On March 6th Brooklyn based Backwords, will be releasing a new collection of their charming and slightly crooked psych folk tunes in the form of the full length "By The Neck". After their release you can catch the band at SXSW on a 3-week tour and back in NYC on March 26th for a CD release show at Glasslands with Radical Dads and Vassals. You can listen to the full album or pre-order the CD (which includes an instant download when the album is released and a free DVD featuring music videos for each track) here. – Chelsea Eriksen
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The Rassle premieres video for “21” + play Mercury on 02.21
We’ve always had a weakness for Brooklyn psych-pop band The Rassle, which we booked several times also at SXSW and CMJ. After a few months of silence, we are glad to hear that the band is alive and kicking – they just premiered this video of the new single "21", and announced that they are about to start a tour with MONA. See them at The Mercury Lounge on February 21.
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Frankie Rose releases video for “Gospel/Race” + announces album “Insterstellar”
Frankie Rose is a little bit the King Midas of the Brooklyn DIY/Psych scene – she was formerly an original member of the following breakout acts: Crystal Stilts, Dum Dum Girls, and the Vivian Girls. Her solo career began in 2009 with the debut record under the moniker Frankie Rose and the Outs. It sounds now like "The Outs" are out, and Frankie will release the upcoming album "Interstellar" (out on 02.21 on Slumberland) under her birth name. She just premiered this video, which showcases a more refined and subtle approach to ever familiar psychedelic themes, and also a more mature songwriting.
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Clementine & the Galaxy releases video for “Crying My Whole Heart Out” + plays Pianos on 02.16
Quite appropriately, this video of the single "Crying My Whole Heart Out" by lush orchestral NYC group Clementine and the Galaxy was released on St. Valentine’s Day. This is one of the most interesting bands highlighted by our recent Year End Best of NYC Poll for Emerging Artists – so interesting that we decided to book them for the Thursday Snowmine residency show at Pianos we helped curate. Their music inserts itself in the quite recent wave of sophisticated and mellow orchestral pop, launched by a new breed of NYC based composers led by Sufjan Stevens, My Brightest Diamond, Claire & The Reason and Deli all time favorite St. Vincent.
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Palomino releases debut EP at Ella Lounge on 02.17
Brooklyn based duo Palomino is rather new in the NYC scene – they formed in 2010. The band’s faster songs (like the embedded "Ghost Story") are balancing acts in which mid-fi grittiness conveys character to lead singer’s Elijah Campbell Amitin Costellian retro-pop melodies. The 2 ballads in the record nod again at early 60s crooning classics, without giving up the distorted guitars and driving drums. Palomino will celebrate the release of their self-produced and self-titled debut EP at Ella Lounge on February 17.
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CD Submission roundup: Wyndham Baird, The Library is on Fire, Graveyard Lovers, Cordelia Stephens and Away Aways
Our Year End Best of NYC Poll for Emerging Artists took a heavy toll on our time in the last few weeks, and also distracted us from our digital pile of music submissions – it was time to get a few of them out of the way (so to speak). All these bands submitted their music for review here (it’s free), and so can you – if you make music and live in the NYC area.
Singer Zach Reynolds has described his band, Graveyard Lovers, sound as “the entire spectrum of American music.” While this quote is undoubtedly far more ambitious than any two piece deserve, Zach and drummer Tricia Purvis certainly give it a solid go. The bluesy rockers tear it up in personal fave ‘Ripe to Misbehave,’ not unlike Sonic Youth… if Sonic Youth grew from Tennessee’s swamps and traded their soul to the devil while on the same road as Blind Willie Johnson. Even when they’re not shredding it out, this group will get up inside you with the rattlesnake ‘Burn the Malls’ and ‘Everyday is a War.’ If you’re looking for trouble, look no further. Graveyard Lovers knows what you’ve been up to, and is here to provide the soundtrack.
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Wyndham Baird can be seen panhandling in Washington Square Park from the same benches that time hasn’t changed since the folkie ‘60s. Baird’s husky renditions of otherwise unheard of folk jams carry the same water as his patently eclectic originals. Lifting urban love affairs to the stuff of Gospel, and twisting personal disappointments into universal folk anthems, Baird’s six-string and harmonica playing will make it so you won’t have to choose between the Leonard Cohen or Bob Dylan of your parent’s age. This old soul’s found room for both these giants throughout his 7 song self-titled debut.
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Here’s a band that’s been through a lot in a short time, and all of this has made it’s way on to The Library is on Fire‘s latest record ‘Works on Paper.’ Having traveled back and forth with his group between Ohio and NY several times over the past year, and witnessing some heavy stuff happen to several of his friends in that same time, singer/songwriter Steve Five shoves a multitude of conflicting life lessons right next to one another on this latest canvas. Described as ‘art punks,’ there are certainly a lot of colors flying around here. And like any great journey, repeated listens reward the patient listener. The three-piece looks to constantly search for the right color to tell their story, and whether acoustic or power punk, the effect is equally cutting. See them when they play the Brooklyn Museum April 7th.
