DC’s pop rock songstress Carol Bui has a new single out "Mira: You’re Free With Me", and thusly a homecoming celebration to promote it on the backstage of the Black Cat on Dec. 8. It’s off her upcoming third album Red Ship (release date 3/8/11) which we’ll be out on Bui’s own label, Ex Oh Records. ‘The single brims with the musicality that caused Pitchfork to call Bui’s previous album “…a punk-bred record where the guitar is loud but the tunes prevail” and My Old Kentucky Blog to proclaim it the completion of the rock trifecta that also includes Liz Phair’s Exile In Guyille and PJ Harvey’s Rid of Me.’"

Also joining in on the stage action are Kristeen Young, and Lucia, Lucia. (Doors @9 $10)

Twin Sister’s idyllic songs are the stuff that dreams are made of. It’s nearly impossible to describe the group’s sound without using the word “dreamy.” Coincidentally, the Brooklyn quintet’s 2008 debut EP is entitled, Vampires with Dreaming Kids but it’s really the pacifying effect of the thick viscosity of Andrea Estella’s breathy voice that hints of Chan Marshall’s smoky pipes paired with the band’s hazy lo-fi warmth that get listeners caught up in reveries. On Twin Sister’s follow-up EP Color Your Life, the band expands its sonic palette with a diverse array of haunting tracks. From the disco-influenced “All Around and Away We Go” to the sleepy romanticism of “Lady Daydream,” the band is able to manipulate different structures and mark them with its signature sound.Regardless of their genre leaps, listeners will never want to wake up from the aural dreamworld they’ve created. – Read Nancy Chow’s interview with the band here.

A consummate blend of rock ‘n roll and psychedelia with a touch of new wave and soul, Brooklyn-based Blackbells, Ben Rice (vocals/guitar), Anthony Stella (guitar/vocals), Seth Bulkin (bass), and Austin Schumacher (drums) adopt the best of both classic and indie sounds to create a refreshing style of rock. Their self-titled, self-released EP features four tracks of great craftsmanship and quality. Ringing remnants of the British-invasion and rock standards fuse with infectious choruses, polished vocals, driving backbeats, and bluesy tinges on the freewheeling “This Is Home,” cathartic “High Healer,” seductive “Young Again,” and echoing and impassioned “Before the Flood.” Consistently producing new material, Blackbells offer a new twist on their set for each performance, and their upcoming releases and shows are sure to keep the good thing they have going, going. – Read Meiojin Bruttomesso’s interview with the band here.

Here’s the first Delicate Steve video, Featuring Dirty Projectors’ Nat Baldwin. We covered Delicate Steve a bunch of times, check out this recent Delicious Audio interview about recording his debut album.

The namesake of the garage rock/power-pop combo The Tyler Trudeau Attempt lives in Brooklyn, but to make the video for "These Are Dark Times," Trudeau and filmmaker Anthony Giordanella hung around in the post-industrial grimescape adjacent to downtown New Haven, CT, the Attempt’s ancestral hometown. "…Dark Times" is the A-side to The Tyler Trudeau Attempt’s new 7" single via February Records (also available as a digital download here). Meanwhile, "Hey Turdo!," culling 15 highlights from several years’ worth of bands led by Trudeau (including lo-fi hyper-cult fave Women’s Basketball), is available as a free download from the Attempt’s Bandcamp site. Several New York and Connecticut shows are on the horizon, including Jan. 5 at Spike Hill. – (as posted in The Deli’s Open Blog – post your band’s entries, videos, and Mp3s here).

Brooklyn’s Liturgy sparks an interesting debate for the ardent black metal fan to lament over; can a band who openly and wholeheartedly disregards black metal’s trademarked norms yet punishes ears with a similar array of blistering elements passed down from the genre’s elite really be considered black metal? Surely this discussion is bound to go the distance, but rest assured this fresh-faced as opposed to corpse-painted troupe will be too occupied transcending their abominable aural assault through opaque intervals of twin guitar tremolo runs to care about looking the part. Adorned with an unintelligible bestial shriek that fits the music perfectly and solidified with an octopus-esque percussive performance that whirls at breakneck velocity and never misses a beat, this collection of volatile metallic shredding gives props to Burzum, Darkthrone, and Ulver while implementing smidgens of hipster influence within its classically cacophonic crackles and bastardized buzzing to keep the haters hating and the vibe raw, yet maintain a global scope (“Track 7”) which permits an escape from their frosty forest to peruse the vast metal landscape for inspiration before making their solemn sojourn back to the wild. – Mike Sos