The Chance gained the most votes for the DC/Baltimore based artists that submitted to be considered for our Best of DC/Baltimore Poll 2010. They will therefore access the next stage of our poll.  

 

The current alternative rock duo the Chance have been making regular treks up to NYC recording a new EP due to be released in the very near future.  This will be the followup to their previous release Dimensions that received awesome critic praise; “…this is an incredibly full and almost epic sound with a lot of ambience and intricate composition.” Matt Stabley, NBC4. “…an expansive sound that melds vocals that are both brooding and forceful…” Crispin Knott, Roll Magazine.“The four tracks on “Dimensions” are sonically challenging and equally fulfilling.” Robert Fulton, OnTap Magazine.

Categories: All Genres

Region: Washington DC + Baltimore

Jurors: Deli Austin and San Francisco Editors

Top 10 Artists From Open Submissions

1.The Chance – NOMINATED FOR NEXT PHASE

2. Cobra Collective – NOMINATED FOR NEXT PHASE

3. The Last Monarchs– NOMINATED FOR NEXT PHASE

4. Thee Lexington Arrows – NOMINATED FOR NEXT PHASE

5. Lara Supan

6. The Treading Lemmings

7. Stars and The Sea

8. Death by Sexy

9. Ihsan Bilal

10. Heather Renee

"Undreamt" is the genius debut EP from DC’s Painted Face, the solo project of Allie Alvarado (formerly of Telepathe and Blood Lines) in collaboration with producer Alvin Risk.  Fans of Kate Bush and Bat For Lashes ought to include this gem in their collection of pop shoegazey-driven dance anthem albums, with swirly chants found in every hit after hit track on this "I can’t believe she’s not playing arenas yet" EP.

The title track ‘Undreamt’ oozes lushy synths with layers of spiraling keys over a beat that urges your whole body to let go as Alvarado’s bewitching voice croons "So if you feel it, you better make the first move…"

‘Favorite One’ is a beautiful ballad delivered over spasms of glitch melting into ‘Sum of Me’, an energetic track where Alvarado questions "did you ever know the truth, did you ever try?" 

Ending the EP is ‘Girls in Love’, which transports you to mid 80’s pop in the first few seconds before taking a giant leap back to the future of electronica and riding the synth waves ’til the end, where you just want more.  Until an LP is revealed, we can always just hit the repeat button.  Love it.

Catch Painted Face, along with Raindeer and Stout Cortez @ the Velvet Lounge on Jan. 15 at 9 PM ($8). -Dawn

It’s nearing the annual Deli Magazine Best Emerging Artist of 2010 Poll, a first this year for DC/Baltimore, and with our vast jury still getting in their votes and bands continuing to send in their submissions, we thought we’d let you in on the top 3 selected artists found through our SonicBids open call. First up is the Maryland born, Virginia raised avant-garde hip-hop maestro Atari Blitzkrieg who’s released 3 albums & 15 EP’s (in over a 3 year time period!), and has been in the game since ’95 recording and producing with many major names in underground hip-hop. He was also selected as one of Urb Magazine’s Next 1000.

Atari Blitzkrieg – The Maturation of Nothingness (Produced by Daedelus) by Godsendant Music

We also dig the lovely alt. soul folk sounds of Ally Way, a native of DC born into a musical family of a gospel singer mother and instrumentalist father. Singing since a toddler, Way draws inspiration from Joni Mitchell to Nirvana and more.

 And the 5-piece pop rock DC band The Silver Liners rocked the loudest on our list of Sonicbid submissions, who’ve recently released their second EP (S/T). Their first EP "Just Like the Rest" came out April 2010, and critics compared it to bands like Foo Fighters, My Bloody Valentine, and Black Rebel Motorcycle Club. Awesome.

