Philadelphia

Where Is My Mind?: Chiddy Bang

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You can say that Philly’s alt-hip hop MC/producer duo Chiddy Bang is an overnight success. After releasing their first commercial single, “Opposite of Adults” – the electro-hop track (which samples MGMT’s breakout, “Kids”) – off of their 2009 18-song mixtape, The Swelly Express, they went from the local stage to international forum, signing to UK’s Parlophone Records (with backing in the states from Virgin/EMI), sharing the stage with Kid Cudi and Three 6 Mafia, and playing major festivals like this year’s Glastonbury. But after listening to a Chiddy Bang mixtape, this isn’t a surprise – producer Noah “Xaphoon Jones” Bersein and rapper Chidera “Chiddy” Anagmege blend angular synths, dancefloor pop, indie rock samples, hip hop and afro-beat with on-point spits in such flawless fashion, their eclectic sound just can’t help but be catchy. And, on October 12, they’ll digitally release their first major label record, The Preview, which will feature three old songs and five new ones (their actual, full-length major label debut has been pushed back and is now scheduled for release in 2011). Currently touring stateside and overseas for their “The Swelly Life Tour”, with a stop at the TLA tonight, The Deli had a chance to speak with the dynamic duo Chiddy and Xaphoon about their success, sound, influences, and the idea of ever returning back to school as well as much, much more. Check it all out here!
 
Philadelphia

An Intimate Evening w/Ursula Rucker at JB’s Sept. 2

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Between her spoken word performances at Zanzibar and Painted Bride Arts Center, her contributions to Do You Want More?!!?!!, Things Fall Apart, and other classic albums from The Roots, and her own dynamic recordings, Ursula Rucker has been a poetic songbird tour de force since the 90s. And since she’s scheduled to release a forthcoming album in October titled She Said, a project for King Britt’s FiveSix Media, her fire hasn’t shown any signs of burning out just quite yet. Tonight the soulful muse will be doing an intimate performance at Johnny Brenda’s. So expect to hear favorites from albums like Supa Sista and Silver of Lead, plenty of freestyle flow, and signs of what’s to come. Johnny Brenda’s, 1201 N. Frankford Ave., 9pm, $10, 21+ – Bill McThrill
 
Philadelphia

Deathbeds, Towers and Bubonic Bear at North Star Sept.2

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Deathbeds, Towers, Bubonic Bear – just their names alone make it sound like their set tonight at North Star Bar is going to be a summit of death and destruction. But that’s how I like it – intense aural beatdowns that pound and rip at your ear drums, causing you to explode in a frenzy of head bangs and body slams. Okay, so that’s a little excessive, but it’s hard not to get all extreme when you have Deathbeds’ brutal, guttural, riff-filled hardcore, Towers mile-a-minute punk metal assaults and Bubonic Bear’s crazed noise punk (plus Austin’s Today is the Day) under one roof. North Star Bar, 2639 Poplar Street, 8pm, $12, 21+ (Poster by Mike Wohlberg) – Annamarya Scaccia
 
Portland

Celebrate Strength’s New Record, Friday, September 3, at Holocene!

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It’s been four long years since the synth-disco trio, Strength, self-released its debut LP, the swanky collection of love jams entitled, Going Strong, but this Friday us Portlanders who have been pining over the über-confident threesome will have to wait no more. September 3rd marks the album release party for the baby-makin’-music-makers highly anticipated sophomore effort, Mind-Reader.

If you’ve ever seen Strength perform, you know that Bailey Winters’ sassy, sex-saturated vocals accompanied by catchy Euro-disco hooks and pelvic gyrations aplenty can get even the most tight-laced prick shakin’ his groove thang. With Fake Drugs, DJ Copy and DJ Patricia Furpurse warming up the Holocene crowd, this will, without a doubt, be the sweaty dance party of the summer (or is it fall now?). If you’re yet to be convinced about Strength’s pure sex appeal, check out the mp3 below for the first track off Mind-Reader, "Metal".

 

 

If you’re still not convinced, how about the fact that the show only costs $5? I thought that’d hook ya! See you sexy bitches on the dance floor. Show starts at 9 pm. 21+.

