You Destroy Yourself, the first full-length record from Sweet Jesus, was released on February 3 and from the sounds of their first single, this record is ready to punch you straight in the mouth. “The Light of Sun” has great intensity–I particularly liked the intro to the song–drums alone, followed by vocals and drums, then the whole band bursts-in with violent power chords and heavy bass–what’s not to like about that?
You Destroy Yourself was released through Atomic Action Records. For more information about the record, check out Atomic Action’s Facebook page. For more info about Sweet Jesus, click here.
After losing guitarist Dre DiMura and spending most of 2014 as the backup band for Ali Wadsworth, Satellite Hearts are back as a trio with an explosive new track called "Doing Things Right." It’s the band’s first release since 2013’s EP Four to the Floor. Satellite Hearts will also be hitting the stage again in Philly on Saturday, February 21 at Johnny Brenda’s.
We want to express our gratitude to KCPT and videographer/producer John McGrath for airing a segment of our editor Michelle Bacon on their weekly show Arts Upload. It prominently features our website, along with Michelle’s bands The Philistines, Dolls on Fire, and Drew Black & Dirty Electric. Tune in to Arts Upload every Thursday night on KCPT! You can watch Michelle’s segment below.
Check out our interview with Kangaroo Knife Fight, The Deli KC Readers’ Choice for 2014 Emerging Artist! See them this Saturday at the MidCoast Takeover fundraiser at recordBar too! Here’s the link.
Our Year End Poll for Emerging SF Bay Area Artists was – as usual – a painstaking (and somewhat excruciating) process, but we pulled it off with remarkable flair!
Kudos to garage rockers, Down and Outlaws, our new Deli SF Bay Area Artist of the Year!!!
Here is how it all went down: first, we let the local bands submit their music (for free), and got our Deli editors to pick the nominees. Then we polled a list of 15+ SF Bay Area scene expert (our jury) and asked them to nominate 3 more bands of their choice each. Then we polled our writers, then we polled our readers. We tried to keep things open for each single genre, from Indie Rock to Roots Music to Hip Hop.
If you are a geek interested in all the subtelties related to how this poll works, you can read its rules here (happy reading!). But if all you care about is the awesome new music SF Bay Area produced in the year 2013, this list is all you need. Enjoy!
BEST OF 2014 POLL FOR EMERGING SF BAY AREA ARTISTS
****** FINAL RESULTS ******
It’s been over a year since the last Sandcastle release, Nymph & Necromancer. And after the departure of former Da Comrade! member Micah Edwards, the band has moved on as a quartet, recently sharing its new record Skull Cauldron, which you can stream and download below. The album was recorded and mixed by Dan Angel and James Ryskalchick at the Sex Dungeon in West Philly. (Cover art by Rachel Pfeffer)
Jaki Liebezeit, the drummer for the seminal Krautrock band Can, had an epiphany; he was confronted by a mysterious person in the late 60’s who told him "YOU MUST PLAY MONOTONOUS." Jaki could have easily passed off the comment with total disregard, but there was something about the wide-eyed nature of this mysterious person that seemed to suggest something alien and perhaps knowledge of worlds beyond our own. And so Jaki took heed and began playing monotonous and consequently changed and effected the way we approach pop and odd music ever since.
The fact that a moment so fleeting and seemingly inconsequential could have such a resounding effect on the future of music seems magical at best. Could aliens really have informed the Germans about this musical zeitgeist? …Now I’m imagining a planet where the national anthem is a motorik beat that plays for half an hour…
Meanwhile, back on earth we’re sending those signals back out to space in hopes that the mothership returns to bring us bountiful gifts of synthesizers that oscillate emotions and guitars that feedback into eternity. Tonight there is a live transmission from The LO-FI with cosmic kraut conductors, Red Martian (who on any other day could be the house band for Creation Records), Terminal Fuzz Terror (Amon Duul disciples), Bites, and more… All paying homage to the greatest musical genre the west has ever known. Lift off starts at 8pm
When listening to really young artists, there’s one element that – in our opinion – can reveal right away if they have potential: the singer’s voice and its character. Jon Jurow, the mind and voice behind dark pop band Leisure, possesses these quality, and his singings comes across like a slightly gothy-er version of Lloyd Cole. The only song we found available for streaming, entitled "Gone Again" (streaming below), is a brief and simple tune firmly grounded between lo-fi and chill waves coordinates, but the vocals make it way more interesting – to our ears – than many perfectly recorded and beautifully orchestrated tracks. Leisure will make its NYC live debut at Baby’s All Right on February 14, sharing the stage with one of our favorite local bands of the moment: Future Punx.
Extreme happiness or pain can be very inspiring for artists, but it occurred to us that most musicians might never write their desperate songs during their "NYC years." Because by the time you are desperate, you’ve normally moved out of the city already. As you know this blog only covers NYC based artists, and maybe that’s why we don’t often stumble upon material that channels that kind of emotion- which is completely different from, and way more sincere and troubled than, the provocative nihilism many punkish bands convey. The city-induced "low" is perfectly expressed in Astoria based Dirty Wings’ latest single "Forever Nights of Winter" (streaming below): "gonna go to a place where I can’t be found, cause its so cold in this dirty town, gonna get so high till I fall down, gonna plant my face in the frozen ground." With their Tom Waits and Lou Reed references, one can’t help but immediately associate the band’s sound with excessive alcohol intake, which not only works with the content of the lyrics, but also makes for a pretty original sound in today’s NYC music soundscape.
Experimentation steps to the forefront this evening at North Star Bar. The duo of Anders Lindfors and Laura Fisher combines as Willow Talk, an electronic trip-hop scenario. Expanding for live performances, the group travels in a futuristic vehicle, fueled by a diet of morphing electronic beats and steadied by Fisher’s clear, enchanting vocals with drops of pace-changing spoken lyrics for good measure. The overall composition is lifted through the tight, floating vocal effects while remaining anchored to the organic groove. Quintet Allora Mis paints clear sonic settings with controlled brush strokes, offering panoramic views. Adding to the bill are the trio of Blood Sound, who recently released its debut album Nightclub that is full of synth-y, danceable dark wave you’ll surely dig as it gradually fortifies around you, and instrumental two-piece In Place. North Star Bar, 2639 Poplar St., 8pm, $10, 21+ – Michael Colavita
“SFIS(A)” by Horse-Eyed Men sounds like some kind of strange country version of a Jimmy Buffet song if it were recorded in outer space–and I intend for that to be as much of a compliment as the band (and any readers) will allow. The first time I heard the song, I thought these guys were a weird bunch, but after listening to the track a few times, it has definitely grown on me. They did a great job with production on this track–the reverb on the guitars, airy backing-vocals–they certainly captured the “sh**-faced in space” idea that the chorus professes. I also liked their decision to record in a large theatre–I think that really helped give a big, open sound to the song.
For more information about Horse-Eyed Men, check out their Facebook page.
As 2014 was drawing to a close, Out Of Town Films recorded on the 5th of Novemebr the duo of Jeff Lucci and Josh Aptner, better known as Air is Human, performing "Fugue {Ø}." With a heart thumping grit, they slither like a snake maintaining a sense of continuity while also shifting shape throughout. Soak it in, and for those looking for a bit more, you can head to Ortlieb’s tonight where Air is Human is slated on the bill that also includes Ill Delta and Chen City. (Photo by Out Of Town Films)
