Philadelphia

The OX Preparing to Go LEGIT!

Posted on:

According to a letter from the folks at the OX to A.V. Club Philadelphia (which you can read in its entirety here), our much-beloved DIY venue has plans to move forward and become LEGIT! (Collective – YAY!)  “At the start of the meeting, the subject of whether we should legitimize and proceed with shows was voted in the affirmative by unanimous consent.” The group of 11 roommates (Amber, Andy, Brendan, Colin, Dan, Dominic, Greg, Jorgan, Kostya, Philip, and Sam) plan to bring the space up to code, register themselves as a non-profit, and file the necessary permits with the city. Please look out for any future OX benefit shows or fundraisers, and DONATE! :o) – The Deli Staff
 
New England

Invictus Picks — Roh Delikat — “Tanya Zandra’s Tissue Box”

Posted on:

 ip

Over the Summer, I would receive packages in the mail just about every week from Jinsen Liu of 28 Degrees Taurus. He would send me a few CDs of really awesome bands like Gospel Gossip. I would take these EPs and albums and import them into iTunes immediately. Sometimes it was on the fly, so I didn’t have a chance to listen to them. That was the case with Roh Delikat.

Roh Delikat

I was fixing lunch one afternoon when Kristina (Johnson) Parish’s voice stopped me dead in my tracks. "Who is this?," I thought. I marched over to my laptop, a piece of bread and a butter knife in hand, and instantly I was bummed. I wouldn’t get to see this band play this dreamy tune ever because I knew they had stopped playing live a few years earlier. Well, thankfully, that wasn’t true.

It turns out that Jinsen doesn’t just play guitar in 28dt and send packages in the mail, he also acts as a catalyst for getting really good bands back together. A few months later, thanks to Jinsen, Roh Delikat reunited with a new bass player, Ryan Brown (Ho-Ag), to play the Deep Heaven Now festival. After that, they decided to start writing new songs. "Tanya Zandra’s Tissue Box" is the tune I heard that day last summer.

Some of their influences include Sonic Youth, Autolux, Die Antwoord, and a sprinkling of dubstep.


Roh Delikat — Tanya Zandra’s Tissue Box

— Danielle Freudenthal

Philadelphia

Man Man Schedule Spring Tour!

Posted on:

Philly’s traveling circus on acid is hitting the road for a Spring Tour. Man Man will be swinging by SXSW to support Bright Eyes at the Ground Control Showcase, and then will be heading out on an intensive trip throughout the U.S. and Canada. You should already know by now that their Philly date will June 4 at The 4th Annual Roots Picnic. They’ll cap things off with a performance down at Bonnaroo. They should be testing out some new material this spring from their upcoming tentatively titled album Life Fantastic. You can check out the rest of Man Man’s tour dates here. Now, the only really bad news is that there is still no Philly date scheduled for Mister Heavenly any time soon. :o( (Photo by Shawn Brackbill) – The Deli Staff
 
Philadelphia

Lillie Ruth Bussey’s First Philly Performance in 2011

Posted on:

Lillie Ruth Bussey will be performing her first show this year in Philly at The Mitten. Anytime she sets up her little world of toys it is always a treat. It’s hard to believe how this multi-talented artist can be such a one-woman experimental dance party. Be prepared for plenty of jammin’ on the one! She’ll be headlining the evening, and will be supported by Brooklyn’s Lushes and The Binary Marketing Show. Admission is pay what you want, and donations are greatly appreciated. The Mitten, 4918 Kingsessing Ave., 7pm, Donation, All Ages – H.M. Kauffman

Various Characters f/Ruth Elaine Bussey by Lillie Ruth Bussey

Nashville

Emily Greene, The Smoking Flowers, & Melismatics @ The Basement, 3/5/11

Posted on:

For those of you who are intrigued by the idea of a saucy blend of St. Vincent, Adele, and maybe a touch of Tori Amos, look no further than NYC-based artist, Emily Greene. Her sound is somewhat soulful, relaxing, and fortunately, rests just outside of the typical female singer/songwriter box, so her show at The Basement on Saturday night should be a safe bet. Also playing will be funky dance/rock group, Melismatics–(who, might I add, have some pretty slick music vids)–as well as The Smoking Flowers–local husband/wife duo who play some pretty interesting Southern Gothic rock/folk/indie pop. It’s difficult to describe, and it’s unpredictable, but it’s definitely worth giving it a listen–just like the entire Saturday night lineup. It’s a somewhat strange combination of artists, but certainly respectable and interesting, so you should go, at least for the sake of getting your multi-genre fix. Doors at  8pm, $10.–Erin Manning

 

Nashville

Heypenny’s “A Jillion Kicks” release @ Mercy Lounge, 2/26/11

Posted on:

After a parking fee and a guest list issue took most of my drinking money, I got into Mercy Lounge as Natalie Prass was wrapping up her set. Nothing could be seen from the back except some dark bangs onstage peeking over the heads of the crowd.

Mikky Ekko, face paled with paint and clad in a D.A.R.E. shirt, took the stage next to cast a brooding audio shadow over everybody. The dark ambience of Ekko’s set put some front-of-the-house listeners in a kind of trance even stronger than my suspicion that pretty much everyone in the room was attracted to him. His eerie alt-rock resonated with Beatles-like vocal harmonies (“I Love You”), electronic glitches and tribal beats (“Who Are You, Really?”). The best out of the set was probably the gorgeous “Nothing Wrong With Your Love.”

