Nashville

+ Works Anti-Bullying Benefit at The Listening Room 4.23.14

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The Deli Nashville has a tendency to shy away from the country scene, by and large, as it feels that ball of wax gets plenty of attention.  However, The Deli Nashville also has a penchant for artists with personality that flirt with the boundaries of their respective genre, who are also decidedly not awful.  If they represent a good cause, all the better.  That being said, Olivia Lane is holding a fundraiser for anti-bullying foundation +Works tomorrow night at The Listening Room.  She’s joined by Ben Bradford, Leland Grant and Baylor Wilson for an in-the-round performance beginning from 6-8pm.  Check out the song "You Do You" and notice how refreshingly free it is from mentions of porch swings, screen doors and being 22. -Terra James-Jura

 

Austin

The Serenity of Pure X

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Angel, the third album from Austin’s Pure X is a remarkably immaculate 38 minutes of music, so great in fact, that it’s hard to believe it was recorded in just five days.  In all its simplicity, Angel is a record that is hard to pinpoint, though the band rarely ventures off its dreamy, two-chord path.  This is due to the fact that the melancholy nature of the music is so masterfully married with lyrics soaked in sincerity and bliss and delivered without a hint of cynicism by singer Nate Grace.  What Pure X has done most successfully on Angel is hammer home a sentiment almost redundantly, to a point where listeners no longer question their conviction.  "Heaven is a feeling" could well be the overall thesis and comes as a welcomed departure from the otherwise ironic, post-modern musings we are more often exposed to.

Listen to "Heaven" and try to catch Pure X at Austin Psych Fest (May 2nd – 4th)

San Francisco

Royal Jelly The Pull and DJ Honeycomb Brown Play the Boom Boom Room – 4/23

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Polish and lace up your best dancing shoes, press a good shirt, or pick out a dress that’s easy to twist in because Royal Jelly is looking to help you get over your slump on humpday. As part of their April residency, Royal Jelly and John Lee Hooker’s Boom Boom Room will be hosting this jazz-inspired, dance inducing band who posseses plenty of rhythm and soul to go around! 

Joining Royal Jelly is another funk filled, soul/ hip hop group, The Pull, who are coming fresh off of winning San Francisco State’s Battle of the Bands. You can catch DJ Honeycomb Brown, spinning vintage funk hits guaranteed to keep your toes tapping. Don’t be shy because this show will be a super fun time! –Skyer Warren

San Francisco

The Trims and Animal Super Species Play the Milk Bar – 4/24

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This month for The City: SF Sounds presents, a monthly free concert series hosted by NBC Bay Area and Jack Daniels, it’s all about danceable rock. Bay Area bands Animal Super Species and The Trims will be playing the event April 24 at The Milk Bar in San Francisco.

Animal Super Species is a band that is the vein of The Faint, playing scuzzy dance pop. Be sure to check out their debut album, Yearbook – its filled to the brim with danceable tunes. Followed in the theme of the night, is The Trims, an alternative dance pop group from San Jose. The band came out with Delete You After last year and it has definite post-punk and dance influences.  –Erin Dage

NYC

Appreciated by few (but quality ones): Dots Will Echo work on sophomore LP

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Dots Will Echo (who placed 44th in our Year End Poll for Emerging NYC Artists) hails from Ridgewood, New Jersey, and put out one of the best records of 2012 – at least according to… me. But my opinion must be also shared by Mr. Sufjan Stevens, since he released their LP "Drunk Is The New Sober / Stupid Is The New Dumb" on his label Asthmatic Kitty. This is a double-length masterpiece that combines Neil Young balladry and riffage, the ragged, earnest pop-sensibilities of the Replacements, and the dense psychedelia of peak Yes. Frontman and main songwriter Nick Berry tackled romantic loss and apocalyptic depression with a healthy dose of Zen. I wonder if Sufjan – when he heard the band for the first time – started with “Rocket Girls” (streaming). Dots Will Echo is working on their follow-up now. – Ben Krieger

Philadelphia

New Nick Millevoi Split Available for Streaming & Purchase

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When it comes to the local avant-garde music community, we can’t think of a harder-working musician, who is making Philly prouder, than guitarist Nick Millevoi. With his mutiple collaborations in the past few years, it’s amazing that he has any time to work on his own material, but he does. Below is his latest solo effort entitled Number on the Side, which was recorded by Eric Carbonara on July 7, 2013 at The Rotunda. It is also being released as a split CD with the band Onibaba via Ivory Antler Records, and Millevoi will be celebrating its release on Saturday, April 26 at Pageant Soloveev Gallery. Also look out for Many Arms‘ second album for John Zorn’s label Tzadik Records, Suspended Definition, scheduled for release on April 29.

