New Music, Emerging from your Local Scene
Megan Frestedt and Sam McAllister are friends, record label owners, record producers, and the duo known as Project Film. Megan and Sam will be releasing their debut, Chicago, on November 9th. Here is a sneak peak at of the album, and the track "Motionless".
If you are looking to a break from your steady diet of indie rock head over to Quencher’s Saloon tomorrow night, Sept. 14th, and check out seven-piece jazz band Alysheba. The band released their debut ep, Rattlesnake Studio Sessions, back in April. The ep was recorded and mixed by engineer Caleb Willitz at Rattlesnake Studios, and it captures the full and complex sound of the band. Alysheba mixes traditional jazz, improvisational, and rock undertones. The live session lasted 6 hours, and was mixed down perfectly. This album is a refreshing change of pace.
Alysheba is performing tonight (Sept 14th) at Quencher’s Saloon at 9pm.
Body Language – an electro-pop outfit we’ve been following for some time – put on a great show at Brooklyn Bowl last Saturday. This band can deliver rambunctious energy, booty shaking dancey beats, angelic melodies, experimental textures and mellower atmospheres at will. To get more from the band, you’ll be able to catch their music video to "Huffy Ten Speed" very soon and listen to their second EP in the fall, featuring three songs that they performed at Brooklyn Bowl and one never-before-heard track. Next NYC date at Highline Ballroom on 10.19 during the CMJ music marathon. – Abigail Devora
[Ed.: Forwarding this on to the Deli readership, help out if you can:]
The night before they were supposed to leave for a 3-week tour, hard working local band, Quiet Company, had their trailer broken into and a majority of their gear stolen.
The band is currently trying to make last minute plans in order to keep their tour dates uninterrupted and needs your help. Below is a list of instruments that were taken from their trailer, which is kept in a secure, gated location, no less. If you have any information, or are able to locate any of the gear below, please contact Paul at: paul@quietcompanymusic.com
Stolen Gear Includes:
1973 Fender Jazz bass (black with white pickguard, black block inlays in the neck, original bridge with the saddles zip tied together, Dimarzio pickups, a chunk out of the nut below the G string, pretty roadworn) http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/
Late 90’s American Fender Telecaster (black with white pickguard, punisher sticker likely removed by now) http://www.jhjackson.com/wp-
1994 to 1997 Japanese Fender Baritone Jaguar guitar (black with silver hardware) (looks like this one)http://www.instrumentpro.com/
Epiphone ES-335 guitar (vintage sunburst finish, missing a screw on the tortoiseshell pickguard)http://lh4.ggpht.com/_
Samick hollowbody guitar (walnut finish, f-holes). http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/
Love, Quiet Company
Taylor, Matt, Tommy and Jeff
This Saturday, September 18th, Bisco Smith and brokeMC have put together a great night of hip hop culture. From 2004-2008 the FALLDOWN parties had their home at the original Bushwick DIY venue, Asterisk. Now they bring the same energy and diverse sounds to the new Brooklyn DIY venue Shea Stadium off the Grand St. L stop. Expect a slew of amazing painters slathering canvases right in front of your eyes, live screen-printing of shirts and bags and whatever you bring by Werdink.com, killer DJs, and some amazing local hip hop acts including Bisco Smith (pictured), Deathrow Tull, Rosetta Stoned and True Theory. If you never made it to a FALLDOWN party before, now is your chance to make up for it. $7 (Ladies free before 11pm), 18+, doors at 9:30pm.
Crystal Stilts was (probably) the band that started the whole "nu-surf-psych-punk" trend – and we liked their debut CD "Alight of Night" so much that we gave them the cover of our 17th NYC issue. The Brooklyn droners just announced the upcoming release of a new single (you can stream the two songs in it here and here) and of a full length album scheduled to hit our ears in early 2011. The band will play live at The Rock Shop in Gowanus on 10.29 after a long time – mark dat calendar of yourz!
MusicfestNW is a beast on the wallet of those working through the weekend. However, the $17 dollar entrance (or whichever overpriced wristband chosen) to Thursday’s show at the Crystal Ballroom never felt like a waste (the $5-plus soda and vodka was, however). Setting off the night were Past Lives, a Seattle post-hardcore band comprised of members of the Blood Brothers (yeah, one of the singers). At times, Past Lives dipped into the past lives of its respective genre, with noodling guitar lines and swerving rhythms. Yet, spaghetti western and surf-influenced guitar lines interrupted an unwelcome stroll down an all too familiar Pacific Northwest sound (Minus the Bear, These Arms are Snakes, and Blood Brothers naturally).
