Below is the deli’s Q&A with last month’s poll winners, The Basement Beat. Be sure to head over to The Middle East Upstairs Tuesday, June 19, to catch The Basement Beat with The Sea Over Eli, Launchpad Infinity, and Rayanne Soul. 18+, $10.

deli: How did the band start?

The Basement Beat: We actually only knew each other vaguely beforehand. Originally, we were only going to play one show. We wanted to get a few songs together for our town’s annual music festival and we started practicing together a week before we performed. Somehow, we managed to get three songs together which ended up becoming "Vacation 1," "Wah-Oh!," and "You Say," which are all on the EP. Two of us were friends before and two of us were siblings, but we didn’t go to the same schools.

Click here to read the rest of the deli’s Q&A with The Basement Beat.

The CD release for Audrey Ryan’s record, Sirens, will be Saturday, June 16 at the Clarendon Hill Presbyterian Church (Nave Gallery) in Somerville.  An intimate night of live music, wine and snacks, Ryan will be playing both solo and with special guest Will Dailey. Sharing the night will be Miracle Parade, the new project of Christopher Pappas (The Everyday Visuals).

Sirens is the 4th full length record from Maine-born, Boston-residing, Audrey Ryan. The album is a collection of lost songs recorded between 2005-2010, released here for the first time. The songs reflect some of her more accessible songwriting attempts, others more lyrical and topical. As usual, she layers songscapes with her multi-instrumental sensibilities making a wave of sound.

Saturday, June 16 7:30pm – 10:30pm
Clarendon Hill Presbyterian Church (The Nave)
155 Powderhouse Blvd, Somerville MA

–Chrissy Prisco

The Kristen Ford Band’s The Grindstone, is an ambitious, complex, and incredibly musically diverse record. Kristen Ford has only lived in Chicago and Boston, but she appears as a world traveler on The Grindstone. Every song on the album has a distinct flair, and pizzazz. Like an old muse, Ford uses, combines, and bends genres to her will. At times she appears bluesy, and soulful, belting out her lyrics carefully with every verse. Other times, she is pure rock and roll screaming with childish joy. There is a refreshing lightness. The reggae opener “Loved You Madly” and the Hawaiian country ensemble “Bag of Bones” are testament to the special flavor of Ford’s.

It is virtually impossible to pin Ford down to one genre as she has obtained the ability to match her playing style and vocals to whatever genre she pleases. “Shadow” has Ford putting the brakes on the rock momentum. Everything slows down and her beautiful voice creeps in. The very next song on the album, the hard rocking “Machine Bird,” switches the momentum again. “Machine Bird” begins with the slow drawl of “Shadow,” but it erupts. The song is fun, fast, loud, and right in your face. This ability to change so utterly is the cornerstone of the album. Ford brings a welcome sincerity to the Indie scene with The Grindstone, an album clearly worth smiling over.–Casey Lowrey

It’s not every day that three teacher assistants at grad school decide to form a band, but that is just how Boston’s own Random Variables came to be. Their debut EP, Place Holders, is a solid rock and roll record. The Variables blend great guitar, persistent drumming, and an acquired vocal taste into the album.

Opener “Arrivals” has a heavy Celtic vibe, echoes of Flogging Molly and The Dropkick Murphy’s seem to hang over this song. The vocals have a very strong Celtic bend to them. While it may sound like a drinking song, the lyrics are quite in depth, speaking of pain and destruction: tearing down slow-burning pillars of aggressive complacency.

“Distract” brings some hard rock and some punk momentum into the album. The guitar is wonderful on this song, having tiny solos, at that tail end of the choruses. Perhaps the biggest problem in the song rests with the lead vocals. During the chorus, when every member of a traditional rock band, would usually chime in, the band only sings together during one line. This becomes problematic, because it becomes glaringly obvious that the band sound better together. But other than the lack of an all band chorus, the song is solid, and the lyrics are once again wonderful and thought-provoking.

