We all know that most New Yorkers don’t really like cowboys that much (a little too rough around the edges, and mostly global warming deniers), but put a young girl with a guitar under that hat and suddenly you’ve got a total charmer – not sure if that’s enough to say that sexism has some "better" sides to it, cowboys might not like that. But age and wide-brimmed hat are not the only strenghts Nashville via Brooklyn songstress Michaela Anne has to offer. Her country songs ring genuine, like this video for single "Ease of Mind;" her unaffected voice and simple guitar chords forge sincere songs about love and the uncertain future facing a young cowgirl, in a cow-less city. Which begs the question: would NYC be a better place if it had cows?
Michaela Anne will bring a ray of Nashville sun on February 19 at Rockwood Music Hall.
Our Year End Poll for Emerging New England Artists was – as usual – a painstaking (and somewhat excruciating) process, but we pulled it off with remarkable flair!
Heavy and earthy, Dark Rodeo applies a punk attitude and and song format to country lyrical themes and guitar tones. Congrats, guys!
Gym Shorts are threw some high-energy surf punk in our laps with last years record No Backsies. Check out their tune "Viberator" and take it to the slopes while we’re waiting for the snow to melt.
Nathan Ventura‘s back with a band, and released Pucker Up in February 2014. It’s definitely a weird one. Check out Nathan’s wild vocals and the band’s experimental garage feel. Definitely some novel sounds on every track of Pucker Up.
Honorable mention to Kid Mountain, for their killer free New Years Eve show in Brighton!
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+ New England scene experts (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 New England produced in the year 2013, this list is all you need. Enjoy!
BEST OF 2014 POLL FOR EMERGING
NEW ENGLAND ARTISTS
****** FINAL RESULTS ******
If you wonder how on earth a band with a name like Surfbort and recordings like these can headline a bill at Brooklyn’s venue-of-the-moment Baby’s All Right (on Wednesday 02.03), the answer is: a fun live show, songs that resonate beyond their grittiness, and lots of friends as young as they are. The band describes their music like "a union of anarchy and despair," displaying a remarkable level of self awareness. Channeling the nihilism of the Sex Pistols, the intentional sloppyness of the slacker bands of the 90s, and at times even some noise rock madness, Surfbort’s music has the power to transform the negatives of teenage frustration into fun – which is precisely the reason why Greek God Dionysus sent to earth his son Chuck Berry to spread the sound of Rock’n’Roll to the masses. Don’t miss out on the catharsis opportunity!
Those who like us were teens in the 80s, and into alternative music, will always have a soft spot for the dark genres ranging from New Wave, Post Punk and Goth Rock. Brooklyn trio Second Still offers the menacing sound of bands like Wire or early Cure, modernized through a guitar tone that occasionally borrows from shoegazer, and sweetened by Suki’s Siouxie-sque airy vocals. The band will be playing tomottow night (02.03) at The Flat in Brooklyn. The show will also be featuring – among others – Wigourney Seaver and a DJ appearence by Food Stamps. Superstitious types will be able to get a glance at their future, thanks to Tarot readings, and art lovers will enjoy live paintings by Lulu Chiper.
Even if rock ‘n’ roll’s been declared dead for the millionth time since the new millennium, psych-trio Sunflower Bean don’t pay it any mind. After a year that saw them – with just three singles under their belt – sell out several NYC venues and get the cover of The Deli’s fall issue, the band is finally about to release their debut EP entitled "Show Me Your Seven Secrets," which features the three aforementioned singles and four more tracks, including "Rock & Roll Heathen," streaming below. Celebrations are scheduled for tomorrow night (10.31) at Baby’s All Right.
