Guest writer, San Francisco based Michelle Robertson has written and conducted a great interview with Bay Area harpest, Amelia Romano.

"The blue harp is jarring. It punctuates the cityscape of San Francisco, refusing to blend in with the clear sky above. Just as out of place as the azure harp are the melodies emanating from it. We’ve seen this instrument before, in orchestral halls and mythological tales, but the music Amelia Romano’s harp creates is hardly classical nor folkloric.

Gazing upon the skyline captured in Romano’s “Legacy” video, one of the singles off her album New Perspectives, one begins to understand the tapestry of influences that compose the work. In this city, cultures and worlds collide, yet a humble cohesiveness emerges from such disparity…"

You can read the interview in its entirety here.

San Jose’s Xiu Xiu performs live at the Chapel on March 19th. This legendary Bay Area will be playing all over the country in support of their new album, FORGET.

FORGET was recorded during a period of epic productivity for Xiu Xiu. While writing FORGET, they released the lauded Plays the Music of Twin Peaks, collaborated with Mitski on a song for an upcoming John Cameron Mitchell film, composed music for art installations by Danh Vo, recorded an album with Merzbow and scored an experimental reworking of the Mozart opera, The Magic Flute. All of this frantic, external activity lead to a softly damaged dreaminess and broadened intent that has not been heard before in other Xiu Xiu works. The album was produced by John Congleton (Blondie, Sigur Ros), Greg Saunier of Deerhoof and Xiu Xiu’s own Angela Seo.

​Make sure you don’t miss this show!

​We were super excited to learn about the line up going down in Oakland at ​The Octopus Literary Salon on March 10th!

Bay Area based bands, Real Real Talk and ​Horrible/Adorable will share a bill with Southern Califorian music outfits, ​Tristan Puig and the legendary, Globelamp. All of these peoples perform emotive, indie pop and we think this line up is well curated and certainly worth checking out!

We’re always pleased to premiere new Bay Area music! The Bay Area based band, Nine Pound Shadow has released a brand music video entitled, Tell Me Why. The band is comprised of brothers, Breandain and Christopher Langlois who create a very California sort of sound, one whose lineage and mythology goes as far back as, well, a family tree. Tell Me Why hinges on orchestral piano chords before building into a chantable refrain. This track is haunting and touching to no end.

Nine Pound Shadow will perform live in San Francisco at The Independent on February 21st.

Take a listen and make sure you support local artists!

Our selected jurors and The Deli Magazine readers have spoken! The Oakland based band, Mall Walk have officially won The Deli SF Artist of the Year Composite Chart (readers+jurors) Poll for the Indie Rock/Pop Category!

I know that sounds like a mouthful, but it just means it’s the chart that considers both the votes of our jury of "local scene experts" (who nominated all the bands in the list) AND our readers! These guys are acutally a personal fave band of mine.  

Congratulations to this talented band of beings. Well done and Godspeed! Enjoy this victory! Soak it in!

Associate Editor, The Deli SF
Jordannah Elizabeth

Congratulations to Doctor Striker for winning the The Deli Magazine San Francisco Artist of the Year Readers Poll (Indie Rock/Pop)! The Deli SF’s readers have casted their votes and Doctor Striker has come out on top as their favorite band of the year! We’re happy to extend this honor and I sincerely hope this band continues to make music long into the future.

Associate Editor, The Deli SF
Jordannah Elizabeth

Congratulations to The Pleasure Routine for winning the The Deli Magazine San Francisco Artist of the Year Readers Poll (Rock/Pop)! The Deli SF’s readers have casted their votes and The Pleasure Routine has come out on top as their favorite band of the year!

We’re happy to extend this honor and I sincerely hope this band continues to make music long into the future.

Associate Editor, The Deli SF
Jordannah Elizabeth

Our selected jurors and The Deli Magazine readers have spoken! The San Francisco based band, Tino Drima have officially won The Deli SF Artist of the Year Composite Chart (readers+jurors) Poll for the Revival Rock/Pop Category!

I know that sounds like a mouthful, but it just means it’s the chart that considers both the votes of our jury of "local scene experts" (who nominated all the bands in the list) AND our readers!