 And a mentionable found through our open-call is the ambient new age cellist T.A. Zook, from Arlington, who creates masterpieces of ambient classical soundscapes perfect for planetarium soundtracks, and in fact is working on a soundtrack for an upcoming IMAX film, "Outside In the Movie." Party! –Dawn

If you’re not already familiar with the musical endeavors of songwriter Luke Brindley, guitarist-slash-everything elseist Bryan Dawley and singer Rachel Beauregard, then you are never going to believe that their band, Deep River’s debut album was produced over the span of ten short days.  The aptly titled "Ten Mornings" is a polished but deeply earnest set of emotionally riveting songs that manage to represent both what American folk music has been and what it could be.  The arrangements are thoughtfully minimal and allow Rachel’s iron-strong voice and the surrounding powerful vocal harmonies to shine.  And they really do shine.

Deep River has coined their own genre-name for their sound:  "Front Porch Pop."

And, as if to let all you music lovers out there know that they take that genre name seriously, they’ve recently offered to play in the homes of their fans.  If you’re interested, then contact amy@adjmgt.com for details!  

If that’s just not feasible for you, I’m sorry.  But, all is not lost.  They will also be opening for Chely Wright later this month on January 21 at The Birchmere.  You can still purchase tickets here. –Jarrett

 

 

It may take a few days to nurse yourself back to health after your New Year’s party hangover, but I’ve got news for you:  The music scene waits for no one.  So be prepared, stock up on water and junk food so you can recover as soon as possible.  2011 is going to be a great year for local live music.

And what better way to get it started than with a night of new (but classic) D.C. post-hardcore?  Sounding reminiscent of a heavier Sonic Youth, with female/male vocal tradeoffs and no shortage of guitar breakdowns, Gangland Buries Its Own will be playing at Velvet Lounge on Thursday, January 6.  (Doors 7:30PM/Show 9PM/21+/$8)  Memories From the Space Age will be the opener.

Make a resolution you can keep this year:  Rock till you drop and support local music.  -Jarrett

It’s once again that time of year to get awesome with DC’s glorious icons of rock, Rattler. Prepare for the greatest New Years of your life this Friday at the Rock N Roll hotel as Rick Rattler (Vocals), Scott Rattler (Back up Vocals), Mickey "Hollywood" Fangs (Lead Guitar), Rattlesnake (Drums), Frank "The Deuce" Williams (Bass), and Bobby "Coils" Williams (Rhythm Guitar) descend upon the stage and rock your earballs ’til you blackout while they soak you with beer, if you’re lucky. Do yourself a favor and check out their release Incoming (available on iTunes) and let classic tracks such as "Getting Awesome", "Blood Sweat and Beers", and "Cocaine Migraine" sink into your brain so you can chant along. It’ll most likely be one of the greatest nights of your life.

A whole bunch of awesomeness will take place all over RnR Hotel, so for more details check out their site. –Dawn

 

Typically comprised of Olivia Mancini (guitar, vocals), Ed Donohue (guitar), Kristin Forbes (bass, vocals), Randy Scope (drums), and Julia Mancini (vocals, percussion), DC’s pop folky Olivia Mancini and the Mates are a group of musical friends who have been playing together since 2005. Randy and Olivia used to be the rhythm section of the now-defunct Washington Social Club. 2007 saw the independent release of their first album, This Kind of Life, which they quickly followed up with The Chatterbox EP, produced by Roger Greenawalt (Ben Kweller, Rhett Miller). Now they’ve got a new record, You Can See the Mountains From Here.

They return to the DC stage in the new year at the Black Cat on Jan 7, 2011 @ 9 PM.

Since their formation, Baltimore’s Solar Temple Suicides have slowly been perfecting their own brand of drugged out, spacey haze. They preach long and tall effects-laiden, psychedelic lessons culled from ancient Yajurvedas of transformation and trial by fire, thrust from the sun to the outer edges of the universe. Their unabashed space rock tendencies and hallucinatory walls of sound drive their high volume live shows. Not fitting neatly into any extant mold, Solar Temple Suicides gather their influences together to form their own nebula.

