Heartbreak Bugaloo (Skeleton Farm Records) marks the first collaboration of two talented artists: Aaron Behrens (Ghostland Observatory) a vocalist, and the guitarist, Jonas Wilson (Lomita, The White White Lights). Together the duo is known as The Midnight Stroll, previously ‘Aaron Behren and The Midnight Stroll,’ and these two artists- who have previously worked in everything from EDM to glam to bluesy indie to pop- have come out with one excellent creation of contemporary rock n’ roll this time around.

What makes this album clearly distinctive is the dramatic and emotional vocal work complimented by discordant guitars. The tunes laid out by Wilson’s heavy playing are successfully attention grabbing and allow the range of the vocals by Behrens to shoot out in different directions and play over the octaves, being especially dynamic in ‘Losing My Mind’ and ‘Just Hang On.’

The emotional eight track album is perfectly summed up by the final track, ‘Sparkle and Fade’: here the rock duo adds in a piano bit with stripped vocals that eventually raise into a cathedral-filling, crescendic feel, at last expressing all that sadness you’ll have accumulated by the end of Heartbreak.

It’s quality rock music from two of Austin’s most respected, and enough to earn them Artist of the Month for June here at The Deli Austin, so listen below to ride through this emotional roller-coaster.

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Chandana Kamaraj

After their synthesizer-heavy debut single “Pockets,” Roaring Sun have taken a different route with their latest single, “Racecar”. This indie “boy band” made up of brothers, Doran and David Rawlinson, Ricky Acosta, and Eric McKeefer, have released a single that will sure be the highlight at a live show, starting by slowing down the piano bit in “Cold Cold Man”, by Saint Motel and then continuing with a mellow raw tone layered with harmonies and a guitar. It’s a bit reminiscent of the slow melodies from Young the Giant’s album Mind over Matter, but just when you think this all seems too familiar, Roaring Run brings in a fresh feel and pushes the song to a new and interesting path with a unique beat on the drums and some warped melody fun.

The entire combination is bound to get you thinking of susnset evenings of music festivals and dancing, so if that strikes your fancy (as it certainly will for many in Austin), listen below!

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Chandana Kamaraj

“Loud songs for good and bad days” is the sole biographical information available on Planet Manhood’s (a.k.a. Sam Houdek’s) social media accounts, and though it’s one of the briefer bios you might run across, it’s also the most accurate. If you’re on the hunt for a meditative-yet-grungy record to accompany you through the long, hot nights (both those bad and those good), look no further than Planet Manhood’s most recent endeavor, the EP Mistake House.’

Drawing influences from Superchunk, Pavement, and Built to Spill, Planet Manhood falls somewhere between grunge and classic rock, while never quite becoming either. The mysterious cover art for Mistake House was done by Boston-based artist Kelly Kikcio, a feminist artist whom Houdek came across from a stick-n’-poke tattoo she gave to a friend, an image that Houdek gravitated towards because it seemed so incompatible with the hyper-masculine name of Planet Manhood.

Though each of the five songs on Mistake House is dispatched with a heavy dose of guitar distortion and lumbering drums, underneath the fuzziness lies remarkably gentle snapshots of the subtleties in human relationships, as Houdek sings quiveringly, “I like your backpack, is it burlap? Are you feeling like an outcast?” After attending UT and bouncing between multiple jobs, including booking shows, cleaning pools, guitar teching and working in multiple bands, the artist seems to have genuinely hit his stride with Planet Manhood, including departing for a tour of the Southeast a couple of days after dropping Mistake House on June 10.

If you’re in the midst of a bad (or good) day, hit play below for a loud song that might also make you feel a little bit more understood.

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Katy Kirby

Reigning Austin odd pop champions and 2014’s Deli Austin Artist of the Year Holiday Mountain are back to whack you upside the brain with a new and ultra-colorful music video that’ll get your summer party going. The vid, for new hard-dancing quirky ass pop song ‘Cómo Te Llamas,’ is all future fashion, exaggerated butts ‘n boobs and Holiday Mountain lead Laura Patiño using her trademark voice to ask what your name is while heading a troupe of brightly bedecked dancers (clothes designed by up-and-coming Austin fashion house Witchxxdoctor) through a surreal J-pop infused world of fun that has been put together by director Brittany Reeber. Holiday Mountain has been cemented as one of Austin’s groups most willing to flirt with pure pop music, while also being one of the acts most willing to push creative boundaries, and as you’ll see below, they’re still driving hard in that lane here in the middle of 2016. Get your weird on below, y’all.

The Deli Austin is superduper pumped up to bring you lovers of music, especially those with a taste for something a little off-kilter, one hell of a premiere today! From that quirky band that used to be named after Persian stew, and which now goes by Strange Mother, comes the delightfully dynamic Young Buck EP.