“Critical Mass” follows along the same musical progression as “Distract,” although the instrumental tempo becomes less varied. This actually helps to greatly enhance the song, as the more limited Random Variables sound, the tighter and more pleasant the experience. The guitar pounds steadily through most of the song, and the tail end solo is well played, and well timed.

The EPcomes to a close with “Departures.” This closer is a beautiful send off to the rest of the album. Musically, the song takes a starkly different path than the rest of the EP. The song is much slower, with more instruments thrown into the mix. “Departures” becomes a successful attempt by The Variables for something more grandiose, a great and complex closer to Place Holders.

Place Holders is a brave attempt at the Boston Rock scene. While the vocals can be a hit or miss, the rest of Random Variables, is unarguably solid and true. The EP picks up speed right away, and while it sounds like a simple rock record, the lyrics are complex, and speak of the convoluted mess that is the modern age. –Casey Lowrey

Listen: Random Variables — "Departures"

Eric Ott’s second album, Letter Box, is an interesting melancholic ride for the listener. Ott’s stripped down sound and style are rooted heavily in the folk tradition. The simplicity follows through all of the songs. The listener can almost hear to the beat during every string that is plucked, and every snare that is tapped. Ott also flirts with the use of distortion in a couple of songs. For example, album opener, “We All Must Rise Up”, has some light sprinklings of distortion. The upward tempo is an overall instrumental chaos. This distortion appears in and out of Letter Box, always with positive results for the listener.

The melancholic ride is perhaps best illustrated in “Bird At My Door” and “Hawkins Revenge.” “Bird At My Door” is a folksy, if sometimes lethargic song. The beat never changes, and the guitar keeps drilling out the same sad riff. The violin provides a beautiful backdrop, and gives life to what sometimes becomes a very dusty and repetitive song. “Hawkins Revenge” certainly has the melancholic flavor of “Bird At My Door”, but the song is quite eclectic.

The jewel of the album would undoubtedly be “Young Skinny Girls.” Ott sings with a welcome whimsy: “I love my skinny girl from California,who lives in the valley… And likes marijuana sometimes.” The beat of the song channels that of a marching band. the vocals are wonderful, creating a nice haunting echo throughout the song. The tone and style of the song, seem to have Ott channeling some of the early alternative rock bands from the 90’s. The feel-good musical progression of the song, with lyrics about California, channels both folk memories of San Francisco, and even some of the lighter moments of Seattle’s heyday.

Overall, Letter Box is a traditional and safe folk album. Most of the songs are slow, and most instruments are stripped down. There are of course times when Ott throws in a nice piece of distortion, and picks up the pace at certain parts. For those looking for a slightly sorrowful folk LP, take a glance at Letter Box, you won’t be disappointed.–Casey Lowrey

The Thing in the Spring, a weekend of art and music that happens annually in Downtown Peterborough NH is happening June 8-10. In the past, the festival has featured big names like Thurston Moore, J. Mascis, Death Vessel, Meg Baird, and Low Anthem.

This year’s festival includes Woods, MMOSS, Daniel Higgs, Nina Nastasia, PG Six, Brown Bird (pictured above) and more.

Complete line up, venue and ticket information can be found at the official The Thing in the Spring website. –Chrissy Prisco

Northampton, MA based string-rock quintet Darlingside is playing at the Mercury Lounge in NYC Friday, May 25.

A creative and innovative group of musicians, Darlingside captures an original sound as they carefully weave together genres of rock, classical, and folk music. Their diverse sound can be attributed to the eclectic array of musical origins: a young classical pianist appearing on NPR; a world traveler studying music in Brazil, Turkey, and Ireland; a touring boy alto and cruise songwriter; a Boston street musician; and a drummer drawing on a mix of rock, celtic, and jazz. Their upcoming debut LP, Pilot Machines (available July 17), is a melodic work that displays the band’s innovative, ambitious style and diverse talents.

Darlingside @ Mercury Lounge
Friday, May 25, 2012
217 E Houston St, New York, NY 10002
All Ages, $13, Doors: 7pm, Set: 8pm
Also Playing: Tall Heights, Hoots and Hellmouth

Listen: Darlingside — "Still"