New Music, Emerging from your Local Scene
Instrumental Rock band Rhone has released a new single called “A Pause In Your House” from their forthcoming album, Leaving State. This is the band’s first release since singing with the Indianapolis label POST. Recordings.
Rhone is the atmospheric rock of Ken Bonner (guitar), Nicholas Will (guitar), Jeff Ulbrich (bass), and Jake Ennis (drums)
You can catch the band in South Bend, IN on April 6th at The Well with Analecta and Spaceships.
Hollis Brown has been releasing music since 2013 and is about as conscientious and hardworking as a band can get. The Queens, NY group recently announced they are set to release their latest album Ozone Park on June 7 via Mascot Label Group, the first single off the record “Do Me Right” is out now. You probably have heard Hollis Brown’s all-American rock ‘n’ roll before without even knowing it; their blend of Americana, soul, and hard rock has been featured on major television shows, motion picture trailers, designer fashion shows, and more. The group is happy to pave their way toward national recognition with their sound which pays homage to the rock heroes of the past without compromising its contemporary feel. Folk, country, blues, this band juggles these styles with grace and when necessary blends them powerfully. Check out their new video for “Do Me Right” below. – Rene Cobar
Songwriter Michelle LeBlanc releases her newest single "A Good Man" on April 5th, following up her 2018 debut EP A Man Like You. The folk artist’s newest song matches the passion and grit of past singles such as "B.T.W.", but contains a spacey atmosphere within its almost four-minute length that might remind listeners of Mazzy Star or Cat Power. LeBlanc comes to Nashville from New York; on her website, she posts often about her observations on tarot, an art which helped her make the big decision to make the move away from her old life and her past relationship. "A Good Man" touches on that story, but also on the hope that perhaps LeBlanc can find her old kind of love again, even in a semi-new town. Take a listen to "B.T.W.", a cut from A Man Like You, below. – Will Sisskind
The experimental collective La Cosa have released the recording of their recent live show at Observatory. It is not the best quality recording, but it does give the listener a taste of where this wildly inventive band is hovering.
They are hard to classify, but land somewhere between Post-Rock, Psych Rock, Jazz, and Noise. Back in December they released a track called “Trip’s over, man” which might give a clearer sense of just wild and creative this group is.
Krust Toons: "This Isn’t a Coffee Table!" by Tedd Hazard – please feel free to drop him a line at teddandthehazards@gmail.com if you dig or have any funny ideas. You can also check out more of his illustrations and animation shorts HERE.
Merge Records’s Ex Hex will be rolling into next Wednesday, April 3 at Union Transfer. Mary Timony (Helium, Wild Flag) and company will be in town in support of their latest LP It’s Real, the follow-up to 2014’s critically-acclaimed Rips. They’ll also be joined by tourmates Moaning and Philly’s own The Smarthearts. To enter for a chance to win a pair of tix, just send an email to thedelimagazinephiladelphia@gmail.com with the subject line "It’s Really Real". Please also include your cell number in the body of the message (in case of an emergency). Good luck!
Hardcore Speed Punk band Death of Self have released a new album called Look Elsewhere. This is the work of Nick Feltes (Guitar/Vocals), Jeffrey Finnegan (Guitar), Joe Ott (Drums/Backing Vocals), and Wade Hall (Bass/Backing Vocals).
You can catch Death of Self on April 7th at Reggie’s Rock Club with Okilly Dokilly, Playboy Manbaby, and Black Bear Rodeo.
A post-modern philosophy informs “Shapes & Colors,” the latest single by new wave duo Sailor Boyfriend. The product of Andy Waldron and Alex Mercuri’s joint effort to comprehend the absurdity of modern existence, “Shapes” finds the two Jersey City multi-instrumentalists channeling an existential angst into blissful dance-punk – reacting not with scorn, but with joyous celebration against the Meaningless Void. Waldron’s four-on-the-floor percussion weaves around Mercuri’s syncopated guitar work, delivering a solid four minute jam accentuated by gang vocals and references to Samuel Beckett. Overall, what makes “Shapes & Colors” such an enjoyable listen is the realism of Sailor Boyfriend’s worldview that, though our lives may seem a Sisyphisian struggle, there’s still space dance ourselves clean of fatalism, even if for one fleeting moment.
“Shapes & Colors” is the title track of Sailor Boyfriend’s forthcoming sophomore effort, out April 12th on Make Believe Records. Take a listen below. -Connor Beckett McInerney (@b_ck_tt), Photo via thesmallsoviet
Viet Rahm has released their latest album Jaw Grinder. This is the Psych Surf Trash Rock trio that formed back in 2015.
The band recently returned from SXSW where they have performed each of the last four years.
Wyndwood recently shared its new full-length album Defense. The LP couples earnest, exposed vocals and lyricism with a contagious energy. “T.U.F. (Trust Ur Friends)” captures the ache of being let down and making the difficult decision to move on, cutting someone out of your life. Composed yet vulnerable vocals dig their nails into your skin as the instrumentation reaches a tumultuous yet cathartic peak. Featuring Abi Reimold on backing vocals, the song exhibits the emotive force of heartbreak and the strength needed to step away. (Photo by Abi Reimold)
You may remember NYC-based Electro-soul band MS MR, who conquered our ears and hearts in the early aughts with a couple of uber-catchy singles. The voice and half of the songwriting engine behind that project, Lizzie Plapinger, is back under the LPX moniker with a new EP entitled "Junk of the Heart," and time seems to have stopped. The sound is slightly punchier and guitar-based, but not widely dissimilar from the previous project, also because the lady’s (gorgeous) vocals and melodies are easily recognizable. Check out the EP below and read an interview with Lizzie about the new record here.
Finalizing a record can take a lot longer than expected, and, paradoxically, being good at making records can interfere with it. That’s the story of Jonathan Seale, the NYC based producer of Feist, Lucius, Fleet Foxes, Andrew Bird and more, who goes under the stage name os Son of Cloud. "When I started making records professionally at age 20, I decided that I wanted to focus on supporting the writing of other artists because I felt that I hadn’t lived enough life to make a meaningful contribution to the world as a songwriter" – he says – and what happened then, we guess, is that the recording business took over his life. It’s hard for busy producers to go back to the potentially zero-money-making entreprise that is the band biz after experiencing success in a different and still creative area of the music industry, so it is remarkable to see Seale’s commitment to finish this record and disclose to the world his thoughtful songwriting and incredibly deep and soulful tenor. In support of the upcoming album, Seale will perform his debut concert as Son of Cloud on March 23rd, 2019, at The Brooklyn Friends Meeting House, playing with a full band.
