Congrats to Brothers McCann (in the picture), who won the fans’ section of our Best of New England Emerging Artists Poll 2010. The soulful quintet was followed by indie popsters The Wandas, and mellow psych folkers Walter Sickert and the Army of Broken Toys. We embedded the top 10 at the bottom of this blurb. Check out all the bands – this year we have some great variety!

A pool of 50+ artists were selected in December 2010 mostly by local scene makers (concert promoters, bloggers, DJs, etc.) and part of them through an open submission process. We let the fans vote and these are the results as far as the top 10 positions. We will soon publish the full composite chart which will include jurors’, Deli writers’, and fans’ votes as well as the open submission phase. Thank you to all who participated this year!

Artist   1 Brothers McCann 2 The Wandas 3 Walter Sickert & the Army of Broken Toys 4 Blue Button 5 Love in Stockholm 6 Abbie Barrett 7 Streight Angular 8 The Luxury 9 Lake Street Dive 10 Ghost Box Orchestra 10 Mellow Bravo

The Deli Staff

With her new album Lorraine released January 25th, and a full schedule of shows and appearances to support the new release, Lori McKenna didn’t think twice about dropping everything to help a friend in need.  

On January 21st Lori co-headlined a bill with Aimee Mann at the Paradise in Boston. Proceeds from the benefit show will help support their mutual friend and well-known Boston-area drummer, John Sands who suffered a massive heart attack in November but is now on the road to recovery. The show was organized by a group of friends, dubbed Team Huggy and the Boston music community came out in force on the 21st to help one of their own. In addition to headliners Mann and McKenna, the night also featured The Jess Tardy Band and Ron Sexsmith, both members of John Sands’ musical family. In addition to the music, Team Huggy organized a silent auction featuring tickets to sold-out shows, in-home concerts and sport and music memorabilia galore.  

Little more than half an hour after returning with her bandmates from a performance at the Stone Mountain Arts Center in Brownfield, ME and dropping the kids off at their Sunday activities, Lori spent some time talking with about John, the benefit event, and her new album, Lorraine. 

On John Sands and the Paradise Show

“I haven’t played with a full band for over a year but as far as I’m concerned, John is my drummer. I’m in a job where I get to know a lot of people. John is at the top of my list of people that I like to be around. He changed everything for me dynamically when we started playing together. I have my own little rhythm issues because I’m used to playing solo. I can only really play with a handful of drummers and John and I just clicked. As a musician, he’s one of the best we have and as a person he’s also one of the best. It’s very true when you hear people say they love John. People use the word ’love’ a lot but its really true. We all really do love John. He’s just a good, good guy." McKenna said. "The only thing that was disappointing about the night was that John couldn’t be there but he was obviously there in spirit. It was nice to see everyone come together for him like that.”

Read the whole interview by George Dow HERE

You know those songs that get stuck in your head just for the sake of catchiness? If you’ve heard Streight Angular’s "HOTTIES" or "Are You Ever Satisfied?", you know what I mean. That’s what this band does, they also know how to get a crowd going with their high-energy, crazy live shows. I single-handedly witnessed these guys turn every bro at Landsdowne Pub that was there to see Minus the Bear into a jumping up and down fool waving thier arms and singing along with Al and the rest of the Streight Angular crew.

"Everyone is Syncopated" is their latest track. Its lyrics are gloomy, "Children are evaporating/Industry is culminating" but the song is catchy, is that possible? Yes, they did it again, you might find yourself singing "Oh Oh Oh Oh," despite the tune being about all that is wrong with the world. Their next show is Thursday the 3rd at Great Scott. 

Streight Angular – Everyone is Syncopated (Single)

— Danielle Freudenthal

Aloud bring their Exile tour around for a home-town show Saturday at the Lizard Lounge in Cambridge. This Blue Heaven, Oranjuly, and One Happy Island, for whom the show is also a CD Release Party, are slated to open. After a grueling US tour, filled with ups and downs and sprained ankles, the Aloud gang are looking forward to rocking the home-town crowd before hitting the road again for parts unknown. The Lizard Lounge show is their only Boston-area gig scheduled for the coming months so catch them while you can.

