Deco Auto — This fun-lovin’ 3-piece, whose songs all have a heartbeat to their rhythm, laid down the ground rules for the evening in 4/4 time; making it impossible not to wag your head to, while incessantly checking for loose floorboards under your shoe. With a nostalgic power-pop rock jingle, their dulcet vocal harmonies transformed you into a suburban kid on an adventure in a sugary coming-of-age summer movie. Their sound is reminiscent of earlier Soul Asylum and The Replacements, had those bands cut their teeth jamming with Dave Clark Five. Lead singer/guitarist Steven Garcia’s crunchy Les Paul guitar riffs bounced along in anthem to the purist backbeat stamped out tightly by Kansas City drum darling, Michelle Bacon. Wrapping a sexy vine around the triplet’s delight was the carefully melodic bassist/backing vocalist, Tracy Flowers – a perfect last name, when considering her sixties-styled vocal harmonies with Garcia. Blending well into their set were covers of “Needles & Pins” (Nitzsche/Bono, 1963), and “Time Won’t Let Me” (The Outsiders, 1966).

Next up, Gas Pump Talent from Springfield, MO – who describe their own sound as “stomp and holler” – showed they’ve learned to cunningly mash-up more acoustic genres than can be listed – and well. Sadly, I was out of eyesight of the stage throughout their relatively short set. Fortunately, I heard them just fine – recordBar’s sound guys consistently set a high bar. Gas Pump Talent showcased musically captivating, campfire, Ozark-styled country-crunk that had DNA speckles of Dylan, Springsteen and Waits sprinkled throughout. Their performance was infectious, often lending to an Irish folk vibe that beckoned you to order a whiskey drink, pull a chair up front, and sing along with any reoccurring stanza you heard. I recall debating their genre with some friends as we listened…this was much in vein, which always makes me happy. The Midwest consistently cultivates great bands that are hard to paint into a corner. ¡Viva Springfield!

Closing the night down for the evening was another 3-piece from Kansas City – The Empty Spaces. Their rock n’ roll blend of (dare I say) country, rockabilly and surf beach party made for attention-grabbing jams, which featured a squirrely Mat Shoare dancing about, yelping Femmes-esque vocals into the mic, while playing hooky rhythms on his guitar. Widening out their sound was the ever-busy, hard-hitting drum licks of Ross Brown, and jovial out-of-the-box bass man about town, William Brent Wright – who was stripped down to his under tank top by the night’s end. The guys looked like they were having a good ol’ time up on stage, which added to the decent-sized audience looking loose and ready to party – and that they did.

It was a fun, energetic night, with three bands that stylistically are different from one another, but together on a bill – made for a great Saturday night at the recordBar.

–Christian Anders Liljequist

With a name that perfectly anticipates their stoic electro-rock, influenced by both the early 80s post punk and the previous decade’s Kraut Rock, Led Er Est emerged in NYC in early 2007. The group just released their sophomore album "The Driver" and this video of the single "Kaiyo Maru" (also streaming below), and is about to leave on a 8 dates east coast tour. Fans of goth rock, industrial and other similar mournful genres should check out these guys at Public Assembly on June 15.

Just got out of a crappy relationship? Stop moping around! Everyone knows the best way to deal with hard times is to groove your way through it. This is what makes bands like Cave Days so necessary for broken hearts everywhere. Sure they complain about the limits of unconditional love in confessional tearjerkers like ‘Unconditional,’ but more often than not, they manage to transcend these problems with the lively and sweat-soaked ‘Closer’ and ‘Kodachrome Beach.’ Their latest self-titled EP is the sugar you take with the medicine.

Members Jonathan Murphy and Richard Thomas seem to have discovered the hidden formula behind emotional recovery: sun-soaked guitars, reverb-soaked harmonies, and tropical grooves. Whether shouting back at the pain with lo-fi drum machines (Beat Up Kids), or strumming through their mistakes in campfire duets like ‘All Voices Just Noises,’ the duo always brings an emotional lift to their complex experiences. Sometimes that’s just what the doctor ordered. – Mike Levine (@Goldnuggets)

In a scene where faces change with the speed of light, Flying Pace is a band whose members feel almost like family to The Deli. Led by singer/guitarist Kristie Redfield of The Song Corporation, the band features bassist Marta DeLeon from Coyote Eyes and guitarist George Flanagan from El Jezel – all bands that were repeatedly featured in our magazine/blog in the first decade of the aughts. Josh Arenberg completes the lineup on drums. The quartet is about to release their debut album digitally via Bandcamp in two parts: the first, entitled "Quick as a Wink," will be let loose on Saturday June 16th, in occasion of the band’s Northside Festival Showcase at Grand Victory (ex Bruar Falls) in Brooklyn, while the second part "Quiet as a Mouse" will be released on July 20th at a show at Union Hall.

The only song available at this stage, entitled "Boris and Natasha" (streaming below) features Kristie’s signature whispered vocals, which switch from a spoken mantra-style verse to a sudden, dreamy opening in the chorus, where a breezy, unpredictable melody takes over our senses. The band gently supports Kristie’s delicate lines with textural layers of sound, with Flanagan’s guitar occasionally taking over with psychedelic flourishes.

If Flying Pace were painters we would call them Impressionists – a comparison we recently used for Here We Go Magic… these two bands should tour together!

