San Francisco

Single Release: Sunbeam Rd. – Basements and Passed Lives

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Keeping to their promise of slowly squeezing out short releases over the course of 2011, Sunbeam Rd. have followed up last months Circular Breathing with Basements & Passed Lives. "Basements" fills the first side with brooding vocals and a delicate guitar melody weaving its way through a sea of drone. Contrasting a bit, "Passed Lives" snaps out of the pensive state of the preceding song with a driving bass line and danceable beat. All in all both tracks, as well as "Circular Breathing," are definitely worth a listen and are available for free on Sunbeam Rd.’s Bandcamp page. They will also be playing a show this Wednesday at the Hemlock with Spiro Agnew and Red Blue Yellow. Check them out.

 

-Ada Lann

Chicago

Kyle Andrews Saves Valentine’s Day

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Are you all alone on this Valentine’s Day? Well, Kyle Andrews has a solution. He has four unique dance partners waiting for you right now. You will both will be dancing to his new track "Sushi (Slow Dancing At Prom)". You can even dance with Kyle himself. I personally enjoyed dancing with Becky, and only received a few strange looks from my co-workers. You can pick you partner here. 

Kyle will be releasing his new album Robot Learn Love will be released this summer.

Nashville

Sam & Tre/KDSML & Sam- Double Album Release, 2/18/11

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Local "electro glitch hip hop" duo, Sam & Tre, will be celebrating their first album release at Mercy Lounge this Friday, along with the album release of "Shack Attack," from DJ Kidsmeal and Sam–(the same Sam of Sam & Tre. Try and say "the same Sam" 5 times fast 😉 The show is presented by Mashville, and it’s $5 for advance tickets, or $7 at the door. You probably don’t wanna miss this show if you enjoy/appreciate the elusive-but-high-quality Nashville hip-hop scene, dancing, dj’s, krunk cups, grillz, live shows, a good time, flashing lights, girls, boys, skirts, etc.–Erin Manning

New England

Invictus Picks — Oranjuly – “Her Camera”

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I met Brian King on Christmas Day at a small get-together. He took on the noble task of playing the acoustic guitar while the rest of us either sang out of tune (me) or shook a shaker for obnoxious’ sake (again, me). Later, after we put our instruments down, I learned that Brian had a band. Oooh, a band I haven’t heard yet: Oranjuly.

Oranjuly

I was a bit perplexed by the name and asked him how he came up with it. Simply put: he was born in July and orange is his favorite color. It wasn’t until a few days later that I pulled up their page on bandcamp and was totally wowed. After listening to “Her Camera” and hopping out of my chair to dance to this ridiculously catchy tune I was admittedly a little surprised. It starts off on the quiet side then BAM! Give it a listen, you’ll see what I mean. When I asked Brian who his influences are he said Jon Bon Jovi’s “Young Guns 2” soundtrack.. He was kidding.


Oranjuly — "Her Camera"

— Danielle Freudenthal

L.A.

Turn On The Sunlight added to L.A. Folk Fest + FREE Download!

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The hypnotizing, ambient duet Turn On The Sunlight has just been added to the bill for L.A. Folk Fest! They will be playing at Pappy and Harriets on the 26th along with He’s My Brother, She’s My Sister, Amanda Jo Williams, and Tommy Santee Klaws. Tickets are $10 and can be reserved online here. Right next to Joshua Tree, 130 miles away from the chaos of Los Angeles, we will be celebrating some amazing psychedelic and enchanting music along with the folk tunes that make you feel at home. Most people are making a weekend out of it and either staying at a cheap motel or camping. The Sunday morning show will be held at Joshua Tree Saloon and will feature Mia Doi Todd, The Driftwood Singers, and Emily Lacy.

As a special Valentines Day gift sure to warm your heart, Turn On The Sunlight has offered a FREE DOWNLOAD of their song "I Love You". This is a much better treat than some stale chocolates or a wilting rose. 

Stay tuned for more info on L.A. Folk Fest…hopefully you are as excited as we are!

