Colorado-based I Am Fuel You Are Friends blog recently posted their Chapel Session with Strand of Oaks (a.k.a. Tim Showalter). If you’ve taken a listen to his stellar album Pope Killdragon, then you know that the beauty and power of Showalter’s music and voice belong in the hallowed halls. You can listen and download the session for free HERE, which includes “Kill Dragon,” Leave Ruin’s “End in Flames,” and a cover of Beck’s “The Golden Age” that you can check out below. Enjoy! (Photo by Heather Browne) – The Deli Staff
I guess now that they’ve been knocked out of their own tournament (it at least we know it wasn’t rigged), they have more time to make 13 new albums before summer officially starts and play a couple shows to boot. Catch And And And at Bunk BarthisThursday with touring lo-fi garagey goodness, Times New Viking. It’ll be worth your weight in sandwiches. And after a visit to Bunk, that weight will be a hell of a lot more. –Mike Harper
The brothers Orrall put on one of the best performances I witnessed throughout my Bonnaroo experience, and it was only partially because they were on a smaller stage and getting close to the front wasn’t such a horrific pain in the ass. JEFF the Brotherhood left their kraut rock numbers in Nashville, playing instead all the intense and hooky stuff to a dense and hyper crowd at the On Tap Lounge (i.e. a little white tent plopped into the dust) Friday night. I could hear the last of Primus’ bass lines gurgling from Which Stage while waiting for JEFF to get started. Once they did, the tent was blown out with “Bone Jam,” “The Tropics,” “U Got The Look,” “Hey Friend,” etc.
It was typical JEFF the Brotherhood business. Jamin was in a constant bouncy stupor behind the drums while Jake hopped up on amps to deliver relentless, riff-heavy jags before an audience that included a handful of crowd surfers, a creeper with a camera and some familiar Nashville faces. Even if some of their songs stuck together in a noisy audio blur, JEFF banged out scuffed-knees-and-cheap-beer jams with such enthusiasm and energy, nobody gave a shit. To prove the point, the crowd bent the rail separating them from the pit just to get a little closer to them throughout the quick and dirty set that ended all too soon. – Jessica Pace
Never let it be said that Austinites don’t support their own…The Bright Light Social Hour returned from the first major national tour on Saturday night & were greeted by a sold-out show @ the Mohawk. They rolled out all the bright & funky jams from their debut, and turned vocal duties over to the crowd for "Detroit". The crowd was more than up to the task…many fantastic happenings are in the band’s future, including quite soon (6/22) an album of remixes from their debut, with a remix release party planned for the Parish that same night. They want you to feel everything…that they feel.
It’s really great to see Cloud Minder back and performing on Johnny Brenda’s stage tonight. The guys had taken a two-year hiatus after guitarist Dave Sommer began his battle with brain cancer. I hope that this is a good sign of how things are going. The post-rock four-piece creates patient, dark, brooding instrumental compositions that could sonically explode at any moment, but in their latest psychedelic adventure for the video “Two” (below) from their most recent album Reminding You of Everything Remembered, it’s the gentle calmness of the track that sucks you in giving you that constant joy of tantric sex that Sting is talking about. Well, maybe it won’t get you to Sting’s sexiness levels (BTW: that is sarcasm for those who take everything that they read literally), but it makes for fine music to add visuals to and/or sit alone with your thoughts. And probably have sex too. Nice – it’s a multi-purpose track for you to enjoy! Do what you have to do and get to JB’s early because Cloud Minder will be opening the evening for musical brethren Earth and O Paon. Johnny Brenda’s, 1201 N. Frankford Ave., 9pm, $13, 21+ – Alexis V.
I’m not sure who Tommy is, but he’s been having a rough time recently. He hasn’t been picking up the phone, he’s bleeding everywhere, and that bitch called Destiny has broken his heart. Poor guy. But then, with this amazing an anthem to tell his story, how bad can things possibly be?
