NYC

Living Days’ single “I’m Fine” out on Dave Sitek’s Federal Prism + live at Mercury tomorrow (12.10)

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We’ve always said in this blog that Brooklyn goth-pop trio The Living Days had a lot of potential (we even booked them for our very first SXSW show a few years ago!), so we are more than happy to report that Dave Sitek of TV on the Radio shares our thoughts in this regard. His label Federal Prism just released the band’s latest single "I’m Fine," an elegant electro-pop song filtered through Stephonik Youth sophisticated and somewhat tortured delivery. Check out the video below, and see the band live at the Mercury Lounge tomorrow 12.10 with Bowmont and Youthquake.

San Francisco

The Union Trade Prepare to Release New Album

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The San Francisco based Tricycle Records band, The Union Trade is gearing up to release a new album entitled, A Place for Long Years. They current single Murmurations is an ambiant/trance indie love ballad that is ethereal and a bit mesmerizing. The full album is due for release on February 3rd. Their live album release show will occur the following day, February 4th at Rickshaw Stop on February 4th with Sunrunners.

Philadelphia

New Track: “Greenwich” – The Bailey Hounds

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This cold and rain has us feeling quite solemn today. It’s making for a fitting backdrop to The Bailey Hounds‘ final release of the year, a single called "Greenwich." They’ll also be taking the stage this Friday, December 12 at MilkBoy Philly alongside local Mike Quinn and Portland, OR’s Quiet Life.

NYC

Promising dream poppers EZTV play Baby’s All Right on 12.13

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Born in July 2014 (at least, that’s when their Facebook profile was created – do bands really exist before then?) EZTV is a new born Brooklyn based trio that channels so called "chill wave" vibes through very well crafted pop songs like "Hard to Believe" (streaming below). Check out also the more uptempo track Trampoline here. EZTV will be playing Baby’s All Right on December 13. 

We added this song to The Deli’s playlist of Best Dream Pop/Psych songs by emerging NYC artists – check it out!

NYC

Hip Hop from the Bronx: Mike Larry Draw

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Anomaly Conglomerate MC Mike Larry Draw wins the award for most West-Coast sounding rapper from the Bronx. His eloquent flows course with knowledge, smirking at the game they confound. His “Polymath” aesthetic, mantra, credo, or whatever it is, is an evolving identity which defines itself through the music, video, and visual work of this prolific artist. Truly an anomaly, Mike Larry is the only MC in the game who consistently dodges the spotlight in favor of shooting and directing his own music videos. His signature stunt of casting women to play as him, rapping his verses while he works the camera, never tires. – BrokeMC

NYC

Spotlight on musician/songwriter Cameron Hawk

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(Photo by Rachel Meyers)
 
“Sometimes I get kind of destructive, and music is part of how I keep everything together.”
 
Cameron Hawk already has quite an impressive resume: he’s been in a number of successful bands, he’s opened up for KISS, he’s organized the annual Lawrence Field Day Fest, and now he prepares to embark on a completely different adventure. In early 2015, Hawk will be taking off to China to teach English for 8 months.
 
“I’m 33 years old and I’ve never lived outside of Kansas in my life,” says Hawk. He’ll be going to China in early 2015 with his girlfriend Rachel, and stepping out of a comfort zone he’s carved out for himself in the 15 years he’s lived and made music in Lawrence. “I’m always going to love this scene and playing here and the music that comes out of here. But I know that as humans, we are all capable of so much more than we give ourselves credit for.”
 
After graduating from high school in 2000, Hawk and his band Podstar relocated from Manhattan to Lawrence. They released two albums on Noisome Records before calling it quits in 2002—right around the same time many other notable area bands broke up, including Ultimate Fakebook, The Get Up Kids, and The Creature Comforts. Hawk recalls, “A huge chunk of people integral to the scene moved away or went on to other things in life right at the same time, and it really felt like a musical ghost town around here for awhile. But that ended up being the best time to start Dead Girls Ruin Everything.” He—along with Podstar bandmate JoJo Longbottom and Ultimate Fakebook alums Eric Melin and Nick Colby—formed the group that same year. “By that time, we cumulatively had a lot of experience with band stuff, and we were all trying to take a more realistic approach to music and how we handled everything.”
 
More than 10 years and a name change later, The Dead Girls have become the area’s most heralded power pop supergroup. They’ve released a number of albums (4 LPs, 3 EPs, and a 7”) and have shared the stage with the likes of Motion City Soundtrack, Dinosaur Jr., and yes, even KISS. Hawk and Longbottom have shared songwriting duties from the beginning, while the entire group composes each song. “We are all such big music geeks that we have very vivid ideas of how a song or album should be,” he mentions. With that type of history, success, and knowledge, he’s learned a lot about being a musician.
 
“I learned how to step up and put myself out there for something I care about. I learned how hard you actually have to work to make something yourself, and how fucking awesome it feels,” he notes. “I learned to try to not rock too hard and to never scream directly into a microphone during sound check.”
 
