The peeps from Secretly Canadian just shot us an e-mail about hometown boy David Hartley’s debut live shows as Nightlands. He’ll be performing in Philly on Saturday, January 22 at The Ox w/Michael Johnson’s Ape School. The rest of the dates are below. – The Deli Staff

 

TOUR DATES:

01/20 Brooklyn, NY – Glasslands w/ The Tony Castles, and Dustin Wong

01/22 Philadelphia, PA – The Ox w/ Ape School

01/26 Chicago, IL – The Empty Bottle

01/27 Pontiac, MI – The Pike Room

01/28 Bloomington, IN – FARM Root Cellar w/ Tammar

 

Check out the new music video from Brooklyn/Philly-based Mammal of Paradise for their track “Only a Switch” below. It was directed by Ashley Connor and Michael Vincent. With hauntingly beautiful vocals and lyrics, Mammal of Paradise craft cerebral indie pop gems made for big screen soundtracks. They’ll be performing Thursday, December 16 at Bruar Falls in Williamsburg. Enjoy! – The Deli Staff

 

We know that Reading Rainbow just released a new full length album Prism Eyes on Hozac. Well, they just release the split 7” today with Brooklyn’s Coasting (that they mentioned in their recent interview for Where Is My Mind? here) via French Label Atelier Ciseaux. They covered Velvet Underground’s “Can’t Stand It” for the split as well as the rockin’ “Euphoria”, which you can stream via Pitchfork. They’ll also be having a release party with Coasting and Moon Women on December 16 at Danger Danger Danger Gallery. – The Deli Staff  

 

When I last spoke with Orbit to Leslie frontman Chris Wood, it seemed that the band was experiencing some growing pains. That’s why it was surprising to see that they’ll be performing tonight at KFN as well as a rare out-of-town gig in Baltimore. Well, they’ll be down one guitar player, Steve Schaller, this evening from the usual lineup, but the show is also FREE so you really don’t have much to complain about. I also noticed that they just posted a new track “Babinka” on their Myspace page. The tune is driven by percussive polyrhythmic beats and hushed vocals. It possesses a much more understated artsy, experimental feel in comparison to the big pop hooks that you might be used to from Orbit to Leslie. They’ll be joined tonight by local melodic prog rockers The Tea Club and music veteran Brett Kull & Friends. Kung Fu Necktie, 1250 N. Front St., 8pm, Free, 21+ – Q.D. Tran

 

We really can’t believe that it’s December already! It’s kind of freakin’ us out. But we can’t help but feel a little warm and fuzzy inside when we think about all the great new music that we’ve seen. We’d like to thank the bands who have participated in the crazy mixed-up lineups that we’ve put together for our showcases this year! Much love to Reading Rainbow, Grandchildren, Levee Drivers, Attia Taylor, Hair Rocket, Chang Chang, Univox, The Homophones, TJ Kong & the Atomic Bomb, The Extraordinaires, An American Chinese and Power Animal. (Please let us know if we missed anybody. Our memory isn’t what it used to be.) Also special thanks for all those who let us share in the celebration of their releases. It was certainly an honor, and we look forward to more releases to come.

 

Well, we are into the home stretch of 2010, and we have our two last shows that we will be presenting this year. We’ve mentioned our new Pipeline Series, and we wanted to share more with you about it. We love putting on showcases! (Though we do admit that there are moments where we are like: “What did we get ourselves into?”) We have always believed that The Deli is a great resource for music fans and bands to find each other. The Pipeline Series is a way for us to introduce our favorite artists from other Deli cities to Philly as well as exporting our local talent to welcoming showcases in other cities. We also hope a bit of musical kinship will build among our participants. We have a fine lineup to kick things off. The Notekillers unknowingly changed the course of music history when they made a last ditch effort for anyone to hear their 1980 7” The Zipper and dropped free copies off at NYC’s legendary 99 Records where it ended up in the hands of Sonic Youth’s Thurston Moore and his No Wave crew, which Moore admitted to having an influence on their sound in an interview with Mojo Magazine. After a kind of rock ‘n’ roll fairytale, Moore went on to release critically acclaimed Notekillers 1977 – 1981 on his label Ecstatic Peace. But the Notekillers have also returned with an album full of new material called We’re Here to Help, and it still has that nasty experimental rock sound ready to influence a whole new generation. We are – shall we say – ecstatic to be able to bring them to Kung Fu Necktie on Thursday, December 16 for The Deli’s Pipeline Series. Along for the wild ride will KEXP faves, NYC’s Electric Tickle Machine. Their name may sound “cute”, but we think “cute” will be the last adjective that comes to your mind when you hear their psychedelic indie rock anthems tear up the stage. Hometown grungey, dream-pop outfit Creepoid will be getting the festivities started. We had a chance to hear some of the new material from their upcoming album Horse Heaven this Friday at Making Time. The new tunes still contain that dichotomy of hazy tranquil stillness coupled with spontaneous explosions that you’d expect from former hardcore kids. Thus, causing us to gravitate towards their Creepoid sound and catapulting them up our must-see band list this past year. Check out all these acts, and hear why we want to share them with you at the debut of The Deli Magazine’s Pipeline Series. But we also have a show to get you warmed-up with the lovely folks at Punk Rock Payroll this Saturday, December 11 at The Blockley featuring the madcap psych-rock of The Armchairs, fuzzed out folk-hop/indie rock of Illinois, the experiment that is Da Comrade!, and loveably sweet Arrah & the Ferns. We hope that you can join us for our last showcases of the year. Thanks to all! Cheers! – The Deli Staff