If you happen to be hitting the road, check out Aloud on tour:

Sat, 02/19/11 The M Room Philadelphia, PA

Tue, 02/22/11 Double Door Chicago, IL

Wed, 02/23/11 Off Broadway St. Louis, MO

Thu, 02/24/11 Lindberg’s Springfield, MO

Fri, 02/25/11 Coffee House Hays, KS

Sat, 02/26/11 Lion’s Lair Denver, CO

Mon, 02/28/11 Bar Deluxe Salt Lake City, UT

Tues, 03/08/11 San Diego State University San Diego

-George Dow

The first time I saw Left Hand Does perform was in a living room in Allston. I was just getting into Jean Sullivan’s bass lines for "Spendle" when the cops came. Legend has it the officer was tapping his foot and said "Good stuff," before shutting it down. Such is life when you do it DIY. Since then I’ve seen LHD play dozens of times and I’ll be the first to admit they are one of my favorite Boston bands. Not just because frontman Luke Sullivan and I share the same tastes for early 80’s rock bands like The Cars and Golden Earring (which samples of "Cut" are on this track) and not only because this band is so easy going they will hop on a last minute slot to save my ass when a band has to cancel or at least suggest another awesome band, for instance, Streight Angular. But because they write great songs!

So, here is a track off the Lusica EP called "Guitar". This song caught my attention at yet another DIY show in Allston. The lyrics "I want you so bad, feels good to say that" resonated with me. Ever been lovesick? Ever just wanted to tell the object of your affection, straight up that theyre torturing you because all you want to do is "touch their face" and "thread their hand"? Well here’s the song with more lines like "I secretly want you to worship me, so secretly" Sigh. Been there, but such is life.

Guitar – Left Hand Does by Desert Race Boston

— Danielle Freudenthal

I’m really excited about this show on Sunday. This is the whole point of the Deli — New England to introduce you to bands and sounds you haven’t heard yet from your area and other parts of the country. The show is early on a Sunday, doors at 7:30 and first band on at 8pm. Look forward to seeing you. 

Gem Club — 11pm

Beautiful and trippy, I fell in love with their new EP Acid and Everything.

Humble Tripe –10pm

Humble Tripe is an acoustic 2-3 piece led by folk singer and songwriter Shawn Luby. Shawn’s based in Durham, NC but one of his bandmates lives in Boston.  

Jakob Battick and Friends –9pm 

Jakob Battick & Friends won last month’s Deli band of the month, and for very good reason. The young artist along with his rotating cast of musicians are sonically pushing things in their hometown of Portland in the most delicately powerful way possible. Jakob mixes folk and atmospheric elements …but brings a unique and more diverse edge to the stage that carves their sound out to stand wholly on it’s own.’ -Will Ryan

Slant of Light — 8pm

Slant Of Light is a newer Boston-based Americana band. 

— Meghan Chiampa

The Deli is proud to present this in-depth interview with Michael Bernier of Michael Bernier of the UPRISING. Bernier was one of last years winners in the Best of New England Emerging Artists 2009 Poll and is also a contender this year. 

Though a native of the Boston area, Michael Bernier would prefer to consider himself a citizen of the world; content to tramp the Earth in search of peace and enlightenment, and expressing those sensibilities through his music. Michael took some time out before embarking on his solo acoustic winter tour to talk about his music, personal philosophies, and his bandmates in The UPRISING.

Deli: In a band setting that brings vastly different musical tastes, I wondered aloud how those differing tastes find their way into the music of The UPRISING.