Brooklyn’s pop-rock quintet The Canon Logic recently released a music video for their track “No Domino” off of their 2011 EP “Rapid Empire”. The video begins with a young boy swimming underwater, with an overwhelming sense of summertime nostalgia. Sparser at first, the song is driven by a melody building in intensity and the driving pulse of a bass drum. As the song progresses, light animation becomes more prevalent in the video, accentuating both the singer’s performance of the song and the boy’s journey through the river. As the song reaches its climax with a walking bass line and the thrum of electric guitar, the animation follows suit, with several explosions of color and light. You can catch The Canon Logic at The Mercury Lounge on June 21st. – Bob Raymonda

After years and years of dragging his amp from show to show, hitting stage after stage with the electric fever of a man being moved by the holy spirit, after touring the country back and forth and back again, playing every kind of venue imaginable, after all that Yoni Gordon… gave up. And – wouldn’t you know it – that’s when things got interesting. He is now throwing down a slab of vinyl for you all called "The Hard Way" (out this summer on Kerosene Machine Records). He has nothing to prove to anyone anymore and the days of him being a "struggling artist" are over. Yoni Gordon is not "struggling" nor is he an artist. He is a showman, through and through. – (as posted in The Deli’s Open Blog – post your band’s entries, videos, and Mp3s here). The Deli’s NYC Open Blog is powered by The Music Building and APS Mastering.

A room full of eager, starry-eyed 30-somethings with sweat dripping from their pores. Lukewarm beers. Ceiling fans halfheartedly oscillating. The first signs of summer hit Lawrence at The Jackpot on Thursday night.

The evening began with Lawrence band The Roseline (pictured above), a group that has been made up of Colin Halliburton and a plethora of other revolving musicians since its 2005 inception. The group–a four-piece with standard instrumentation on Thursday–played to a steadily growing crowd, with its tightly-knit blend of country and Americana rock. The band weaved between sweet love songs and emotional songs of desperation. Elements of Neil Young’s simple but brilliant song arrangements rang through The Roseline’s music, accompanied by Halliburton’s steady, easy-to-embrace vocals.

By the time The Roseline’s set ended, the club was abuzz with a healthy balance of satisfaction and anticipation. From the moment Ha Ha Tonka kicked in with the a cappella intro of "St. Nick on the Fourth in a Fervor" to the end of the heavy-driving "Usual Suspects," the audience was in a thrilled, sweaty uproar. Brian Roberts commanded the stage with a robust vocal presence and a positive vibe felt by the entire room. His bandmates played with the same level of proficiency and vigor, not simply captivating the audience with the musical performance but with a collective, good-natured and overall playful energy.

For nearly an hour, the rhythm section of Lennon Bone and Luke Long pounded away alongside Roberts’ clear, potent voice and Brett Anderson’s upfront mandolin and lead guitar work. They consistently showcased their characteristic penchant for four-part harmonies, culminating in the a cappella song "Hangman," an old folk standard first popularized by Leadbelly. The crowd seemed familiar with their songs, which were mostly off their 2011 release Death of A Decade. Their mix of insightful lyrics with a blend of roots and feel-good rock was a hit with the most bearded of fans and college kids that may have wandered in out of summer break woes.

Ha Ha Tonka has received its fair share of national recognition. The band has appeared on Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations, played national fests like Austin City Limits and Lollapalooza, toured with national acts such as Meat Puppets, Murder By Death and Old 97s, and is currently signed to Bloodshot Records (with the likes of Ryan Adams, Neko Case, Justin Townes Earle). The attention is well-deserved, as the group puts a unique spin on the folk music of the Ozarks, infusing it with rock, bluegrass and a healthy dose of soul. On Thursday and throughout their tour together, the raw sound of Ha Ha Tonka complemented the soulful voice of Langhorne Slim perfectly.

Editor’s note: Since The Deli deals strictly with local/regional bands, we did not highlight Langhorne Slim’s performance, but rest assured, he killed it.

–Michelle Bacon

There’s a dangerous trend happening in New York right now, where teen pop trends from yesteryears are refurbished with new life and made relevant again for all our nostalgic needs. Artists like Adam Schenk has built a fine career re-channeling mid-90’s currents. For Graham Alexander, he picks up around McCartney’s mid-80’s ‘Press to Play,’ period, complete with DX-7 synths and charmingly sweet love stories. His latest single ‘Biggest Fan,’ celebrates the comforts of these textures (while the video celebrates the comforts of couches).

However easy it may be to dismiss The Beatles worshipper as retro-pop (heck, he even plays McCartney in the Broadway Beatles tribute ‘Rain’!), Alexander does it all so well that he ends up infusing the sound with a new sense of warmth and honesty. And that’s the most dangerous part about it. – Mike Levine (@Goldnuggets)

Dirty Fences‘ rock’n’roll makes us want to get drunk and sweaty and nasty. Their brand new self-titled EP features five new tracks with that kind of straight forward crunch that can resurrect anybody’s dormant trouble-making instincts. The band’s choruses offer furious but catchy Clash-style chants that will get you screaming along – and they aren’t even afraid to venture into occasional chill inducing guitar solos. They stopped by Cake Shop last Saturday to play with Threats, Fine Spoils, and Evil Child, but if you missed that opportunity don’t fret, you can get your shirt wet on Sunday June 24 at Mercury, when they play with Grand Rapids. – Bob Raymonda

WYATT (pictured), Heidi Sidelinker and Luke Wesley are among the 12 NYC artists who performed on the last night of the four-night-long, Deli sponsored 6th Annual LC Fest, organized by independent music community Local Correspondents at Bar4 in Park Slope, Brooklyn (444 7th Ave.).

WYATT, who released their debut EP last summer, is an upbeat folky ensemble effort fronted by NYC singer/songwriter Maddy Wyatt, while Heidi Sidelinker, who just spent the past five years with the NY-based indie rock band Lowry, is hard at work on her own solo effort, and tapping into her singer-songwriting roots and on twelve-string guitar. Luke Wesley plays immensely catchy piano pop rock, deftly blending the sounds of ’60s pop and ’90s college radio.