The full-force sound of Ted Leo and the Pharmacists was the deciding factor of my attendance. Rarely can such a song-smith produce quality pieces of rock-music that defy what’s "in" at the time. Leo’s tunes are timeless, so they’re always in. The four-piece plowed through much of this year’s great The Brutalist Breaks with a couple of crowd-pleasers, "Where Have all the Rude Boys Gone?" and "Sons of Cain." Ted Leo’s rapid-fire set deceived the band’s obvious maturity to rest of the bill.
Full-disclosure, I’d yet to purchase a complete Thermals album. Just my luck, as much of the set was comprised of tunes from the recently released Personal Life. While an album documenting a failed relationship doesn’t sound like great live material, the Thermals brought the rock. The album’s new single, "I Don’t Believe You," was a distinct high-light. As long as I didn’t listen to the lyrics, everything was great. Fan-favorites provided the tail-end of an inspired set. "Now We Can See," "Pillar of Salt," and "Returning to the Fold," and an encore cover of "My name is Jonas" made the cavernous and oft-alienating Ballroom into a great singalong. MFNW’s Thursday was a night of earnest, strong rock. Even if this was the highlight of the weekend, what a highlight indeed.
-Nick Walker
Waking Lights‘ orchestral psych folk sure doesn’t lack in originality, character and good songs. And variety! These guys have the rare gift of sounding rootsy and innovative at once – a gift they share with The White Rabbits and Motel Motel. We really dig the song "Only the Sex", with its exotic sounding strings and Doorsy organ parts. The song’s overall psychedelic atmosphere (and the rousing chorus in particular) are reminiscent of our good old friends The Occasion (cover of Deli issue #5). In the band’s other tracks you’ll find some aggressive bluesy numbers and several folk-ish songs with "telephoned" vocals floating on a controlled carpet of – alternatively – acoustic guitars, keyboards, feedback and strings. The NJ/Brooklyn based band will celebrate the digital release of their latest record ""The Rabbit Hole" 7” on September 17 with a show at Maxwel’s in NJ – highly recommended!
Around for 7 years now, NYC heavy psych rockers La Otracina are about to release their fourth album and tour the US in the fall. Recorded in bass player Evan Sobel’s home studio and the band’s rehearsal space over two years (Sobel also recorded/produced NAAM’s s/t debut LP recently released on TeePee Records), "Reality Has Got to Die" blends classic hard rock, early-metal, and prog, but also includes forays into free-jazz, cosmic synthesizer music, and even folk. This is a band that you want to see live – don’t miss the CD release party at Union Pool on September 16.
The term singer-songwriter elicits images of coffee shops, tortured souls and just about any character from “My So Called Life”. That’s why Jay Brannan, though he falls into this art-house trap, is a completely refreshing and bitingly honest turn from the suicide-inducing norm. The openly gay Brannan took the stage at 3rd and Lindsley Wednesday night looking every bit the quirky solo act, and also one that could have just stepped out of an Urban Outfitters catalogue.
What followed was an earnest set (and the stuff little boys’ dreams are made of) as he gave a performance that seemed to be a mixture of his Facebook “About Me” page and the heartaches that would never make it to the cyber world. His voice was chillingly clear and in choir-like perfect pit throughout the show. Putting a new face to the traditional angry girl folk singer, he makes the genre his fabulous own.
With only two studio albums under his belt, he played songs that fans have come to expect (evident by the applause that came within the first two chords of each song he played.).Beginning with the song “Home”, he set the mood for a night filled with similar sentiments that are found in the lyrics, “Late nights in Hollywood/Banging guitars and boys/ Swing sets and cigarettes were our joys.” Ani Difranco would be proud; Ann Coulter would be disturbed.
He followed with almost every track from his 2008 release “Goddammed,” and interjected some notable covers: “Zombie” (The Cranberries), Black Boys on Mopeds (Sinead O’Connor) and “Every Little Bit” (Patty Griffin). Perhaps the most unique cover was Lady Ga Ga’s “Nothing Else I Can Say,” before which he told the audience if they remembered nothing else from this show they should take with them the first lyrics of the song, which are: “Cherry, cherry boom boom gaga.” Sorry to disappoint you Jay, but I get the feeling the audience took away a different message altogether. Which is somewhere along the lines of: Forget the Rufus Wainwright comparisons, Jay Brannan is his own (more disarming) force to be reckoned with. – Krystal Wallace