Congratulations to this talented band of beings. Well done and Godspeed! Enjoy this victory!
Soak it in!

Associate Editor, The Deli SF

Jordannah Elizabeth

Bay area psych rockers The Gentle Cycle have just released their debut LP, and will give send anyone a copy in the US that donates $18 or more to Planned Parenthood, ACLU, Oxfam, PBS, or Dakota Access Pipeline Fund. A donation of $5 will give the donor a download link as well.

‘I have strong socialist beliefs, and in this current climate it feels right to do whatever we can to help get funding to these noble organizations’, says Gentle Cycle’s Derek See.

With a painstaking attention to detail, these songs were filtered through a cool grip of vintage guitars and components, like an antique Echoplex tape delay and a funky old spring reverb unit. They even recorded on a 1970s Tascam 388 analog reel-to-reel, replete with a deadstock spool of old quarter-inch tape. But Derek’s melodic musings come from an abstract foundation that’s more modern and forward thinking than most musicians beholden to period-correct tones. Listen to The Gentle Cycle and you’ll hear a band that somehow balances universal emotions with astral, atmospheric sonic architecture.

The San Francisco based punk/no wave band, Blank Square has released a new single, Charmer in anticipation for their upcoming album, Animal I. Their new album will be released on February 24th. Take a listen to Charmer and make sure you pick up a copy of Animal I.

Animal I. Leaning towards the weirder end of Flesheaters but with a sterility that can only be contemporarily compared to Total Control’s Aussie hardcore quarantine no wave and then a pinch of what made DNA and Mars amazing.

 It’s captured with plenty of concrete and sheet metal kept in the mix and a highlight towards dissonant syncopations. Recorded in what my minds eye makes into a empty room minus one chair and definitely down a flight of wet, cement stairs. Saxophone with a mild but nauseating-at-times rippling slap delay, cruising on a rhythm section that sounds like they’ve got another house show to play tonight after this one. Rectangular in all the right places, uncomfortable like sleeping in a car (but hey, you do what you have to do). If you love art in your sax punk, then you will what’s going on in the Bay like we do, but this reaches waaaay back into California’s punk history (SST would’ve undoubtedly dug this).

The Oakland based band, Bells Atlas has released a new single entitled, N C A T!

With a full length and two EPs released since forming in late 2012, Oakland-based pop-soul band Bells Atlas are gearing up to drop a new standalone single, “NCAT.” The track release comes timed with the Bells Atlas’ upcoming run of dates with the WNYC/NPR program Snap Judgment serving as the house band during live recordings.

Attempting to neatly describe the sounds that Derek Barber (guitar) Geneva Harrison (drums, percussion, keys) Sandra Lawson-Ndu (vocals, percussion, keys) and Doug Stuart (bass, vocals, keys) produce together is no easy task. Kaleidoscopic and richly layered, each new foray by the band expands the wide, colorful sonic palette from which they paint dazzling, vibrant structures from.

"Nothing Comes After This (NCAT) is about the feeling when you know a relationship has run it’s course. All of the little things have added up to something so big that they have eclipsed the light that the relationship once brought. It touches on feeling both empowered and heartbroken, because change is rarely easy."

You can catch Bells Atlas live
2/19 – Rickshaw Stop – San Francisco, CA

Jay Som‘s new single, 1 Billion Dogs is a fuzzy, alternative pop track that we’re really into. We’re happy to hear new music from Jay Som and can’t wait to check out the full album!

Bay Area-based singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Melina Duterte – recently announced Everybody Works, her proper debut album, which will be out on March 10th via Polyvinyl Records. 

On her first proper album as Jay Som, 22 year-old Melina Duterte solidifies her rep as a self-made force of sonic splendor and emotional might. Everybody Works – which Duterte wrote, recorded, played and produced entirely by herself, save a few backing vocals – was made in three furious, caffeinated weeks in her bedroom studio throughout October. Duterte even ditched most her demos, writing half the LP on the spot. If last year’s aptly named Turn Into compilation showcased a fuzz-loving artist in flux, chronicling her mission to master bedroom recording, then Everybody Works is the LP equivalent of a mission accomplished.