Happy New Year! We’re still slowly getting back into the swing of things after a much-needed break. Well, we noticed some strange happenings at Kung Fu Necktie over the holidays, which started with a tweet last Wednesday (“just a heads-up: we are CLOSED tonight due to some unforeseen issues. sorry dudes!), followed by a moving of events to the RUBA Club, and their NYE show being made B.Y.O.B. (obviously a red flag since KFN is a bar). We also heard through the grapevine on NYE that the beloved music venue had failed to renew their liquor license so we asked KFN booker Jeff Meyers about the rumor and the future of shows being held there. He responded, “Seems to be more to the story, and [I] don’t know when the issues will be resolved.” However, he does plan to keep as many of the shows as he can at the venue, but they will be either ALL AGES w/no alcohol or 21+ w/B.Y.O.B. “Only time will tell how this all works…I wish I knew more, but I’m at limbo until I know more info.” In case you were wondering, that’s the news that we have for you so far. We hope that the good folks at KFN will be able to get things sorted out, and we’ll keep you posted if we hear anything more. Sorry about the bad news to start off the New Year.

Below is a live performance video of The Homophones performing a very new, unreleased song called “The Life You Save May Be Your Own” at Eddie Austin’s Birthday Party. Special thanks to the BITBY crew for sharing. Cheers! (Photo by Kyle Costill)

If you’re anything like us here at the Deli, your New Year’s Eve plans probably include getting smashed and dancing until your legs fall off (OK, maybe that’s just me). But before you throw caution and reason to the wind, you should probably warm up tonight and kick off your totally insane and righteous weekend at Johnny Brenda’s. Orbit to Leslie, helmed by Grimace Federation‘s Chris Wood, will play their quirky, trance-like mix of lounge-surf, jazz-garage, folk-pop and neo-Afrobeat, while Circadian Rhythms will put on a peculiar revue of sprightly freak-folk and jangly ragtime measures, best heard on their plucky latest, A Dream or Something Else. Throw in the roughly crafted, distressingly ambient dream pop of Your Children is Beautiful, and you have one hell of a night on your hands. Johnny Brenda’s, 1201 N. Frankford Ave., 9pm, $10, 21+ – Annamarya Scaccia

Below is a new music video from surf punk trio Dry Feet for the yet unreleased track “Hard Workin’ Woman,” which we are presuming will be on their upcoming album that they’ve been working on. The video was directed by Eddie Austin, and premiered earlier today at BITBY. Enjoy! (Photo by Blake Larson)

Globe-trotting DJ and producer Diplo returns to his old Mad Decent stomping grounds when he plays a SOLD OUT show at Union Transfer tonight. Since moving away from Philly to expand the Mad Decent name to other horizons, he has been busy with creating an offshoot label called Jeffree’s, putting out another Major Lazer album that featured the likes of Santigold and Pharrell, taking the Mad Decent Block parties to the national scale for the 2nd year in a row, and then some! And his homecoming and Union Transfer debut is sure to be a booty-shaking pre-party for NYE. While he’s more known as the sampling mastermind behind Drexel dropouts and local rising stars Chiddy Bang, Xaphoon Jones is also an impressive producer/DJ who is certainly making a name for himself. And when he takes the stage tonight, he’ll be doing things Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle style! They’ll also be joined by Dirty South Joe on the wheels of steel. If you don’t have your tix yet, they’ll be releasing a handful at the box office so swing by early to get yours and drop by Jose’s to grab a delicious burrito while you’re already there. Union Transfer, 1026 Spring Garden St., 8pm, $20 (SOLD OUT), All Ages – Bill McThrill

Philly indie pop/rock outfit Cheers Elephant is closing out what has been a busy year tonight at Johnny Brenda’s with Bucks County’s Illinois. Cheers Elephant has spent most of 2011 promoting their sophomore LP Man is Nature since their sold out release party back in January at World Café Live, bringing their Brit-tinged indie folk to the masses with their lively stage antics, rockin’ guitar licks and three part harmonies. They are currently working on their next album. Warming up the crowd will be Illinois, whose eclectic mix of influences straddles the line between banjo-oriented indie-folk meets psych-pop with a dash of hip hop swag. Illinois has been hard at work in the studio since the summer working on their follow-up to this year’s Lemonade Stand. Come celebrate New, New, New Year’s Eve with them and NYC’s Hollis Brown this evening. Johnny Brenda’s 1201 N. Frankford Ave., $10, 8 pm, 21+ – Dan Brightcliffe

Honestly, I’ve been so busy that I really haven’t thought about making an end of the year list until I recently received a few inquiries about what would make mine. So with a little free time to reflect this weekend, I started thinking about the local albums that kept me coming back for more in 2011. It’s been a rad year for Philly indie music so I’ve been beating myself up trying to narrow it down to 10. But I’m over this sadomasochistic act. I give up. After all, it is my list, right? Why can’t it be 15? Yes, it could be even more than that, but I need to get some rest and stop obsessing. You can take a look at my list of favorite local albums in 2011 and listen to some of the tracks that have helped them stand out in my mind HERE. If you like what you hear, make sure to grab a copy or revisit it if its somewhere in your collection. I know. There are some that you think I missed or overlooked. Feel free to also share your faves from this year that you don’t see. Enjoy!