New Music, Emerging from your Local Scene
SELECTRONICS is a junk pile of abrasive fuzzed out beats and melodic sawtooth slapback synths compressed into a glowing red cube of sound. On the verge of psychedelia, Josh Finck [SELECTRONICS] brings things back down to earth through sampling the familiar – whether it be cutting up your childhood Casio keyboard beats or recording musty pitches from your grandma’s air ducts. Plainly stated: SELECTRONICS aims to overwrite your memory. VHS ep release and Live Dates Coming Soon!
The Mercers don’t need pillow talk as foreplay or to supplement their sound. Without pomp and circumstance, the four members took their positions and filled the Parish Saturday night with thrashing guitars and keening wails. While two fans expressed their enthusiasm with manic turns and leaps, most showed their appreciation with gentle sways and bobbing heads. More joined the dance party (albeit not as extreme as the spinning duo monopolizing the dance floor) as the waves from the speakers grew stronger, climaxing around lucky number seven.
The Mercer’s sound is like contained liquid bubbling over itself: the only thing keeping it from spilling over is the tension and attraction between individual molecules. Peter Wagner’s voice—evocative and resonant; ethereal and redolent—is backed by driving beats from drummer Ethan Herr and bassist Bryan Ray while synthesist Erik Ray adds ornamental flourishes like the jangling of a tambourine in between sips of Lonestar beer.
The set was comprised of tracks from their full-length album Pretty Things Walk as well as their two EPs, Hovercraft and the recently released Giant. Their new song "Urgency" was welcomed by the crowd, though the two improv dancers were shown the door before the Mercers delivered their rendition of the Genesis song "Abacab".
–Resalin Rago
We recently covered this extremely mellow psych-ambient rock band called Baby Alpaca. They just released this new video, which seems perfectly suited for these muggy NYC summer days. The video was filmed on vocalist Chris Kittrell’s family farm in Ohio, his own sanctuary since childhood. Baby Alpaca is currently recording their first album, slated for an end of summer release. Check them out at Glasslands on July 14.
After nearly 3 years of people bugging him to release an album, not to mention being dropped from a record deal literally a month before its release, The Ghost in You finally compiled 9 of his and fans’ favorite tracks, and put together his first full-length himself. Fully mastered from his 4-track cassette recordings, this self-titled debut album is a perfect example of how simple can be beautiful. Download it today on CDBaby, Bandcamp.com and iTunes. (as posted in The Deli’s Open Blog – post your band’s entries, videos, and MP3s here)
The impressive self-titled debut album from Hospital Garden has been released by Ann Arbor’s Cerberus Records. The album is a force, and the twelve consistently hearken back to a time when the word Alternative meant something. This album is powerful, noisy, fun that is bound to be one of your favorite summertime listens.
Local Correspondents, an independent music community, is hosting the 4th Annual LC Fest from July 7 – 11 at Bar4 (picture by Andrew Karcie) in Park Slope, Brooklyn. The free five-night festival, which runs from approximately 7 p.m. to 1 a.m. each night, includes short sets from 65 local New York City acts, mostly singer songwriters. Each night of the festival will end with a DJ dance party that lasts until closing. Four free downloadable compilations featuring studio recordings of many of the performing artists will be available online, beginning with Volume One, available June 7 at localcorrespondents.bandcamp.com. Full schedule here.
After a busy spring with shows in Chicago, Milwaukee, Grinnell College and SXSW, it’s been good to get back to work writing songs this summer. A guy somewhere once said something witty along the lines of “The best song in the world is the one you just finished writing,” and that’s pretty much how we feel about several of our tunes right now, except that our favorite song is still and always will be “Hoogie Boogie Land” by Complete.
Aside from writing songs, Blane Fonda’s working on booking fall shows, hopefully including some college dates. We also played a last minute show at Ronny’s—which turned out to be a real fun night. Coming up around these parts, we’ll be playing Friday July 9 at The Union in Naperville with our friends Aktar Aktar, and on August 27 we have a show at Darkroom. – Charlie Nadler
Charles Burst, formerly drummer and singer of now defunct psych rock NYC band The Occasion, announced a new LP and 7" to be released on July 27th on Ernest Jenning, and a mini East coast tour in July, including a show at Union Hall on 07.16
Mike Schpitz (aka Love Jones) is making his Block Starz debut on August 3rd with his new ep Stanley Ipkiss: Year of The Nice Guy. The ten track ep was inspired by Jim Carrey’s character from the 1994 box office smash "The Mask" and takes listeners on a cinematic ride through everyday life as viewed from the offbeat perspective of Mike Schpitz. The heart and soul of this album are the big beats provided by Rob Bates. The combination of Schpitz and Bates seems natural and at times explosive. This is an album to roll down the windows and blast.
Linda Draper will make her debut performance at Webster Hall on WED. JULY 7th, at 8 PM as part of "Lach Presents 5 Bands for 5 bucks." (Doors open at 7 pm) Linda Draper will be joined by Scott Fragala on bass and Eric Puente on drums for this show. Just how amazing is Scott Fragala?
Does Eric Puente have any relation to Tito? Will Linda Draper pull a Lady Gaga and strip just to capture all you technologically addicted A.D.D. inclined folks who are glued to their iphones 24/7? All of these questions, and more, may or may not be answered at Linda Draper’s EXTRA SPECIAL SUPER SWEET (but not too sweet) show at Webster Hall on Wed. Luly 7th at 8 PM. Full Lineup: 7:30-Julian Lopez, 8-Linda Draper, 9-Jessie Murphy In The Woods, 10- Boom Chick, 11-Ruby Collins More info can be found at Webster Halll’s Events Calendar, here. – (as posted in The Deli’s Open Blog – post your band’s entries, videos, and Mp3s here).
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)
Hello, Sexy. Get out those fierce, bluesy guitars and your funkiest getup. The London Souls do nothing less than command your attention. Close your eyes and flashback to classic rock with a touch of ‘70s soul. With cooler than cooler tracks like, “I Think I Like it,” and “Stand Up,” you’ll want to let your down and get your groove on. Hints of James Brown, Lenny Kravitz, and The Black Keys swirl together like that tie-dyed bandana around your head and rock like that nonchalant peace sign tattoo on your ankle. Punchy, loud and satisfying. – Melissa Wong