Portland

Ready or Not America, Here Come the Coma Serfs!

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Ready Or Not America! Here Come The Coma Serfs! Props to Portland’s own Coma Serfs for providing this lazy hack of a writer with a perfect introductory sentence to his article announcing the release of their all new EP, Ready Or Not America! Here Come The Coma Serfs.

And the utility of this EP’s title doesn’t end there; it also serves as a warning for those who are unprepared to hit the deck lest they receive one of these hot, fresh psychedelic chart-busters to the eye. That’s not where you want a song like “Lords Of Paradise” to get you, trust me. The spiraling, manic build at the beginning of the song may as well be Donkey Kong winding up for one of his patented Giant Punches–and anyone who’s ever played Smash Bros knows you better be ready when that shit drops. The song transitions into a wash of dizzying effects and chaotic intensity like a strung out surfer’s fever dream. Recurring accented hits punctuate the song and assault your ears like the beating in your temples of a gnarly hangover.

Preparing yourself for the Coma Serfs, however, isn’t always about being ready to defend yourself physically. For example, the song “Set Me Straight” beseeches more of a cerebral preparation in order to appreciate it to its full potential. The song’s chipper, upbeat energy captures that same carefree, kicking-a-pebble-down-the-sidewalk vitality of The Warlocks on their album Phoenix.

Come see them show off these shiny new songs plus more at Bunk Bar (1028 Southeast Water Avenue) 1/31 with Still Caves and Jackson Boone.

– Bryce Woodcock

San Francisco

Seaweed Sway Curates Kyle Lesley Benefit Show at Amnesia – 1/30

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The Bay Area based music collective, Seaweed Sway will be putting on their first event of the year at Amnesia Music Hall in the Mission District in San Francisco. This event will be a benefit show for sound engineer and avid music community supporter, Kyle Lesley who was recently diagnosed with stage four metastatic melanoma.

Lesley is known for his volunteer work for causes like Occupy Wall Street SF and the Clarion Alley Mural Project. He inspires everyone who comes into contact with him to connect with and support the local music and arts community.

Mariee Sioux, Future Twin, T.V. Mike and the Scarecrowes and Michael Musika will perform at the benefit show on January 30th. It’s great to see bands come together to help their friend while he suffers through a difficult time. Give back to Kyle Lesley because he is a person who has given so much to others. 

To contribute to the fundraiser for his treatment, click here.

NYC

The Fluids end Pianos residency tonight (01.28)

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We wish every NYC venue had residencies, like Pianos does; it would be so much easier to figure out what local emerging artists have the potential to get to the next level. The Fluids is a Brooklyn band so new we had a hard time finding a picture of them. Their round, slightly epic rock sound didn’t immediatiely strike us for its originality, but once Michael O’Donnell’s vocals hit our ears with his semi spoken-word style, we became hooked big time. The dude is without any doubt whatsoever the in vitro (or something) child of Mark Knopfler (Dire Straits) and Gerard Langley of The Blue Aeroplanes… Science can "forge" a child out of two males now, right? Michael has the rare talent (inherited from his fathers) to create very interesting and evocative vocal lines without really relying on any discernible melody. Listen to their single "Just Like Me" (streaming below) if you won’t believe us. Check out The Fluids tonight at Pianos for the last night of their Wednesday residency. We dig.

NYC

Honduras unveils video for “Mistake” + plays Bowery Electric on 01.29

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With their unapologetic punk/garage rock that reinvents those genres in ways that are compositionally more mature (and satisfying), Brooklyn quartet Honduras has been a band on the rise in 2014, a year during which they released two EPs: the more produced and somewhat atmospheric "Morality Cuts" in February, and the tenser "Break," out in November. They are now unveiling a new video for one of their more Ramonesque tunes, "Mistake" (streaming), which is the third and closing track of their latest EP. If you are a fan of the sound of the 70’s, don’t miss their upcoming show at Bowery Electric on January 29.

NYC

Haint Blue’s Company of Ghosts.

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If you’re looking for a little fiddle, banjo, and soul on Valentine’s weekend, Folk-pop septet Haint Blue is coming to the Velvet Lounge in Washington, D.C. on February 13th. This band’s sound is alive, with bluegrass fiddle and banjo, powerful harmonies, and melancholy lyrics. One lyric in “Company of Ghosts” (the title track to their newest album) is, “Promise myself I’d retire much older, but I still abide,” hauntingly beautiful due to the sparse instrumentation and seamless harmonies that go along with the words. Though the album is only seven tracks, it feels cohesive and complete, due to the range of emotion and sound of the songs. “Father Abraham” is an upbeat, foot-tapping song with spiritual lyrics, while “Wherever You Go” is a cynical, slower, and darker song with lyrics that are not afraid to surprise the listener. This band promises energy, passion, and musical finesse.