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A quick glance at the artists Away Aways have ‘liked’ on their facebook is revealing: ‘The Smiths, David Bowie, Arctic Monkeys…”. Ok, that’s a good start. Add Libertines to the list, and you’ve got it. But make no mistake. They may owe a good deal of their post-punk revival to our friends across the Atlantic, but this four piece is unmistakably New York. Their rock n’ roll constists largely of anthemic rockers goading you to get moving like Springsteen used to do it in blue jeans. But there’s plenty of downbeat here to chill to as well. ‘Some Things We’ll Never Know’ (from their new record of the same name) bops to the bounce I wish I could still hear from the Strokes these days. But singer Evan de Augustinis has claimed the post-punk revival for his own torch, and it suits Away Aways like the lower east side they’ve claimed for their own.
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Cordelia Stephens is all about traveling. From turning the keys and putting the pedal down in ‘Drive,’ to The clear-voiced siren will make you think you’re on a straight road for some time, before taking you through a rolling detour filled with Beatlesque horns in ‘The Shapes of London,’ and the Wes Anderson-ready love ballad ‘Night Sky.’ Not unlike Natalie Merchant’s tireless curiosity and poetic adventures, Stephens and her band showcase a wealth of ideas brought together under her flowering muse. If you’ve listened to just one of these songs, you haven’t even begun to hear Cordelia yet. – All review by Mike Levine
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Sleigh Bells premeiers album via… The New York Times???
Any artist is obviously free to choose whichever website they want to premiere their new album, but I honestly feel perturbed by Sleigh Bells‘ decision to use The Times. It must be noted that this is not a game The Deli is involved in (we deal with emerging acts, not with established ones), so this feeling is not generated by envy, but I guess by some kind of solidarity towards other music blogs. All blogs survive because of advertising, and advertising is supported by traffic. An album première by Sleigh Bells means a decent amount of traffic for any music blog, but for the NY Times, it means ALMOST NOTHING (because its web traffic is about 200 times the one of – say – Pitchfork). So you may think that since the newspaper’s site has so much more traffic, the promotion will be more effective for the band, right? I doubt it. The announcement of the Sleigh Bells release is at the bottom of the NYT homepage where hardly anybody reads anything, and it will probably go away by the end of the day. I wish artists would stick with their favorite music blog for stuff like that. Blogs provide constant exposure for these bands at no cost to them; it would be nice if they could reciprocate when they have the opportunity. Rated: not very cool.
NYC
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Live Review: Black Wing Halo at The Mercury Lounge
Just last month, Black Wing Halo put to rest their previous name, decibel., and began 2012 afresh, sharing the stage with a handful of prime NYC artists and Deli magazine favorites, Your 33 Black Angels, That Handsome Devil, and Black Taxi at Mercury Lounge this past weekend. A multifaceted, sonic hybrid, BWH, comprised of Josh Weinstein (vocals /guitar), Doug McGregor (bass/vocals), Justin Hofmann (drums), and Stephanie Linn (vocals), delivered tunes from their upcoming album, including highlights, “Bite My Lip,” “Welcome to the Show,” “Sway,” “Rats,” One More for the Chopping Block,” and “Above My Head,” that incorporate the impassioned force and primal screams of punk, intoxicating beats and cadence of hip hop, intricate layering of progressive rock, and eerie electro-effects and distortion. BWH’s expansive soundscape swept across and grabbed the sold out venue’s undivided attention with aggressive energy and notable vocal interplay. Catch Black Wing Halo next Saturday, February 18th at The Quarter/MMC 16 in Harrisburg, PA. – Meijin Bruttomesso
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Pearl & The Beard headlines Music Hall of W’burg on 02.16
This Thursday night is not to be missed at Music Hall of Williamsburg, with Pearl and the Beard headlining what is sure to be a powerful, fun and entertaining show. This truly talented trio comes stacked with strong vocals, a plethora of instruments, lyrics to pull you in and just enough quirkiness to keep you coming back for more. They defy the standards of folk, gospel and Americana, engaging audiences of all tastes and styles with their original sound and truly likable personalities. If you haven’t been to a Pearl & the Beard show yet, make this the night. You’re bound to return for more music, more soul, more energy and more love. ~CM
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NYC/DC Band on the Rise: Tezeo
Tezeo is a Brooklyn/DC based duo that plays a brand of electronic pop that flirts with a spiritual, almost new age element. We’d be tempted to define their music "dark" if it wasn’t actually so serene in its austere melodicism, and so simple. This is definitely a band to keep an ear on, check them out live at Glasslands tonight (03.13).
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NY rockers Freshkills back with a new record in March
In a scene that seems to be getting progressively poppier and poppier, it’s kind of refreshing to stumble upon Freshkills, a group that exudes that dark and dangerous vibe we hear in many seminal rock records produced in NYC in the late 60s. The band just announced the release of a new album "Raise Up the Sheets", out on March 13, and unveiled this single entitled "The Bigger Man" (streaming below).
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Interview with Sweet Leda: DC Deli Readers’ Best Emerging Band of 2011
Annapolis based rock/soul band Sweet Leda soared to the top of our reader’s poll for Best Emerging Band of 2011. This support undoubtedly came after numerous releases (This is Bittersweet, Bittersweet Changes, Need the Music) and features in TV and films over the last 4.5 years of their culmination. We wanted to find out more about the band that has a growing MD fanbase, so we got a hold of Juls Cymek (vocals), Omar Eldieahy (guitar/vocals), Jaime Horrigan (bass/vocals), and Don Boyette (drums.) Here they talk about family roots, singing hot dog orders, and musical orgasms onstage. Now onto the interview…
Catch them live next at Rams Head Live in Baltimore on Saturday Feb. 18.