DC based analog rock & rollers Modern Man were recently voted by the people as DC Deli’s Band of the Month, so we tracked down guitarist Zach Goodwin to find out his thoughts on our scene and what MM is all about. Here he tells us about their upcoming EP release, Eddie Vedder, and the power of a koozie… (Click here for full interview.)

Modern Man will be performing on the mainstage at the Black Cat on Friday 5/20 with DC’s post-Americana band Shortstack and DC’s acoustic folk artist Brandon Butler. 9 PM $10. -Dawn

1957 (2011) by ModernMan

Need something awesome to do this Sunday afternoon? Well the 2nd annual Soundbites fest is going down on May 22 at the 9:30 Club and we’ve got some passes to give away to the local music/glorious food extravaganza! All you have to do is email us here and let us know why you must get in on this! Deadline is May 20 @ 3 PM, and the winner will be chosen randomly, emailed back, and announced on the blog. In the meantime, check out some of locals that will be there…

DC’s dance rockers Ra Ra Rasputin will provide a perfect electro beat to help you reel in the energy induced by delishy samples from Dangerously Delicious Pies. Speaking of pie… "D.C.’s finest ska" band the Pietasters will be on deck with their octet of brass power, that’ll pair quite nicely with DC Slices straight off the truck, or DC Empanadas, or Radius Pizza,… getting hungry over here!

We have something special going on for the last day of The Deli’s NYC B.E.A.F. (Best of Emerging Artists Fest). A night at Spike Hill with 6 very promising emerging female fronted bands, check this out:

12.15 – YANKEE BANG BANG

Imagine a lo-fi, electric version of Violent Femmes playing early Beach Boys songs with a female singer backed by a very imaginative guitar player. That’s what I visualize  when I listen to Yankee Bang Bang’s "That’s Love" (stream it below).

11.30 – BEAST MAKE BOMB

Having forged their friendships at noteworthy institutions of higher learning like NYU and the Clive Davis School of Recorded Music, Brooklyn’s Beast Make Bomb are beginning to make waves on a national level. Winners of the Converse sponsored "Get Out of the Garage" contest, the band recently completed a number of high profile shows, culminating with a Rolling Stone Magazine live event at Highline Ballroom. With two solid EP’s already under their belt, there is building anticipation for the full length album to follow. (Dave Cromwell)

10.30 – SHENANDOAH & THE NIGHT

Shenandoah Ableman has the rare ability to turn any genre into sexy time. Comfortable singing in front of styles ranging from German cabaret to doo wop, her quintet Shenandoah and the Night are bringing sexy back… one sultry style at a time. The band’s new self-titled debut EP showcases this sensuality with deep confidence, but the best way to really feel the heat is to see the band live. Don’t miss them!

9.45 – ELECTRIC CHILD

Electric Child were picked by SPIN to play their 2011 SXSW show; lead singer Alison Clancy – a professional dancer who can be dangerous on stage – leads Electric Child on a disjointed journey; a touch of string guitar here, an electro-clash back beat there, a little bit emotional catharsis ("I can’t let go!"), and then an abrupt sign-off. This is her rollercoaster, and we’re all strapped in with blindfolds on, waiting for the next twist.  

9.00 – DEDE (CANCELED!)

DEDE‘s sophisticated and decadent pop conquered many hearts – ours included. My Old Kentucky Blog went as far as writing: "DEDE is my new soul-mate… unaware of it, at present moment." This NYC femme fatale’s breakout song, “My Secret Sweet” induces nostalgia for childhood Saturday- afternoon-play-time with the neighbors – and brings to mind one of our favorite British band of the aughts, Broadcast. Maybe it’s the “chopsticks” piano chords on repeat, or the chimes cueing her suggestion, “let’s play pretend”? Or is it the hand clapping, or her sweet, almost adolescent voice? Either way, the youthful overtones of her music don’t imply juvenile musical skill. Our strong desire to reminisce upon hearing her songs is a result of expert composition and intuition as to what sounds people are uncontrollably drawn to.

8.15 – MELATI MALAY

Originally from Indonesia, Melati Malay lived in Australia, Singapore and a whole bunch of other places before finally settling in New York, and the international influence resonates throughout her tracks. The songs we hear on her myspace profile are quite clearly split in two: rather traditional, intimate but tense ballads with bluesy overtones on one side, and more orchestrated, lush and sophisticated tracks like "Big Potential" on the other – we guess this is a new direction in her sound, which we like a lot. All her music though conveys this overwhelming feeling of an intensely sunny day with a breeze…albeit a breeze with a bite. Windbreaker weather.

7.30 – THE LAST INTERNATIONALE

The Last Internationale will kick off the night with their garagey rootsy rock that doesn’t shy away from guitar solos and classic blues structure, propelled by an energy hard to match, and a charismatic front lady who can play the kitty as well as the tiger. After this show the band will leave for a 10+ dates US tour

 

Shanna Zell, The Courtesy Tier and Victory Grin are among tonight’s 13 performers for the second night of theDeli Sponsored 5th Annual LC Fest, organized by independent music community Local Correspondents at Bar4 in Park Slope. Shanna Zell (in the picture), whose latest EP, Coming Undone, was just released in January 2011, plays quiet, vulnerable rock songs, while bluesy, electric duo The Courtesy Tier, whose new album "The Resolution" comes out later this spring, blends a Jimi Hendrix vibe with catchy rhythms and uncontrived lyrics. Victory Grin is the new side project of Derek Zimmerman, vocal arranger and keyboard player of Dinosaur Feathers., which combines elements of pop, dance, folk, jazz and experimental music. For the complete schedule of performers for all six nights of the festival, (from May 17th to the 22nd), visit the Local Correspondent website.

