L.A.

PAPA: Every Monday in January at The Bootleg

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PAPA, the duo of Darren Weiss and Daniel Presant, will be gracing The Bootleg stage every Monday this January with special guests each week presented by KROQ. Their music fits nicely into that feel-good pop/rock oeuvre that Grouplove brought to the mainstream. The handclaps, tambourine shakes, and glockenspiel chimes mix with overdriven borderline surfy guitar riffs to give you the feeling that you are getting cooler with each listen. Their latest single, “Put Me Work,” is an ultra-upbeat anthem that blends the tonal pallet of Arcade Fire – banging on pianos and well-timed shouts – with the laid-back vocal stylings of Brandon Flowers. An epic combination that comes at you in an aggressive, yet inviting way. Their music brings you in to a communal experience. I’m certain every night of this Residency will be a sweaty dance party that forces you check your worries at the door. Don’t miss it, as this will most likely be your last chance to get this close to any stage they’ll be playing in the months to come. – Jacqueline Caruso

NYC

Adam Green & Binki Shapiro announce debut album

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As the adage goes, “opposites attract.” Such is the case of Adam Green (formerly of the Moldy Peaches) and Binki Shapiro (formerly of Little Joy). The duo has brought their divergent styles together to create an ultra cool and harmonious EP, called "Fall," dense with 60’s nostalgia. They manage to cover “Collage” by the James Gang with originality but keep the groovy vibe. Their single, “Here I am” (streaming below) is laced with dream-like qualities that I thought was only possible by late heartbroken crooner, Nick Drake. Their style of call and answer singing heightens each half’s perspective on the most recent breakups that they have gone through. Perhaps this EP is indicative of the change that they both need and want; two friends able to work through the heartbreak and create something magical. – Julia Kwamya

Philadelphia

Paint It Black Back in Their Natural Element at Golden Tea House Dec. 27

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You’ll more often than not find hardcore vets Paint It Black performing at bigger venues these days like Union Transfer and the First Unitarian Church. Well, tonight is your opportunity to see Dan Yemin and crew back in their natural element tearing shit up at an underground house show in West Philly when they takeover the Golden Tea House. It’ll be their last show of the year, and Paint It Black will be joined by Restorations, Bad Energy and Attitude Era. Looks like Philly punx are getting a late Xmas present this year. Golden Tea House, (Please contact one of the acts or the venue for more details.), 7:30pm, All Ages – Alexis V.
 
Philadelphia

Meek Mill & Cassidy Trade Diss Tracks

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Can’t we all just get along? If you haven’t heard or followed, hometown rappers Meek Mill and Cassidy have been having a war of words via Twitter, and Cassidy has been challenging Meek to a good ol’ fashion live rap battle. It sounded like we were going to get one when Mill finally accepted the challenge the other day to duel it out for $100,000. However, Meek had a change of heart so Cassidy came at him with a diss track, "Me, Myself, & iPhone." Well, last night Meek responded with his own diss track called "Repo," which was produced by Jahlil Beats. You can check out both of their jabs at each other below. BTW: Honestly, these Twitter wars are pretty lame. Meek & Cassidy need to find a church basement, and take care of this nonsense "8-mile" styley. We’d be into paying to see that as long as there is plenty of security, and everyone in attendance is forced to go through a metal detector. Right? But we highly doubt that we’ll see it ever happen – weak sauce.

Portland

Jacob Miller and the Bridge City Crooners Play Backspace 12.27

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Jacob Miller and the Bridge City Crooners might be the most charming band that Portland has to offer. Their music is influenced by the country and blues of the early 1900’s and infused with fingerpicking ragtime guitar fronting an arrangement of both traditional and makeshift instruments. Upright bass, washboard, harmonica and even the occasional kazoo can be heard supporting Jacob and Joy as they trade lead vocals and harmonize with each other radiating the carefree and nostalgic energy that uptempo blues creates. Over the past month, they’ve spread their music all across stumptown; with a slew of shows booked in January and the promise of a new release in the spring, they aren’t showing any signs of slowing down. If you want to experience The Crooner’s charm for yourself, you can catch them at Backspace on December 27th or at the White Eagle on January 4th. – Benjamin Toledo

Chicago

Penthouse Sweets @ Schubas

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Penthouse Sweets are back with a new full-length album called It’s Fine It’s Fine It’s Fine, the band’s first since 2006. The album is a mixture of ’90’s indie rock and tinges of ’60’s rock and a few other interesting elements. It is a sound that is hard to pin down because it changes from track to track.

The new album was released digitally on November 26th and the released will be celebrated on January 4th with a live show at Schubas with The Safes and Warm Ones.

Philadelphia

The Deli Philly’s Featured Artist(s) Poll Winner: Family Vacation

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Family Vacation is a band made up of Temple University students, and started the way many groups do. College acquaintances, at first, bonding over similar likes in music, then beginning to jam and write songs together, and eventually searching around to find pieces to fill out their sound. Things clicked. A band name was chosen. And plenty of more jam sessions ensued. The four-piece released a promising self-titled lo-fi indie pop-rock EP, and recently made their live performance debut. Obviously, this is just the beginning of the Family Vacation, but you can join the trip, and learn more about our Featured Artist(s) Poll Winner HERE. 

New England

Q&A with the deli’s Artist of the Month: Gnarlemagne

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Inject some funk into your life with Gnarlemagne’s sophomore release: A Warm and Cozy Volcano. They define themselves as Garage-Soul and count in their influences Otis Redding and Tom Waits. As you can imagine, the vocals shine and really give some soul-power to the album, which was just released November 6th. The diverse instrumentation includes sax, trumpet, trombone, and keys. The ever-present throbbing bass, occasional guitar solo, and lively percussion complete the concoction.

 

the Deli: How did you come up with the title “A Warm and Cozy Volcano?”
 
Mike Effenberger (Keys): It’s not a bad image of what playing the music feels like from within the band.  Lots of explosions, periods of calm followed by geological trauma, but pretty comfortable. Click here to read the rest of the interview with Gnarlemagne

 

Austin

Review – “What’s the Story, Allegory?” from Wave Hands Like Clouds

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Amidst the holiday tussle and bustle, you mighta missed some of the gems pouring forth from the Austin audioscape.   So like yesterday’s wrapping paper, let’s try to square that away:

Wave Hands Like Clouds, "the collaborative efforts of Aaron Oberlin and Tyler Norton", has just popped out their third electronica/experimental full length LP and, like previous releases, this one veers amidst funky beats, 8-bit-wise melodies, bizarrely-splattered vox, strange chord patterns, and pads twisted into coolly-unrecognizable shapes.  Escewing pop format, this release has just 2 (virtually-unnamed) tracks, "Side A" and "Side B"; each 16+ minutes worth of LP-devotion-declaring, smooth-moving, expertly-composed movements in courageous experimental form.  

Right now, the only available (ownable) format is cassette tape.  You can still stream it though, and at this point, what better way to wash away the by-now-tired Christmas standards than a traipse through the excellently-produced experimental forms hand-built by Oberlin and Norton?  

-Scott Osborn