NYC

Possibly the last show at The Dunes, featuring Pree, Native America, and the Sea Life.

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Some sad news today: The Dunes might be closing. I’m pretty frustrated about it, but I think it’s best to celebrate all the things the folks at The Dunes have done for music in this town and help them continue their effort in future endeavors. DC music has seen a resurgence lately; the community has grown and become more of a scene in no small part due to places like The Dunes and the people who work there, and that won’t end with a small setback like this. I strongly encourage everyone to go to what may be the final show at The Dunes tomorrow, April 23rd, when DC bands Pree and The Sea Life, join Native America (from New Orleans), and give a great space a great send-off. –Natan Press
Edit: Please read Alex Tebeleff’s piece about The Dunes and the need for more space for music in DC, over at Brightest Young Things.



NYC

NYC’s Outernational celebrates May Day with a show at Mercury + announces European tour

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A busy year of touring has taken NYC based “future rock” quintet Outernational through Europe, South America, and most recently SXSW and Mexico for the Vive Latino Festival. Before their Mexican debut, Outernational impressed at SXSW in Austin, TX, garnering attention with their Latin-infused heavy hitting rock ‘n roll, interspersed with Spanish lyrics amongst trumpet fanfare, shredding guitar solos, and fiery revolutionary lyrics. Back in their home territory, the five-piece celebrates the most radical of holidays, May Day (May 1) at Mercury Lounge – presented by TJO Presents, Rocker Stalker, and Rockass Producciones. This is the only New York show before this band without borders heads to Europe again this summer. Check out Outernational in all their “Spanglish” glory in “Todos Somos Illegales,” (streaming, we discourage the view to those affiliated with the Tea Party) and don’t miss their show at Mercury – they have a powerful presence on stage! The band just announced that it will spend most of June touring Europe.

NYC

Walking Shapes releases LP “Taka Come On” + plays 24 NYC shows in 24 hours

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So here I am in the UK, obsessed with the idea of moving to New York, and stuck without a visa unless I become a running, funny nun, and New York keeps pounding out bands like Walking Shapes. Not only are the Brooklyn five piece really bloody good, they gig as frequently as the tube is delayed (often), with a run of 24 gigs in different NYC locations in 24 hours coming up – on April 24th no less! Stop teasing me!

New album “Taka Come On” features thirteen songs of varying styles and sounds, exploring different routes to kick off a whole chain of neural responses that end in fizzing contentedness, via undulating emotional trajectory. Fuzzed geometric guitars wend under a melodic contour of clean keys, and there are jangly pop moments in counterbalance to darker EDM sounds. Opener and latest single “Woah Tiger” sees complex twiddling keys from Jake Generalli and a spoken singing style from Nathaniel Hoto, a pick’n’mix of sonic refractions and experiments that never veers into chaos, evoking comparisons with Late of the Pier. “Winter Fell” (see the video streaming below) hints at the busy yet lonely dynamic of the city, with what sounds like morphed emergency service sirens, while “Mussolini” suggests from its delicate chords and rolling rhymes that it should be a love song – but of course things are never so straight forward. The addition of a violin via Jessie Kotansky is genius, and the instrument is given a prominent position where least expecting, adding a haunting delineation and softening the sometimes caustic blows. – Francesca Baker

Chicago

White Mystery “Dubble Dragon”

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White Mystery released and ambitious and raucous double or "Dubble" album called "Dubble Dragon" over the weekend. This is their fourth studio album but also contain live tracks recorded at Double Door. The album is available digitally and on vinyl.

Philadelphia

The Deli Philly’s Featured Artist(s) Poll Winner: future/primitive

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We have to admit that a bunch of us at The Deli are former skate rats and huge fans of the Bones Brigade crew so there was definitely a group of us secretly rooting for punk outfit future/primitive. In our recent Featured Artist(s) Poll interview with the band’s guitarist, Jaime Herrera, which you can read HERE, we really learned a lot about the passionate group, whose members span multiple decades and music scenes. They’ll be performing next in Philly on Friday, May 16 at one of our favorite local haunts The Boot & Saddle, and you can check out future/primitive’s debut self-titled 12” below.