L.A.

The Violet Shades and The Shoestring Prophets TONIGHT at The 5 Star Bar

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L.A. based Violet Shades carry the swagger and pent-up energy of a gritty Indie rock band from NYC. (The Strokes perhaps?) Their compressed vocals, creative drumming, melodic basslines, and intricate guitar riffs spew alternately soulful and overeager jams over street-corner clatter. Brodie Reeds vocals interchange between distorted crys and melancholy wails that send the band afloat down the highway of modern rock. The Violet Shades will be playing a show this Friday the 7th at The 5 Star Bar in Downtown L.A. The indefinable sound of The Shoestring Prophets will be accompanying VS on stage. Their folk-driven vocals, rock steady drumming, and bluesy guitar will have you trading shuffles with the devil down Memphis into the Mississippi delta, leaving you lost in your tracks in the place you know best. 

–Margarita Castellanos

NYC

Best of NYC Submissions, SONGWRITERS: Amber Rubarth, Bird Call, Lucius

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In selecting the nominees for our Best of NYC Emerging Artists 2010 Poll from the Songwriter category we decided to be a little more generous, because many of the jurors from venues playing acoustic music we contacted (like Rockwood and Pete’s Candy Store) didn’t cast a vote for some reason.  The ladies kinda trashed the gentlemen in this category (our jurors – for the record – were a boy and a girl). Thumbs up to Amber Rubarth (middle picture) and Bird Call (top picture), who tied on top of the chart, and blonde duo Lucius, who came close third. They all had an average rating above 8.

Category: Singer Songwriters
Region: NYC + NJ + Long Island
Jurors: Deli Chicago and New England Editors

1. Amber Rubarth – NOMINATED FOR THE NEXT PHASE
1. Bird Call – NOMINATED FOR THE NEXT PHASE
3. Lucius – NOMINATED FOR THE NEXT PHASE

4. Argyle Johansen
5. Linda Draper
5. Lisa Jaeggi
7. Alfonso Velez
8. Craig Greenberg
9. Daniel Wayne
9. Greg Thomas

Philadelphia

Kurt Vile Releases 2nd MP3 “Jesus Fever” from Upcoming New Album!

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Matador Records just posted the second MP3 from Kurt Vile’s Smoke Ring for My Halo that is due out on March 8. Keeping with the religious imagery of the album’s title, the new track is called “Jesus Fever”. It’s catchier and more upbeat than the recent material coming out of the Vile camp. You can take a listen for yourself below and download it for FREE here. There is also new cover art for Smoke Ring for My Halo by Sean Brackbill, which you can take a gander at above. Enjoy! – The Deli Staff
 

Jesus Fever by Kurt Vile 

NYC

Best of NYC Submissions, AVANT-INDIE + ELECTRO ROCK: Arpline

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We have a strong suspicion that Reverb Nation is "stealing" our musical genres – after incorporating the Deli-invented "Mellow Core", we noticed they are now also using our "Avant-Indie" category. It’s all good, as long as we get the credit in the "History of Indie Music Journalism" books to come!
But anyway, with the word "Avant-Indie" we refer to artists like Animal Collective or Grizzly Bear that push the indie "envelop" without venturing in 100% experimental territory (because here the word "experimental" next to "music" makes us think about Philip Glass, Laurie Anderson, John Zorn etc. etc. – not indie artists). Electro rockers Arpline conquered the first position here by some distance, and will therefore join the other nominated artists for the final phase of our Best of NYC Emerging Artists 2010 Poll.

Categories: Avant Indie + Electro Rock
Region: NYC + NJ + Long Island
Jurors: Deli Chicago and SF Editors

1. Arpline – NOMINATED FOR THE NEXT PHASE
2. Home Video
3. Binary Marketing Show
4. Zambri
5. Swingset Committee
6. Kristina Supergenius
7. Great Tiger
8. Mon Khmer
9. Ultraviolet Astronomy
10. PAS

NYC

Best of NYC Submissions, ALT FOLK: Pearl & The Beard + HUFF THIS!

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The "race" for the Alt Folk section of our Best of NYC Emerging Artists 2010 Poll was extremely close and this makes us suffer – the 7 bands in the top 3 positions (5 of them tied on 3rd) all averaged ratings equal to or above 8 out of 10. Due to limited spots we can only take the top two bands to the next phase of the poll: Pearl and the Beard (top picture) and their heartfelt and perfectly harmonized folk, and HUFF THIS! and their sparse and atmospheric songs.

Categories: ALT FOLK
Region: NYC + NJ + Long Island
Jurors: Deli Chicago and Philadelphia Editors

1. Pearl and the Beard – NOMINATED FOR THE NEXT PHASE
2. HUFF THIS! – NOMINATED FOR THE NEXT PHASE

3. Great Elk
3. Lucinda Black Bear
3. Nightmare River Band
3. StickLips
3. The Whispering Tree
8. Like, Mountains
9. Whale Belly
10. Backwords
10. Guitars

Chicago

CD of The Month: Walter Meego

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They’re back! The electro-dance band known as Walter Meego is back with a new line-up, in a new city, and with a new full-length album. The Chicago-natives, now living in LA, released their debut album Voyager back in 2008 through Sony’s Almost Gold label. At the time the band consisted on Justin Sconza (guitar, keyboards and vocals) and Pat Pelligrini and Colin Yarck on production. After Sconza relocated he reformed the band and filled out the sound with Andrew Adzemovic (guitar, vocals), Duncan Thum (vocals, keyboards), Simon Smith (bass), and Tyler Sabbag (drums).

