From the nature-filled great outdoors of Anchorage, Alaska to the concrete roads and brights lights of New York City, The Lives of Famous Men have left their mark on the cross-country path to musical eminence. With their new album, Marigold Maxixe, this now Brooklyn-based indie pop band, sings honestly of their experiences of love and life on the road. Interwoven within the seven tracks are elements of smooth jazz, punk pop, and a bit of folk rock, appealing to wide variety of tastes and sounds. Written and performed by members of The Lives of Famous Men- Daniel Hall, Ari Katcher, Dylan Mandel, Andrew Totemoff, and Jason Wahto, Marigold Maxixe is a refreshing release that both fills you with energy and soothes your soul. – Read Christina Morelli’s interview with the band here.

Parody-Dance trio Tayisha Busay Tayisha Busay seem able to transform any song in the most fun and absurd thing ever. Just to give you an idea of the what’s going on with these guys, they seem to have a passion for not-so-toungue-in-cheek kind of jokes, like when for example they reveal that they just found out that the name of their single for an upcoming full-length is actually a slang term for an uncircumcised penis: it’s called "Covered Wagon,” but they apparently meant it to be about the Oregon Trail… The album art has a half-unicorn, half-mermaid on it — a mermicorn, if you will. What more can you want? Maybe this: in the music video for “WTF You Doin’ in My Mouth,” they drink and vomit… glitter. With lots of passion and a boatload of spunk, catchy electro-dance tunes, ridiculous ‘80s aesthetic and love of spandex, we can only hope Tayisha Busay will write and score their own version of “Flashdance” and star in it. For some seriously fun times see these guys at Santos on May 10. – Read Lauren Piper’s Q&A with the band here.

Don’t bring your grandmother to a Gung Ho show. And for godsake don’t bring your parents or little sister or your one straightedge friend. After graduating from Skidmore College last spring (and highlighting every basement party across Saratoga Springs), Gung Ho moved to Brooklyn to use their musical powers in the ultimate quest for “weed, bitches, bourbon, money, drugs, guns.” And they’re well on their way. Their high-energy, bluesy, down-home rock ‘n roll will steamroll your inhibitions, make your clothes disappear, and have you exchanging sweat and saliva with your neighbor. Matt Awai’s thick, guttural exclamations compliment their trademark gnashing guitars, as well as create the perfect mating call – or is his appeal attributed to the fact that he’s always shirtless? Anyway, pick up what Gung Ho is puttin’ down and fuck having a “good” time – why not have the best night of your life, every night?
Gung Ho placed at #88 in our latest Best of NYC Emerging Artists Poll will be playing The Deli’s NYC B.E.A.F. (Best Emerging Artists Fest) at Glasslands on May 25 with Yvette, Shapes and Dirty Fence. More info about the fest will be relased soon.

Get to know more about the giant collaborative DC based band The Ash Lovelies, who were voted by the people as DC Deli’s Artist of the Month (April.) We touched base with Lou Black (vocals/guitar/+) who had the low-down on their early shoegaze-infused folk style, data analysis on band name creation, and the love of a Yamaha guitar synthesizer. Full interview here…

Wow, this is a rather mystic and hi-tech video for a band we perceived as kinda lo-fi! The song is Hooray for Earth‘s new single "True Love", which will be featured in the band’s upcoming album, to be released in June. "The video is an homage to our favorite Russian and eastern-european cult sci-fi. French artist Moebius and early Metal Hurlant were also big visual influences," explains director Alex Takacs. "It’s about mindscapes and the memory of true love."

Even though the L Magazine seems to take every opportunity to ignore The Deli (should we take it personally?), we are not the resentful kind and stick to our mission to do whatever it takes to give deserving local bands some exposure. If this means amplifying the visibility of artists highlighted by a publication that doesn’t like us, so be it!

Every year I am truly amazed by the fact that the L Mag manages to find a bunch of very good local bands we haven’t covered yet – The Deli gives exposure to an average of 20+ NYC based emerging artists per week, but it’s obviously not enough to deal with all the friggin’ wonderful bands out there. The yearly L feature always triggers our curiosity – mostly for bands from the list that we have not yet covered (typically about half of them).

Slowdance (pictured above) play rather laid back semi-synth-pop (yeah because there is sitll a rhythm guitar in there) with that cool almost-epic Morriconian feel to it. The real star here is front lady Quay. Her sultry but in your face vocals combined with her talent for original melodies could take this band far. Oh, and she also sings some tracks in French for an added "cool" factor.

Yellow Ostrich is a band we recently nominated for our poll but for some reason never came around to write about. They play a very interesting sparse and progressive kind of rootsy music (when we say progressive we mean it in a good way). Think about a mellower version of White Rabbits’ solid reinterpretation of blues and folk mixed with Animal Collective’s eclectic vocal arrangements and african influences.

