Telltale play with the same macabre overtones as goth-wave god Robert Smith (their lead singer even looking a little like him, with wiry black hair and sunken eyes, entirely black ensemble) use as much feedback as noise-pop pioneers The Jesus and Mary Chain, and drown in distortion along with My Bloody Valentine, quavering vocals secondary to the calculated chaos of the guitar. Atonal walls of sound employ reverberation to create shimmering ripples of guitar echo, layering noise upon noise until the sound becomes a tangible presence, shaking your skin and quickening your heartbeat. – Katherine Bennett

After quitting a woodwork apprenticeship in Nevada three years ago, Amber Rubarth picked up the guitar for the first time and started writing songs, and gaining a steady fanbase, ever since. Her soulful, thick, unique alto reflects the blues influence of idol Tom Waits, and her songs tell stories in traditional folk fashion; in “Washing Day,” winner of the 2010 New Song Mountain Stage Contest, she sings of lost love, “too much whiskey, too much smoke/ Last night’s tears hang on my coat.” She will be recording a new release with Grammy Award-winning producer Jaquire King (Tom Waits, Kings of Leon, Norah Jones). Check out the top 2 top songs on the Myspace list.

Camp is back. 2 weeks ago I saw Adam Shenk light up the bored, mid-week, after-hours crowd at The Bitter End. A silky crooner best described as a broadway-modeled singer-songwriter for whom no time has passed since the ’90s, Adam Shenk is a singular man somehow possessing the courage to perform (and grind successfully to) Mariah Carey’s "All I want for Christmas".
Complete with suit and skinny tie, Adam Shenk would have looked at home sipping cosmos on a yacht with Peter Cetera and Kenny Loggins. There are a million reasons I could use to try and convince you that this shouldn’t work, but with Adam Shenk it most definitely does.
Brooklyn is full of musicians convincing audiences of the newly found fun of forgotten pop music trends. While this spirit certainly animates the anachronistic R&B and neo-soul sound of songs Suitcases and Taste, the sincerity of Adam’s incredibly enthusiastic delivery will make you think he came up with these styles himself…and through his own unique reinventions, he has. Check him out live when he plays The Bitter End again January 18 at 8:30pm. – Mike Levine

It’s once again that time of year to get awesome with DC’s glorious icons of rock, Rattler. Prepare for the greatest New Years of your life this Friday at the Rock N Roll hotel as Rick Rattler (Vocals), Scott Rattler (Back up Vocals), Mickey "Hollywood" Fangs (Lead Guitar), Rattlesnake (Drums), Frank "The Deuce" Williams (Bass), and Bobby "Coils" Williams (Rhythm Guitar) descend upon the stage and rock your earballs ’til you blackout while they soak you with beer, if you’re lucky. Do yourself a favor and check out their release Incoming (available on iTunes) and let classic tracks such as "Getting Awesome", "Blood Sweat and Beers", and "Cocaine Migraine" sink into your brain so you can chant along. It’ll most likely be one of the greatest nights of your life.

A whole bunch of awesomeness will take place all over RnR Hotel, so for more details check out their site. –Dawn

Since she’s been moonlighting in a lot of garage bands around Brooklyn like Crystal Stilts and Vivian Girls, it was only a matter of time before Frankie Rose dropped her own album on pop label Slumberland Records which came out this fall. Having the label help pick up the production values and Kickstarter to fund a tour van, Frankie Rose and the Outs were busy touring around the US and Europe this past fall delighting their fans with three part female harmonies backed by plenty of reverb and distortion. Now taking a little winter break from touring, Frankie sat down to answer some questions about her past and future. – Read Simon Heggie’s Q&A with Frankie here.

Typically comprised of Olivia Mancini (guitar, vocals), Ed Donohue (guitar), Kristin Forbes (bass, vocals), Randy Scope (drums), and Julia Mancini (vocals, percussion), DC’s pop folky Olivia Mancini and the Mates are a group of musical friends who have been playing together since 2005. Randy and Olivia used to be the rhythm section of the now-defunct Washington Social Club. 2007 saw the independent release of their first album, This Kind of Life, which they quickly followed up with The Chatterbox EP, produced by Roger Greenawalt (Ben Kweller, Rhett Miller). Now they’ve got a new record, You Can See the Mountains From Here.

