Cute poppy bill on Tuesday 07.12 at Glasslands for the CD pre-release party of recent Deli Artist of the Month Starlight Girls who have a new single available for streaming (check it out under their picture). Wild Vibes is a band we haven’t covered yet and we are getting some good… vibes from them actually (not "wild" ones yet, but there’s time for that!) These Brooklyn based guys play some kind of lo-fi-electro-dream-surf-pop – so that sounds like the perfect music for Williamsburg based hipsters who are short of money (lo-fi) and like to go to the beach (surf) with their i-phone (electro) and get stoned (dream)… Winning formula! Check out the song "Oedipus Love" at the bottom of this blurb. We covered Anni Rossi several times – she’s a wonderfully original violinist, stick around for her show if you are at Glasslands on Tuesday.
Possibly one of the strongest and somehow most fragile albums to come out this summer, Lynnae Gryffin’sAbigail graces our ears (finally!) tonight. Joined by Luz Elena Mendoza (of Y La Bamba) and Paul Laxer, tonight’s house show release should be the perfect perch for such an album teeming with life. Tonight at 824 NE Church Street at 7:30pm. Of course it’s all ages, and it’s as free as Lynnae’s fingers flying wildly and boldly across the singing strings of her guitar.
Oh, the Parenthetical Girls, we love them so! And to increase our love, they’ve put out a free remix EP of "Careful Who You Dance with" featuring remixes by Xiu Xiu, Tearist, and Former Ghosts. The originial version is off their full length album, Privileged. –Shelley Gaske
You can score the free tunes here: http://parentheticalgirls.bandcamp.com/album/careful-who-you-dance-with
But wait, there’s more! The Parenthetical Girls will be on tour all over the left coast, including a stop in Stumptown. Here’s the layout, shows listed are played with Extra Life.
Realtors say that the three most important words when buying a home are: location, location, location. Well, at least that’s what the plethora of shows on TLC say anyway. Sometimes location is just as important when it comes to making music. The sunny, slightly woozy atmosphere of Santa Barbara is splattered all over Gardens and Villa’s self titled debut album, out this week on Secretly Canadian. Sounds drip out of all the corners, invading your senses. But it never is overwhelming, as the combination of synths and vocals feel so sparse and spaced apart, flying in multiple directions. The five-piece provides a sweet psychedelic journey that is exciting and comforting. The highlight of the album is the funk-influenced "Orange Blossoms", which features the jazziest flute line to ever appear in a song. Just nod your head and let it in. They’re currently on tour with Foster the People, but will be playing an intimate gig at the Echo with Generationals on July 14th. Stream the whole album here via Yours Truly. – Taylor Lampela
We here at the The Deli are excited to announce a series of Deli Presents shows this summer at P.A.’s Lounge in Somerville.
The first show in the series is happening this Thursday, July 14. The line-up includes Melt, Pack of Morley’s, Tan Vampires and Il Abanico. This is going to be a fun, energetic, show. We hope all of you will come down to PA’s and help kick-off the Deli’s Summer Concert series in style!
The next Deli Presents shows are August 10 & 24, also at P.A.’s Lounge — mark your calendars now, further details on these upcoming shows will be announced shortly.
11:30 — Il Abanico (Boston)
10:30 — Tan Vampires (NH)
9:30 — Pack of Morleys (Boston)
8:30 — Melt (Boston)
Below is a new music video for a relatively new band to the Philly music scene, Former Belle. It’s for the song “Amsterdam” from their debut EP Sounds from the Ground. (BTW: Speaking of Amsterdam, we were very sad to hear that the Dutch city recently passed a law that only residents can purchase “special products” from their cafes now – talk about a buzzkill.) The video was produced by Jon Anderson (and has some really nice camera work). The EP has contributions from Damien DeRose (a.k.a. Peasant) and former Drink Up Buttercup and now White Birds members Farzad Houshiarnejad and Mike Cammarata on its closing track “Some Kind of Machine”. We wouldn’t be surprised if Former Belle becomes an XPN favorite soon enough (catch that guys – get on that). You can purchase Sounds from the GroundHERE. – The Deli Staff
The Deep Heaven Now IV music compilation is now available for free download. The compilation features tracks by each of the artists slated to play the festival August 5 & 6 in Somerville. The DHN festival, organized by Jinsen Liu (28 Degrees Taurus), is a revival of the Deep Heaven festivals that took place in the 90’s in Boston. DHN showcases the very best of the current ambient, shoegaze and psych rock scenes from all around the country.
The festival is a two day affair, taking place August 5 & 6 at PA’s Lounge and Precinct Bar in Somerville’s Union Sq. For line-up and further information, check out the event’s facebook page.
Gentle Brooklyn lo-fi-shoegaze-poppers Dream Diary just released this home made video of their single "El Lissitzky", the band recently released their debut CD, "You Are The Beat" on Kanine records.
Like many great electronic acts inspired to the sound of the 80s, A&R (weird name for a band…) knows how to make a micro Korg sound sexy. If you dig FM radio music, Klaxons, Junior Boys, The Killers in their “Hot Fuss” days, A&R could move your body. Their sophomore album “Aquarium”, free here, came out in March and they play at Glasslands on July 14.