-Katrina Nattress

Portland

Alexis Gideon’s Video Musics II: Sun Wu-Kong Premiere @ Disjecta 09.03.10

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Two years of research and execution have gone by and finally the wait is over for Alexis Gideon’s new “Video Opera."

The one hour film, Video Musics: Sun Wu-Kong, centers on the character Sun Wu-Kong and is based on the 16th-century Chinese novel The Journey to the West. The event starts at 8 p.m., September 3, costs $5 and is open to all ages.

The film is also accompanied by an art show of “stills and fabricated characters," which started August 18, and will run through September 6. The Disjecta website questions the definition of the art and appeal of Gideon’s work with two sets of dichotomies, saying, “Is it film or music? Is it high art or pop?” We say, don’t worry about it ’cause it’s cool and engaging and fun. More info here from previous Deli blog http://portland.thedelimagazine.com/node/2127

Check out excerpts and stills from the film here.

– Joel Sommer

NYC

Kid Cudi is #1 in the Deli NYC Charts

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When a mainstream rapper features indie bands like MGMT and Ratatat on his album, it’s a good indication that he is comfortable to rock outside the boombox. Kid Cudi has received copious press since his single “Day n’ Night” ravaged the blogosphere and Rolling Stone magazine shouted him out as one of the Top Five best indie hip-hop artists of 2008. He’s playful and introspective in his raps, and his beat selection shows an indie mentality that is a rare and welcome change. “Erase me” featuring Kanye West, the first single from his soon-to-be-released second studio album, sounds like a remix of a Weezer song. It’ll sound great at your next BBQ, download it before the summer’s over. – BrokeMC

Nashville

Max and The Wild Things Album Review

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Max and the Wild Things self-titled album is indescribable. The full-length 12-track album offers solid rhythms, catchy guitar riffs, an array of different sounds, and a variety of genres from track to track. Songs like “You Got Your” and “In Tune” present a cleaner guitar sound with standing-bass riffs, while the lyrics reflect their Southern roots, offering listeners more of a folk feel. The band markets themselves as New Wave, Americana and Post Punk, although it is difficult to make any sort of genre classification with this band. (The label of post-punk may be used to denote the brass used in some of the songs, which offers a unique twist to a familiar sound). The band sounds more like a mix of rockabilly with a dab of sound from songs by artists from the 60s, like “Goin’ Down the Road,” by Woody Guthrie. The track “Enough” sounds like a countrified Bob Dylan without the harmonica, as the vocalist sings about having a pack of cigarettes and a lot of sin.

Bringing back the rockabilly sound is a courageous endeavor for Max and the Wild Things. It’s questionable whether the album provides a new sound for eager ears to listen to, because there is a lot of infusing going on throughout each song, which can sometimes detract from originality. In the band’s defense, they admirably try to offer something old and something new. Though the sound of the album as a whole is almost overly retro, and the tracks are reminiscent of a lot of “older- style” music, the talent is indisputable. Download the entire album at their bandcamp page.—EJ Hirsch

Philadelphia

The Deli’s CD of the Month: Try Harder – Sunny Ali & the Kid

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Sunny Ali & the Kid are very minimalist. And by that I mean, if the old "less is more" adage is true, then Sunny Ali & the Kid’s Try Harder EP might as well be a blindingly epic prog suite. None of the songs even reach the three minute mark, and it’s almost funny how well it works. Each track gives you just a taste and nothing more, so you can’t help but go back and listen again, and again…and again.
In this respect, they recall Wire, who managed to cram more invention into fifty seconds than many other bands could in four minutes. In fact, the whole EP sounds like a series of post-punk diversions. Vocals are alternately distant and aggressive; the guitars, when not strumming, are locked in surf-y, angular riffs; and as a whole, the recordings have a trebly, reverberating quality to them.
 