They return to the DC stage in the new year at the Black Cat on Jan 7, 2011 @ 9 PM.

Danish music veteran Jesper Mortensen and New York upstart Leah Hennessey brought their glam-punk rock band Make Out to The Mercury Lounge on December 16 and the results were very promising. Capably assisted by band mates Anders Christiansen on bass and Olivia Aliminiana on drums, the thrash, bash and pop quartet delighted a dancing, animated and sometimes moshing audience that included non other than NY Doll David Johansen. Hennessey confidently took command of center stage, while brains-behind-the-project Mortensen slashed pop chords and harmonized to the lyrics he wrote. The band just released the single "I Don’t Want Anybody That Wants Me", which finds Leah singing with a sneer in her voice about being on the prowl to "find a lover tonight," only to petulantly reject all interested parties. Jesper’s four chord chorus (and primary hook) precisely marks out the vocal melody as Anders strong bass line is punctuated by Olivia’s sharp percussive accents. Their debut EP is due out February 2011. Dave Cromwell

There aren’t really right or wrong ways to discover a great local band, but the way I found out about The Ghost Of A Saber Tooth Tiger was as bizarre as their name. I was browsing through some Portland, Oregon venue listings in search of artists to nominate for our Portland upcomin poll, when I stumbled upon this duo – what the heck were they doing playing so far from home? I actually wished for a second they were based in Portland (as I was having trouble finding poll nominees…) but no, their Myspace profile is pretty clear about the band’s location: New York, NY. Now that I think of it, listening to the duo’s celestial alt-folk and their beautiful harmonizations, their sophisticated, dreamy songs and lirycs reminiscent of awesome early Momus, I realized that this was actually a Christmas present from the Gods of music (or, rather, from the One Christian God’s music department…) Well, thank you so much whoever it was, this made my (holi)day!

P.S. After writing this I found out that this is Sean Lennon’s new project, which partially spoiled the surprise…

A staple of Long Island’s growing movement of DIY artists, Rice Cultivation Society has been the writing and recording vehicle for song-writer/multi-instrumentalist Derek Smith since 2005. RCS’ music is notable for it’s incorporation of diverse musical elements and genres, such as delta-blues, guitar rock, found sounds, jazz, pop, and folk. The lyrics often paint a picture of the world in which every experience, person, and thing has a vivid and inexplicable interior life, where ideas and events connect where they are least expected to. The combination creates songs with an overall sense of warmth and character that invite the listener to get lost inside of their twists and turns, both in meaning and form. Rice Cultivation’s 4th album “Leaves Again” was recorded in the summer of 2010 . The stark and often minimalist approaches of previous albums are inverted into lush full band arrangements, and tend to venture much more into rock territory (such as "Seaturtles" and "Louis Leakey’s Sink").Rice Cultivation Society will be performing at Arlene’s Grocery on Wednesday (12/22) at Arlene’s Grocery, and at The Rock Shop on February 26. – (as posted in The Deli’s Open Blog – post your band’s entries, videos, and Mp3s here).

Brooklyn duo Acrylics have joined the indie pop roster of Brooklyn based label Friendly Fire Recordings (Violens, The Concretes, Oh No Ono) for the co-release of their debut full-length, "Lives and Treasure", scheduled for March 1st through. The band will be playing some noteworthy gigs in the next month, tonight (12.22) at the Knit with Chairlift, on January 8th at The Rock Shop in Gowanus and on January 22 at the Bowery with the Concretes.

Deli-ers, Deli-ettes, and Deli-animals,

We took the opportunity of the slow(er) holiday season to redesign our website, but if you are a regular, to see the new version you should hit the Refresh button on your browser while holding the Shift key – this will get rid of all the old cached images. You can also click here to refresh the page. Hope you likey! Happy Holidays!

The Deli’s Staff

NYC electro funksters Comandante Zero just announced the completion of their new EP, which will be released on January 18 with a party at the Manhattan’s own hub for all things related to electro and world music – Nublu. There will be digital illustrations and a whole bunch of special guests – the show starts at 9.  A wek later the band will also travel to LA a  to play a gig at Harvardwood LA College.