NYC

NYC Artists playing CMJ – Lachi, Village Underground, 10.23

Posted on:

Songstress, vocalist, and keyboardist Lachi, and her band, Jamie Diaz (Bass), Andre Donatien (guitar), and Jimmy Fontanez (drums) combine their skills to generate an enchanting and airy style of piano-driven rock. Lachi distinguishes herself from a straightforward soul singer by adding exotic flair to her nuanced tone, channeling spiritual roots as she sings about beauty, determination, and human nature on the melancholy “ Ugly Girl,” syncopated “ Slow Down,” and haunting rock track, “ Dear Happiness,” from Lachi’ s self-titled, third album released this past summer. Album standout, “ We Can Fly” opens with robotic, muffled vocals and lo-fi recording quality which transition to uplifting clarity. Lachi offers an alternative to alternative rock, and her enthusiasm for her art is made clear through her impassioned performances. Lachi will be playing the CMJ Music Marathon at The Village Underground on October 23.- Meijin Bruttomesso

Philadelphia

The Deli’s CMJ Music Marathon Guide to Philly Artists

Posted on:

It’s that time of year again. The CMJ Music Marathon begins today. Now, we know that’s NYC news, but we’ll be heading up there and so will some of your favorite Philly acts. While there does seem like a lack of participation from some of the bigger names that you’d expect to be there representing Philly, we certainly don’t lack any waves of up-and-comers ready to crash the party! Here’s our Philly artists guide to CMJ.
 
The Deli Magazine will be presenting 8 Official CMJ showcases throughout NYC/Brooklyn spanning a wide array of genres. We are happy to be hosting Strand of Oaks (a.k.a. Timothy Showalter), who has been receiving an enormous amount of critical acclaim and deservedly so for his latest album Pope Killdragon, at The Living Room on Oct. 21. We’ll also be bringing the epic hard rockin’ harmonious sounds of the mighty Univox to Spike Hill on Oct. 22.
 
Reading Rainbow looks like they’ll be the busiest of our local crew of folks invading the Big Apple. Our most recent Best of Philly Poll winner will be giving everyone at the festival a taste of their upcoming release Prism Eyes due out Nov. 23 via Hozac Records. Reading Rainbow will be opening their CMJ 2010 at their label’s showcase with Impose Records at Don Pedro on Oct. 21. Another Official CMJ Performance includes Oct. 23 at Cake Shop for the Pop Tarts Suck Toasted Showcase with Lehigh Valley’s Soars, as well as an unofficial CMJ show in their typical DIY fashion at Party Xpo.
 
Piano popsters Jukebox the Ghost will be making the rounds first off at the Sneak Attack Party on Oct. 20 at The Delancey. They’ll be pulling double duty the next day with an early evening appearance at Stratosphere Sound for the Maker’s Mark/Insound.com Party and later at Bowery Electric for Bella Union/Yep Roc Official Showcase with labelmates Drink Up Buttercup. Sun Airway will be making their CMJ debut with their pedigrees on their sleeves at Pianos on Oct. 21 for Jagjaguwar/Secretly Canadian/Dead Oceans Official CMJ Showcase and The Windish Showcase at Rockwood Music Hall on Oct. 22. 
 
Penrose will be breaking the seal for the Philly artists today when they bring their big classic rock riffs to Arlene’s Grocery for the No Pulp Showcase. You’ll be able to catch them, TJ Kong and the Atomic Bomb (who will be at Spike Hill on Oct. 21) and a slew of local up-and-comers this Oct. 31 in Philly for the TJ Kong_Halloween_CostumeBall_RockandRoll_Murdershow presented by The Deli Magazine and Spaten.
 
Other Philly artists making the trek up to CMJ include Good Old War, The Armchairs, American Babies, Br’er and Avi Wisnia. You can check out the Official CMJ 2010 schedule for more info here. (Feel free to post any local peeps that we missed in our comments section.)
 