Guitar-and-drum duo Action! were up next with guitarist/vocalist Robyn Burns’ attire resembling that of a Grimm’s fairy tale spinster (nothing wrong with that). Her piercing vocals cut prettily through guitar fuzz on songs from last year’s LP Friend Weakend, including “Sandpiper” and “This Is Your Summer.” Heypenny joined them onstage to close the set with the bouncy, key-driven, Munchkinland sort of ditty “In The Basement Corner.”

As for the gentlemen of the hour, their set was as expected. Amid piles of stacked TVs onstage, the band kicked off with the buzzing-bass anthem “Purple Street,” track one off of new LP A Jillion Kicks. Heypenny headbands circulated and at one point, an overflow of pink and blue balloons was unleashed over the crowd. Frontman Ben Elkins, dressed like some strain of a Star Trek character, delivered in his signature pinched, erratic vocals old crowd-pleasers like “CopCar” (from their last EP) and “Parade.” And pleased they were – most of the audience maintained at least a minimal shuffle throughout a set filled with the stuff of the new release. Danceable beats, outrageous vocal stamina, pretty balloons, lyrical wit and an all-around madman allure = a solid album release. – Jessica Pace

New England

On and Off Mass Ave Presents: Dennis Brennan, Jess Tardy, Mark Erelli, Billy Beard, Jeese Dee, Zach Hickman and Margaret Glaspy on 3/8

Posted on:

onoma

The Cambridge music community is dazzling with the songs and voices of some of this country’s finest independent musicians. The March 8th showcase features a beautiful sampler of sorts of the Cambridge area’s most talented voices and musicians. This is a show for the most seasoned Camberville music fan as well as a newbie wanting to get a heaping dose of the best live music in the area. March 8th show will feature Dennis Brennan, Jess Tardy, Mark Erelli, Billy Beard, Jeese Dee, Zach Hickman and Margaret Glaspy showcased by the On and Off of Mass Ave project. The project began in 2007 by two local music devotees who continue to document and rally support for live, local music. The March 8th event will be recorded for a future documentary.

Tuesday, March 8, 2011 at 8pm

Club Passim, 47 Palmer Street, Cambridge, MA

Tickets now available at www.passim.org

— The Deli Staff

Austin

The Colors and the Kill: Sad Accordions

Posted on:

Limited-edition hand-designed copies of Sad Accordions‘ upcoming EP the colors and the kill will be available at their Mohawk show this Saturday 3/5. Sad Accordions bring you the spare, the folky and the haunting, and they’ve done so since 2003; qualifying them now as veterans of the Austin indie scene. They’ll be joined Saturday night by two of the more exciting recent additions to the Austin music scene: Royal Forest and Black Books. 

NYC

YC The Cynic release “Fall FWD” mixtape at Southpaw tonight (03.01)

Posted on:

All the urban Nietzsches running around screaming that “Rap is dead” have been listening to the wrong MCs. In “Fall FWD,” YC the Cynic (featured in out Best NYC Emerging Artists on 2010 list) stands up and refutes the mob of naysayers with his signature patterns of potent poeticism. With a voice that conjures a blend of Mos Def and Q-tip, YC croons “Truthfully, I don’t let that ish influence me. It’s not cool to be cold, it’s not in to be G, it’s all bitches and hoes, there’s no intimacy till I enter the scene.” It’s a running theme in the mixtape, that ability and integrity transcend both time and genre. Building on the sturdy shoulders of last year’s “You’re Welcome” mixtape, “Fall FWD” raises the bar in every aspect and will undoubtedly generate substantial hype for his upcoming album, “The Spectacle.” In the closing track, he sums up his ethos proclaiming confidently, “I know mad cats that have had it with rap, but incidentally, soon as I got their attention they were listening intently.” Celebrate the release at Southpaw tonight (Tuesday, March 1). – Broke MC

NYC

NYC Artists on the rise: Careful

Posted on:

Most music lovers discover the discreet charm and amazing therapeutic power of gentle music when their lives enter the hectic phase (late 20s?). Here at The Deli we created a genre category for this kind of music, called "Mellow Core". Belonging to this genre is Careful, the project of published writer, orchestral composer, visual artist, and part time builder-of-robots Eric Lindley. His tunes, tied together by a soft, whispered approach and by attention to texture, mix more or less traditional songwriting with sparse and dreamy electronic effects, often slightly dissonant, but always tastefully realized. Careful will be playing live at Death By Audio on April 30th – mark your calendars.

NYC

The Forms release single with Matt Beringer from The National + travel to Austin

Posted on:

An amalgamation of big names (Matt Berninger of The National is featured on the latest single "Fire to the Ground"), admirable musicianship, odd tempos and a chilled-out demeanor, The Forms are a great example of approachable "alt". Alt-what I’m not entirely sure… but does it even matter? The melodies swirl on "Steady Hand (feat. Andrew Thiboldeaux)", but the percussion keeps the listener at least slightly grounded on the trippy adventure. I was most impressed, however, by "Fire to the Ground," perhaps because of the strikingly original string arrangement. Unlike in most ventures, these are actual strings, not computer facsimilies. There is a lot to be said for the power of bow to instrument. And that kind of attention to detail is key. The Forms’ EP "Derealization" dropped February 15th on Threespheres / Ernest Jenning, and now they’re are touring the US, some dates with The Dismemberment Plan. They will also play 3 shows in Austin during SXSW (check myspace for dates). But will they bring the strings? – allison levin