MB: There is definitely a great variation of musical tastes in within The UPRISING….each member is perhaps drawn towards a specific genre as far as their playing style or writings. I am deep into Reggae and Singer/Songwriter stuff, RyBomb (Michael’s brother and bassist, Ryan Bernier) is into Jazz and Jam, Katie (saxophonist, Kate Berlent) is into Jazz and Acoustic Rock, F (drummer, Mark F) is into Metal and Grunge, Moore (guitarist, Mikey Moore) is into Classic Rock and Motown.

I would say that overall everyone tunes into music that they think is good and real…regardless of genre…the music that makes you feel that emotion you need…the song that takes you away and makes you forget that you are still driving in that smelly van.

Read the whole interview by George Dow HERE

I had resigned myself to the fact that I was born in the wrong decade, that I would never have the opportunity to see great psychedelic music played live. Sure, I could catch the elderly hippies on their reunion tours, playing watered down versions of their 30-year old hits, made tame for their equally elderly audience. But to see the real thing, being written and created by contemporary musicians and performed with a fresh passion that captures my image of those classic shows of the late Sixties; I was sure I was out of luck. Enter MMOSS.

Read the whole review by George Dow HERE

Joe Saliba’s (of Mad Oak Studios in Allston) first sentence to me was "So I hear you like Deerhunter?", then he gave me the Fluorescent Grey EP and we’ve been turning each other onto bands ever since. His most recent find is  female-fronted, Slothrust, rock music that well, rocks.

Do you remember the first time you heard Karen O belt out, "As a fuck son you sucked" and you thought, "Damn, this chick has balls!"? Slothrust’s Leah Wellbaum has the same effect. You’ll see after you listen to "Misnomer". 

SLOTHRUST – MISNOMER

–Danielle Freudenthal

The Sundays at Precinct Deli Residency continues on the 16th with three stellar bands!

Daniel Harris — members of The Doctors Fox — 9pm

a la Sufjan Stevens meets Nirvana unplugged meets Daniel Lanois

Creek River String Band — 10pm

"High-energy bluegrass, Tex-Mex, country blues, folk, Celtic, rags, Old Time, and more, including some acoustic versions of more modern stuff (e.g, Paul Simon’s “You Can Call Me Al,” which always gets ‘em dancing). We also do a good number of originals. Think Session Americana without the table…basically the same instrumentation and vibe" — Stroker

Dogs on Television — 11pm

"Dogs on Television is headed for the bright lights. It’s a machine that runs on rock n’ roll. It’s a barbaric yawp that dives into your ear, tickles your brain, stirs your heart, and hits your spine like a lightning bolt. Based in the Boston area, DoTV is committed to bringing an explosive energy to the stage and having as much fun as possible on the way. DoTV howls loud and promises a grand revolution of unbridled rock intensity!" — from DoTV FB page

Doors at 8pm and the cover is 7 bux. 21+ Precinct has great food and beer as well.

–Meghan Chiampa

We had the chance to talk to Glenn di Benedetto of Parlour Bells about Heart Beatings, Parlour Bells’ new EP, new video project  Louder Now Boston and local no-wave rock duo,  Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling. 

Deli: Parlour Bells has a retro-style, unique sound, kind of like David Bowie meets Roy Orbison or vice versa. How did you develop this sound? When did you start singing and song-writing? Who are your influences?

GD: The sound of Parlour Bells is really about my longtime songwriting partnership with Mr. Nate Leavitt, who is probably best known for his work with The Blizzard of 78. Nate and I have been writing songs since high school and Parlour Bells is simply the latest incarnation of that long-running creative partnership. It’s our sound. As for influences, we probably have more than we can cite here. But I will say that while our influences (Nate and mine) are often very similar, they are just as often quite different. That’s what makes our collaboration kind of interesting, and what I think makes our songs unique.

Deli: You are one of my favorite "Facebook Personalities". You seem to have several creative projects including an interview series, a god-fearing alias and an entire Facebook page dedicated to your hair. Are these publicity stunts? How do these side projects fuel your fan-base? Can you tell me more about the webisodes you have coming up?

