight. Once you listen to songs like “Spirit” and “Said Astray”, you may become hypnotized by the ambient guitar work and haunting compositions. Opener will be the incendiary Midnight Sounds, a dark garage throwback outfit that features members of Gildon Works, Trouble Everyday, stellastarr, and Ink & Dagger. Ever since playing their first show in January, the band has created some entertaining songs that will be setting the tone for the evening. You’ll also be treated to the Naked Hearts, whose latest album Mass Hysteria is The Deli NYC’s CD of the Month. They’ll be hooking up with Arc in Round again after last night’s gig in NYC at the Cake Shop. Kung Fu Necktie, 1250 N. Front St., 8pm, $5, 21+ – Bill McThrill