The show on the 13th is a must-see, with Big Hoax and Dear Creek joining them at The Lounge. If you have to miss it, though, Company of Ghosts is on sale on iTunes and Bandcamp. They are also playing closer to their Baltimore home the next night at Cafe Nola in Frederick, MD on February 14th. –Nancy Macmillan

Philadelphia

New Video: “Hit Me” (Out Of Town Films) – Cold Fronts

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As we anticipate the release of their debut LP via Sire Records, Cold Fronts stopped by Berks Warehouse to record a session for Out Of Town Films. This performance of “Hit Me,” found on their latest EP Forever, incorporates the band’s excellent grip on high-energy heartfelt rock. Blending a bass-churning groove with sweet slices of guitar that freely run, you’ll want to play it more than once. (Photo by Megan Mat)

NYC

Best of NYC 2014 – Open Submission Results for ALT FOLK

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Gals and lads, here are the results for the last category of our Best of NYC Year End Poll for Emerging Artists: it’s ALT FOLK! This is a genre that is rising in NYC, and that is producing some very interesting new bands dedicated to reinventing the American roots music. Kudos to Bonsai, who is also the band that received the highest score overall from our jury, and therefore has earned our NYC Artist of the Month banner.

Total submissions in this category: 26

Jurors: Jason Behrends (The Deli Chicago), Jordannah Elizabeth (The Deli SF), Paolo De Gregorio (The Deli NYC)

Artists qualified to the next stage (i.e. the Readers’ Poll, starting later this week):

1. Bonsai (8.33 out of 10)


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2. Johnnie Lee Jordan (7.16)


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3. Viktor Longo (7)


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Honorable Mentions (scores above 6.5)

Cave Cricket, Johnny Lewis, Jacknife Sympathy, Jesus On The Mainline, Dallas Heron, Bay Uno, The Slack Tide.

This is it as far os open submission results! As soon as we’ll have all the bands uploaded in the system, the Best of 2014 Readers’ Poll can begin!

The Deli’s Staff

Philadelphia

The Deli Philly’s Featured Artist(s) Poll Winner: Cave People

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Cave People’s Dave Tomaine is quite proud of his youthful love of BSB (a.k.a. The Backstreet Boys), inspired by his local music friends, and has actually opened for a political puppeteer. So obviously, we can’t help but have a warm spot for him and his latest EP Older on this cold day. You can also learn more about our most recent Featured Artist(s) Poll Winner in his humorous interview HERE.

Nashville

COIN Release New Single “Run”

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Check out this brand spanking new single from indie-rock outfit COIN. The song was released in conjunction with their mini-tour supporting Grizfolk kicking off January 29th.  "Run" is a bright, pop number about being young and bullheaded. Their debut album is due out this June; produced by Jay Joyce, it’s sure to capture the synth-driven energy that has built COIN’s reputation thus far. Keep up with the COIN crew at www.thisiscoin.com.

 

Austin

Alta Violet

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Well, it doesn’t happen often that a band you’re researchin’ changes names part way through your looking into ’em, but that’s exactly what happened when I started digging into Alta Violet, formerly known as Sweet Shine. But hey, young band, they can still get away with a moniker jump or two.

Alta Violet is Austin psych-indie with some real variety to the few tracks they’ve put out so far. Where I hear Death from Above 1979’s pounding fuzzed-out bass and, interestingly, a bit of a schoolkid rhyming thing (which some other early 2000s bands got into for a bit) in track "Stare at the Sun," and "Emily in the Rain" is just pure 90s alt-rock, "I’ve Seen the World" is a song with its head fully in the 1960s harmonic folk-psych scene. This diversity of sound over three available tracks (preludes to an announced album, according to the info) that each manage to hit the genre target they aim for makes Alta Violet a band to watch out for. If they can make this all work together in a whole album, and maybe keep blending up the different influences they pull from, they could end up being a major local player at Psych Fest next time that thing comes around. Let’s just hope to whatever lung gods are out there that it’s a less dusty stage that Alta Violet sets up on than we got this last year. Goddamn that dust to hell. Check the heaviest available track from Alta Violet below, and get on over to their Soundcloud for the other noises this very new band can make.

NYC

Psych NYC band to keep an ear on: Street Smells

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It’s become quite rare to stumble upon the word "demo" these days, since the term was made somewhat obsolete by the rise to relevance of lo-fi (and even "mid-fi") music. However, NYC droney psych rockers Street Smells have a four song demo drenched in fuzz and reverb on their Soundcloud page, and since they recently played Pianos, it’s quite safe to assume that they’ll be releasing a new record soon. Fans of The Jesus and Mary Chain will rejoice. Check out the demo of ‘Rapture Of The Deep’ and single ‘Jerky Ride’ from their 2012 album ‘Creamy LP,’ both streaming below.