– The Deli Staff
 
Philadelphia

A Sunny Day in Glasgow Release FREE Downloadable Album!

Posted on:

The dreamy ladies and gents from A Sunny Day in Glasgow are back with a new offering entitled Autumn, Again, and it’s available for FREE download here, but we’re sure that they’d gladly accept your donation. It’s self-released and also available in limited edition maroon 12” vinyl. They’ll be doing a northeast mini-tour in support of their recent release starting next week, but no Philly dates scheduled yet. And it looks like the tour opener in Washington D.C. will be moved to the Rock & Roll Hotel due to the crazy shit that went down at DC9 the other night. – The Deli Staff

Fall in love by A Sunny Day in Glasgow

Austin

From the Open Blog: Leatherbag + Friends @ Ruta Maya!

Posted on:

Ruta Maya HQ is proud to announce the Thursday night residency of Austin’s Leatherbag commencing this October/November. Leatherbag have been turning heads w/ their brand of New Sincerity Rocknroll, earning them a spot in ACL 2009 & opening for cool hitters like Robyn Hitchcock and the Venus 3 & Alejandro Escovedo. Amidst a good game of praise from critics for their recent 2010 LP release of Hey Day, Leatherbag strikes up this South Austin residency in October & thru November on the Ruta Maya stage. Randy Reynolds (vox/guitar) is joined by Tammany Hall Machine’s Geoff Dupree (guitar) & Drew Emmons (bass), along w/ Kyle Ponder (drums) to increasingly take the rocknroll road in lieu of a singular singer-songwriter bent.

Each week Leatherbag will be introducing new material alongside 2 featured guest bands. Randy Reynolds personally had a hand in curating the parade of talent, that includes: Wiretree, Future Clouds & Radar, Bryce Clifford, Precious Blood, These Mad Dogs of Glory, The Archibalds, rtb2, The Bremen Riot, Excited States, Frank Smith, Paperbird, The Bruce James Soultet, Graham Weber, & The Service Industry.

To celebrate the residency, 2 Leatherbag 2009 EPs "Tomorrow" & "Everything I Once Knew" have both been re-mixed & re-mastered and will be available for free download as 1 disc on October 7th proper, featuring new artwork by local artist Chase Macalskey. Please visit http://leatherbag.bandcamp.com/ for FREE download! LEATHERBAG Thursday Residency at Ruta Maya HQ October/November 2010 Austin, Texas. 8pm doors, 9pm show. $6, $5 if you bring 2 friends.

(Ed.: this post taken from Leatherbag’s post on our DIY Open Blog, check out other Open Blog posts in the Deli Kitchen.)

New England

VulGarrity Release “Dance 2 the Grave” Friday at Providence’s Colosseum

Posted on:

VulGarrity, one of this month’s Band of the Month nominees, release their new album, "Dance 2 the Grave," this Friday at Providence’s Colosseum.  VulGarrity have always had a dark, edgy overtone to their music, and they’ve fully embraced it with this album.  The duo (that’s right – and keep it in mind when you listen to their music!) spellbinds live:  they both sing, they rotate drum and bass duty, and they also manage to add layered and harmonizing guitar to the mix via loop pedal.  They nail the epic, swooping guitar licks and double vocals of the hair metal days of yore, while thumping drums and wildly fuzzy bass propel the songs with a more modern groove.

Check out the video for their new single, "Freakshow," here.  Then catch the CD release party – the price of the album is included in admission (which is only $8 advance and $10 at the door), and the show is also a costume party and contest!  Also performing are Echo Son, Arma, and SEXCoffee.

10/22 / Colosseum / $8 adv, $10 door / 7:30pm / All Ages

– The Deli Staff

Nashville

Review of Gabrahm Vitek’s, “Soular Flares”

Posted on:

It seems Gabrahm Vitek was hardly resistant to the band of gypsies that captured him in his sleep. Feeding him nothing but soul, Mr. Vitek has been munchin’ on some funky jazz with some jivy cats. Marginally different from anything I remember hearing at Christopher’s Pizza in 2007, I can assure you that soul-tapped and face-lifted, Mr. Vitek has seen the light.