Producer David Pattillo, who runs Bang Bang Boogaloo and worked amongst others with Alanis Morrisette and The Black Crowes, curated "New York Rock & Roll 1", a compilation of unsigned NY based rock bands reviving the true roots of rock and roll. The Deli digs it so much that we are going to embed the entire thing right here! Check it out, lots of good, energetic tunes and local undiscovered artists!

Bang Bang Boogaloo’s New York Rock & Roll 1 by Bang Bang Boogaloo

Jenna Nicholls will be releasing her sophomore release, "The Blooming Hour" with a show at Rockwood Music Hall on May 23rd. Direct Current Magazine writes of Jenna Nicholls’ "The Blooming Hour": "Sounds like: swaying, halcyon folk/pop with some lushly embroidered production on the edges… the subtleties may take a second listen to discern, but the effort is rewarded… Nicholls is in possession of a disarmingly appealing voice… a sonic foundation that simply sneaks up on you…" – (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.

After the DC based rock/soul quartet the Honeyguns were pushed to the lead in a recent poll DC Deli held to determine it’s early May band/artist of the month, we were able to track down guitarist Henry Appy, who let us in on what being a Honeygun is all about. Check it out here…

And also catch them live at the Rock & Roll Hotel on Friday June 3rd with DC’s alt. rockers The Chance, and DC’s rock band the Electric 11s.

Weathervane Music is a non-profit organization that create community funded projects to support and advance the careers of deserving independent musicians. They just release Volume 2, Episode 5 of their Shaking Through series – their music and video web series that documents “the birth of a song” by an emerging independent artist in a professional, high-end recording studio. The episode features NJ heroes Big Troubles (#26 in our 2010 Best of NYC Emerging Artists Poll). The song, “Phantom,” is the first full band recording since the album, Worry, and marks the first Big Troubles recording to be produced in a professional studio. Big Troubles will release “Phantom” as the B-side to the first single on their fall 2011 album produced by Mitch Easter (Pavement, R.E.M.), which will be licensed and released by Slumberland Records. The band will play the Bell House in Brooklyn, on May 20th and Maxwell’s in Hoboken on May 21st before leaving to tour Europe with Julian Lynch and Ducktails.

Interesting show at Electric Bowery on May 18 with two emerging NYC based bands. Fort Lean (top pic) is Bottle Up & Go’s Keenan Mitchell side project, also dwelling in Americana and Rock, but with a less aggressive, more melodic, sometimes even crooning approach. The Shining Twins (bottom pic), is a female fronted trio that sounds like a simplified version of The Pixies without Frank Black. I wouldn’t be surprised to find out that whoever sings the song "Ted" is Kim Deal’s illegitimate daughter (with a better wardrobe). Other songs are more on the garagey side of things

The Deli sponsored 5th Annual LC Fest, organized by independent music community Local Correspondents, begins tonight Bar4 in Park Slope. Featured performers will play from 8 to 10 p.m., followed by an open mic, which will run from 10 p.m. until last call. Anyone wishing to perform at this always-packed open mic should be at Bar4 for the drawing and sign up, which begins promptly at 6:30 p.m. For the complete schedule of performers for all six nights of the festival, (from May 17th to the 22nd), visit the Local Correspondent website.

NYCers into real new music,

What in 2009-10 was called "Best of NYC Fest" is now "The Deli’s NYC B.E.A.F." – as in Best of Emerging Artists Fest. Isn’t that a perfect acronym for a Deli festival?

The use of the word "Best" is not entirely arbitrary in this case. Most of the artists playing the fest were included in our latest Year End Best of NYC List, compiled polling la crème de la crème of the NYC music industry, including many local venue promoters, bloggers, music journalists and radio DJs.

Hitting Brooklyn for the third year running, this can only be described as the most underground and cross-genre showcase of NYC’s new talent. To make things even more exciting, The Deli’s NYC B.E.A.F. 2011 will be promoted starting next week through the Spring 2011 issue of The Deli, which will be exclusively dedicated to the 106 artists in the Best of NYC 2010 list.

Full schedule with links can be found here!

The Deli’s B.E.A.F. is sponsored by BMI in collaboration with PreSonus and The Musebox

The Deli’s Staff

It may be a windy ten degrees on these New York City streets, but if you’re plugged into Dream Diary, your heart is in the warm sunshine. Their track, “Something Tells Her” belongs among the dream-pop elite the likes of The Clientele, Acid House Kings and Sweden’s Labrador records. The track features an upbeat, head-bobbing melody flourished with shimmering guitar and Jacob Sloan’s Morrisy-esque vocals, the New York Times even acknowledging their “Smiths-like tendencies.” And the story of their formation is a sweet song in itself and could be the trailer of the next great indie romance; Jacob Sloan and Madison Farmer literally bumped into each other on the street in New York, both dropping ipods, both playing The Smiths’s Queen Is Dead… (uhm, should we believe this? ) Be sure to pick up their brand new album, You Are The Beat (Kanine), and to see them live at The Deli’s NYC B.E.A.F. on Thursday May 26 with other great local bands like Invisible Days, Ravens & Chimes, Translations, Dinowalrus, and Prospector. – Katie Bennett