Listening to Brooklyn band The Highway is a little like getting a 60’s music treatment involving heavy doses of both vintage psychedelia and acid folk, fortunately without those genres’ annoying prolonged and self indulgent spaced-out jams. Their van also emanates similar vibes – and probably fumes (see picture). Their debut LP "Forest People" could have possibly left a young Caleb Followill feeling a little jealous, while their new album "Enter to the Exit," due in April, is perfectly in line with their mission to carve out a niche for their sound, and bring a tripped out vibe to the DIY Brooklyn scene. Check out the preview single "All You Do," streaming below. The band was probably the last one ever to play a residency at now defunct Brooklyn venue, Spike Hill. – Robert Frezza
Brooklyn Laughing Fingers‘ bandcamp profile includes the following tags: "rock," "cassette," "death rehearsal," "post-something" and "sometimes heavyish." This represents a wonderful example of how creative types and search engine optimization are not exactly made for each other. But who cares, really, if the post-something duo can produce, in 2014 alone, three intense and beautiful EPs full of sometimes heavyish (but often mellowish) rock that blends roots influences with ambient, slacker rock, and sparse psychedelia. Released as cassettes (we assume) their records are so tight these guys must be rehearsing them to death (hence, they like to jokingly refer to their weekly group meeting as "death rehearsal"). Well, I guess those tags made sense after all… so now you know that next time you feel like listening to "something heavyish" or "post-something" all you have to do is Google it!
Check out "Crutches," streaming below, the opening track from their latest double EP, appropriately titled "Two EPs," and if you like it, check out the rest of their repertoire here – you’ll find lots of good songs.
The Deli DC Area’s Best of 2014 Readers and Fans’ Poll for local emerging artists is over, thanks to all those who cast their vote in support of the emerging local bands and artists in our list of nominees.
Here is the top ten, and streaming track of the top four bands – which we congratulate!
Here’s this poll’s top 10 chart, full results can be found here.
THE DELI’S BEST OF DC AREA 2014 – READERS’ POLL RESULTS
Artists
Votes
1
Footwerk
855
2
Peoples Blues of Richmond
522
3
Vexine
114
4
The Walking Sticks
104
5
Party Like It’s
72
6
Sleepwalkers
51
7
Sean Barna
37
8
Walk The Plank
32
9
Fortress
31
10
The Cowards Choir
28
Stay tuned for the composite chart, to be released soon, which will include details about the point nominees accumulated from the jurors and Deli writers’ votes, and will crown The Deli’s Best Emerging DC Area Artist of 2014.
After touring extensively the US and Europe in support of last year’s album "Deleted Scenes," Brooklyn based solo electronic artist, Goste (aka Owen Ross), is already promoting a new release, entitled "Eugene EP." Lead single "Loaded Like a Pistol" (streaming below) is a darkwave track featuring Goste’s raspy vocals, that bring shape and character to the entrancing minimalistic track. You can catch Goste live in NYC tomorrow night (01.30) at Rockwood in Brooklyn next weekend (02/07) at Bar Matchless. – Jordannah Elizabeth
What a beautiful world it would be if each one of us learned to argue without taking issue at diverging opinions! As you can see in the first few seconds of the video we are premiering here for single "Something I Said," the six guys in NYC folk pop band Side Saddle are not very good at that, but at least there’s enough of them to allow them to resolve their disagreements through a football match in the park. That’s a better way to settle disputes rather than screaming at (and secretly hating) each other, although admittedly not a very time-efficient one, in particular for bands, often cauldrons of conflicting egos. But this two year old project doesn’t seem to have that problem, since it’s coming out from a very productive year that saw the release of debut EP "The Postcard" and, more recently, full length album "The Astorian" (a reference to the NYC borough the band hails from). The latter features "Something I Said" and also their most popular single, the Simon and Garfunkel-esque "Don’t Wait For Him." Speaking of the legendary folk duo from the 60s, it’s obviously a strong influence on Side Saddle’s music, but the band wears it with impressive flair, churning out catchy and compelling folk pop gems, enriched by tasteful and absolutely spot on vocal harmonies.
Astorians can see them at Old Prague on January 31, Manhattanites at Bowery Electric on 02.02, and Brooklynityes at Muchmore on 02.20. Staten Islanders and The Bronx… ites (?) get no love for now (but they rarely do anyway…).
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.
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.