 

New video from David Hartley’s Nightlands for “Suzerain (A Letter to the Judge)” from his recent debut album Forget the Mantra for Secretly Canadian. It premieres today on Pitchfork.tv and was directed by Mark Schoneveld (yvynyl and recent Shaking Through curator). Enjoy! – The Deli Staff

 

Brian McTear’s Weathervane Music Organization has had a wonderful year with the evolution of Shaking Through. (You can check out an interesting interview that we had with McTear earlier this year for Where Is My Mind? here.) All the folks at Weathervane work on a tight budget and the kindness of their hearts so if you have a lot to be thankful for, pay it forward (cough, cough WXPN) and donate some cash here to help them help expose more indie music in 2011. – The Deli Staff

“Hello Philadelphia, I’m back! Lillie Ruth Bussey here with new sounds and a new entity I would like to introduce you to. I call them Mattie Bell Screen. Mattie Bell Screen is the electronic side of Lillie Ruth Bussey. I tried for sometime to contain the acoustic and electric world of mine into Lillie Ruth Bussey, but it did not fit. So, I separated the two and now here you have it. Enjoy! Mattie Bell Screen…” (Photo by Bill Kelly) (posted to The Deli’s Open Blog – post your band’s entries, videos, and MP3s here)

 

 

You may easily recognize Helena Espvall as part of the ethereal psychedelic folk outfit Espers but beyond that the multi-talented cellist and guitarist has played in several other bands such as Fursaxa, and has even contributed to silent movie orchestras and Arabian music ensembles. Her worldly music may very well have the potential to shuttle you across the universe, and seeing her perform in an artistic and intimate setting such as Highwire Gallery tonight could help you achieve a higher state of being. Joining Espvall tonight will be another exceptional multi-instrumentalist in Jesse Sparhawk. Sparhawk is versed in the mastery of guitar, harp and mandolin, and along with his solo work, he has contributed alongside the likes of Fern Knight and Eric Carbonara. Highwire Gallery, 2040 Frankford Ave., 8pm, $5, All Ages – Bill McThrill

 

Imagine you’re sitting in the back of a pub in the heart of a small mountain village in Serbia. The floor, sticky with the sudsy remnants of pint glasses clashing in fits of rage and vigor, vibrates beneath your feet. The full, boisterous crowd moves around you, feet stomping, hands clapping, bodies swinging. And the music, just your local variety of Balkan and gypsy melodies but it sends bolts of sonic lightning through your bones anyways because the energy is just that intense. Now imagine you’re actually in Johnny Brenda’s tonight, watching a four-hour sonic mêlée between New York’s Slavic Soul Party! and our hometown West Philadelphia Orchestra(WPO plays at 9 p.m. and 11 p.m.; SSP! plays at 10 p.m. and 12 a.m.). The two collectives, whose member sizes can tip the double digitals, play a spirited soundscape of standard Eastern European folk-dance rhythms interweaved with modern decadence – a grandiloquent wall of sound that bolsters deep brass wallops and colliding percussion knocks. But they also come with their own intricacies: Slavic Soul Party! takes the ritual of the Balkan brass band bravado and mixes it with the scorching  vitality of Western techno, funk, jazz, gospel and Latin traits, while the 14-member West Philadelphia Orchestra adheres more to traditional regional refrains, like the dusky ballads of Romania and the wedding hooplas of Bulgaria, and infuses it with jazz and classical charms. I’d be remiss if I didn’t say it would be one hell of a celebration. Johnny Brenda’s, 1201 N. Frankford Ave., 9pm, $10 adv/$12 door, 21+

More homegrown activities for the weekend…

Kung Fu Necktie (1250 N. Front St.) FRI Dutch

 

North Star Bar (2639 Poplar St.) FRI McRad and Halo of Snakes, SAT Bridge Underwater and Music Box Dynamo

 

The Fire (412 W. Girard Ave.) FRI (Early) Jet Set Sail and The Bleeding Fractals, (Late) Returner and Clamfight

 

M Room (15 W. Girard Ave.) FRI Goreaphobia and Mortal Decay, SAT Busses, SUN Shannon Pelcher

 

Tritone (1508 South St.) FRI Box 5 and This Way to the Egress, SAT Broken Prayers

 

Tin Angel (20 S. 2nd St.) FRI John Francis

 

Highwire Gallery (2040 Frankford Ave.) SAT Helena Espvall and Jesse Sparhawk

 

World Café Live (3025 Walnut St.) SAT Peek-a-boo Revue

 

The Blockley (3801 Chestnut St.) FRI Ben Arnold

 

Voyeur (1221 St. Jame St.) FRI Making Time w/Creepoid

 

Danger Danger Gallery (5013 Baltimore Ave.) FRI When I Was 12, SAT Motorcycle Maus

 

The Ox (you should know by now or ask a friend) SAT Aunt Dracula, Hop Along, Yianni (of Hermit Thrushes)