This Saturday, STS held a release party at the Hexagon in Baltimore for their debut LP, Sentinels of the Heliosphere. It was self-recorded and produced at Studio 14 in the winter and spring of 2010, and released December 14th on Sleepy Records, with an east coast tour to follow in early 2011.

The Silver Liners of D.C. have just released a great new self-titled EP.  They currently have one song, "Runnin’ Through My Head" avaiable as a free download here!  Expect tracks full of well-produced pop-rock hooks that might be the only thing that can possibly get the most annoying of the Christmas songs out of your head this holiday.  If you’re in New York City celebrating the New Year, stick around and check the band out at Union Hall in Brooklyn on January 9.  If not, then stay tuned to The Deli for more show updates in 2011!  (There’s a rumor about a Black Cat show in January…) – Jarrett

 

The Silver Liners – Just Like The Rest from The Silver Liners on Vimeo.

 

With the release of their debut album, MIRRORS, Washington D.C.-based U.S. Royalty delivers on capturing the volatility and explosiveness that define their live performances. Early comparisons have been made to Local Natives, The Black Keys, Fleet Foxes, Band of Horses, and early Kings of Leon.

"With this record we wanted to present a body of work, a complete thought," says singer John Thornley.  To achieve this, the band wrote and rewrote songs for a year, demoing and dissecting while on the road and at home.  John continues, "Because we traveled for about a year and a half before we recorded the album, there is definitely a travel vibe to the record."

In March 2010, the band teamed up with engineer Gus Oberg (The Strokes, Albert Hammond Jr., Bloc Party) and Justin Long to begin recording the album.  The band recently released the first single off the album, "Equestrian," and set a release date for the debut album, January 25th 2011.

Catch U.S. Royalty live at the 9:30 Club on Dec. 17.

Equestrian by usroyalty

 What do Baltimore’s Future Islands have in common with Tommy Lee Jones, Kevin Costner, and Ben Affleck? The film The Company Men, where the Future Islands have some heavily featured tracks! It’ll be released nationally in theaters on Jan. 21 (though press release had stated Dec. 10), so keep your ears alert if you catch the film.

Future Islands have recently wrapped up a marathon year of touring on top of a hefty release schedule.  One full-length, an EP, and two singles later, the band is taking a brief break this holiday season to relax and start working on next year’s forthcoming LP.  Expect the band to hit the road again in February!

Future Islands – In Evening Air from Beard Wizard on Vimeo.

 

I would imagine that Dead Mechanical would cringe to hear me describe their newest album, Addict Rhythms, as a "throwback" to 1990’s era underground pop-punk.  But, when you first play this record, that’s exactly what you think.  And, for me, that made me instantly excited.  However, as I listened to Addict Ryhthms a few more times, it began to take on a life outside of The Jawbreaker Era from which it may have been born.  It began to sound like this record had been crafted as if the pop-punk anthems of the 1990’s had never really gone away, leaving these songs as a natural progression of the genre into the cultural realities of today.  Dead Mechanical manages to convey this feeling on a record that is well crafted and arranged, but produced low-fi enough to still carry the energy of a live show.  Their songs are catchy and melodic, but with edges that are just rough enough to let you know that they mean business.  

Their song, "Last show," depicts the final show of a band that may or may not be fictional from the perspective of an adoring fan.  The feeling of loss is expressed openly, but the song doesn’t sound like a lamentation, it sounds like a celebration.  You can’t help but feel like this is somehow a metaphor for an entire genre or scene of music, ending and beginning, but always filled with vigor and life.

Addict Rhythms is at its best during anthemic choruses that challenge a generation at risk of losing its identity to re-take control of their lives.  You can really feel this on "Sidewalks," a song that surrounds a lyrical portrait of voiceless and unappreciated youth with a resoundingly optimistic refrain:  "You can hit the sidewalks early," a call to arms for the weary to pick themselves up by the bootstraps and start going somewhere.

If you’re in need of picking up, the first place you should head is to Traffic Street Records to pick up Addict Rhythms. –Jarrett