 
He’s also been instrumental in his other two current bands: Stiff Middle Fingers and Many Moods of Dad. Stiff Middle Fingers injects a heavy dose of personality into their punk rock repertoire, according to Hawk. “We don’t worry about sounding derivative, and we just wear our influences on our sleeves and have fun.” In SMF, he comes up with guitar riffs and sends them to vocalist Travis Arey for lyrics. Hawk considers Many Moods of Dad to be a “psychopop hodgepodge of ideas,” and includes his other Podstar bandmates JP Redmon and Aaron Swenson, who co-writes much of the material with Hawk. “The whole idea behind MMOD was for us to do all the fun/dumb/weird stuff we always wanted to do on a record but never could, because it was always shot down for some reason.”
 
(Photo of Stiff Middle Fingers by Todd Zimmer)
 
(Photo of Many Moods of Dad by Quinton Cheney)
 
When he leaves, Hawk also leaves behind Lawrence Field Day Fest, an event that will be 4 years in the running come 2015. He hopes to continue planning the summer fest from China, and enlisting help from other supporters of the music community. “Even though our [scene] isn’t the biggest or the “hottest” or whatever, I have come to understand how special it really is. There are huge cities—hell, metropoli—that don’t have a music scene of this quality. There should be someone or something around here supporting that.”
 
But regardless of where he’s living and what he’s doing, Hawk will not be ready to give up on music. Since he’ll be out of the country, most of his projects will go on indefinite hiatus (SMF will likely continue with a different guitarist), but Hawk plans to release his debut solo album, entitled Dream You Forgot, in early 2015. “Music is not only what I love to do, but it’s my main source of sanity.”
 
And in this new phase of his life, Hawk plans to apply all of the experiences he’s had through playing and making music. “I think a lot of people lose sight of how every little experience they have in life eventually helps them in some way. We need to actively use all experiences as fodder for learning and growing, and pushing our own limits.”

—Michelle Bacon
 
Michelle is the editor of The Deli KC and plays in bands.
 
 
 
The Dead Girls will perform their last Kansas City show this Friday, December 12, at Harling’s Upstairs. Deco Auto and Rev Gusto will open. Facebook event page. He’ll also be playing with Stiff Middle Fingers on Friday, December 26 at Replay Lounge. Facebook event page.
 
 
  
Nashville

Caitlin Canty, “Get Up”

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Caitlin Canty straddles a few lines: folk and bluegrass, country and rock. She put out "Get Up," a tense, ghostly cross-section of her influences in anticipation of the January 20th release date of her third full-length album "Reckless Skyline." Canty’s history of collaboration has lead her to cull a band comprised of members from Morphine, Booker T, Satellite and Ray Lamontagne’s Pariah Dogs. This team was so white-hot in their chemistry that it took only four days to record. Canty is bottling lightning by taking the same band on the road with her as she tours to support "Reckless Sky." She’s in Europe right now, but returns for a Northeast tour in January, with more dates to be added, hopefully a show in her part-time homebase of Music City is in the works. -Terra James-Jura

NYC

From the NYC submissions: Noble Kids’ roots music

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Brooklyn is perceived as the home of indie, psych and garage artists, but the community of musicians inspired by the roots of American music is large, and probably bound to expand in the years to come. Noble Kids, whose four-song EP “Kingdom,” released in November of 2013, is deeply rooted in lyrical imagery and compositional intricacy. The record is quite an interesting collection and manages to accomplish much in just four tracks. While opener “Pine” emplyoys dynamic variations on an overall droney atmosphere, “James Gabriel” (streaming) and “Disregard” offer up the simple, crooning heartbreak of true folk songs. All in all, the five members, which recently expanded from the original duo, have come together to create something quite unique, and we are curious to see what else they have coming. Word on the street is they are recording their first full-length as we speak – keep an ear out. – Jillian Dooley

This band submitted their music for coverage here.

Portland

Preview: Sons of Huns at Club 21 on 12.12

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Sons of Huns and Glitter Wizard will be conjuring evil spirits on Friday December 12 at Club 21. It might as well be Friday the 13th. Club 21, a local favorite could not be a more fitting venue for an evening of evil stoner metal filled with precision fuzz riffs and high caliber musicianship. 

Making their way from San Francisco is Glitter Wizard. Their sound pairs so well with Sons of Huns that I wouldn’t be surprised if they did a split release or toured the Netherlands together. Carrying the torch of 70s heavy metal, Glitter Wizard dip heavy into some dark psych sounds that I recommend for your next spin with a Ouija. Not sure if an acoustic guitar will be riding up from San Francisco with them, but the track from their 2012 release Hunter Gathers, “Sunlit Wolves”, would make it well worth it. It’s a standout track and departure from their self-described “pink metal” that channels from some Forever Changes era Arthur Lee. 

Local favorites Sons of Huns need no introduction. Pete Hughes riffs conduct mini dark art symphonies. Here is hoping their track “Rollin’ the Dice” gets put on the next Guitar Hero game and helps pave the wave for a new generation of face melting shredders. 

 -M.Rowan