Theatrical arena rock (think Meatloaf, Queen, Muse) has never been the easiest thing to pull off. You go too far into theater and things get ridiculous, too far rock and it isn’t fun anymore… with Not Blood Paint, they got all your bases covered. Their new single clocks in at over 6 minutes, but that’s nothing compared to how many times you’ll be listening. It goes from bluesy confessional, to Brian May guitar theatrics, to a singalong of brotherly concern and back again. Recorded at their McKibbin loft home studios, this is a band that lives, breathes and eats their music as much as their own madness. Listening through to Tommy is as close as I’ve come to witnessing this band’s insanity, next to seeing them live. So enjoy, but don’t get too comfortable… they have a debut LP coming out soon, you may want to be careful walking alone late at night in Bushwick. – Mike Levine
Not Blood, Paint will play The Deli’s Northside show at Spike Hill on Saturday June 18 with Country Mice, The Ambassadors and Raccoon Fighter – more info here.
A gray Monday morning isn’t really ideal for rock’n’roll or other abrasive sounds, so we find it appropriate to start the new week with something soothing and even slightly dreamy. NYC based singer songwriter Lou-is – real name Louis Schefano – has been hustling in the NYC scene for quite some time, and is about to release a new full length this fall. He just released this song "Laura" for free download, which makes us look forward to the rest of the material.
We hope for you to have a “Wonderful Day” so we wanted to share with you this hot track and new music video (below) for your summer days and nights from a favorite of ours, North Philly’s Ground Up crew. It also features Philly Freezer a.k.a. Freeway, and was produced by Rex Arrow. Enjoy! – The Deli Staff
OK, so yesterday When I Was 12 announced that they would be changing their band name to Catnaps. And it must be serious because they also changed their twitter account name to @_catnaps_ and created a Facebook page for the band so you know that they ain’t effin’ around. We guess When I was 12 is just the name or their 7” now, which they can still hustle quite easily on their upcoming “Super Sweet Summer Tour”. It’ll probably be less confusing of a transition than when Ryat’s Christina McGeehan’s former band Kilo took the name of their album As Human as their new band name. Ha…this is a good lesson for young acts. Avoid printing your band name and an album title on any hard copies. It might save you some cash in the long run. – The Deli Staff
Money Making Jam Boys, which is comprised of Black Thought, STS, Truck North, Dice Raw, and P.O.R.N., just released a new music video for “Tear It Down” from their debut The Prestige: Jam Boy Magic mixtape. It was filmed at Hiro Ballroom in NYC. The video was directed by Treezy & Samuel Rogers. Enjoy! – The Deli Staff
Meg Baird will kick off the Philadelphian-fueled event at the First Unitarian Church tonight. New material can be expected from the Espers founder whose last solo release, Dear Companion dates to 2007. Baird performs folk tunes buttressed by the strong influence of 1960s female folk musicians. Powerfully sullen vocals reminiscent of Joni Mitchell are met by a 90s alternative murkiness, as if Tori Amos was tinkering on an antique piano while Joan Baez plucked at tiny guitar strings. It won’t stay calm for long though because Pissed Jeans is guaranteed to turn it up with their blown out noise-punk courtesy of their latest LP King Of Jeans. Digging up 80s hardcore roots of The Exploited, Gwar, and Jesus Lizard, Pissed Jeans spits out raw, inaudible, screaming, grunting vocals to violent, head-banging punk riffs – the kind that’ll make you want to put your fists through walls. Leveling out the volume will be headliner Kurt Vile & the Violators who will continue to plug his latest collection of updated Americana from Smoke Ring For My Halo. Vile’s evocative rock ‘n’ roll, a mashup of classic, neo-blues, and indie rock, takes the killer strings out of country and roughs it up with some city sludge and melancholy, making for a Springsteen-meets-the-Shins hipster hoedown experience. It will be a talented and eclectic evening of locals only. First Unitarian Church, 2125 Chestnut St., 8 pm, $12, All Ages (Kurt Vile & the Violators Photo by Amanda Gowland) – Jules Friedland