Villa Venus’s sound is slow and calm, the lyrics poetic and deliberate: “We started on our own/ The morning light keeps shining all through you/ Pretending like you’re home/ I’m dressing you in attitude.” If you dig Iron & Wine, Slumber Party, and full-on aural mellowness, download their music (for free of course) here and kick back.
New Jersey based Escape Directors play feel-good rock that expresses a deep sentimentality. In their music video for “Car Crash”, a man who has lost his love walks through crowds, where he sees hundreds of her red umbrella, her thermos, her favorite book, etc… while the one for the latest single "The Distant Past" (in this post) melancholichly recollects the lost, happy days of teenage love. Love songs for (non-hipster) best friends. Grab their album free here.- Caitlin Clive
All these bands submitted their music for review here.
We spent this past Friday at one of the more interesting DIY venues in Philly called Bookspace for Hair Rocket’s Philly CD Release Party w/Mammal of Paradise, An American Chinese, Meddlesome Bells, and Bambara. It was a very enjoyable night listening to some great bands! If you’ve never been there, we highly recommend that you come chill out for a show. Besides being a space for some fine performances to happen hosted by a staff of kind folks, you can easily lose yourself in the surroundings. To steal Bill McThrill’s quote of the night, “it’s like the warehouse of misfit books,” but it was certainly more than that with its artwork, vintage oddities, and makeshift performance stage. We were all amazed at what we’d find in the crevasses of the venue, which you could freely roam through. We have some pics from the evening for you to check out HERE. Next time you hear about a show at Bookspace that piques your interest – come out and support a place that obviously supports the arts in Philly! We hope to see you there soon. – The Deli Staff
I first heard Margot MacDonald singing entirely by accident. I was walking through the Reston Town Center during one festival or another – who can keep track of how many festivals are held there? In the distance, I heard the familiar heartbeat rhythm from my days of programming computers while listening to Massive Attack records on headphones. Someone was covering "Teardrop" in a semi-a-capella fashion, apparently with the aid of some digital loops. I pushed through crowds of suburbanites to work my way closer to the heartbeat. When I finally found the makeshift stage setup, I was surprised to find a petite red-headed teenage girl absolutely wailing the lyrics by herself in perfect harmony with her own voice, which was pulsing through the loop pedal on the ground. There were at least three photographers with expensive, telephoto rigs photographing her performance as if this Reston festival were Lollapalooza.
I’ve found this to be the curious paradox of Margot MacDonald. On one hand, she has been massively successful in her music career, especially considering she is only 19 years old. She began singing with the Washington National Opera when she was 10 and was recording her first album with a Grammy-nominated producer by age 12. She was the 2010 Washington Area Music Award "Artist of the Year", her seventh "Wammie" award to date. And yet, to my knowledge, as of this publication, she is yet unsigned.
To be fair, MacDonald wasn’t interviewed for this piece, and maybe she isn’t looking to be signed right now. To be even fairer, she is extensively involved with non-profit organizations and is constantly playing out at these local festivals and seems nothing short of thrilled to do so. And to be beyond fair, she has graced stages no less prestigious than the 9:30 Club and even the Kennedy Center itself and doesn’t have a thing left to prove to anybody. But, honestly, it’s hard to hear a voice so refined, so bold, so versatile, and so fresh being showcased at a quaint, town festival and not have that old "Piano Man" thought, "Girl, what are you doin’ here?"
I feel like I’m sounding negative, so let me clarify my stance: Margot MacDonald is an absolutely bad-ass singer. And I am nothing if not a sucker for her obsession with (and mastery of) the loop pedal she’s become so associated with. And, I love that I can find her singing her heart out at a cute little festival just as hard as she would on a huge stage. She writes great original songs and has an arsenal of unique, gutsy covers, like Imogen Heap’s "Just for Now." To me, the detached observer, it seems like you can almost see her true artistic soul and edginess in the way she plays those cover songs than even in her own original music. But, there’s no doubt that her original songwriting is moving rapidly in a direction that is unmistakably her own and in a direction that really highlights her unstoppably strong voice that seemingly is unbounded by range limitations.
Margot is definitely an artist to watch, and I suspect we’ve only seen the tip of the iceberg that is her music career. And, speaking of watching her, why not check her out while she’s still playing local festivals? Her next appearance is Friday, July 15, at the Wheaton TGIF Series.
Doomed To Obscurity is a political punk band that creates hard hitting melodies complimented by catchy, informative lyrics sure to lay you out while standing over you and keeping your interest in their message. With a new lineup since 2010, each member brings sounds from their former bands to build a raw garage rock feel. Doomed To Obscurity will be performing tonight at Kung Fu Necktie with Philly hardcore act, The Thirteen, and founding member of the nineties rock band The Figgs, Pete Donnelly, who is currently playing bass with Soul Asylum and NRBQ and has collaborated in the studio with members of Amos Lee’s band “always steady” Freddy Berman and Zack Djanikian as well as Early Ape’s Nate Rylan and Adam Winokur for his upcoming album “When You Come Home” due out this August. (BTW: For all you meat eaters, KFN will be firing up the grill every Sunday from 4 – 8pm while the weather is still nice.) Kung Fu Necktie, 1250 N. Front St., 8pm, $7, 21+ – Emma Branson
