Courtney Coles

Local Natives played a sorta-farewell set to a sold out crowd at the Echo just before Christmas Day, sharing their bill with Chief and Voxhaul Broadcast as openers. It would be Local Natives’ final home show until they return to Europe in March. Their debut album, Gorilla Manor (nickname of their home/rehearsal spot/party dungeon) was released November 2 in the UK (Infectious Records) and won’t be available in these states until February 16 (Frenchkiss Records). The band had a few copies available for purchase along with a Christmas gift to the sold out crowd: a poster bill specially made for this night’s event. Show closer "Sun Hands" ended in true Local Natives fashion: by inviting the bands they’ve toured with on stage including Johnny Wilson (The Union Line) and Stewart Cole (Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes). -Courtney Coles

Click here for more photos of Local Natives’ holiday show.

Up until early 2009, singer/songwriter Joe Firstman played bandleader for NBC’s Last Call With Carson Daly before the program’s restructuring. Since then, the soulful Firstman has been putting together El Porto, his latest LP and fifth overall release documenting life between the El Porto coast and Venice Beach. Luckily, his neighbors never called the cops: "For three months, my neighbors were tortured with the slow, often painful incarnations of the music blasting out of the windows of my house/studio," Firstman said. "And they never complained, even when we recorded a full horn section in my living room." When it’s worth hearing, it’d be a crime to call the cops.

Joe Firstman plays the Hotel Cafe on Jan. 21 | 21+ — El Porto releases Jan. 26

Everest | "Reloader"
Dir. by Anthony Crawford

After touring alongside Neil Young last year, Americana outfit Everest hid out in a northern California chicken farm to record their yet-to-be-titled sophomore album. Now completed, the guys are laying low until release with a coinciding tour and reflecting on the process: “Although we were in a beautiful space, the work became more challenging and it was really one of the toughest experiences for the band thus far," said lead vocalist Russell Pollard. In the meantime, check out their video for "Reloader" which includes footage from their infamous journey with the legendary singer/songwriter.

Happy New Year! After a few days off to plan our Best Artists of 2009 polling extravaganza and other holiday shenanigans, The Deli LA is back!  We would have participated in the indie music blogosphere’s annual tradition of creating arbitrary and self-congratulatory best-of/worst-of lists, but we were too busy putting that power into your hands. Details on that to follow later today. 

To ring in the new year, our friends at FMLY and Lots O’ Crap Magazine are traveling a small California tour with a slew of the avant-garde in the mix. The 6-city tour kicks off Tuesday night at The Smell and hosts Former Ghosts, Railcars, Professor Calculus, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Jules Verne, and Mother Mackenzie. Tuesday | The Smell | All Ages | $5

Other dates on the bill below (we are not responsible for the epilepsy that this epic flier may induce):

Musical peoples,

The Deli’s Year End Polls are upon us! This year the pool of prizes is absolutely astounding: we would like to thank the companies that allowed us to run this poll and that are providing prizes for the bands that will win them.

PREMIUM SPONSORS

OTHER SPONSORS

Software

providing a total of 27 audio plug in for the pool of prizes (9 iZotope, 9 IK Multimedia)

Music Insurance

providing 2 insurance policies for the pool of prizes

Music Stores

providing a total of 7 $50 vouchers for the pool of prizes

Mastering

providing a total of 26 free mastered songs for the pool of prizes

Recording Studios

providing a total of 50+ hours of free recording for the pool of prizes

Screen Printing

providing free custom T-Shirts for the pool of prizes

If your company is interested in sponsoring "The Deli Year End Best of Poll" it’s not too late! Just contact us here.

The Deli Staff
www.thedelimagazine.com

Benefit Alert: Pehrspace has been host to a number of memorable Deli LA nights, so it infinitely bums us out that the BYOB rock art house is going through a financial predicament that could jeopardize the future of a favorite local hideout. Come out this Saturday night in support of keeping Pehrspace’s doors open and, while you’re at it, stick around for a set by roots favorites Cave Country and others found on the bill below. 

Yep, that’s a guy in a banana suit. Cheap attention-grabbing trick? Perhaps. Take a listen to 100 Monkeys‘s MySpace tunes and discover that they’re not as kitchsy as a banana suit would make for first impressions. The lyrically clever blues/2-step/analog rock/we-can-really-go-on group are as musically enigmatic as they are silly, but we’re listening. Check them out December 27th at The Roxy, the second of 100 dates in their 100 city tour, all in support for their new LP Grape.

Next January, pop-art outfit The French Semester hold the legendary Monday night residency at The Echo. With a new member and the recent release of their latest EP Forces Afield, the group seem re-energized and ready to take over 2010 with their mid-fi sound ringing back early Shins and Guided By Voices. But don’t be fooled — their sound’s nonchalance has an agenda. Shoegaze? Hardly.

Our Beloved Revolutionary Sweethearts in Los Angeles Bands,

As usual, The Deli’s Best of Los Angeles Poll (for emerging artists) will assign the cover of our Spring Issue 2010. The polling process is as complex as rocket science (if you want to try and get your head around it be our guest and go here). But if all you are interested in is to be part of it and get some exposure, then take a break from playing your instrument, concentrate, and read the next paragraph:

This year the first phase of this poll allows ANY Los Angeles BAND OR SOLO ARTIST to submit to The Deli for 3 spots in the pool of Best of LA nominees. This phase starts right NOW! 

Submit your music to our Best of Los Angeles Year End Poll HERE by 12.23.2009. 

By submitting, you will also add your band to our chart system – which will get you some exposure in the future. To be eligible you band needs to have music available online and to have played live at least once in 2009 (and not signed to a major).

A team of Deli writers will chose 3 artists that will be added to the pool of nominees for the next phases of the poll. Winners will be announced in early 2010.

The Deli’s Staff
www.thedelimagazine.com

It’s been an incredibly busy year for Sea Wolf.  After the release of their sophomore LP White Water, White Bloom (Dangerbird Records), Alex Brown Church and Co. completed a national headlining tour followed by an accompanying spot in, OMG, the Twilight: New Moon soundtrack. We can easily excuse the latter, so come out and celebrate Sea Wolf’s very good year at the Roxy this Thursday night.

And if you happened to miss Sea Wolf’s Morning Becomes Eclectic set this morning, thank the new media gods for the advent of archive.  Enjoy:

A day full of seminars and lectures might not sound like the most interesting of days, so the people at New Music Seminar are trying to change that. The one-day conference held on February 2, 2010 is made up of panel discussions and Q&As regarding the (pathetically dismal) state of the music industry and new era solutions to bring honest (and obviously profitable) music back to the masses. For artists struggling and wondering how to get to the next step, the 2-for-1 registration deal might just be for you (use code NMSLA2 at checkout).  Local artists might also be interested in participating in New Music Seminar’s Artist on the Verge contest, which will award $25,000 in prizes to a very talented few.  Deadline for entry is December 21.

Panelists scheduled to appear include KCRW’s Jason Bentley, Mike Doernberg of Reverbnation, Elliott Lefko of Goldenvoice/AIG and a bunch of other heavy hitters with sage advice and juicy anecdotes about the changing music business environment.

Foreign Born | "Early Warnings"
Directed by Matthew Lessner

Once you thank Foreign Born‘s latest music video for the jet lag, head over to Spaceland this Friday to check out their set. Best Coast and El Sportivo and The Blues open the bill.