This here record is four tracks of gleeful oddball indie pop, its influences and genres all swirled together in a mad pop music science experiment run by a pack of giddy, ultra-talented weirdos. You’ll hear bits of tejano, a ballroom jazzy thing, some avant 70s rock noisiness and more, all mixed in with the heavy dose of indie freak rock that is Strange Mother’s signature sound. The resulting concoction is a little Deerhoof, a little Evangelicals, a little Man Man, even a little Tull or Zappa, and all good, old-fashioned, full-blown creative experimentation in the form of fun and catchy pop songs.

Like any good weirdo pop, there’s a lot to unwrap in Young Buck, if you’re looking to dive into something technical, but Strange Mother has also shown (again) with this record that they can make artsy weirdo avant pop that’s super accessible and just plain great to jam out to. That’s honestly a real damn hard thing to do, and the ease with which these guys accomplish it puts Strange Mother at the front of the pack when it comes to Austin bands that are pushing the envelope, but who can also structure out a seriously complex piece of music.

This is the first this absolutely excellent EP has seen the public, so be one of the first to arrive at this mad party Strange Mother has invited us to by listening below, and check the band out at their Facebook for more from one of Austin’s most creatively ambitious and most technically skilled bands right now.

Austin-based guitarist Chase Spruiell has gathered his bandmates once more (Mark Hawley on guitar, Nate Lugo on bass, and Gabe Garcia with drums) to create this newest album from up-and-coming indie punk rock band, Free Kittens & Bread. The jovial group’s newest effort, called American Miserablist, was released through Bad Wolf Recordings, and it is eleven short punkish songs that will give you the perfect amount of rush.

Standing opposed to the lighthearted humor of their band name, each song from the album is marked by some sad, ornate lyrics. It’s kind-of an emo alternative- a great break-up album that provides listeners with a good mix of slow and fast songs for any situation that might have one down, but without the screaming and all those not-always welcome emo trappings. That’s nice for those of us who don’t really get the emo thing, as that genre and country have a pretty good lockdown on the sentimental break-up racket, which just isn’t that fair. If nothing else, that alone is worth appreciating this excellent piece of local indie/folky/punky rock music.

If you’re going through a rough patch, give a listen below, and maybe set a few of those sorrows free with some music that gets where you’re at.

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Chandana Kamaraj

The result of the latest collaboration between Dana Falconberry and her band Medicine Bow is the folksy album From the Forest Came the Fire (Modern Outsider), in which Falconberry tells tales of her days exploring the forests. Released this past April, this effort is one more quality addition to Falconberry’s repertoire of lyrical tunes with vivid imagery of nature and wildlife.

Each song from “From the Forest Came the Fire” is beautifully composed and filled with rich textures paired with elegant harmonies. On these tunes pushed by unbroken rhythm, Falconberry (who has experience playing classical music) effortlessly describes the uniqueness and tranquility of the landscapes in the United States.

Falconberry brings Medicine Bow along with her on this aural journey, said band being a musically diverse group of expert players that consists of Karla Manzur (keys), Gina Dvorak (banjo, guitar), Lindsey Verrill (cello), Christopher Cox (bass), and Mathhew Shepherd. With this group, Falconberry is able to retain the traditional sounds of a folk tune, while also experimenting outside those boundaries to bring out a truly fresh sound.

Along with using strings and humming to enhance her music, Falconberry takes us through an ethereal and passionate experience lyrically, as she takes up the rivers, trees, and mountains as characters to describe her story. One comes away from this lyrically-focused music feeling closer to nature, which seems to be Falconberry’s very point in making it.

If you too would like to vicariously explore the enigmas of nature through music, give three selected tracks from the album a listen below, and check the groups’ Facebook for their current tour dates to hear it performed live.

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Chandana Kamaraj

The laid-back indie rock band Hovvdy came out with their newest album Taster (Merdurhaus and Sports Days Records) on April 15, proving again with the new record just how easily slacker rock can toy with emotions.

This (now) four-piece band started out with just Will Taylor and Charlie Martin at first, both of whom were originally drummers, but in recent days they’ve added Sam Jacobson (bass), and Andrew Stevens (drums) and have expanded their sound heavily. With the emphasis on rhythm heard in tracks like “Note” and “Can’t Wait,” Hovvdy sets a tempo that allows the audience to really think about what the band is doing with that nostalgic vibe they are so great at. One unique aspect of this record is the fact that the band has recorded some of these tracks as iPhone voice memos first, which is also how “Problem” and “In My Head” happened from Hovvdy’s initial EP. The compressed sound in the resulting product gives this album a raw and DIY feel that extends deep into the music, and this interesting recording method creates a mood that is fitting for the slacker act’s intimate and personal lyrics.

If you need music to listen to when you’re out on the road lettingyour hair get swept away by the wind, Taster is the perfect soundtrack for that moment, especially standouts “Meg” and “Try Hard”. The album gives you space to reflect on yourself, and it’s hard to avoid the music taking you back through your memories, good and bad, which is the sign of a mature and well-made piece of art.

Listen below, and see if you feel the same way.