His latest full length album, Soular Flares, flows as smooth as the lively licks it encases. Gabe has put some serious concentration into making an album that transitions flawlessly. Intentionally starting things out on a train ride to the heart of the record, he breaks things up with three instrumental interludes, showcasing his dive into compositional experimentation as he swims around sounds like Radiohead’s MK1 and Pulk/Pull Revolving Doors.

Sandwiching these Radiohead-esque interludes are effortlessly catchy songs like “Your Turn”, “It’s On”, “You Got Fire” and “No Look Dancing”. (Check out the music video for "No Look Dancing" here). Up-beat and full of soul, you can expect to hear some vibrant horn solos, powerhouse backup vocals, and classic Gabrahm Vitek piano riffs. A delightfully interesting match-up, Gabe’s poppy vocals (at times Ben Folds, at times Jamie Cullum, at times straight Vitek) have a way of jumping around on a bed of jazzy instrumentation, yielding some very fresh originality.

Gabe dresses up his thoughts on love, women, and coming of age through his contagiously danceable beats – however, he doesn’t forget to slow things down with intimate and personal tracks like “Needle + Thread”. Despite this healthy combination, it’s obvious that “No Look Dancing” is the core of the album – allowing listeners to kick off their shoes and let go of the reins.

Soular Flares feels like one of those records where one lightbulb led one artist deep into a cave of invention – remaining reclusive until the music baby was ready to be born. Lucky for us, Gabrahm Vitek will be releasing this gem, polished and perfected, October 22nd at The Basement. Not to mention he has roped in a solid A-team of Nashville’s finest rhythm and groove players. I’ll see you there.–Mackenzie Grosser

Chicago

GateKeeper’s Giza

Posted on:

The electronic duo GateKeeper is back with a new six song ep that will be released on December 13th by Merok Records. The ep is called Giza, and is the follow to last years debut Kompakt’s Fright imprint. The duo bends techno, Chicago house, italo-disco and industrial, and rely heavily on synths. On this is ep GateKeeper creates their own world of sound, which seems to have a mythology all of its own. This story is visualized in part in their new video for the track "Chains" from Giza.

Philadelphia

The Deli’s Featured Artist(s) of the Month: Nicos Gun

Posted on:

Recent poll winners Nicos Gun (yes, no apostrophe please) have only been together for a little over a year, but the four-piece’s silky, smooth dance tracks sound surprisingly polished. We had a chance to catch up with co-founder of the band, Barney McKenna, to get the scoop on his beef with Geno’s and Jim’s, playing with guns, plans for a Nicos Gun documentary and more.
 
The Deli: How did Nicos Gun start?
 
Barney McKenna: We started when I stopped playing with my band Cortez Cortez (whose album was reviewed on your site). Me and Nick Bockrath (Cortez Cortez bass player) started recording with Harry Zelnick who I’ve known since I was a teenager (we both grew up in Philly). Harry was a hip hop producer and a friend of mine. Harry has produced for Ludacris, Freeway, and Beanie Sigel. He’s the drummer/collaborator now of Nicos Gun. I wrote some songs that Harry helped me produce. Then we began writing stuff together and producing it at a studio on 4th and Callowhill. We’re all into the same type of bands like Prince, LCD Soundsystem, Gang of Four, The Jesus and Mary Chain, Talking Heads, Justice. Andy Black is a great bassist in the area and he joined us for our first show and we’ve been together since then (around September 2009).
 
TD: Where did the band name come from?
 
BM: Me and Harry worked at a shoe repair store downtown owned by an old greek guy named Nico. He kept a luger behind the cash register, and we used to pull it out when we closed the store. One time Harry dropped the gun and it went off in the store. There was a hole in the wall that Nico saw, and he fired us after that.
 
TD: What are your biggest musical influences?
 