Family Trees could be described as an acoustic, folky version of the "Chill Wave" trend started by bands like Woods and Real Estate. These guys add a good measure of exotic influences to the mix, which makes their sound refreshing and quite unique in the NYC scene. Unpretentious and chilled to the extreme, this is escapist music – did they really write these tracks here in NYC? Close your eyes and – as if by magic – a beach will appear . We can definitely see some value in that.

Grand Rapids (picture below) confirms the impression that somebody at the L mag is a huge Pavement fan – this band’s catchy melodies, casual attitude and twangy arrangements make them sound like a rootsier version of Stephen Malkumus’ ground breaking act. Probably L exaggerates when it says that their sound is "as defiant as it gets", but these guys’ charm is undeniable.

The other 4 artists featured in the L’s feature are Devin Therriault, Radical Dads, Mainland and Luke Rathborne.

Under the name Laurel Halo, Ina Cube has achieved numerous well-received remixes for others, including How to Dress Well and Sébastien Tellier, presenting their music through her own hypercolored lens. But on her “King Felix” EP, the songs evoke the otherworldly beauty of the Cocteau Twins laid over dance beats with ethereal vocals. Cube’s classical music training is evident in the artful cascading melodies in her bustling electronic symphonies. Each of the synthpop tunes could be sectioned into movements, but the seamless transitions are what make the songwriting so awe-inspiring.  A follow-up EP entitled “Hour Logic” will drop on June 21. – Nancy Chow

Milk Machine will be celebrating the release of their new full-length album, Bees on the Vine, at Red Palace on May 7. You can be reasonably certain that this will be the only rock record release in D.C. this month that prominently features tuba bass lines, accordion riffs, and soaring trumpet melodies.

The amazing thing about the sound emanating from Bees on the Vine is how Milk Machine is able to take the instrumentation of a traditional polka band and squeeze out dramatic, legitimitely rocking songs. The songs often carry the edge of a New Orleans funeral march in a very "This is a great show to drink whiskey at!" sort of way. So, come prepared.  

Red Palace, Doors @ 9:00, Show @ 10:00, $8

-Jarrett

New Moods is Billy Jones’ new band (besides booking Pianos, Billy played in several NYC indie bands including drone rockers Other Passengers). Started as a duo and currently a quartet, they play a brand of edgy dance-rock that’s at times reminiscent of dark and claustrophobic British bands from the 80s, like very early Simple Minds, The Cure or the more recent Clinic, although the newer single "Playtime" (embedded here) seems to abandon these new wave influences for a more modern tribal-electro sound. Brooklyn Vegan booked them for one of his many SXSW shows and they just landed a rather high profile gig opening for Gang Gang Dance at The Music Hall of Williamsburg on May 4. If you like "serious" party music, this might well be a show you don’t want to miss.

Mp3: New Moods – Playtime

This Sunday things are gonna get epic up at the Merriweather Post Pavillion during the Sweetlife Festival with the Strokes and Crystal Castles and all that going on. Sharing the stage with them are some great locals, so get there early to check them out.

Like Modern Man, a DC based rock band that just got started last year and recently put out their debut EP (out in April according to their site.) Check out some of their fresh analog rock & roll anthems below.

And DC’s rockers U.S. Royalty will be joining them, a band that other bloggers have compared to the Strokes. If you missed our interview with them earlier in the year, you can check it out here. Recently, DC experimental duo Bluebrain remixed their track "Equestrian" from their debut album Mirrors that was released back in January. Check out the stellar result here.

Sweetgreen announced that the set times will be posted on their site on 4/28 so stay tuned for that. Maybe they’ll reveal the other local bands that apparently will be gigging in the VIP tent area, which is still top secret. (*Fort Knox Five just announced they’ll be doing a DJ set in the tent about 10 minutes ago!) Party.

Our early April DC Deli Artist of the month Flo Anito, a DC based pop songwriter, recently tuned us into her latest music video for the song "Uh-Oh." Directed by Francisco Campos-Lopez, they kept it truly at home by filming it at the Capital City Diner, and then premiered it at a gig she had at the Rock & Roll Hotel back in December. Recently however, the track was one of the 5 finalists chosen in Cosmo Radio’s Breaking the Band contest and has been getting regular plays on Sirius. Check out the video below!

In 2010, This Frontier Needs Heroes used Kickstarter donations from their fans to fund their follow up album. They decided to leave the studio for a more intimate approach and recorded in an old school house in Wassaic, NY, with engineer Justin Pizzoferrato (MV & EE, Dinosaur Jr., Thurston Moore). THE FUTURE, out May 10, 2011 on their newly formed label HEROIC ENDEAVOURS RECORDS, has new songs about all of their rambling experiences including new visions about space, family, heroes, history, and dogs. THE FUTURE also includes album art in 3D and will be shipped with 3D glasses! It is available NOW for Pre-order in CD, DIGITAL, and VINYL at BANDCAMP. – (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.