GD: Well, first of all, thank you. To be anyone’s favorite anything is an honor. I do have a lot of creative video projects in store for 2011. The ones I most excited about are Louder Now Boston, a new web show about local music that I created with Anngelle Wood. She’s the real deal when it comes to being a proponent of local rock, and it’s been great collaborating with her. The second project is a sitcom I am working on with Richard Bouchard, Mike Bishop, Sophia Cacciola and Michael J. Epstein. We just named it "Special Friends" and we begin production soon. As for Goddamn Glenn and my globe bar, I’ll say this. A lot of nonsense comes out of me, which people seem to find humorous. If they think it’s funny, then I’m going to roll with it. I really didn’t intend for these to be publicity stunts, but if they work like that…great. But if you’re only going to "like" 3 of my Facebook pages, I’d prefer that you focus on Parlour Bells, Killer Suit (my video production company) and Louder Now Boston.

Deli: You are also a videographer. Do you have any advice for musicians and bands who are looking to make a music video?

GD: Capture as much content as possible and think of ways you can differentiate it from the rest of the content out there. YouTube is awash with live music videos, which is partly why Killer Suit shies away from doing these anymore. Find a way to make them stand out. Humor is a good angle. If you’re actually funny, that is.

Deli: Why is the name of your band Parlour Bells?

GD: I liked the sound of the words together. It actually doesn’t mean anything. I always liked bandnames that people seemed to pull straight out of the ether. When you take on a name that brings no previous connotations, that name can become synonymous with the band’s sound and songs. All that said, "Parlour Bells" sounds kind of loungey. We’ve been told we have that vibe. Finally, originality, especially on the web is hard to come by these days. We were pretty sure there wasn’t a parlourbells.com when we first attempted to purchase the domain.

Deli: Which Boston band would you love to share a stage with?

GD: There is so much great local talent in Boston, we would feel honored to play with a number of bands. I guess that two that come to mind immediately are Gene Dante & the Future Starlets and Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling. Gene is the consumate rock star and an incredible showman, and I think the Bells and Starlets on the same bill would be sexy. DNFMOMD is just one of my favorite bands out there and I love Sophia’s sultry Prisoner-themed stage persona. It’s amazing how she and Michael J. Epstein can get that much sound out of vocals, drums and bass. Very raw and very noir.

Parlour Bells are releasing the EP this Saturday the 15th at Rosebud in Davis Sq. Somerville SUPER TRIPLE CD release with St. Helena (CD release) Sarah RabDAU & Self-Employed Assassins, Parlour Bells (CD release) Low Static Romance (Brendan Boogie & Magen Tracy(CD release)).

FB event

–Meghan Chiampa

Last Tuesday night marked the beginning of The Wild Sea’s month long residency at long time Cambridge institution, Toad. Ruth Peterson and Todd Russell have been performing and writing songs together since their band was called Amusia over ten years ago, and their dedication to the craft of songwriting shows. Each tune is arranged purposefully, Peterson’s lyrics are thoughtful and performances are always stellar.

Expect some covers peppered in during the two sets The Wild Sea plays during their residency at Toad this month. Last week we heard Fleetwood Mac and Led Zeppelin stripped down to the bones, along with a jazz-infused rendition of Michael Jackson’s "Billie Jean". With instrumental support from Adam Moss (fiddle), Chris Anzalone (percussion) and Sean Staples (mandolin) you never know what flavors might creep in. Rumor has it there will be more surprise guests as the month goes on, so make sure you catch The Wild Sea at least once this month, Tuesday nights at Toad in Porter Square. Supporting The Wild Sea this month at Toad: The Blue Ribbons

Facebook event here:  

Every Tuesday this month at Toad in Porter Square, 7:30-9:30, 21+, never a cover.

-Kat Burke