BM: Talking Heads, Prince, The Jesus and Mary Chain, Grandmaster Flash, Beck, David Bowie.
 
TD: What artists are you currently listening to?
 
BM: Carsick Cars, Nirvana, MSTRKRFT, Liquid Liquid.
 
TD: What’s the first concert you ever attended and the first album you ever bought?
 
BM: The first big concert I ever attended was Lyle Lovett. My aunt took me to see him. He had cool hair, and I liked his guitar. I was 8. The first album I ever bought was Nevermind by Nirvana when I was 9.
 
TD: What do you love about Philly?
 
BM: I love how many talented people are in this city and how cheap it is to live. Growing up here your friends with every type of race and class. It is a good melting pot of a town where I’ve witnessed very different people hanging out. 
 
TD: What do you hate about Philly? 
 
BM: I hate Geno’s cheesesteaks and the ignorant people who work there and own that store. I hate Jim’s cheesteaks and the idiots who wait in a line around the corner for a shitty fattening sandwich. I hate that there’s becoming fewer and fewer nice venues to play and the urgency for bands to leave the city to gain any type of success. 
 
TD: What are your plans for 2010? 
 
BM: Mix our album, release our EP. Continue booking shows in other cities. Making music videos, and finishing a documentary on the band and our life.
 
TD: What was your most memorable live show?
 
BM: Jay Reatard at Johnny Brenda’s. 
 
TD: What’s your favorite thing to get at the deli?
 
BM: Chicken soup 
 
(Photo by Matthew Dodd)
 
– The Deli Staff
 
Chicago

California Wives’ Blood Red Youth

Posted on:

If you were holding off on purchasing the debut ep, Affair from California Wives, the band has released a track from the ep that might change your mind. "Blood Red Youth" is a beautifully written pop filled with catchy melodies, and biting lyrics.

The band will be performing at Schubas on December 22nd, but first they will be stopping by Daytrotter to record a session next month.

NYC

Reckless Sons rock CMJ thrice

Posted on:

Reckless Sons will be gracing three different stages at this year’s CMJ Music Marathon, which makes perfect sense for a band that has appeal across a variety of NY boroughs. CMJ will be the band’s fourth appearance since their line-up reincarnation, as Matt Butler (vocals) and Anthony Stella (guitar) have been joined by Cass Dillon (guitar/vocals), Josh Pillbox (bass), and Hari Gangleberger (drums). In addition to the three new members and trey of CMJ shows, Reckless Sons have added a few new songs to their repertoire, including “One Step Further,” “Anything But the Truth,” and “She Forgives Me in the Morning.” Drawing influences from guitar-driven, Brit-rock idols and melding them with contemporary, alternative pop vibes, the quintet is in the process of recording a full-length album. In the meantime, check out Reckless Sons next week at Bowery Electric, Crash Mansion, and the McKibbin Lofts on October 19, 22, and 24, respectively.– Meijin Bruttomesso

NYC

NYC Artists on the rise: Jump Into the Gospel

Posted on:

New York’ s Jump Into the Gospel bounced into the electro-pop at The Studio at Webster Hall on October 13. Sandwiched between Dear Comrade and Diet Kong, Jump Into the Gospel was the “ hallelujah” moment of the night, bringing the evening to its peak with energetic, contagious rhythms, sleek synthesizers, and straight up good pop songs. Powered by Louis Epstein’ s staccato new wave/Brit-pop vocal cadence, JITG pushed through a non-stop set that included “ Humvee Mansion,” for which JITG has a brand new video, “ Photovoltaic,” that featured Epstein hopping up and down his falcetto vocal range atop heavy guitar riffs, bright, synth- driven “ Murder Me,” sing-song, rock track, “ Flagship,” and buzzing and bubbly “ Powerlines.” Some newer tracks, “ Original Fever,” “ St. John,” “ 20212,” and “ Even If We Die” are available for public consumption at live shows only, so be sure to catch Jump Into the Gospel on November 5 at Pianos. -Meijin Bruttomesso