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Chandana Kamaraj

Good Talk’s eponymous debut album at first comes across as straightforward, likable, and above all “summery," but a few more listens reveals unordinary layers. Indie-rock business-as-usual soon takes a turn into a languid cover of “Favorite Things” from The Sound of Music. That’s right. The musical. Julie Andrews would be turning over in her grave if she weren’t still alive.

Easily drawing comparisons to the Front Bottoms and Modern Baseball, with a splash of Pinegrove, Good Talk never gets too jittery on this record, staying solidly upbeat without sacrificing the summery vibes promised in album opener “Heart Attack.” The sunniest track out of the bunch is (unsurprisingly) “Sunny Ray,” which features a noodly guitar lick that combines with vocals for a Sesame-Street style nonsense syllable sing-along.

Pretty much everyone has a favorite Summer playlist lurking in the depths of their Spotify (possibly called something like “Summer Jams ’16,” or "Summer!!!!” or “Margaritas!" if you’re really cool) but believe us when we say Good Talk’s album is one that (really, honestly, truly) belongs on yours.

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Katy Kirby
(Katy Kirby’s own excellent music can be found here)

Austin’s local "Would rather be surfing" band Summer Salt has hit the e-waves this last two weeks with their first video from late 2015’s excellent Going Native EP, namely for their eponymous song "Summer Salt." True to form, "Summer Salt," and Summer Salt themselves on said track, are, welp, beachy as fuck, and it’s in a really fun way that comes complete with a heavy 50s reverby guitar sound that goes 2000s indie in the noodling.

Summer Salt is one of those acts that leaves little to catch on mentally- no politics or hard emotions or attempts at edginess- which is a delightful thing in their case. Their songs, including the one in this video (and the video itself, for that matter), are just fun, relaxing and full of the feel-goods, and as much as we like hard music, you gotta have some of this as well to balance it out, right? Considering that Summer Salt is just damn good at it, and makes their chilled out sounds with thorough artful craft and imaginative talent, we think the answer to that question is an emphatic yes. Check out the video below, and listen to the rest of the EP here.

A Giant Dog is a white hot indie rock and roll band right now. That, if you hadn’t noticed, is pretty rare these days, when subgenre is king, and when just so much has already been done in the genre that "authentic" and "unique" are terms that instantly raise hackles. But, with new video "Sleep When Dead," which follows right on the heels of their deeply good video for "Sex & Drugs," A Giant Dog have obviously plugged right into that elusive current of pure rock and roll electricity that has always powered the real, true good stuff.

Filmed in the iconic Old Austin venue Carousel Lounge, "Sleep When Dead," like "Sex & Drugs" before it, is a sonic blast of the band’s gleefully, irreverently mature take on rock and roll, depicting a troupe of veteran rock weirdos getting down like only those kind of people can, with a bit of an Ugly Duckling, the Punk Version plot thrown in.

What A Giant Dog is doing with this recent music, being rock vets themselves, is pretty awesome, and difficult. They’re writing manic, thundering rock songs that are thoroughly self-conscious and make the culture and performance of the very thing they’re doing in the song the subject of the song. Doing that without getting cliché, pretentious or losing the feeling of being an actually good song outside of its subject is incredibly hard.

To maintain that kind of balance, you have to be living on that edge between the wisdom and refinement of maturity and the youthful freneticism that is the spirit that rock was born of, and considering their recent output both aesthetically and in regards to subject, that sweet spot of rock is right where A Giant Dog is living, and thriving, right now. They can do that, because, as a band that’s been active for 8+ years, they’ve seen it all, and now they’re pumping that back out to you in a head-bangingly enjoyable package.

Check out the new video before, and see "Sex & Drugs" here. They’re both well worth it, and will undoubtedly be stuck in your head for a good long while.

Psych-soul, avant-garde, and completely Austin, Golden Dawn Arkestra keeps up with the motto, “Keep Austin Weird.” Influences of Sun Ra are in their sound and appearance, as they dress in outrageous, larger-than-life costumes and play music that crashes like thunderous waves of sound. With new track ‘Disko’ from recent album Stargazer, Golden Dawn Arkestra captures their identity in a funk groove sure to shake some hips.

The band was formed by band leader, Topaz McGarrigle, also known as, Zapot Mgwana (who, interestingly, was told at a young age to be the son of Sun Ra), and they’ve taken on an identity of an out of this world band, one filled with a brass and horn section, provocative drums, a mesmerizing dance troupe and costumes of colorful regal robes that dazzle onlookers as much as their music does.

‘Disko’ in particular delivers GDA’s distinct sound with fast paced funk, psych guitars, booming brass and a contagious groove. A gradual build up of horns leads into harrowing key playing, and the track is all the while kept moving with percussion that deliver fast punches. All of these elements of sound then mesh perfectly with the deep whispering vocals paired with the echoing funk that dares you to dance.

Golden Dawn Arkestra’s cosmic sound is something you don’t just listen to, it’s an experience, one that draws you in and doesn’t let go. Check out their song below and be sure to catch them this summer on June 18 at the Solstice Festival along with an incredible Austin-focused lineup!
 

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Andrew Conroy