Since singer Hassan Ali left his earlier band POPO, he’s been plugging Sunny Ali & the Kid as a sort of country punk act, even going so far as to dress like an urban cowboy. But there are scant traces of country on Try Harder, or even what one might call folk. There are a few tracks, like the closer "Fuck Me" and the title track, that strum along at a leisurely, country-inflected pace. But the overall effect is something quite different. The songs that really stand out, "You Know What Jawad" and "Cand Stand Ya", with their trebly guitar riffs and dance beats, sound something like Cake (if Cake had been listening to a lot of Gang of Four and the like). And yes, I do hear the “Oh, Pretty Woman” influenced opening riff of "You Know What Jawad". "Skinny Fucker" is straight-ahead punk fury, while "The Best for You…" makes a light, quirky marriage between ukulele and drum machine. There is also a random but enjoyable punkish, garage pop version of “Better Off Alone”, a Euro-dance pop hit for the band Alice DeeJay. So while the record is a rather brief trip, it is an oh so sweet one! You can purchase and download the album here.
 

Cand Stand Ya by Sunny Ali & the Kid

NYC

Neon Indian releases remastered version of Psychic Chasms

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While this week’s scorching heat reminds us that summer isn’t over just yet, our calendars say otherwise – it’s September, people! While fall is just around the corner, Neon Indian (now officially a partly Brooklyn based band) is keeping our summer endless. Starting today, you can download a newly remastered version of Psychic Chasms, to be released with a deluxe edition bonus disc called Mind Cntrl: Psychic Chasms Possessed, on Spinner (the deluxe includes some pretty trippy live tracks and a remix by Au Revoir Simone)! FADER is also giving away the Anoraak remix of “Psychic Chasms” fo’ free on their site. The album art is also pretty cool (just imagine looking at the original with some hippie stunnah shades). Hey, Neon Indian, remember that song “Should’ve Taken Acid with You”? Are you sureeeeee you never tried it at least once? – Alex Daly

NYC

The Rhodes’ acoustic sessions

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The Rhodes, rock quartet hailing from Brooklyn and New Paltz, show a little soft side with a release of all acoustic material on “The Acoustic.” Subdued and sentimental, The Rhodes’ record boasts vocal richness and instrumental nuance. Despite its muddy quality, a live, in-studio version of the band’s gypsy-style “Sweet Shady Lady” remains charming BECAUSE of its unprocessed form. The cleverly titled, “When She Ghost,” and its catching, temperate bossa nova beat, segues into “She Had to Leave,” which channels doo-wop harmonies and lovesick lyrics. “Lauretta” carries on as a charming serenade until the end when it trails off into spooky vocal repetitions. The tracks promptly shift to the musically uplifting, lyrically somber “After It’s Over” and ethereal, poetic “I’ll Be Around,” which drifts into a few measures of unexplained tribal drumming. “Don’t Be Late” embarks with loops of the melody gone backwards and settles into The Rhodes’ cheery saunter before closing the array of acoustics. Rest easy with The Rhodes and check them out live at their New Paltz show on September 10. – Meijin Bruttomesso

Austin

Album Review: Whiskey Priest’s Wave & Cloud

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Seth Woods, The Whiskey Priest, composes a haunting effort in his album Wave & Cloud, which debuted August 23rd.  For the most part, Wave & Cloud is an airy, ghostly sound, with songs that simply have a single line repeated throughout on top of lonely instrumentals.  Wave & Cloud at times showcases the ‘priest’ part of Whiskey Priest, as it has hints of inspiration from a hymnal in its repetitions and sometimes simplistic song structure, and, in rare times, the upbeat life of gospel music.  Wave & Cloud is folk music that will give you the blues, but not without a hint of light and hope in it overall.  Wave & Cloud, if anything, will be the best sermon you’ve heard all week.

–Mitchell Mazurek

Chicago

From Our Open Blog: Aleks Eva @ Empty Bottle

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ALEKS of Aleks and the Drummer is now performing as ALEKS EVA with Icy Demons members Dylan Ryan (drums) and Chris Schreck (synth bass), along with Susan Chalmers playing the bulk of Aleks’ melodies, freeing Aleks to move about on stage and expedite new material. The all new never-before-heard songs sound like Aleks and the Drummer but are prone to be more concise yet more layered, perhaps more accessible while maintaining their individuality. ALEKS EVA and her talented band bring forth catchy music that does not adhere to past formulas or play it safe with current trends but is likely to inspire music that is to come. See them first at the Empty Bottle FREE Monday show on Labor Day 9/6 with Charlie Deets (featuring Deric Criss "the" Drummer!! ) and photo.sans.nom Songs will be posted day of show.