The result is a self-released ten track album called Wondervalley. The result is a bigger sound filled with synth,’80’s pop sounds, and varied of new textures and experiments. Through out the ten tracks you can see how the addition of more live instrumentation, and music perspectives has changed the dynamics, but Sconza’s love of synth-pop is still at the core of Walter Meego’s sound. My favorite track from the album is perhaps the most out of character, "From California". It’s an echoing ballad that documents Sconza’s journey from Chicago to his new sunny home. You can stream the album through the band’s website.

NYC

Best of NYC Submissions: INIDE POP: The Loom, Oh Land

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Results for the Indie Pop open submissions to our Best of NYC Emerging Artists 2010 Poll are in! Curiously enough, the two top artists represent two opposite extremes of our pop scene: The Loom (top picture) won this category with their percussive, abrasive and home crafted orchestral pop, closely followed by Danish import Oh Land and her sophisticated and richly textured pop. Check out the other bands in the top 10, there are some real gems in there, sorry we won’t be able to take them further in our Best New Music of NYC Poll.

Categories: Indie Pop, Orchestral Pop, Mellow Core
Region: NYC + NJ + Long Island
Jurors: Deli LA, Nashville and Philadelphia Editors

1. The Loom – NOMINATED FOR THE NEXT PHASE
2. Oh Land – NOMINATED FOR THE NEXT PHASE

3. Mama Bear
3. Shortwave Sunshine
3. Sinem Saniye
6. Patrick Bower & The World Without Magic
6. The Lives of Famous Men
6. The Secret History
9. Field Mouse
10. Violens
10. Xylos
10. Hailey Wojcik

San Francisco

Best of SF Open Submissions: Here Come The Saviours

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Here Come The Saviours gained the most votes amongst the Bay Area-based artists that submitted to be considered for our Best Emerging Artist Poll 2010. They will therefore go on to the next stage of our poll along with B. Hamilton, The Spyrals, and Ash Reiter.

TOP 10 ARTISTS FROM OPEN SUBMISSIONS

Region: SF Bay Area

Jurors: Deli Washinton DC and Philadelphia Editors

1. Here Come The Saviours – NOMINATED FOR NEXT PHASE

2. B. Hamilton – NOMINATED FOR NEXT PHASE

3. The Spyrals – NOMINATED FOR NEXT PHASE

4. Ash Reiter – NOMINATED FOR NEXT PHASE

5. Callow

6. Fans of Jimmy Century

7. Foreign Cinema

8. Bears! Bears! Bears!

9. Commissure

10. Leilujh

Nashville

Happy Birthday David Bowie 8 off 8th, 1/10/11

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It’s David Bowie’s birthday in two days! In honor of that blessed occasion, there shall be a David Bowie tribute show on January 10th at Mercy Lounge. Performing ALLLLL DAVID BOWIE COVERS will be some of Nashville’s kookiest local bands and artists, wowing the audience with special renditions of songs like "Dance Magic Dance," "Cat People," "China Girl," "Suffragette City," and many many more. If you have other plans that evening, you’d better ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-CHANGE them so you can make it out! Doors are at 8 pm, and it’s FREE! Go here for more details.–Erin Manning

Austin

Best of Austin Open Submissions: Zorch!

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Noise-freaks Zorch topped our list of artists who submitted for consideration in our fast-approaching Best of Austin 2010 poll. Their whirling, swirling, disorienting synth & drums attack is being called "the saving grace of electronically-charged music" (thephotongod blog). They also just happen to be playing as part of Free Week at the Mohawk this Saturday (1/8), along with Attack in Formation, Look Mexico and MoTel Aviv. Here’s our full top ten, all of whom will now move on to the next phase of the poll: 

TOP TEN ARTISTS FROM OPEN SUBMISSIONS:

1. Zorch

2. Horse + donkey

3. She Sir

4. Thai Paul

5. Little Lo

6. Sad Accordions

7. Sarah Jarosz

8. The Boxing Lesson

9. The Pons

10. The Rocketboys 

 

 

Chicago

Sonic Bids Entries and Secret Colours

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First, we would like to thank all of the bands that submitted to our year-end poll through Sonic Bids. We had a ton of great submission, and it was challenging to narrow the field down. The top three selections from Sonic Bids are Secret Colours, Sad Brad Smith and The Giving Tree Band.

Speaking of Secret Colours, the bands released a new digital single today called "Follow The Drone". The band will be performing on Jan. 8th at Subt with Apteka and We Are Hex.

L.A.

Pepper Rabbit Announce 2011 Tour Dates With Ra Ra Riot and Miniature Tigers

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Pepper Rabbit released their debut album, Beauregard, in October with Kanine Records and had spent the fall touring the US with Cotton Jones, Canada with Rural Alberta Advantage, and finished out the year on the west coast with Passion Pit and Freelance Whales. Xander Singh and Luc Laurent are now ready to embrace the New Year, and what better than to embark on another tour?

The band recently announced their upcoming 2011 tour dates on the west coast with non other than Ra Ra Riot and Miniature Tigers, a triple threat that avid indie fans won’t want to miss in action. Orchestrating you through a gallery of sound, filled with bewilderment and charm, the troubadour duo will have you entranced by the whim of their instruments.

-Margarita Castellanos