–Jenna Putnam

Philadelphia

The Deli’s Philly Best Emerging Artists Poll – Top Performers: Strand of Oaks

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Timothy Showalter, a.k.a. Strand of Oaks, lived in Wilkes-Barre, PA before coming to Philadelphia. That’s very close to my hometown, but don’t take it as simple bias when I say there’s something special going on with his music. From the poignant storytelling of “Daniel’s Blues” to the dark ascent of “Bonfire”, there’s some sinister power at work in those verses. It might just be the mark of a man who’s went through more hard times than most of us can say, but you’ve probably read his story by now so we won’t rehash the past. It’s something that he’d like to forget, and his new outlook has proven successful. In the past year alone, he’s made long strides. Releasing his latest Pope Killdragon (which has received much critical acclaim), having his “Last to Swim” video premiered by Pitchfork, landing a Daytrotter session (where his recording of “Lawns Breed Songs” made their “Best of Daytrotter 2010” list), and going on his first national tour has given Showalter plenty to be thankful for this past year. Perhaps this is a sign that the voice-and-guitar tradition is still alive and well. As long as there’s soul involved, the most minimal of arrangements can be effective, and the most unexpected of topics can be stirring. – Joe Poteracki
 

Strand of Oaks | "Last To Swim" from Memory Drift

Philadelphia

The Deli’s Philly Best Emerging Artists Poll – Top Performers: Party Photographers

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Party Photographers is another Philly band that took the local indie music scene by storm in 2010. When the track “Piano Vache” started circulating the internet, out came the comparisons to The Jesus and Mary Chain, and their underground legion of fans started paying attention to the noisy rock outfit. Party Photographers soon released their self-titled 7” on Ian Records (our Philly Record Label of the Year 2010 which is also run by lead singer Elizabeth Rogers’ husband Ian Galloway). The band was chosen to participate in Weathervane’s “Shaking Through” (that was curated by Yvynyl’s Mark Schoneveld) as well as recorded live performance sessions with radio stations WPRB and Y-Rock on XPN. Party Photographers already digitally released the Children Of Men/Negative Space 7” to start off 2011 so you’ll be sure to hear more from them this year. – Alexis V. 

Shaking Through Vol 1 Ep 10: Party Photographers from Weathervane Music

Nashville

Little Viking @ Springwater, 2/11/11

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Little Viking shook the walls of Springwater Friday night. After a ballad of broken strings and early mishaps, the band finally broke the carbonated silence with their surfer garage rock harmonies and choppy riffs. What started out as a loose and sloppy representation of an underground scene soon turned into a set that can only be described as vivid . They played songs from their EP Howling at Earth, and got the crowd howling themselves with the opening riffs of "Nicole and Carl Sagan." The grungy, lo-fi punch of this band compliments other Nashville natives like Big Surr and may even have enough of a following to bring this sub-culture to the light. Plain and simple, these guys are loud and electric. Don’t let the surf-rock roots mislead you; their sound is bigger than the small stage of Springwater.

Little Viking announced on stage, "This will be our last show for a long time" since they are writing new songs, and will soon be at Battle Tapes recording a new album. Seeing this four-piece live left me itching for a new album, since their cassette tape EP was only a teaser of three tunes. Their sound is nostalgic and progressive, which is just as contradicting as their band and track titles, but what their songs really lacked were endings – they would just fizzle out, along with the attention of some of the audience in the back of the room. For the most part though, heads were nodding, bodies were swaying and they kept our attention. This show left me seriously anticipating the new Battle Tapes sessions. – Beau Welsh

NYC

Buke and Gass open for Lou Reed and Laurie Anderson!

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Deli Summer 2008 cover band Buke and Gass‘ raise to legendary status seems to proceed unstoppably. After supporting SF experimental indie masters Deerhoof, the band was asked to open for NYC scene legends Lou Reed and Laurie Anderson on Tuesday 02.15 at John Zorn’s venue The Stone in the East Village.
The Brooklyn based duo of multi-instrumentalists builds their own instruments and has forged one of the most edgy, unique and innovative sounds we’ve heard in a long time. This show’s ticket might be a little expensive for our readers ($40), but these guys play regularly regular and DIY venues in the two rock NY boroughs – if you can’t afford this show, don’t miss their next affordable show.
Read: The Deli’s feature about Buke and Gass – Delicious Audio interview with Buke and Gass about their instruments

Philadelphia

Hoots & Hellmouth Return Home at Tin Angel Feb. 14

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Hoots & Hellmouth are returning home tonight to the Tin Angel to perform an early and a late set (well – late for the Tin Angel). They’ve been on tour so the rompin’ & stompin’ crew should be nice and warmed-up for this evening. It hasn’t been posted on the Tin Angel site yet, but both performances are most likely sold out by now so if you were hoping for them to be part of your Valentine’s plans and you haven’t grabbed your tickets, sorry, you snooze; you lose. Hoots & Hellmouth are scheduled to be heading down to SXSW next month. Also expect a new full-length from them in the relatively near future that was funded by the generosity of their fans through Kickstarter. Tin Angel, 20 S. 2nd St., 7:30pm & 9:30pm, $15, 21+ – H.M. Kauffman