New Music, Emerging from your Local Scene
“The Ghost in You is Billy Polard. He writes and records all his music on a 4 track cassette recorder. He has made two music videos so far. One featuring animated characters he drew mixed with live action and large cardboard cut out creatures, and his newest video for “Losing Light”, was made entirely by himself on a Nintendo DSi. ‘I think its probably the first full length music video made with a gameboy.’” – From The Open Blog
With the hope that your Memorial Day was eventful, and well memorable, here are a few selections for some worth while shows this coming weekend.
On Friday head over to The Rickshaw where Tempo No Tempo will be playing their last show ever with Born Ruffians and Young Rival, 8:30pm.
On Saturday, if you’ve never had the opportunity to catch one of their shows, make your way down to the Bottom of the Hill for the wonderful spectacle that is Captured! By Robots. Playing with The Dont’s and Bobby Joe Ebola & The Children MacNuggit, do what you can to catch this impressive mechanical exhibition, 9:30pm.
Of course if a man playing music with a bunch of robots isn’t your thing, then head up to the Hemlock that same night for an apparently re-imagined We Shore is Dedicated opening for Winfred E. Eye and Bart Davenport, 9pm.
Lastly, round your weekend out with Music for Animals playing the Indie Mart, with a roster of other acts, at Thee Parkside starting around noon.
–Ada Lann
Deli LA favorite, Angie Mattson is due to make audience members swoon at The Silverlake Lounge on June 10th. While seeing her live is already quite a pleasure, seeing her two days after her new album "Skeleton Arm" comes out is sure to be quite an experience.
Sometimes I feel like the word prolific is over used, but when it is applied to the efforts and output of Tom Schraeder it seems fitting. His latest album, Once Lace, Now Cotton is available through Township Records. The album was compiled by fans, family and friends from the three records Schraeder recorded and casually (read: unofficially) released over the past year and a half: The Death of St. Thomas, Dear Brooklyn, I’m Sorry… and …bad things aren’t necessarily not beautiful. This is also the first of three albums he will be releasing this year. Musically, this album keeps a mystical balance between simplicity and complexity. You find Tom drifting through gentle acoustic guitar based melodies and delivering subtle and occasionally cryptic lyrics and you absolutely find yourself wanting more after these brisk nine tracks are over. The album starts off with a whistle and the distance yet soft vocals of Schraeder floating over guitar and white recording noise on the track “To You, My Friend…”. Electronics begin to appear at the end of the track and lead into “When Escanaba Rests” and the musical puzzle begins. This album is clearly about the voice, and the mood stays sparse for most of the album, but there are also a few moments of sonic explorations. The most “radio-ready” pop tune on the album is “Carry On” and it works as a big ending a solid album. Once Lace, Now Cotton is an intimate collection that sets the stage for a big year from Tom Schraeder.
Tom Schraeder will be celebrating the release of this album on June 5th at Lincoln Hall with Richard Edwards of Margot and The Nuclear So and So’s, Danny Malone, & PGDM DJ’s.
Three artists left their bands at home Thursday night and went solo before a modest crowd at The End. A Breakfast Club assortment of weeknight showgoers was more than receptive of the two out-of-towners Jesse Rifkin of the Wailing Wall and Tim Fite. Both came from Brooklyn to rock the venue with something a little unexpected. The only local in the lineup, Simon Kerr (above photo), preceded the New York performers with a brief acoustic set. He is one of the singer/songwriters who lists all the right influences behind his pretty melodies. Kerr has an ear for those, fingerpicking stories of past girlfriends who have songs named after them and a ballad about a grandfather lost in WWII. – Jessica Pace
As you all should be aware by now, The Deli’s mission is to give local artists free exposure and opportunities. Recently Stratosphere Sound, the Chelsea based recording studio owned by Smashing Pumpkins’ James Iha and Fountains of Wayne’s Adam Schlesinger, gave The Deli readers the opportunity to win a FULL DAY of free studio time (there will be more, so stay tuned!). Grammy winning producer Geoff Sanoff (the studio’s chief engineer who worked with Secret Machines, Nada Surf, and Obits among others) volunteered to engineer/produce these sessions for free – adding value to a package now worth around $2k. We can now announce that the winners of this second studio time giveaway (chosen directly by the Stratosphere Sound’s staff) are indie rockers Steel Phantoms – congrats! Stratosphere Sound has a 30% discount on their studio rates for all those who will mention The Deli until the end of September.
Pugs Atomz is back and this time he is teaming with local producer Grant Parks for an album called Kinda Like A Rapper. This is the first release from this duo, but you can tell there is a ton of chemistry between these two. The album drops today, but yesterday Pugs and Grant appeared on the Hip Hop Project on WLUW and you can listen to that here.
Carte Blanche (DJ Mehdi + Riton) has released their new ep called Black Billionaires, and it features a dance floor ready track called “Do! Do! Do!” featuring Kid Sister.
Fans of Leonard Cohen and Tom Waits’ may want to check out Peg Simone, a New York based singer songwriter who colors her (and at times somebody else’s) stories with searing slide guitar and her smokey, sultry voice. Peg will be celebrating the CD release of her most recent album, Secrets From The Storm (Radium/Table of the Elements). Collaborator Holly Anderson will open reading some of her prose poems that inspired Peg’s darkest songs. Alt. guitar stalwart Chris Brokaw (Come, Codeine, Lemonheads) will then play a meticulously rendered set of his songs, followed by Peg who’ll play all the songs from Secrets and then be joined by downtown legendary drummer Jonathan Kane (Swans) to perform the album’s epic opener "1927/Levee.”
Verma is the latest band to appear on Giant System. Verma will be performing with Moonrises and Killer Moon at Hideout on June 10th.
Hooray for Earth truly has a lot to cheer about. Not only is the band debuting its EP at The Music Hall of Williamsburg on Tuesday 06.01, but it is also opening – that same night – for Brit indie rock group and labelmates, The Futureheads (both are signed to Dovecote Records). To top it all off, Hooray for Earth will be touring with The Pains of Being Pure at Heart and Surfer Blood well into June. Hooray for Earth, that calls both Boston and NYC home, will debut the EP, "Momo," that showcases their synth-heavy, chilled-but-somewhat-experimental pop, that brings to mind a slightly less quirky version of unforgettable Beta Band.
