Brooklyn based, No Sleep Records signees Atlantic/Pacific formed in 2008 and feature Garrett Klahn of Texas is the Reason and John Herguth of House & Parish. The band played at the Bell House in Gowanus Brooklyn this past Friday celebrating the release of their first album, Meet Your New Love, and in true promotional indie work ethic played 10 songs entirely off the new record. The sound of their music loosely fits within the all encompassing genre of Indie but has inflections of acoustic folk as well. It is sentimental rock with unpolished instrumentals and crooning vocals. The band’s influences range from Fleet Foxes to The Smiths. Ian Love of Rival Schools contributes guest instrumentation as well as production to the project and recorded the album at his Brooklyn Love Studios. Atlantic/Pacific has performed in New York and Europe, and in the fall of 2009 they self-released an EP called Autumn Edition Volume 1, which led them to start work on their full-length debut. This fall band is going on their first American tour across the United States. – Alex Borsody

More Halloween madness, this Sunday at the Black Cat get a triple dose of Yeah Gates Records with America Hearts, Foul Swoops, and the Cheniers, with two of these label mates releasing 7"s that very night.  America Hearts spout cute and quirky pop on Be My Jones, featuring a tune with lyrics inspired by vocalist Jess Matthew’s 3 year old nephew.  Then on the gritty side of the rock spectrum, Foul Swoops churn out the rough and raw sounds of traditional DIY recording, bound to sound most excellent on vinyl.

After literally and figuratively creating an impressive amount of buzz with their debut album and two follow up EPs, Baltimore’s up and comers Weekends have recently released their first full length record, titled Strange Cultures. Like similar two-man guitar-drums bands No Age and Japandroids, Weekends’ Brendan Sullivan and Adam Lempel produce a chaos of sound, full of texture and depth that would make many other larger bands painfully jealous. In their newest collection of songs, Weekends splash a thin shimmery veil of tropical vibes over a mess of noise rock, transforming a seemingly schizophrenic cacophony of guitar wails into something melodic, foot stompingly powerful, and entirely enjoyable. Strange Cultures finds the band bringing all facets of their sound to the table, making for an eclectic combination of head-swirling fuzz that sees the vocals taking a back seat to the scorching guitar lines and rock solid drum licks. The mostly instrumental closer, "Raingirls" is emblematic of their sun-soaked, axe-thrashing sound, part surfer-brah, part punk rocker. -Brooks

Allie Alvarado (formerly of Blood Lines and Telepathe) , a DC transplant with Brooklyn blood, has teamed up with her dance music producer brother Alvin Risk, spawning Painted Face; an electro pop solo project that is easily, the next best thing in DC. The debut EP Undreamt recently released, is bound to get some serious spins on dance nights for sure; with a gorgeous track like "Undreamt" providing swirling beats and lushy vocals reminiscent of Kate Bush and Bat For Lashes.  So download it, and perfect your moves!
Alvarado recently gigged it up at Rock & Roll hotel with School of Seven Bells.  BYT was there to cover it, check out their review.

Lead singer Stephonik Youth and her band Living Days put on a fantastic show at The Deli’s CMJ show at The Delancey on Tuesday 10.19. As you probably won’t trust our words as we organized that show, we’ll use Michelle Geslani’s review from Baeble Music to convince you:

"Living Days kind of scared my pants off (you’ll know when you see the photos). The music is electro-pop-meets-insane-garage-rock-party. Smoke machine, flower arrangements strewn all over the stage, and a frontwoman to die for, this band knows how to sell the whole package. Honestly, the frontwoman put on one of the best, most entertaining shows I’ve seen in awhile. If only all musicians were even 20% as active as her (she jumped on and off the stage, sang face-to-face with audience members, played with balloons, threw flowers, etc.), every show ever would probably be about 10x more satisfying. -michelle geslani

Getting Pitchfork’s "Best New Music" tag a few weeks before the NYC CMJ Music Marathon must be one of the dreams of many emerging musician. This dream came true for Twin Shadow, a one man band from Brooklyn, whose debut record was produced and released by Grizzly Bear’s drummer Chris Bear and his label Terrible Records. Our marathon runner Alexandra Vann had the opportunity to ask George Lewis, Jr – the man behind this project – a few questions. Read her interview and review here.

New York City native son Mike Del Rio deserves our fame and fortune. Let’s stop rewarding talentless reality TV parasites with recording contracts and pop star treatment. In addition to being absolutely dreamy (note: mass appeal good looks), Del Rio sings, writes his own songs, and plays no less than “guitar, bass, drums, beats, arrangements, brass, synth, mellotrons, bells and whistles, etc.” “The New Year,” a single available for free download, could be the next tween pop anthem. We need pop anthems now more than ever from a young man that loves art, Downtown Brooklyn, and milkshakes. – Read Whitney Phaneuf interview with Mike Del Rio here.

After previous experiments in high-art on Pale Fire – with the title track mixed by Ulrich Schnauss – Dead Leaf Echo have now teamed up with 4AD famed John Fryer to mix "Truth" which was released last week. Fresh off their Deli Magazine CMJ show, DLE continues to tour this year and is planning to release new material soon.

This Fall brings several exciting announcements for New York-bred synth-pop sextet Bellevue’s Finest, as they ended their Summer of Singles with the release of a new music video, a new EP and their first CMJ Showcase. Bellevue’s Finest produces a pop concoction consisting of classic tones taken from the Kinks and David Bowie, and new-school swag borrowed from modern indie artists like Passion Pit and LCD Soundsystem. After releasing a new single for free download each month of the summer, Bellevue’s Finest will be compiling their Summer recordings with a new track,“Wannabe,”to form a self-titled, sophomore EP. The EP will be released digitally with an animated music video for the newest recording on Tuesday, November 23rd. Bellevue’s Finest performed at the CMJ Music Festival in New York City on October 22nd at The National Underground. as part of Turnstyle Music Group’s CMJ Showcase. – (as posted in The Deli’s Open Blog – post your band’s entries, videos, and Mp3s here).

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Every Halloween, Velvet Lounge knows how to throw down.  This year they’ll bring back the legendary Latino punk band The Zeros, who once upon a time played "Beat Your Heart Out" 8 times in a row in San Francisco, then called it a night.  This Halloween they are joined by DC’s The Shirks, Beasts of No Nation, and Maybe Baby.  Beasts have risen fast in the DC hardcore scene since their first show barely two months ago.  But with an incredible line-up consisting of members from notable acts Darkest Hour, Trial by Fire, the Explosion, and Majority Rule, it was inevitable.  They’ll have a 7" out in a few weeks so we’ll check in with them again.  Right now, Maybe Baby’s S/T EP is available through Windian Records, and after this show, they’re hitting the road for a cross country tour. So get dressed up- it’s the Legendary Velvet Lounge Halloween Bash!

Baltimore’s Future Islands returned from a tour abroad last week, having completed some awesome firsts: first show in Greece, and their first show in Spain.   They’ve already embarked on a stateside tour with a record release show coming up at the Black Cat on November 4 (w/ Romantic States). The new 7" split (out on Friends Records) features a new Future Islands song "The Ink Well", written and recorded this summer, with life-long friends Lonnie Walker on the flip (and in the 11/4 line-up).  Earlier this month, Thrill Jockey Records released Undressed, an acoustic EP of their earlier recordings.  Check it out here.